war in the sky

Opening his throttle and arcing down to build up speed, the leader was followed closely by his two wingmen, faithful as ever in open formation, not too close but near enough to cover one another in case of danger – a perfect attack formation. Each pilot armed his weapons, twin nose mounted 7.92 millimetre machine guns with a thousand rounds and two wing-mounted twenty millimetre cannon, one in each wing with sixty rounds of High Explosive shells. Lining up on an enemy each, the battle began, a deadly mêlée as the 109s knifed through the formation, not receiving a single return shot. The Tommie gunners must be asleep! In seconds the small fighters sped past, with surprise gone. Now the Germans could be as deadly as they pleased. Already one Englishman had been badly hit, for an engine burst into flame and black smoke coiled behind the Halifax like a ravenous snake. Slowly the hit plane dropped back, a quarter of its power gone with the dead engine. Two other bombers had been hit, with dead rear gunners; not a single bullet had been fired back. Turning again, the Messerschmitts attacked at full speed. This time the crippled plane was hit in the fuel tanks, fuel vapour streaming away like a fog.