Australia's Few. 26 July 1940

Stuart Walch of 238 Squadron had been busy. He had flown plenty of patrols but did not encounter the enemy until his second sortie on 26 July 1940.

At 11.42 a.m., the squadron took off to patrol Swanage at 10,000 feet. Stuart, again in P3618 was Blue Leader. Ground control advised that ‘bandits’ were south west of Portland at 12,000 feet but, as so frequently happened at this time, the controller had got the enemy height wrong. About 25–30 miles south of Portland, Stuart caught sight of three Me 109s flying at 14,000 feet. He ordered Blue Section into line astern and climbed behind the enemy fighters who had also climbed and were at 18,000 feet. Two of the Me 109s were in a vic formation, with a third ‘loose on right’. They were almost to the French coast when Stuart lined up the straggler in his sights and ‘fired one short burst (one sec) from a shallow quarter deflection’. The Messerschmitt ‘half rolled then dived vertically down, then went into spin and broke up, the wings dropping off and fuselage going into sea’. Stuart was credited with destroying the Me 109. It was his last victory.