Widespread attacks on shipping in south, south-east and south-west coastal waters. Dover balloon barrage.

Night: South Wales and Thames raided.

Weather: Fair all over the country with temperatures slightly above average. Channel and Straits hazy.

Enemy Action by Day

Wednesday, 31 July 1940, brought fair weather across the United Kingdom, with temperatures slightly above average and generally clear skies inland. The Channel and Straits, however, remained hazy, creating challenging visibility for both attackers and defenders. Despite the improved conditions, Luftwaffe activity was reduced in scale compared to previous days, with many raids turning back upon the approach of RAF fighters.

Nonetheless, attacks on coastal shipping continued, accompanied by limited inland bombing later that night.

06:15–11:55 Hours: Shipping Raids and Channel Interceptions

Enemy reconnaissance and low-level attacks focused primarily on convoys off the south, southeast, and southwest coasts. A notable incident occurred around 06:15 hours, when enemy aircraft approached a convoy off Harwich but broke off without engaging. Bombs were later reported falling near four ships off Lowestoft and close to a naval unit in Yarmouth Roads. Despite the deployment of three RAF sections, no contact was made.

An Anson of No. 500 Squadron, coded MK-Z, was less fortunate while escorting a convoy south of Harwich. Royal Navy warships mistakenly opened fire on the aircraft, damaging it and wounding its observer, Flight Sergeant Les Ward, in the leg.

Shortly after 07:05 hours, three Hurricanes of No. 111 Squadron intercepted what their pilots believed to be a Ju 88 approximately fifteen miles south of Dungeness. The Hurricanes attacked through the thick haze and claimed the bomber probably destroyed. Their opponent was almost certainly a He 111 of 1./KG 55 which sustained severe combat damage before its crew abandoned it over France.

A separate interception began shortly afterwards when three Hurricanes of No. 145 Squadron encountered another intruder approximately fifteen miles south-west of the Isle of Wight. Flying Officer Antoni Ostowicz, flying Hurricane N2496, attacked a Dornier Do 215 and claimed it damaged. Hurricanes of No. 1 Squadron subsequently patrolled as far as fifty miles south of the Isle of Wight between 10:07 and 11:55 hours as Fighter Command reinforced the protection provided to shipping in the western Channel.

09:30–13:50 Hours: Defence of HMS Mooltan

A Sunderland of No. 10 Squadron RAAF, commanded by Squadron Leader William H. “Bill” Garing, was escorting the armed merchant cruiser HMS Mooltan as she approached Plymouth following a refit. The Sunderland had located the ship west of Land’s End at 06:00 hours and was circling overhead when the first German aircraft appeared.

At 09:30 hours, a Ju 88 approached Mooltan at approximately 4,000 feet. Garing turned towards the bomber and opened fire as soon as it came within range. Confronted by the Sunderland’s guns and anti-aircraft fire from the ship, the Ju 88 released its bombs prematurely, and they exploded harmlessly astern.

Two more Ju 88s arrived at 12:20 hours, but Garing again drove them away before they could make an accurate attack. A final pair appeared at 13:50 hours and separated to approach Mooltan from opposite directions. The Sunderland engaged one of the bombers, leaving the second free to complete its run. Its bombs narrowly missed the ship, prompting Mooltan to reverse course and head north towards Scotland.

16:00 Hours: Dover Balloon Barrage and Fighting off Folkestone

At about 16:00 hours, two Staffeln of Bf 109s from II./JG 2 swept across Dover and opened fire on the coastal balloon barrage. At approximately the same time, twelve Spitfires of No. 74 Squadron were patrolling off Folkestone when Blue Section was surprised by Bf 109s of II./JG 51.

Flight Lieutenant Piers Kelly, leading Blue Section in Spitfire R6983, attempted to turn behind one of the attackers but was immediately engaged by another Messerschmitt. Cannon and machine-gun fire damaged his engine cowling, armour plating and port wing, pierced the upper fuel tank and repeatedly sent the Spitfire into a spin. Despite the damage, Kelly regained control and returned safely, claiming a Bf 109 damaged.

Flight Sergeant Fred Eley, flying Spitfire P9398, and Pilot Officer Harold Gunn, in P9379, were shot down into the Channel and killed. Their deaths were credited respectively to Hauptmann Horst Tietzen of 5./JG 51, claiming his twelfth victory, and Oberleutnant Josef Fözö of 4./JG 51, claiming his fifth. Lieutenant Erich Hohagen also claimed a Spitfire and was probably responsible for the damage inflicted on Kelly’s aircraft.

