July Stirlings

Text: Jan Bobek

Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz

Cat. No. 84206

By the summer of 1941, when the RAF’s daily air offensive over the occupied European coast had reached its peak, British command was already aware that this strategy was resulting in heavy losses, significantly higher than those suffered by the Luftwaffe. The RAF aimed to engage the enemy primarily through Operations Sweep and Circus. While the former involved deploying only fighter squadrons, the latter featured large-scale fighter escorts for a small group of Blenheim bombers. However, within the range of these formations, there were few targets of real strategic value to the German occupiers.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, RAF command intensified daylight operations over the continent, assuming that this would compel the Luftwaffe to retain more units in France, thereby easing pressure on the Soviets. This assumption, however, proved incorrect. The Germans were advancing rapidly into Soviet territory and performing well on the African front. By the second half of 1941, only JG 2 "Richthofen" and JG 26 "Schlageter" remained in France. Both were seasoned units that, working closely with ground controllers, effectively employed hit-and-run tactics.

At the beginning of July 1941, RAF command decided to involve in Circus operations the four-engine Short Stirling bombers of No. 7 and No. 15 Squadrons of No. 3 Group under the command of Air Vice-Marshal Jack Baldwin. However, no more than eight Stirling bombers were deployed on any given day, and no more than six participated in a single Circus operation.

In early July, RAF command also received intelligence, revealing that German fighter units had been ordered to engage only if bombers were present in the British formation. This led the RAF, in some cases, to adopt a tactic of sending bombers only as far as the coast to provoke a German response. Under the right conditions, the bombers would then be quickly withdrawn back.

One of the units that took part in Operations Sweep and Circus was the Tangmere Wing, commanded by the renowned Douglas Bader. In the first half of 1941, RAF fighter pilots were still flying in formations of three aircraft consisting of a leader and two wingmen. In contrast, their German opponents had been using a more flexible four-aircraft formation since the Spanish Civil War.

The British three-aircraft formation posed several challenges. It increased the risk of collisions between wingmen, who had to remain close together, often at the expense of situational awareness. Additionally, the tight formation required frequent engine adjustments, and the wingmen typically consumed more fuel than the leader, who could fly more efficiently. As a result, formations were often forced to return from enemy territory earlier than necessary due to fuel concerns.

Douglas Bader himself remarked, he could have shot down far more "Huns" if his wingmen hadn’t frequently reported low fuel. The "Finger Four" formation, which addressed many of these issues, wasn’t adopted by the Tangmere Wing and other RAF units until mid-1941.

Bader was also notably stubborn about aircraft armament. He firmly believed that eight machine guns were more effective than the two cannons and four machine guns. For this reason, he preferred the Spitfire Mk.IIa variant over the newer Mk.V. He later admitted, however, that he had been wrong in this regard.

During July, Wing Commander Bader destroyed seven Bf 109s, claimed four as probables and damaged seven. This was roughly comparable in number of victories to his score during the Battle of Britain. And by the summer of 1941 his subordinates were showing exhaustion similar to that experienced by RAF fighters in the summer and autumn of 1940. Bader relentlessly led his men into further action, leading some of his subordinates to the brink of mutiny.

Douglas Bader was also present during the last deployment of Stirling bombers as part of Operation Circus. During the morning raid on Lille on 21 July 1941 (Circus 54), the formation of three Stirlings was an easy target for German flak. One of the bombers made an emergency landing at Manston with two engines out. The downing of the bomber was somewhat optimistically credited to the commander of I./JG 26, Hptm. Seifert. His unit, engaged in dogfights with escorts, reported four Spitfires as shot down. Three more were claimed by III./JG 2.  RAF fighters managed to shoot down one Bf 109 E-7 from II./JG 26 and one Bf 109 F, with another another badly damaged, from II./JG 2. Bader scored a 0,5 kill during the morning action and damaged one more Bf 109 during the afternoon (Circus 55). During the afternoon sortie, however, three Stirlings were recalled back to base and this brought the deployment of this type in Circus operations to a close. Douglas Bader was down to the last three weeks of his combat career.