[Peter Cook]

I am trying to establish the role played by Bf 109s of LG2 in the second attack on Biggin Hill at approximately 18.00 on 30 August 1940. In To Defeat the Few: The Luftwaffe’s campaign to destroy RAF Fighter Command, August–September 1940, authors Douglas Dildy and Paul Crickmore state that Biggin Hill was bombed by:

... ten Bf 110Ds [of ErprGr 210] leading a half-dozen Bf 109E-7 Jabos from II.(Schl)/LG 2 on their very first operational mission.

However, this is the only source that I can locate that includes the II.(S)/LG 2 Jabos in this raid. Malcolm Lowe's Bf 109 Jabo Units in the West states that II.(S)/LG 2 became operational at the beginning of September.

I wondered if Dildy and Crickmore could have been confused by the presence of Bf 109s of I.(J)/LG 2, which made claims for two Spitfires (misidentifications of 79 Squadron Hurricanes) over Biggin Hill – Ofw Schumann at 18.10, and Hptm Ihlefeld 18.25.

Any thoughts?

Peter