Seeking details of first confirmed Defiant victory

[Peter Cornwell]

According to their ORB, 'A' Flight of No.264 Sqdn were patrolling the Dutch coast near the Hague with 'B' Flight of No.66 Sqdn from 13.55 hrs. Each section of Defiants behind a section of Spitfires. Red Section of No.264 Sqdn (S/L Hunter & LAC King, P/O Whitehouse & Sgt Smalley, and P/O Young & LAC Johnson) engaged a lone Ju88 that dropped a bomb near 3 destroyers at 14.50 hrs & reported it down in a field with port engine on fire. Meanwhile, Yellow Section of No.264 Sqdn (F/L Cooke & Cpl Lippett, P/O Barwell & Sgt Quinnie, and P/O Whitley & LAC Turner), along with a section Spitfires, engaged a lone He111 that was also reported brought down in a field.

Matching these claims to known losses is problematic. 3./KGr126 lost two He111s in this area (Ossendrecht & Woensdrecht) on this date but much later in the day (20.10 hrs) & are both credited to GC III/3 ?

Full details of these actions can be found in the excellent 'Luchtgevechten boven West-Brabant en de Biesbosch' by Jan Jolie (Lorelax Productions 2000).