The War Illustrated, Volume 3, No. 46, Page 48, July 19, 1940.

In twenty days the Germans lost at least twenty bombers in fruitless raids on Britain despite the adoption of daylight raids from July 1st. Only two British fighters were lost during this period. On July 10th a resounding victory was achieved.

In his war broadcast on July 4th Air Marshall Sir Phillip Joubert explained the Air Ministry’s reasons for not disclosing the precise whereabouts of places raided by the Germans, and also for official reticence about the amount of material damage done. If we did not publish the particulars the enemy was obliged to send over aircraft to reconnoitre and take photographs, which gave our pilots another chance to have a go at the Nazis. The Air Marshall also made it clear that British figures for air losses were correct, whereas tha Nazi claims were exaggerated and mendacious.

During the 7 days ending July 7th the RAF maintained its destructive raids on German aerodromes, seaplane bases, aircraft works and other such objectives. Oil refineries and storage depots were raided again and again without intermission, and in all these operations our losses were remarkably low. The enemy’s raids upon Britain were no more successful than those he had made the week before, although on the evening of July 1st he began to send his pilots over in daylight. Perhaps the Nazi pilots were feeling their way, but these raids gave very useful experience to our defence organisations – both in the air and on the ground – and some remarkable successes were gained.

Heinkel Extinguished in the Sea

On the night of June 26/27 a squadron leader piloting one of our Hurricanes was directed to his quarry by "a tremendous concentration of searchlights" on his starboard beam, striking the base of a cloud and reflected upwards. In his own words:

"I turned right and immediately saw three aircraft flying towards my nose at 7,000 feet just above light cloud. I came close up underneath the last bomber ... a Heinkel 111. I fastened on his tail beneath and behind ... The bomber went into a slight dive quite slowly at 160 mile per hour. I found myself coming up right behind him, so I got into a comfortable position and opened fire at about 4,000 feet ...The Heinkel continued the same shallow dive. I gave it four bursts and then saw a glow inside the machine. It steepened its dive slightly, and as I thought we must be getting near the sea I pumped in all the rest of my rounds. The glow increased and the inside of the machine was obviously on fire.

Breaking away to the right at 500 feet, I watched him continue down but I could not see him strike the water. After climbing to 1,000 feet and dropping a parachute flare I could see the bomber lying on the water with a cloud of black smoke blowing from its rear section."

Another of the bombers – A Junkers 88 – was attacked by a Spitfire pilot over the East Coast. His bullets struck a bomb rack and the enemy aircraft exploded in mid – air. The third raider was a Heinkel: it was tackled off the south coast by one of our Blenheim aircraft, and turned away. The Blenheim pilot considered that the Heinkel had been damaged and the rear gunner killed by " four heavy short bursts" delivered from dead astern. The pilot was enthusiastic about the work of the searchlight men. "The lights were very effective," he said. "They never left the target and never illuminated our aircraft."

Here are some episodes from the daylight raids on Britain July 3rd.The raids were of the "hit and run" type and in most cases the Nazi bombers approached the coasts singly.

In the morning three Spitfire pilots, after attacking a Dornier "flying pencil" bomber, watched it turn on its back and crash into the sea off the East Coast. The Spitfires then attacked and badly damaged another Dornier which made off. Later in the morning a fighter pilot fired three bursts at a third Dornier 17, 12,000 feet up off the N.E., but aided by the clouds, the raider escaped destruction. Some little while after, a bomber, believed to be a Heinkel 111, fell into the off Aberdeenshire, following a stiff combat with our Spitfires.

In the early afternoon two Spitfires shot down another "flying pencil" this time off the S.E. Coast. A Junkers 88 was brought down off the Scottish coast, and a Hurricane patrol attacked and damaged a Dornier 215 while on patrol off the East Coast. Other Hurricanes badly punished a Heinkel 111 they had intercepted over the English Channel. To cap this day’s work, Spifires eaced out to sea shortly after 1900hrs to intercept yet another Nazi bomber: six minutes after taking off, they had it shot down in flames.

In the destruction of military objectives the Germans accomplished next to nothing. The other side of the account is shown in the table printed in this page. Moreover, by July 8th (in twenty days), at least fifty Nazi raiders had been lost and 118 aircraft destroyed in German raids since the war began. Out of 4,000 aircraft computed to have been lost by the enemy in all by early July, 2,500 were accounted for by the RAF. Then the Nazis came over in greater strength – and lost more. In the greatest air victory since June 18th, 150 raiders attacked over the South and East Coasts on July 10th : 14 Nazi bombers and fighters were shot down, and 23 others were seriously damaged. Only two of our fighters were lost, and of these one of the pilots was rescued.

Air Raids on Britain and Germany: Debits and Credits July 1st to 8th

Key to table

A. Aerodrome, a. ammunition, A.W. aircraft works, A.R. armament works, B. bridge, b. bombed, blst fur, blast furnaces, C. canal barges etc, c. chemical, D. dump, D.K. docks, F. factory, f. set on fire, G.E. gun emplacement, L. locks, L.C. lines of communication, M. marshalling yards, m.o. mission objectives, N. naval base, O. oil depot stores or refinery, P. power station, p. petrol, R. railway, S. stores or warehouses, S.B. seaplane base, S.Y. shipbuilding yard.