Weather: cloudy, with some bright intervals
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours:
- Blenheim – 56
- Spitfire – 203
- Hurricane – 392
- Defiant – 15
- Gladiator – 7
- Total – 673
Once again the Luftwaffe launched an attack on the Spitfire works at Woolston near Southampton. It was carried out by over 70 aircraft from Luftflotte 3. In a 5 minute attack the installation was hit by over 70 tons of bombs. One bomb hit a shelter killing 30 of the workers. Production was halted. However only one or two aircraft were wrecked. A number were damaged but were repaired within a couple of days to be delivered to squadrons. The German aircraft which had attacked were intercepted by 10 Group Squadrons. Both the RAF and the Luftwaffe lost 9 aircraft each.
That night, in London a bomb exploded on the corner of Denbigh Street and Belgrave Road trapping people in an underground shelter. Liverpool docks were also hit and the Standard Motor company in Coventry suffered £100,000 worth of damage.
266 Squadron Operational Record Book – 26 September
Cold – visibility moderate. Practices included formation flying – cloud penetration and dog fighting. 14 pilots proceeded to Sutton Bridge and carried out Air to Air firing programme. One Spitfire II aircraft piloted by PO R.J.B. Roach sent to Hendon for demonstration of factory observers. Wg Cdr J. Barwell from Headquarters, no. 12 Group, visited Squadron respecting training of new pilots. Pilot Sgts K.C. Pattison, W. Sadler and J.A. Scott posted to no. 611 Squadron for flying duties.
Reported Casualties (RAF Campaign Diary 26th September 1940):
* Enemy: 33 confirmed, 11 probable, 13 damaged
* Own: 10 aircraft with 3 pilots killed or missing.
Today’s theme: The Planes They Flew - The Westland Lysander
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September 26, 2010 at 10:01 am
Mark
You wrote …
“Wg Cdr J. Barwell from Headquarters, no. 12 Group, visited Squadron respecting training of new pilots”
This was Wg Cdr Philip Reginald BARWELL
The older brother of PO Eric Gorden Barwell
He was educated at Perse School, Cambridge, their Archives show him as one of many pupils who joined the RAF but the only one who flew in the BOB in 242 Squadron
My interest is that he was in command of 46 Squadron at RAF Digby when my brother Sgt Stanley Andrew was posted there in Sept 1939 and he is shown in the photographs taken when the King visited the Squadron.
He led a flight of 6 Hurricanes on Oct 21st 1039 to intercept German planes approaching a Convoy and he shot down a He 115 and shared another awarded DFC Nov 28th, One of the first engagements of the war.
He was posted away to Command Sutton Bridge that month
He was lost on July 1st 1942 after being attacked by a inexperienced Spitfire over the Channel, he is buried in the Calais Canadian War Cemetery.
We hope Perse School will accept a BOB Historical Society Memorial Plaque and that the 46 Squadron Association will send a representative