Weather: dull but with some bright intervals.

Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours:

  • Blenheim – 55
  • Spitire – 236
  • Hurricane – 410
  • Defiant – 26
  • Gladiator – 6
  • Total – 733

The deteriorating weather that day led to a repetition of the Luftwaffe hit and run tactics, often by individual Me109s. 580 sorties were flown by the RAF with 2 German aircraft being shot down without loss to the RAF. A wide variety of targets were attacked from St Eval in the west to Biggin Hill south of London.

At night, there were widespread bombing raids over South Wales, Bristol, Birmingham and the North. In Bridlington, a café was hit trapping the people inside.

266 Squadron Operational Record Book – 23 August – Wittering
Cold. Sky overcast – visibility moderate. Rear party arrived from Hornchurch. Move of Squadron completed.

Reported Casualties (RAF Campaign Diary 23rd August 1940):

*  Enemy: 3 confirmed
*  Own: nil

Todays’s theme: The Squadrons – 303 Squadron