4th September 1940
The attack on the aircraft factories; Brooklands; was to be mounted exclusively by Bf110s. They would fight their way to the target and back using the experten from Erpro 210 to mount the assault itself and a heavy, long range fighter component to escort them. They would be met by Hurricanes of 253 Squadron.
The raids built up over Northern France with over 150 aircraft plotted by the ‘Home Chain” radar network. Eleven squadrons from 11 Group were scramble to counter the threat and 100 + raid was intercepted by 79 squadron over Beachy Head where one of the attackers was downed in the channel. The hostile force split with the main body continuing westward along the coast while a small group detached around Hastings and flew north. This group was intercepted by Spitfires from 72 Squadron who shot down 3. Bombs were dropped on Chatham and the attackers made their escape over southern Essex. Meanwhile. 14 aircraft from Erpro 210 loaded with bombs with an escort Bf110’s from V/ LG1 crossed the coast near Shoreham and met Spitfires and Hurricanes from 234, 79 and 43 squadron. On seeing the defenders approaching, the lead aircraft, piloted by the Gruppenkommandeur of Erpro 210 went into a dive from which it didn’t recover, going into the sea off Worthing. When returning to RAF Biggin Hill, Sgt John Wright flying a Hurricane of 79 Squadron, attempted to crash land near Tolworth and was severely injured. He died the next day.
The raid continued northward across Sussex and into Surrey. They were intercepted by Hurricanes from 1 Squadron RCAF close to Slinfold.
The Bf110’s flew in a defensive circle when under attack. This allowed the rear gunner to cover the nose of the aircraft behind, however the circle could be attacked by AA fire from the ground or by a diving, high speed fighter attack from above. The Canadians accounted for one of the Bf110’s which crashed near Pulborough.
At approximately 13:30 the bombers from Erpro 210 commenced their dive bombing runs of the factory complex followed up by cannon strafing runs across the sites. The attack killed 83 and injured 417 people at the works. The bombs severely damaged the Wellington bomber production line and was thought to account for the manufacturing loss of over 20 aircraft. The Hurricane lines at Hawker were unaffected. The anti aircraft guns on site were ineffective. The workers were back in the factories the next day.
Hurricanes from 253 Squadron were in the air, patrolling Croydon and were vectored onto the Brooklands raid. They arrived at about 12000 feet and dived on the escorts shooting two of them down.
Bf110D Wn 3303 Li+BK ; 14.LG1 crashed at Broom House, Long Reach, Horsley (51 deg 17N 0 deg 27W) at 13:25. The pilot Feldwbl Rohring was killed and Unteroff J Jackel bailed out injured and was made PoW. Its companion, Bf110D Wn 3306 ; L1 + FK 14.LG1 came down at Green Dene, Horsley at about the same time (51 deg 17N 0 deg 27 W) OberLt M Junge and Unteroff K Bremster were killed. The raiders fled southward but were intercepted once again over Worthing. A realistic casualty figure for the raiders during this action was 14 Bf110s, mostly from the escorting aircraft.
