24 July 1941
. S/Ldr Juliusz Frey’s relation:
          Right before taking our designated place over the escorted bombers I ordered a change of formation, and for an instant I could see our planes against the sun. I had an impression that somehow they multiplied themselves. I thought them to be British squadron’s Spitfires, which was flying top cover. Later, it came apparent that some of our other pilots thought the same thing. Then, while the squadron’s sections were repositioning themselves, I noticed a strange looking Spitfire, which appeared suddenly some 60 meters from me. At that moment, we all realized that these “Spitfires” are German Messerschmidts. It looked like Jerries made the same error, mistaking our Hurricanes for their Bf109s. A wild mêlée erupted and Jerries tried to escape while all our guys tried to shoot at them. Obviously, many got in the others way and one German took advantage of the confusion and disappeared. The two others weren’t so lucky. I stuck to one and from a distance of 150 meters gave him two short bursts. It was enough to make him explode into flames. The other one was trounced by Olek (F/Lt Gabszewicz). His Jerry went for a deck smoking heavily but managed to get away.    


Pembrey. March 1941. From left: P/O Rychlicki, P/O Nartowicz and F/O Sawicz.

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