Sergeant Bill Skinner of Green Section, flying Spitfire L1001, claimed a Bf 109 probably destroyed, but II./JG 51 suffered no confirmed losses during the engagement. No. 74 Squadron therefore lost two Spitfires, while a third returned badly damaged.

No. 64 Squadron was also scrambled to intercept near Dover that afternoon but made no contact. Nevertheless, the presence of Spitfires appeared to have a deterrent effect, with several raids turning back before reaching the coast.

A Bf 109 of II./JG 2 subsequently suffered engine failure and was written off after Unteroffizier Walter Miksche crash-landed at Fécamp. Miksche was injured, but the loss was not the result of the fighting with No. 74 Squadron.

19:00–21:50 Hours: Fighting off Folkestone and Dover

At about 19:00 hours, twelve Hurricanes of No. 501 Squadron encountered Dornier Do 17s and Ju 87 dive-bombers operating under the protection of Bf 109s, apparently from II./JG 2, off Folkestone. Pilot Officer J.A.A. Gibson, flying Hurricane P3239, attacked one of the Dorniers and claimed it damaged.

During the fighting, Hurricane P3646 was badly damaged and Pilot Officer Ralph S. Don was forced to bale out over Lydden. Don survived but was injured and admitted to hospital.

Three more Hurricanes of No. 501 Squadron were scrambled at 21:50 hours, although they did not encounter the enemy. Pilot Officer E.G. Parkin was seriously injured when Hurricane P3349 undershot the airfield while landing after the patrol.

Daylight Operations over Occupied Europe

Bomber Command also mounted several daylight sorties against targets in occupied Europe. Squadron Leader Melville N.M. Kennedy led a No. 114 Squadron Blenheim against Aalborg West aerodrome in Denmark, where its bombs destroyed a Ju 88 of 2./KG 30 and killed five German ground personnel.

Blenheim R3895 was subsequently intercepted by Bf 109s, probably from II./JG 54. Sergeant George Reinhart, manning the turret, hit one of the attacking fighters and forced it to make a belly-landing near Gudum, although its pilot survived with a spinal injury. Kennedy eventually crash-landed the damaged Blenheim in a field near Lomborg, and he, Pilot Officer J.B.P. Hanlon and Reinhart were taken prisoner.

At 09:30 hours, another No. 114 Squadron Blenheim, T1861, encountered two German seaplanes east of Haamstede after cloud prevented its crew from attacking their assigned aerodrome. Pilot Officer George Turner and turret gunner Sergeant Arthur Stockdale attacked the leading aircraft, identified as a Heinkel He 114, and claimed it destroyed in flames. The Blenheim then bombed shipping before escaping into cloud when two Bf 109s arrived.

Elsewhere, twelve Blenheims of No. 82 Squadron attacked targets on the Continent. Pilot Officer Earl R. Hale’s Blenheim N3594 was intercepted by two Bf 109s and pursued across the sea for approximately thirty-five minutes. The aircraft was badly damaged, but Sergeant Alf E. Boland claimed one of the Messerschmitts probably destroyed. Hale reached RAF Watton and made a successful belly-landing without injury to his crew.

Coastal Command lost Hudson N7224 of No. 233 Squadron during a sortie to Kristiansand in Norway. The aircraft was probably intercepted off Aalborg by a Bf 109 of JG 77. Pilot Officer James H. Horan, Pilot Officer B.C. Paton, Sergeant W.G. Cameron and Sergeant S. Morgan were killed.

Operational Accidents

Two Fighter Command Blenheims collided over the Bristol Channel while testing airborne-interception radar equipment. Blenheim L1408 of No. 25 Squadron was flown by Sergeant Joseph Thompson, while L6722 of No. 29 Squadron was piloted by Sergeant Edward Waite. Both aircraft were destroyed and there were no survivors.

Thompson was killed with civilian technical assistant D.M. Gordon and Aircraftman Edward Toy of No. 32 Maintenance Unit. Waite was killed with Sergeant C.J. Richardson and Leading Aircraftman Thomas Ward, also of No. 32 Maintenance Unit.

Sergeant W.W. Thompson of No. 234 Squadron was badly injured when Spitfire P9365 struck a stone wall during a night landing at RAF St Eval. The aircraft was written off, and Thompson’s injuries prevented him from flying again.

Hurricane P2990 of No. 263 Squadron was destroyed after Squadron Leader H. Eeles undershot a night landing at Grangemouth and struck the boundary hedge. Eeles escaped without injury.

