Osprey - Aviation Elite Units 03 - 91 'Nigeria' Squadron.pdf

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OSPREY AVIATION
ELITE • 3
No
91
'Nigeria'
Squadron
Front
cover
late in the
evening of 25
May 1943,
four
No 91
Sqn
Spitfire
Xlls were
scrambled to intercept an estimated
15 Fw 190A-5s that had been
detected by
coastal
radar heading
for
Folkestone. These
aircraft almost
certainly hailed from
Schnellkampf-
geschwader
10, which had been
carrying out
dusk
and
night-bombing
attacks
on coastal
towns in the
south-east of
England
since
mid
April. Often
arriving over their
targets at
great
speed
totally
unannounced, the German pilots had
caused
considerable
damage
and
loss of life during the
campaign to
date, but
on
this
occasion
they more
than met their match. The
Intelligence Form
'F'
of
No
91
Sqn's
CO, Sqn
ldr Raymond Harries,
describes what happened next;
'
I
was
leading Blue
section,
comprising four aircraft of
No
91
Sqn,
on a
defensive
patrol. I had just
returned to
base,
and with
my No
2
had
just
landed
when
the
scramble
signal
was
given
from the
watch
office.
We
both
immediately took
off
again, and saw enemy
aircraft
approaching
Folkestone.
'
I immediately dived
towards
the
sea,
the enemy aircraft turning back
and jettisoning their bombs
immediately they saw
us.
Going over
Folkestone I
experienced
very heavy
flak
,
luckily inaccurate, from our
ground defences. I sighted one lone
FW190
at sea
level
returning
to
France. I
came
in from his
starboard
side,
delivering a three-second
burst
at
250 yards. Enemy
aircraft
hit
the
sea
tail first,
split in two
and
sank
immediately.
'I
then
spotted another
FW190 to
starboard.
I
flew straight over
the
top
of
it in
order
to identify it in
the
failing light. Enemy
aircraft
pulled up
his nose and
gave
me
a
quick
squirt.
I pulled
straight
up to
about
1000 ft
,
and turning to
port,
dived right
on
to
his
tail,
opening fire from
300 yards
and closing
to 150 yards. I fired
a
four-second burst,
seeing strikes and
flashes all over the enemy aircraft.
Enemy aircraft lost height
very
gradually, with smoke and
flame
s
coming
from it,
skimmed
for
some
distance
along
the
surface of the
water and
then
sank.
This
was
confirmed
by Flt Lt Matthew
and
Flt
Lt
Kynaston. I
orbited around taking
cine gun snaps of
the
oil
patch
and
pieces
of wreckage
that
were
visible'
(Cover artwork
by
Jim Laurier)
D
edicatio
n
For
Lynne
Corder,
who
possesses the
same fighting spirit as those feat
ured
in this
book. They would
h
ave
liked
her.
First
publ
ished in
G
rear
Britain
in 200
I
by Osprey Publishing
Elms Court, Chapel
Way,
Bodey,
Oxford, OX2
9
LP
E- mail: info@ospreypublishing.com
©
200
I
Osprey
Publishing
Limited
All righrs
reserved . Apart
from
any fai
r
dealing
for
the
purpose
of
private
study,
research,
criticism or
review, as
permitted under
rhe
Copyright,
Design
and
Parents
Act,
1988, no pare
of
rhis publicatio
n
may
be
reproduced,
scored
in a
retrieval
system,
or transmitted in any form or
by
any means,
electronic,
electrical,
chemical,
mechanical,
optical,
photocopying, recording
or otherwise,
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permission.
All
enquiries should
be
add
ressed
co
the
publisher.
ISBN
1
84
1761605
Edited
by
Tony
Holmes
Page
design by Mark
Hole
Cover
Artwork
by
Jim
L1urier
Air
raft
Profiles by
C
h
ris
Davey
Pharo
Captio
ns
by
Peter
Hall
and
Tony
Holmes
O
rigination
by
Grasmere
Digiral
Imaging,
Leeds,
UK
Printed through
Bookbuilders,
H
ong
Kong
01
02
03
04
10
9 8 7 6
5
4 3
2
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T
he
Editor
wishes co
express
his
thanks co
Roy H
umphreys, Ph
ilip
Jarrett,
Andy
Saunders and
Andy Thomas
for
rhe provision
of
photographs included with
in
chis
volume.
EDITOR'S NOTE
To
make chis
new
series as
aurhoricacive
as
possible,
the
Editor
would
be
interested
in
hearing
from any
individual
who
may have relevant phorographs, documenta-
tion or
flrsr-hand
experiences relating
co
aircrews,
and
their aircraft, of rh e various
t
heatres
of
war.
Any
material
used will
be
credited
co irs
original source.
Please
write co Tony
Holmes
ar
I
0
Prospect
Road,
Sevenoaks,
Kem,
TN
13
3UA,
Grear
Britain,
or
by
e-mail
ar: rony.holmes@osprey-jers.freeserve.co.uk
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