The scramble was a hurried affair ... a large enemy formation was encountered flying up the Thames Estuary towards London People's War memories »

Two British fighters were lost, but the pilot of one survived and is safe.

The bombing raids began at dawn hitting airfields along the south and east coasts of England.

But the main attacks took place offshore later in the day, when two shipping convoys were targeted. The first was at 1100 hours off Manston and at 1325 hours a large force of about 120 enemy aircraft approached a convoy between Dover and Dungeness.

Spitfire pilots went into the attack shooting down a number of German Messerschmitts, Me110s and Me109s. Exact numbers are difficult to verify but it seems at least nine planes were shot down.

On landing the Spitfire pilots said when they made their last attack and came round again to carry on the fight the sky was clear of German aircraft.

Towards evening Hurricane pilots sighted nine Heinkel bombers protected by more than 50 fighters attempting to attack shipping off the east coast. The bombers were surrounded by two rings of Messerschmitts - but the Hurricanes broke through and attacked the bombers shooting down at least two.

People watching from the south-east coast say the first sign of the attack was when a wave of about 20 German bombers with a similar number of support fighters dived out of the clouds.

They rained bombs down on a convoy of ships, but did not hit. A second wave of bombers and fighters followed but before a second load of bombs could be released, the ships opened fire with their anti-aircraft guns.

At this moment, a flight of Spitfires appeared and flew straight into the middle of the German formation - hitting one bomber which crashed into the sea.

It appears the intensity of the attack took the Germans by surprise and completely destroyed their formation.

One eye-witness told The Times newspaper: "I saw 10 machines crash into the sea, they included bombers and fighters. The range of operations was too extensive to see everything, for it was over land and sea.

"The British fighters were fewer than the Messerschmitts sent to protect the bombers, but the superiority of our airmen and machines was most convincing."

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