Australia's Few. 13 July 1940

13 July 1940: By early afternoon, a westward convoy was nearing Lyme Bay, an area west of Portland where vessels were vulnerable to enemy attack. Accordingly, Warmwell despatched three Spitfires from 609 Squadron and twelve Hurricanes from 238 to Portland to mount guard when the ships arrived and then escort them westwards. Jack Kennedy was leading A Flight. When 238 Squadron arrived there were no ships, but they encountered a large formation of enemy aircraft, who also expected the convoy to be there. A Flight was about 12,000 feet over Portland Harbour when it spotted one of two Dornier Do 17s heading out to sea in a shallow dive. These Dorniers were the reconnaissance eyes of the main formation of Me 110Cs. Jack ordered Red section into line astern to follow the a diving Dornier.

 

When they were over Chesil Beach, Jack attacked. He killed the gunner and damaged the Dornier. The Dornier turned towards the shore. Pilot Officer Davis and Sergeant Parkinson fired at the retreating Dornier. As it turned across Portland Bill, they continued to fire at it. They saw it crash into the sea off Chesil Beach at 3.04 p.m. After firing at Red section’s Dornier, Jack also turned towards the shore. He was losing height. He had either been wounded, or his Hurricane hit by return fire from the Dornier, or both. Jack continued to lose height and Hurricane P2950’s wings clipped high tension cables. It crashed into a hillside at Southdown Farm, north of Lodmoor, just outside Weymouth. Jack was only about two miles from Warmwell. His Hurricane was engulfed in flames on impact. Twenty-three year old John Connolly Kennedy, known as Jack, was dead. He was the first Australian fighter pilot to die in the Battle of Britain. He was 238 Squadron’s first death in combat. Jack was officially credited with a third share in the Dornier.