Airfields continued to come under attack today and there were major engagements between RAF and Luftwaffe fighters.

The Defiants of No 264 Squadron, flying from Hornchurch, were in action and unsurprisingly suffered casualties. One of the aircraft downed was that of the CO, Squadron Leader George Garvin. Both he and his air gunner, 31-year-old Flight Lieutenant Robert Ash, escaped from the aircraft, but Ash, an equipment officer before he volunteered for aircrew duties, was dead when he was found. It appeared that he had been machine gunned by a German fighter on the way down. Their aircraft crashed on Luddenham Marshes, Faversham.

A British pilot forced to take to his parachute was Squadron Leader Don Finlay, flying as a supernumerary in No 54 Squadron. His Spitfire was shot down over Ramsgate in combat with Bf 109s and Finlay was wounded.

Finlay was an outstanding athlete who had won a bronze medal at the 1932 Olympics and a silver in 1936 both in the 110 metres hurdles. He competed in the same event at the 1948 Games in London and had also represented the RAF at Football and Rugby Union.

Flight Lieutenant “Al” Deere, a New Zealander from Auckland and also of No 54 Squadron, had baled out earlier in the day, his aircraft having been hit by fire from another Spitfire.