Date: 8 August 1940
- Weather: Showers and bright intervals. Channel cloudy.
- Day: Three major attacks on a Channel convoy.
- Night: Small raids and minelaying.
Start of Phase 2 of the Battle of Britain
Enemy action by day
The enemy's main effort, which developed into three successive attacks involving about 300 aircraft, was directed against one convoy off the South Coast. In the course of combats with these forces, our fighters achieved very considerable success in inflicting 66 casualties (confirmed and unconfirmed) upon the enemy against a loss of 18 aircraft.
There was, in addition, a minor attack towards Dover and this may have been made to create a diversion from one of the above convoy attacks which occurred further west shortly afterwards.
South and West
At 0541 hours, a convoy off the Isle of Wight was reconnoitred by an enemy aircraft flying at 20,000 feet. The reconnaissance was followed at 0840 hours by an attack upon the convoy from two raids totalling 60+ aircraft. The convoy was being escorted by three sections of fighters which were then reinforced by two squadrons and in the course of the engagement 9 enemy aircraft are claimed as confirmed casualties against our loss of two fighters. Two ships are reported to have been sunk. Fighters report that waterborne balloons above the clouds would appear to have disclosed the position of the convoy.
At 1205 hours, two raids originating from Cherbourg (as did the previous attack), and consisting of 100+ aircraft appeared as a mass raid on a 20-mile front and made a second attack on the convoy. Six squadrons were detailed to this attack and as a result, 23 enemy aircraft are claimed as confirmed and 4 as unconfirmed. We lost five aircraft.
Between 1300 and 1400 hours, 3 raids of one aircraft each approached the Isle of Wight and in one case an enemy seaplane was reported. It is suggested (but not confirmed) that this seaplane was being used to pick up survivors from aircraft previously shot down.
Between 1400 and 1500 hours, reconnaissances were made off Falmouth and the Lizard, and a Ju88 is claimed as an unconfirmed casualty.
At about 1615 hours, a third attack developed against the convoy off Bournemouth. This consisted of five raids numbering some 130 aircraft which emanated from the Cherbourg area and fanned out as they approached our coast. By this time the convoys is said to have scattered as a result of the previous raids. Five of our squadrons operated against this attack and accounted for 18 aircraft claimed as confirmed and 9 as unconfirmed casualties. Our losses were 6 aircraft.
South East
At about 1145 hours, a raid originating in Le Touquet area and consisting of 20+ aircraft, approached Dover and eventually turned west along the coast to Beachy Head where it circled and the flew south east. It was intercepted by 3 squadrons and they claim two enemy aircraft as confirmed. Our losses were five aircraft, one of which was a Blenheim undergoing a training flight which got mixed up in the battle.
Two other raids approached the coast in the morning but did not materialise.
Between 1500 and 1600 hours, two raids were engaged by fighters off Dover, and one of these raids preceded the third attack on the same convoy.
East
No activity took place until 1600 hours when an aircraft flew towards the Tyne and a Ju88 was reported near Cromer. A trawler was bombed off Yarmouth at 1656 hours.
France
From 1300 hours onwards, patrols were unusually active in the Calais - Boulogne area.
By night
Raids of one aircraft and 4+ aircraft from Cherbourg approached Portland and Start Point. Minelaying was presumed to be in progress off Falmouth/Plymouth/Lyme Bay and the Bristol Channel. Several raids approached Poole, Birmingham and Manchester and the mouth of the Mersey River and 15 miles north of Barrow-in-Furness. Further minelaying is suspected in the Humber and Thames Estuary and off the East Anglian coast. During the night, one aircraft of No 219 Squadron (Blenheims) intercepted an enemy raider in the Humber area but with no apparent result. One raid came in the Newcastle area. Raids crossed the Devonshire coast, proceeded up to North Wales, then to Liverpool and Leeds and across to the Catterick district and probably went out to sea north of Flamborough Head. Enemy aircraft were also active over Bristol, St Margaret's Bay and Birmingham.
