[Kutscha]

Originally Posted by Crumpp

The numbers of operational sorties are listed by the RAF's documentation I posted.

It is pretty obvious from the comparative sortie rate that the RAF did reinforce as needed among the Groups.

On the 15th of August we can see the outlier for 148 Operational sorties for 13 Group, a significant contribution to RAF's effort.

All the best,

Crumpp

Patrol flights around 13 Group and what Juha mentioned.

1210hrs: Radar stations and the Observer Corps along the far north east coast of England and southern Scotland reported that an estimated 30 enemy aircraft had been detected coming in from the North Sea. A few moments later, this was changed to 50+ aircraft. A number of squadrons in the north had already proved their worth, but generally most of the squadrons in the north were newly formed squadrons or training units. Little did the Luftwaffe know that a number of experienced fighter squadrons were at this time up north on a rest, including 72 and 79 Squadrons. 13 Group of Fighter Command scrambled 72 Squadron Acklington (Spitfires) to meet the enemy. Not too many large or frequent sightings had been made in this part of Britain as most of the action so far had taken place in the south with 11 Group, hence the radar operators were not as experienced as the radar operators in the south. The formation that they had estimated as being 30 aircraft, was in fact a formation of 65 Heinkel III bombers of KG 26 and 34 Me 110s from I/ZG 76 based in Norway (Len Deighton puts this figure at 72 He IIIs, 21 Me 110s and a decoy of Heinkel 115C Floatplanes coming in from the north) and a formation of 50 Ju 88s from KG 30 based in Denmark.
Whichever set of figures are correct, it has been verified that 13 Group did only estimate that the formation consisted of only 30 aircraft which later was corrected to 50+, which now turned out to be a mammoth task for 72 Squadron to undertake. Squadron Leader Collins ( Richard Collier claims this to be a Flight Lieutenant Ted Graham and this is backed up by Denis Newton) headed his squadron past the estimated vector point seeing the German formation well to his left, then turned through the broken cloud towards the direction of the formation from the sun. Approaching the enemy, a voice came over the radio " Haven't you seen them ?" to which a reply was forthcoming "Of course I've seen the bbbbbbastards, I'm trying to wwwwwwork out wwwwhat to dddddo." It wasn't that the leader had a sudden touch of bad nerves, but under strain it is said he stuttered badly.
In the meantime, corrections to the original estimate had been corrected and 605 Squadron Drem (Hurricanes) and 41 Squadron Catterick (Spitfires) had been dispatched to join 72 Squadron. It was a bad start for the Luftwaffe after their long journey across the North Sea. 23 German aircraft were shot down which included 8 He111s, 8 Bf110s and 7 Ju88s. It was a high price to pay for a little damage done to two airfields, although the German airman's account below states that the airfield at Driffield had been destroyed and 'was no more.' Records show that a number of Whitely's of Bomber Command at Driffield in Yorkshire were damaged. No other daylight raids on the north coast have ever been recorded.

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