ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

The first German I remember seeing was one day when we landed at this field, and there were two of our Lysanders on the circuit. Suddenly, out of the blue came two Messerschmitt 109's and shot them both down- that was the first thing we’d ever seen. We all stood there and gaped. They could have killed us all if they’d thought; but as soon as they’d shot the Lysanders down off they went. We were just standing there gaping at them - we were just kids.

The first time I remember actually running into the Germans was my second day in France, when we took off from Lille. It was astounding really. You didn’t have time to be frightened. Suddenly the air was absolutely full of aeroplanes. You made sure there wasn’t one on your tail and you tried to get round another one, you know, and then suddenly the sky was empty. By which time we’d lost two pilots: the flight commander and the sergeant pilot.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Peter Dawbarn and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See also more of Peter Dawbarn's stories:

• Combat
• 'It’s like riding a horse'
• Flippin' Heinkel 111
• Good Idea, Bad Idea
• A Close Encounter with the Equine Kind
• No Brakes And No Hydraulics, But It’ll Fly!
• Peter Dawbarn's Other Exploits

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.