260 Squadron Fighting Strategies

260 Squadron Fighting Strategies
We may have not had the best air plane, but we knew how to react when the109's came and how to confront them, you see. We flew in sections of four at that time, see, finger four. And the squadron would be split up from a twelve into three fours and if we were attacked, they...our defence was a turnabout into the enemy, a 180, you see. And the thing, secret was when to call it and how steep to turn and make everybody turn together, whether you could see the enemy or not. Just stay together, you see. Come out together, go back in together and so that the Hun would be facing the four air planes if he kept pursuit his attack, see. And this would break up, thwart their attacks most of the time. They would be down in small numbers normally. Two, four. Mostly though you had a sharp shooter with his number two, see. They might come over in a gaggle of eight, ten, twelve, but they’d break up in two’s and so you had to keep track of the whole sky. They loved to...they would always get above and come down, you see. He would pick on the guys at the back, see. Fire and pull up. Roll off the top and come back down again. This was the tactic. So they loved to do this, like when we were escorting the bombers. As we’d turn over the target and the flak was coming up and they’d have the sun behind them, you see. This is when they loved to come down cause, you could have a hard time keeping track of them. And you had to be able to see all this going on. You had to see them before the attack. You had to see them coming and keep track of them in the air. And you know, it isn’t that simple to just to go shoot down somebody. You’ve got to get in to position. So you arrange it so you make it very difficult for him or he puts himself in jeopardy in doing it or he just, he has to break off. We could out-turn them and they knew this, so they would not pursue the turn. They’d pull back up again. You couldn’t climb after them; you’d stall out and they would just follow you down. You had it if you tried to follow them. And you might get one guy pulling up but his buddy would get you, you see. And if there’s any stragglers or anything like that, they would be shot down.