Australia's Few. 28 July 1940

Pat was again busy on 28 July 1940. He was up early for dawn readiness and, shortly after 5.00 a.m., he and Pilot Officers Ken Dewhurst and Patrick Horton were ordered to investigate an enemy aircraft over Plymouth. As they approached the port city, shell bursts from the anti-aircraft guns illuminated a lone Ju 88 ‘diving steeply towards some objective on the land’. This time flying Spitfire N3239, Pat followed the Junkers down but waited until it ‘pulled up’ and then ‘opened fire at 100 yards closing to 50 yards’. He held this position and fired off a number of short two second bursts, continuing as the enemy aircraft began to turn. The German rear gunner kept up a constant barrage and yet again, Pat’s Spitfire was hit by a solitary bullet, this time in the radiator. His Spit was fine, but smoke began to trail from the Ju 88’s starboard engine and a ‘red hot object’ broke off. The Junkers began to lose height. Pilot Officers Dewhurst and Horton fired in turn. The damaged engine burst into flames and the Junkers slowly turned starboard and hit the water. It disappeared within seconds; there were no survivors. There was no doubt about this one. Blue Section claimed a destroyed and each were credited with a third share.

This was Pat Hughes’s third successful battle in three weeks.