Headwind is Coming

I feel it from somewhere deep inside. The winds of change are beginning to blow and a storm and a story are on the horizon.


Friday, August 13, 2010

August 13, 1940

On This Day in History

Date: 13 August 1940

Weather: Mainly fair. Early morning mist and slight drizzle in places and some cloud in the Channel.

Day: Opening of 'Eagle Day' misfires. Heavy raid on Eastchurch followed by afternoon raids on Portland, Southampton and airfields in Kent and Hampshire. 1,485 German sorties.

Night: Light attacks on Midlands, Wales and the West Country.
'Adler Tag' ('Eagle Day') - the original date set by Hitler for the invasion of Britain.

Daily audio broadcasts, taken from the official Fighter Command Daily Summaries, giving the news highlights of each days action in the Battle of Britain are now available FREE and streamed direct to your PC every day. Find out more information on Radio1940, download the software and hear daily the Battle of Britain news as it happened 60 years ago to the day.


Source: http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/august13.html

On August 13 1940 12 Blenheims of RAF 82 Sqn were detailed for an attack on Aalborg West airfield. One of the aircrafts had to turn back due to fuel problems while the remaining eleven aircrafts pressed on. When crossing the Danish west coast near Søndervig flying at 8000 feet in a clear blue sky they were spotted by a German observation post and the flak at Aalborg was alerted.
Eight Bf 109E fighters of 5/JG 77 based on Aalborg East airfield were scrambled at 12:05 hours. The attack on the airfield started at approx. 12:15 and all eleven Blenheims were lost to flak and fighters within 20 minutes.

Source: http://www.flensted.eu.com/194014.shtml

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Monday, August 2, 2010

The Battle of Britain

By the beginning of July 1940, the RAF had built up its strength to 640 fighters, but the Luftwaffe had 2600 bombers and fighters. The stage was set. In the skies above South East England, the future of Britain was about to be decided. As the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill put it; "What General Weygrand called the Battle of France is over, the Battle of Britain is about to begin".

August 2, 1940

A report has been received from SS Highlander that she was attacked by two enemy aircraft at about 2345 hours on 1st August, 6 miles south of Stonehaven. She claims that one He115 was brought down by a Holman projector and crashed on the poop deck, and that the other aircraft crashed into the sea in flames due to Lewis gun fire. Both aircraft are stated to have made aerial torpedo and low machine gunning attacks.

Source: http://www.raf.mod.uk