Australians in the Battle of Britain. 2 August 1940

On 1 August, Hitler issued Directive 17 which stated that he ‘intended to intensify air and sea warfare against the English homeland’ and Goering started to implement it on 2 August. All he needed was time to lay his final plans for a concentrated series of huge raids dubbed Adlerangriff—Attack of the Eagle—and three days of good weather.

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. Later that day, 238 Squadron returned to Middle Wallop.