Date: 19th August 1940
- Weather: Mainly cloudy, occasional showers in the east.
- Day: Isolated raids on Britain. Heavy reconnaissance activity.
- Night: Widespread harassing raids and minelaying.
Enemy action by day/b>
During the morning enemy activity was reduced to a few reconnaissances by single aircraft over the Southern Counties and off the East Coast.
In the afternoon single aircraft carried out widespread bombing attacks on objectives in South Wales, South and South-Eastern England.
North and East Coasts
Reconnaissances were reported off the East Coast of Scotland, near convoys off the Yorkshire Coast and off Great Yarmouth. Later, single aircraft attacked Coltishall, Honington, Stowmarket and Chelmsford.
At 1809 hours, 1 Me110 was intercepted and destroyed off Great Yarmouth.
South East Coasts
During the day approximately 15 reconnaissance flights were plotted in the Thames Estuary and The Straits. Barracks near Dover were attacked by single aircraft at 1500 hours.
South and West Coasts
Frequent reconnaissances were plotted in the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth areas, some of which penetrated inland towards South Wales and Middle Wallop. At 1345 hours, a Ju88 was intercepted and destroyed near Taunton; at 1500 hours, 1 Ju88 was destroyed near Southampton and at 1715 hours, 1 Ju88 was destroyed near the Isle of Wight. Oil tanks at Llanreath (Pembroke); aerodromes at Harwell, Little Rissington and Shrivenham, and targets near Oxford, Swindon, Wroughton and Burley were attacked. One aircraft attacked the balloon barrage at Southampton.
By night
Enemy activity was widespread but for the most part confined to raids by single aircraft. At midnight some 60 raids were plotted. Enemy aircraft were active off the coast and minelaying is suspected from the Thames Estuary to Northumberland. Two raids of 6+ penetrated inland, one to Derby and one to Middle Wallop. Single aircraft raids were mainly active in the Midlands and East Anglia, but raids were also reported in the Portsmouth, Bristol, South Wales, Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle and Edinburgh/Glasgow areas. Humber anti-aircraft guns claim to have destroyed and enemy aircraft at 2315 hours.
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Statistics
Fighter Command Serviceable Aircraft as at 0900 hours, 19th August 1940
- Blenheim - 49
- Spitfire - 219
- Hurricane - 388
- Defiant - 27
- Gladiator - 6
- Total – 689
Casualties:
Enemy Losses By Fighters Destroyed Probable Damaged 1 Me110 1 He111 1 Ju88 4 Ju88 5 1 1 By Anti-Aircraft Destroyed Probable Damaged 1 unknown 1 - Own:
- 3 aircraft of which two pilots are safe.
Patrols:
- Own
- 130 patrols despatched involving 403 aircraft.
- Enemy
- It is estimated that about 100 enemy aircraft operated over Great Britain between 1800 hours, 18th August and 1800 hours on the 19th.
Balloons:
- Flying 1529. Casualties 54 (35 repairable, 6 written off and 13 by enemy action).
Aerodromes:
- Manston, Hawkinge, Biggin Hill, Kenley, Hartlepool, Abbotsinch are all unserviceable by night.
Organisation:
- No 232 Squadron - the whole squadron is now at Sumburgh.
- No 25 Squadron - the whole squadron is now at Martlesham.
- No 17 Squadron - the whole squadron is now at Tangmere.
- No 601 Squadron has moved from Tangmere to Debden.
- No 64 Squadron has moved from Kenley to Leconfield.
- No 616 Squadron has moved from Leconfield to Kenley.
- No 615 Squadron has moved from Hawkinge to Kenley.
- No 610 Squadron has moved from Hawkinge to Biggin Hill.
- No 65 Squadron has moved from Rochford to Hornchurch.
- No 74 Squadron has moved from Manston to Wittering.
- No 85 Squadron has moved from Martlesham to Croydon.
- No 111 Squadron has moved from Hawkinge to Debden.
