[Chris Goss]

On 18 Aug 40 between 1147-1151 hrs a Do 17 P of 3/121 carried out a photo recce sortie of those airfields and reported 27 ac at Ford, 8 single-engined ac at Thorney Island, 40 single-engined ac at Tangmere. At 1530 hrs, 2 Bf 110s of 2/11 were over Portsmouth. At 0900 hrs, a Do 17 from 2/123 overflew Selsey. I have no evidence that any Ju 86s were involved despite what is said in 'The Hardest Day' (something Alfred Price agrees with)-where did you get 15 Aug 40? Bottom line is there were all sorts of German recce ac over southern UK that day and they knew what they were after-Thorney Island, Ford, Littlehampton radar station and Gosport