HURRICANES’ DAY OUT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 July 1940, Page 6

HURRICANES’ DAY OUT

TWELVE MESSERSCHMITTS SENT DOWN DESTROYED OR SERIOUSLY DAMAGED. IN COMBATS OVER FRANCE (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) RUGBY, July 1. In the operations on Sunday mentioned in an earlier cablegram, a Hurricane formation encountered a patrol of six Messerschmitt 109's over France. The wing-commander leading the Hurricanes’ formation immediately attacked. He shot down three enemy aircraft himself, two of them falling in flames on the French coast. In addition, fighter pilots engaged in the action believe they destroyed two others. At the same lime, two pilots of another Hurricane squadron were, as their reports state, “staging a show ol their own.” They got separated from their main formation over Le Treport, and flew below the clouds towards Abbeville. There they encountered a formation of five Messerschmitt 109’s and shot down two in flames and badly damaged a third. Another Hurricane formation encountered a third patrol of six Messerschmitt 109’s. One Messerchmitt went into a spin, with thick black smoke belching "from it. A second is thought to have crashed into a wood north-east of Bethune and two others dived vertically for the ground with clouds of smoke streaming from their engines. A total of 17 enemy aircraft were encountered during the afternoon and our Hurricanes allowed only five to escape without serious damage.