- No 32 Squadron has moved from Hawkinge to Biggin Hill.
- No 56 Squadron has moved from North Weald to Rochford.
- No 151 Squadron has moved from Rochford to North Weald.
- No 607 Squadron is operational by day only.
Air Intelligence Reports
- No reports.
Home Security Reports
- Date: 18th/19th August 1940
- General Summary
- Raiding by single aircraft, or at most two or three, in contrast to previous days, the enemy attacked military objectives and aerodromes in Southern England in the afternoon. Service casualties were caused at Dover and Chatham, and a serious fire was started when oil tanks were hit at Pembroke.
- Small raids also bombed many districts in Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, but little material damage was caused although there were some civilian casualties.
- After dark, bombs have been reported from Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and many other districts in the southern half of England but these attacks seem to have been at random and only light damage is reported.
- Detailed Summary
- Little Rissington was bombed at 2300 hours on 18th August and one Anson was destroyed. One service casualty is reported.
- St Athan RAF Station was bombed with 3 HE at 0003 hours and a hangar was hit and one aircraft damaged.
- At Broughton, near Swindon, 2 HE and some IB were dropped on Air Ministry property at 1340 hours. No reports of damage or casualties have been received.
- At 1350 hours, bombs were dropped at Shrivenham (Watchfield) Aerodrome. They fell outside the boundary and no damage resulted.
- Worthy Down Aerodrome suffered a dive bombing attack at 1424 hours by a single He111. Three 500lb bombs dropped, one damaging a hangar, one on the apron and one near another hangar causing considerable damage to buildings, cables and telephone wires and minor damage to four or five aircraft outside hangars. There were six minor casualties to personnel.
- At 1420 hours, a Ju88 attacked Harwell Aerodrome in steep dive releasing three heavy bombs and setting fire to three Wellingtons, which were totally destroyed.
- Coltishall Aerodrome was bombed at 1456 hours and an unfinished hangar was hit and slightly damaged. Several civilian casualties were caused, but the aerodrome itself is intact and no aircraft were damaged.
- Honington Aerodrome was subject to two attacks, the first at 1615 hours by a single aircraft using HE and incendiaries. Slight material damage was done and four Service dead and many injured are reported. The second attack was delivered by one Do17 at 1825 hours and resulted in heavy damage to one barrack block, two Wellingtons and one Magister. Six craters were formed on the aerodrome and one hangar roof was holed.
- At 1815 hours, nine HE and incendiaries were dropped on Air Ministry property at Brettenham. No casualties were caused.
- A hangar at Driffield Aerodrome is reported burning as a result of bombs dropped at 2258 hours.
- A single enemy aircraft raided Chelmsford at 1345 hours and dropped 23 HE in the residential area. Two houses were destroyed and casualties were 2 killed and 5 injured.
- At 1515 hours, an attack was made on the Llanreath oil tanks at Pembroke. Two hostile aircraft delivered salvoes which hit the tanks and started a serious fire which did not come under control until 0030 hours, 20th August. Of fifteen tanks, eight are involved containing many thousands of tons of petrol.
- Colchester was bombed twice at 1525 and 1745 hours. No damage was occasioned in the first raid, but in the second electric cables and telephones were hit.
- At Dover, five HE fell near the castle and three more inside the barracks at Guston, causing damage to huts and houses and several casualties.
- Five HE were dropped at Portland at 1610 hours by a single He111, apparently directed at the Mere Oil Fuel Depot. All fell on the Chesil Beach side of tanks and there are no reports of damage.
- At 1635 hours, a single aircraft raided the dockyard at Chatham, one building was wrecked by bombs.
- At Ablington, four HE fell at 1415 hours damaging two aircraft on the landing ground. One aircraftsman was killed.
- Casualties on Ground by Enemy Action:
- To RAF Personnel - 5 killed, 40 injured.
- To others - 23 killed, 74 injured
