Australia's Few. 2 August 1940

On 1 August, Hitler issued Directive 17 which stated his intention to ‘intensify air and sea warfare against the English homeland’. Reichsmarschall Hermann Georing started implementing it on 2 August. Dubbed Adlerangriff—Attack of the Eagle—Goering intended to throw all his resources at the RAF. He would bomb their bases, lure their aircraft into battle, and attack radar installations. All he needed was time to lay his final plans and three days of good weather. Adlertag—Eagle Day—was originally set for 10 August, but then deferred to 13 August. In the interim, the Luftwaffe would continue its relentless air war in the Channel, though it did not seem like it to some of the Australian pilots.

 

John Crossman’s reprieve from operational training did not last long. On 2 August he discovered that there was no getting out of it. ‘I will have to go to No 6 OTU at Sutton Bridge for five weeks and when I get back will be operational. It’s a helluva nuisance but orders is orders and I guess I have to go.’ He sold his old car, bought a new one and started packing. He was off first thing in the morning.

 

At Acklington, Bill Millington was still on readiness, waiting for the phone to ring, drinking cups of tea, chatting with his friends and writing letters home. There was little action to be had. As Neddy Nelson-Edwards put it, ‘sadly the Luftwaffe ignored our Sector, except for an occasional lone intruder to break the monotony’.

 

Down at Warmwell, Stuart Walch’s Blue Section relieved Red Section on an uneventful early morning convoy patrol.