Evening star., 1940-09-19


could handle; Woody, another men,
Der Of B-flight, saw him bale out
and later we discovered that he was
q prisoner. That caused raucous
laughter in the mess.
50 Germans in 10 Days.
Angus had bad luck. He was just
coming in for landing at Seclln
to refuel when a Messerschmidt-1 -109
got In a lucky shot.
The rest of B-flight came back
from France. The squadron had
bagged SO Germans in 10 days. On
their first day, May 10, they had
gotten IS, seven before breakfast.
Joyitt was the first to get it back
here in England. Woody, who was
on convoy patrol with him saw him
chasing a Dornier-17 off Martles-
ham. Apparently he was shot down
at sea.
Meantime, Dicky had had the
closest kind of shave but had been
saved by tremendous luck. He had
run into three Messerschmitt-10
over near Calais, had sent one down
In flames and was diving away when
the other two got his plane. He
managed to fly on until he saw
British destroyer, then baled out
and was picked up.
That's what you get for being
careless" he told me when he got
out of the hospital. II was dreaming
and when you dream you get it."
BY this time Dicky had the D. S. o.
DISTINGUISHED Service ORDER and
the D. F. C. distinguished Flying
Cross.
Dicky Was Too Ambitious.
Dicky got it August l8 not because
he was dreaming, but because he
was too ambitious. The air over the
channel is full of traps and decoys
and Dicky knew it, but his ardor got
the best of him.
That fight August 18 will 60 down
In history as one of the most tre-
mendous in the history of aerial
warfare. Dicky and IL other Huri-
canes from his squadron were patrol
ling off Folkestone at 10000 feet
when they ran into 200 German air
craft, stepped up in eight formations
from 5000 to $4,000 feet. In the
lower tiers there were Junker87's
and Heinkel-1l1's, in the upper
layers. Messerschmitt-1 and ITO
fighters, When they saw the Hurri-
canes, the bombers swerved to the
right and the Messerschmitts
climbed to form two circles. the HOS
at between $4,000 and $4,000 feet,
the 109s at 5000 to 10000 feet. AS
the Hurricanes attacked, another
mass Of so Dornier-17's hove into
view.
At the end of the fight three Mes
serschmitt 109S, six HOS and one
He'll were in the sea and eight
other German planes were in serious
trouble. Not single Hurricane pilot
had been lost.
Then somebody noticed Dickey.
streaking off toward the Dutch
coast, chasing the entire squadron
Of Messerschmitt 109's. Nobody has
heard of Dicky since and other
members of the squadron think that
he probably was killed.
Woody Got IL Before His End.
Woody, one of the four remain
ing members of old B-flight got his
September l, at the end of another
terrific week in which the squadron
destroyed 36 German aircraft and
had downed another 10 ''probables.
Paddy, who was with Woody and
another pilot in a three-plane for
nation saw him go down in flames
and his body was picked up two days
later Woody's brother in another
squadron was killed the same day.
Woody had destroyed II planes and
had won the D. F.. c., if that's any
satisfaction.
On that same famous "last day"
Gus was badly burned when shot
down near Croydon.
That left Paddy and Goodman
and those were the ones we saw
today. Paddy hadn't shaved in
several days, but he still was look
ing his old self. His logbook gave
some idea of what he had been
through. August 18: Shot down
by Junker-88. Baled out into sea,
u miles off Clacton." August 26:
Shot down in flames by Messer-
schmitt-109
Paddy had swum around for 21a
hours off Clacton. Then a bloody
rowboat came along and hauled me