Mainly reconnaissance.
Night: Attacks on London and Glasgow. Minelaying off the Yorkshire coast.
Weather: Low cloud and drizzle. Visibility poor.
Main Activity:
For Fighter Command this was the quietest day of the Battle of Britain. Hampered by the weather, the squadrons flew ninety sorties. They lost six planes, however. The Germans, who made some minor raids on London, the midlands and the Thames estuary, lost four machines.
London Bridge, St. Pancras Station, Victoria Docks, East Ham and Watford were hit by night raiders. In the north Glasgow was bombed by Stavanger-based aircraft. One fouled a balloon cable and crashed into the sea.
Excerpt from The Narrow Margin by Derek Wood & Derek Dempster
German Losses
Airmen: 5 | Aircraft: 4
British Losses
Airmen: 1 | Aircraft: 1
Blenheim L1272, No. 600 Squadron
P/O P.R.S. Hurst killed. Crashed into hillside at Kirkby Malzeard, Yorkshire during practice flight through cloud.
http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Hurst.htm
Photo Descriptions:
- The Prime Minister Winston Churchill reads a newspaper on the platform while waiting for a train at St Andrews during a trip to Scotland to visit Polish troops, inspect coastal defences and tour a Naval Establishment in Fife on 23 October 1940. © IWM (H 4985)
- Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspecting troops of the 1st Rifle Brigade (1st Polish Corps) with General Władysław Sikorski, the C-in-C of the Polish Armed Forces, at Tentsmuir, 23 October 1940. General Gustaw Paszkiewicz, the Commander of the Brigade, is behind General Sikorski. © IWM (H 4961)
- This smiling girl, dirtied but apparently not injured, was assisted across a London street on 23 October 1940, after she was rescued from the debris of a building damaged by a bomb attack in a German daylight raid.