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Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 8 August 1940
- Blenheim - 66
- Spitfire - 257
- Hurricane - 370
- Defiant - 20
- Total – 713
Casualties:
Enemy Losses By Squadron No. Confirmed Unconfirmed 145 Sqn (Hurricanes) 12 Ju87 6 Me109 3 Me110 64 Sqn (Spitfires) 2 Me109 238 Sqn (Hurricanes) 2 Me110 1 Me 110 1 Me109 2 Me109 1 Do17 609 Sqn (Spitfires) 2 Ju87 3 Me110 41 Sqn (Spitfires) 6 Me109 257 Sqn (Hurricanes) 2 Me109 601 Sqn (Hurricanes) 3 Me109 234 Sqn (Spitfires) 1 Ju88 43 Sqn (Hurricanes) 3 Ju87 6 Ju87 3 Me109 1 Me110 152 Sqn (Spitfires) 2 Me109 2 Me109 213 Sqn (Hurricanes) 1 Me109 17 Sqn (Hurricanes) 1 Ju88 TOTAL 52 14 - Own:
- No 145 Squadron - 5 Hurricanes
- No 64 Squadron - 1 Spitfire (pilot wounded)
- No 257 Squadron - 3 Hurricanes
- No 65 Squadron - 3 Spitfires (1 pilot unhurt)
- No 43 Squadron - 3 Hurricanes (1 pilot wounded)
- No 600 Squadron - 1 Blenheim
- No 238 Squadron - 2 Hurricanes
Patrols:
- 152 patrols despatched involving 689 aircraft.
- Sorties by night
- No 10 Group - 8
- No 11 Group - 9
- No 12 Group - 13
- No 13 Group - 3
Balloons:
- Flying 1501. Casualties 43.
Aerodromes:
- No reports.
Organisation:
- No reports.
Air Intelligence Reports
- Nil.
Home Security Reports
- Date: 7th/8th/9th August 1940
- General Summary
- In addition to those areas already reported, where bombs were dropped in the early of this day, enemy aircraft were active in parts of Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire, in the North and in Somersetshire, Cornwall and near the Scilly Isles in the South-West. Comparatively little damage was done, except to a Sanatorium at Stannington (Northumberland) - previously reported - and only one person is said to have died from amongst the few seriously injured.
- Three soldiers were injured at St Donat's.
- Leaflets were dropped at Salford, Manchester.
- From 0600 to 1800 hours no reports were received of the dropping of any bombs on land but there was considerable enemy air activity off the South Coast with convoys as the supposed objectives.
- During the night 8th/9th August, bombs were dropped in somewhat widely separated areas including Cheshire, Warwickshire, Monmouthshire and on the South-east Coast, East Sussex and Kent.
- Detailed Summary
- 7th August (not previously reported)
- A number of bombs were dropped in Somersetshire between 2330 and 2345 hours, notably at Hewish near Crewkerne, at West Coker near Yeovil and near Milbourne Port.
- 8th August
- At 0040 hours a number of HE bombs were dropped at Boothstown, Worsley and Astley, near Manchester and at Appleton, Arley and near Plumley between Warrington and Northwich. Damage was slight and there were no casualties.
- In Buckinghamshire, six bombs were reported in the Wendover - Bierton area. It is now stated that 16 bombs were dropped in this County and the area extended to Hoggeston and Swanbourne. Nine boimbs were dropped in the Bierton area, not six as previously reported.
- Two bombs fell near a searchlight station about 90 degrees Winslow (Buckinghamshire) 3 miles. No damage was caused and there were no casualties.
- With reference to the last entry of yesterday's report, it is now learnt that mines were dropped at Stannington (Northumberland) not HE bombs. Parachutes have been found beside each crater.
- Two objects attached to parachutes fell at Ramsgate at about 1135 hours. They are about 3 feet long and 18 inches in diameter and are reported to be message canisters. When first seen they were emitting smoke.
- At 2230 hours, one bomb was dropped at Severn Tunnel Junction (Monmouthshire). Road and railway not affected but two slight casualties reported.
- At Fairlight, near Hastings, what was first reported to be a bomb is now said to have been a magnetic mine. Fragments of silk have been recovered and Coastguards report having seen a parachute. Crater 12 feet by 20 feet in a field.
- 9th August
- At 0005 hours two HE were dropped at St Margarets-at-Cliffe (north-east of Dover). Several unoccupied houses were damaged - two extensively - and telephone wires down. No casualties.
- Nine HE were reported dropped in Cheshire between 0002 and 0030 hours, four at Prenton near Birkenhead and five at Carden near Malpas. Damage to telephone wires only is reported.
- In the Birmingham area, five HE are reported dropped between 0100 and 0123 hours and preliminary reports suggested that several people have been trapped in damaged houses.