Parry, Simon W. Battle of Britain Combat Archive. Volume 17: 28. September - 3 October 1940

Part 17 of a detailed chronology of the Battle of Britain in the summer/autumn of 1940. Day by day, practically hour by hour, the work describes the individual offensive and defensive operations of the German Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force in the period from 28 September to 3 October 1940. For each mission, there are combat reports from participating pilots, exact lists of aircraft losses on both sides, as well as official reports on the course of the respective mission. From 28 September onwards, daytime raids on London were limited to individual attacks by twin-engined bombers that took advantage of the cloud cover, or to attacks by Bf 109 bombers carrying bombs with strong escorts. Fighter Command continued to defend with undiminished vigour, although on most sorties no enemy aircraft were sighted. When the Bf 109s were sighted, they were flying at enormous altitude, having time to climb above France and the English Channel before crossing the English coast. Fighter Command, on the other hand, had to move out early, hoping that the attack was not one of the many diversionary manoeuvres. The Spitfire pilots and the less fortunate Hurricane pilots then had to climb to almost 30,000 feet to attack the enemy, running the risk of being shot down from above by the Bf 109 fighters. This led squadron commanders to complain bitterly to the 11th Group that they were suffering a fatal disadvantage, as many pilots found out at their own expense. Using the usual mix of first-hand accounts and original research using contemporary documents from both sides, author Simon Parry and his team of experts have gone beyond where most books about the Battle of Britain end. The dogfights that took place after 27 September are rarely mentioned in the history of the Battle of Britain, but this final phase was probably when the RAF was most likely to lose control of the airspace over England.