Activity in France and Over the Channel

Along the French coast, German patrol tracks were plotted over Cherbourg, Calais, and Boulogne. Most Luftwaffe formations remained within five to ten miles of the French coastline, turning back when British fighters were detected. While several raids made brief advances toward the Varne Light Vessel and Dover Straits, few penetrated deeply into English airspace.

Enemy Action by Night

Night operations intensified as darkness fell. Raids crossed from Cherbourg and the Channel Islands, many heading inland toward the Thames Estuary and South Wales. Beginning around 22:00 hours, bombs were dropped on multiple targets across Surrey, including Esher, Hinchley Wood, and Thames Ditton. Damage was reported to a warden’s post and three motor cars, and one civilian was injured.

Further bombs fell near Southminster, Rochford, Croydon, Rochester, Brentwood, Gravesend, Ipswich, Wattisham, and Martlesham.

Additional activity occurred across South Wales, where Barry Docks suffered a second bombing within 24 hours. Four high-explosive bombs derailed three railway wagons and shattered windows at the Naval Control and GWR offices. In Cwm Bargoed, damage was inflicted on the railway track.

Near Swansea, bombs fell on Monk Nash, while another raid approached from the west over Milford Haven, unplotted by radar.

Other unplotted raids were heard or detected acoustically, particularly over Liverpool Bay and the Bristol Channel.

Bomber Command Activity

Bomber Command also dispatched aircraft against targets in Germany and the occupied countries. Hampden L4085 of No. 44 Squadron became lost in poor weather on its return and exhausted its fuel before ditching in Cardigan Bay. Sergeants Edward D. Farmer and Cyril E.T. Wood were killed, while Sergeants Raymond D. Hobbs and D. Seager were rescued.

Hampden P4383 of No. 50 Squadron failed to return from a minelaying sortie. Pilot Officer Brian S. Bell and Sergeants W.E. Miller, C.D. Evans and D. Tailford were killed.

Shortly after midnight, a Blenheim night fighter of No. 29 Squadron, flown by Flying Officer Richard A. Rhodes, intercepted an aircraft between North Coates and Spurn Head. Mistaking it for an enemy bomber, Rhodes opened fire and shot it down near Anderby Creek, between Skegness and Mablethorpe.

The aircraft was Fairey Battle L5568 of No. 12 Squadron, which had departed for a bombing raid against Waalhaven airfield in the Netherlands. Flying Officer Brian E. Moss, Sergeant Brian C. Long and Sergeant Thomas J. Radley were killed.

Propaganda and Political Developments in Germany

Meanwhile, within the Third Reich, internal politics spilled over into Luftwaffe identity. Reichsmarschall Göring, displeased with the marriage of Oberstleutnant Hans-Jürgen von Cramon-Taubadel of JG 53 to a woman of partial Jewish ancestry, ordered the unit’s “Ace of Spades” insignia removed. In protest, pilots of III./JG 53 erased the swastikas from their aircraft tails, some even replacing them with victory tallies.

This morale-deflating order had little military impact but sowed discontent within one of the Luftwaffe’s most visible fighter wings.

Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Germany’s Minister of Propaganda, used the day to boast over the airwaves that Britain was near defeat. He claimed the RAF could no longer challenge the Luftwaffe and that German occupation of London was imminent. These claims contrasted sharply with the day’s actual events, in which British defences held firm and the Luftwaffe sustained moderate losses with minimal strategic success.

German Losses:
Airmen: 6 | Aircraft: 7

British Losses:
Airmen: 5 | Aircraft: 7

Spitfire P9398, No. 74 Squadron. Aircraft lost.
Sgt F.W. Eley killed. Shot down off Folkestone by Bf 109.
http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Eley.htm

Spitfire P9379, No. 74 Squadron. Aircraft lost.
P/O H.R. Gunn killed. Shot down off Folkestone by Bf 109.
http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Gunn.htm

Photo Descriptions

1. Pilots of No. 32 Squadron RAF leave their aircraft after a sortie from RAF Hawkinge on 31 July 1940.
2. Convoy protection. Sunderland L2163/DA-G, one of a pair from No 210 Squadron, over convoy TC6 carrying Canadian troops to Britain, 31 July 1940. The convoy had left Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 23 July and was due to arrive at Greenock on 1 August. The vessel in the background which the censor has circled for blocking out is the H Class Destroyer HMS HIGHLANDER. © IWM (CH 825)