Australia's Few. 5 September 1940

The Luftwaffe continued its assault on the airfields of the south east. Although back at Croydon by 5 September, 72 Squadron was ordered to Hawkinge for the day to patrol that station. Because of casualties of personnel and machines, only eight Spitfires were airborne. Des was leading in X4034. At 2.25 p.m. they encountered two formations of Messerschmitt 109s. They were climbing to get above the raid when Des:

 

‘heard a shout of warning from one of our fighters weaving behind but before I could do anything about it there was a terrific bang from behind the cockpit and the aircraft shuddered from what must have been an accurate and heavy burst from dead astern. I knew I had been hit in the leg and my left hand showed signs of flying fragments. I think that the explosion must have been from the oxygen bottle as I quickly passed out’.

 

When he came, he realised his Spitfire was diving vertically and out of control. He then:

‘tried the control column but it was useless so I prepared to bale out. As soon as I undid my harness the suction lifted me out of the cockpit. Unfortunately, it did not quite do the job and in some strange way my feet caught under the windscreen. There I was in a flat out dive, lying along the top of the cockpit with my feet fastened. I had given up hope when my feet suddenly became free and almost by instinct I suppose, I pulled the ripcord from my parachute. I discovered afterwards that I was only about 800 feet up when I pulled the cord...By the law of averages I should have been killed. I fell into the middle of a wood near Canterbury and climbed through the boughs of a tree.’

Des then crawled through the forest to a path and discovered that he had acquired an audience. As the crowd watched, a policeman approached on a bicycle, pulling a very welcome flask from his pocket. Des suffered only a few scratches from the fall but his battle injuries had to be taken care of so he was whisked away to hospital to recover.

Flight Lieutenant Desmond Sheen had survived his second bale out in a week. Recognising his good fortune, he later told his parents that ‘[I] must admit I have a knack of getting into and out of trouble’. He certainly did. But for Des the Battle of Britain was now effectively over. The war was a little over 12 months old and he was just shy of his 23rd birthday. With all his experiences under his belt, felt ‘practically grown up’.