ympne and Eastchurch airfields were attacked today, as was the Short factory at Rochester, where Stirling bombers were being built.

The book ‘The Battle of Britain Then and Now’ recorded that “On Thursday September 12 a large number of the inhabitants of Beverley attended his funeral in Queensgate cemetery to pay their respects. The coffin, draped with the Union Jack, was carried by six Sergeants of the Royal Air Force followed by a contingent of airmen. One of those present was Irene Williams, his young fiancee.”

A force of Bf 110s carrying bombs, briefed to attack the Hawker factory, was engaged by the Hurricanes of No 253 Squadron and a number were shot down. Pilot Officer “Corky” Corkett was one victorious pilot, reporting that he attacked a 110 which “broke formation, climbed 500 ft, turned over and dived straight down, exploding in a field.”

Pilot Officer Nowak, a Polish pilot, claimed a 110 which he saw catch fire and crash. Some of the enemy aircraft, though, escaped from this mauling and, by mistake, bombed the nearby Vickers factory at Brooklands, causing heavy loss of life.

At about 1.35 pm, a No 222 Squadron Spitfire, shot down by Bf 109s, crashed near Yalding, Kent. The 24-year-old pilot, Sergeant John Ramshaw, from Beverley, Yorkshire, a former clerk with the Halifax Building Society, died on his way to hospital.