Morning activity was limited until the weather improved and Bf 109s appeared over the south east.

A Spitfire crashed at Smarden, Kent, although the cause was not established. Sergeant Leslie Allton of No 92 Squadron was killed.

The book “The Battle of Britain Then and Now” reports that the wartime recovery operation at the scene was abandoned when a hurricane lamp was knocked over and fuel ignited. In the 1970s excavations at the site recovered the Spitfire’s Merlin engine and other items, including a cigarette case and what appeared to be the remains of the hurricane lamp.

Leslie Allton had been school captain at King Edward Vl Grammar School, Nuneaton and was an outstanding sportsman. He had flown Fairey Battles in France and served with No 266 Squadron before moving to 92 on 30 September 1940. He was buried in Nuneaton.