The 8 August 1940 saw the first large scale sustained clashes between the RAF and the Luftwaffe and as such was initially considered to be the official start date of the Battle of Britain by the Air Ministry.
In 1941 Dowding rejected the 8 August to be the start date and proposed it to be the 10 July 1940, which, in Britain, is the date accepted by most nowadays. In Germany, the start of the Battle of Britain was when they launched their Eagle Attack, their plan for the destruction of RAF Fighter Command.
The action in the period from 10 July to 7 August was in many ways indistinguishable from post-Dunkirk harassing raids. For this reason, some still consider the 8 August to be the true start date of the Battle of Britain.
On the days leading up to the 8 August 1940, Luftwaffe activity was fairly light. This was mainly due to the fact that there was little in the way of British shipping movements.
The 8 August 1940 saw are a large convoy (with the RAF codename of Peewit) of more than twenty merchant ships attempting to go through the Straits of Dover and heading westwards.
The 8 August 1940 saw the heaviest ever raids against a British convoy.
Only 4 of original 20+ ships of Peewit convoy reached Swanage undamaged
This was the first time for two weeks that a merchant convoy attempted passage through the English Channel.
The convoy had assembled the previous night at Southend and passed through the Dover Straits during the hours of darkness, heading for Swanage in Dorset.
Sadly the convoy was picked up by the German Freya radar. German torpedo boats were sent to attack at the convoy at dawn and afterwards some 300 Ju87s and 150 Bf109s were also sent to attack the convoy.
41 Squadron (Spitfires), 64 Squadron from Kenley (Spitfires), 65 Squadron from Hornchurch (Spitfires) and 610 Squadron from Biggin Hill (Spitfires) were sent to the Channel to intercept.
The torpedo boats had sunk three ships and damaged another three before light.
The British fighters reached the enemy aircraft before they had engaged the convoy. During the air combat that followed, four Spitfires were shot down with three pilots killed, one bailed out. Two more Spitfires were damaged and forced to return to base and another crash-landed on the Kent coast.
A Bf109 was shot down and the pilot killed, four others tried to make it back to base but crash-landed in Northern France. Another was severely damaged but made it back to base.
Only one ship received damage from a single Ju87 that managed to get through.
With the benefit of low cloud, the protection of the Royal Navy and RAF fighters, Convoy Peewit continued its journey westwards.
Further down the coast the convoy ran into better weather and the convoy was attacked by 89 Ju87s and 70 Bf109s just off the Isle of Wight. The Ju87s caused severe damage to the convoy.
Fighter Command scrambled 145 Squadron from Westhampnett/Tangmere (Hurricanes), 257 Squadron from Northolt (Hurricanes) and 609 Squadron from Middle Wallop (Hurricanes) to meet the attackers.
By the time the RAF arrived the Ju87s were returning to their bases but intense combat ensued between the British fighters and the Bf109s.
The Spitfires and Hurricanes were forced to fight the Bf109s, leaving Ju87s to attack the convoy unhindered.
Damaged and burning ships bellowing black smoke were scattered over the Channel for miles.
The RAF had lost 13 Hurricanes in defending Peewit, five others were damaged and one Spitfire was destroyed. 13 pilots were killed and 3 seriously wounded.
Len Deighton in his book Fighter (1977) commented:
The British sailors who died this day were the victims of two aspects of stupidity. Firstly, the coastal convoys, carrying domestic cargoes, were still being sent through the dangerous waters of the Channel (instead of the goods going by railway, as they did later). Secondly, the Admiralty, in spite of endless evidence, refused to allow for the fact that the Germans might have excellent radar.
Whatever the shortcomings of the Admiralty, this was indeed a portent of the intense air fighting to come when massive formations of Luftwaffe and RAF aircraft would clash in the skies over the next few weeks.
To some, it was the intense aerial combat over Convoy Peewit which heralded the start of the Battle of Britain proper, on 8 August 1940
by Steve Dunster
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