Walker - FLYERS: Enthralling WWII Aviator Tales: The exploits of many of the allied aircrews who fought in the Second World War in the skies of Britain and Europe

At onestage during the campaign of offensive sweeps carried out by the Spitfires overthe Continent in 1941, the Germans had been so badly beaten up by Spits thatthey sometimes refused to come into the air to fight. The Hun fighters simplystayed on their airfields, while the Spitfires, hungry for battle, wheeledoverhead. One Spitfire pilot was so disgusted with the German disinclination tofight that, over St. Omer airfield, he split his flight into two sections ofthree each, then, with flak bursting all around, he and his Spitfires carriedout a mock dog-fight for some six minutes! Having contemptuously shown theGermans how air fighting should be done, the Spitfires re-formed and flew home.

On oneoccasion during the Battle of London about 200 German bombers, protected byfighters, were intercepted by Spitfires as they flew up the Thames estuary. Assoon as this mighty armada saw the mere two squadrons of Spitfires approaching,the Hun pilots jettisoned their bombs, then turned tail and flew for theirlives!

Soterrified were the Luftwaffe of the Spitfire that in Malta in 1942, twoenemy aircraft were shot down one day when none of the few British fighterswere in the air. Every defending RAF aircraft was grounded, for one reason oranother, when a heavy German raid developed. Determined not to let the Germansget away with their merciless attack unmolested, two RAF types decided to talkto each other over the radio, pretending that one was a controller directingSpitfires to intercept the raiders and the other was a Spitfire pilot in theair. As the airmen anticipated, their radio messages were picked up by theapproaching Germans. Immediately, they were delighted to hear cries of Achtung!Schpitfeur! filling the German wavelengths. In the ensuing confusion, theHuns became so panicked by this imaginary RAF Spitfire attack that twoMesserschmitts shot each other down in error with not a single Spitfire in theair!

Often theSpitfires took a heavy toll of the enemys aircraft. For instance, on 14h July1944 twelve Spitfire IXs, led by Canadian Squadron Leader Tommy Brannagan, shotdown no fewer than ten out of a squadron of twelve Focke-Wulf Fw.190s, withouta single loss to themselves! This massacre lasted three minutes: seven FWs weredestroyed in the first minute.