Australia's Few. 17 July 1940

After a two day hiatus from operations because of bad weather, Stuart Walch of 238 Squadron was in the air at 1.45 p.m. on 17 July when the squadron scrambled to intercept a raid off Portland. In his first operational sortie with the squadron, Squadron Leader Jim Fenton was flying in B Flight’s Green Section. A Flight saw nothing but Stuart and Blue Three saw three Messerschmitt Me 110s flying in a vic formation about 1000 feet above them. Stuart called Blue Section into line astern then turned quickly but immediately lost sight of the enemy aircraft as they flew into the sun. Two hours later, he was in the air again when 238 Squadron were ordered to intercept another raid, but there was no encounter. At 5.35 p.m., this time with Squadron Leader Jim Fenton leading, B Flight were off on their third abortive scramble for the day. At 9.00 p.m., they were again rushing to their Hurricanes. It was a long, exhausting day with plenty of adrenaline, but nothing to add to the scoreboard.