A FEW RECORDS SET

The Luftwaffe made four attacks on London and the southeast today, 08:45-10:30 in three waves, 11:50-12:45 in two formations, 13:10-13:55 in one formation that split into smaller groups, and 14:40-15:40 in three waves.
This was the first day that 41 Squadron took their ‘new’ Spitfire IIa’s into combat, and the pilots intercepted the first and last of the four attacks, ending the day with claims of a massive three destroyed, two probably destroyed and nine damaged.

It was also today that Plt Off Eric Lock DFC & Bar claimed his last victory of the Battle of Britain. Attesting to his skill in the cockpit, he probably destroyed an Me109 with just 140 rounds from seven guns, as one was inoperable.
Lock singled out his own Me109 to port, and attacked it from astern and slightly above at a range of 250 yards. Firing just a single one-second burst as he closed to 200 yards, the aircraft reacted immediately by climbing almost vertically. He followed it upwards, but the Messerschmitt soon stalled and “fell forward into a vertical dive” with glycol steaming from beneath the starboard wing.
He watched it fall from 28,000 feet to approximately 7,000, where he left it, noting the pilot had made no attempt by that altitude to recover his aircraft. He assumed the aircraft would crash in a triangular area bounded by Sevenoaks, Maidstone, and Tonbridge, and claimed the aircraft probably destroyed southeast of Biggin Hill.
He had now claimed 20 destroyed and seven probably destroyed enemy aircraft, and was very likely the highest scoring RAF pilot of the entire campaign.
The Squadron as a whole today made fourteen claims, which was the third highest number of claims for a single day – after 5 and 18 September 1940 – of the entire war.

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