Unternehmen Cerberus
On 12 February 1942, No. 485 Squadron was among those scrambled during the Channel Dash, with Crawford-Compton leading one of its flights. He shot down a Bf 109, which crashed near Ostend. Another Bf 109 was reported as damaged. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) early the following month; the citation, published in "The London Gazette", read: