Blenheim Boy by Richard Passmore (author name) real name Roger Peacock a school teacher after the war at my school. He flew with 40 Sqdn out of Wyton on 25.7.1940 he was crewed with Sgt P Steele and Sgt J.Moore, who both survived, in Blenheim R3763 and was attacking Eelde airfield when shot downhttp://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?34328-Blenheim-Boy A few snippets below from the book that I thought would be of interest. All too soon the coast came up .All the noses went down until we were streaking a mere twenty feet up.Luckily there was a slight popple over the waves so that the pilots could gauge accurately where we were. Some machines (Blenheims) had a fixed Browning welded into each engine pod ,firing backwards over the wing.You couldnt aim it ,but is was hoped that the moral effect would keep the enemy at a distance. The same hope gave birth to the experiment of lashing a Vickers gun upside down to the tailwheel strut,so that it could be fired by means of a cable -once all hundred rounds had been expended there was of course no way to reload. but it was nice to know that somebody somewhere cared and was trying to help On one tragic occasion a whole squadron had been wiped out in a futile encounter over the north sea with a group of enemy fighters.By the evening the following day the squadron was nominally up to strength again both in men and in machines.True the squadron had to be taken out of the line of battle. "Revolving Formation" fighter evading tactic Wingco explaining it Number two then drops slightly below the level of the leader and slides across under him to the other side,while number three rises and moves over.Then each takes up the other position.You must keep as close as possible to the leader while you are transferring,but theres no reason why you shouldnt do it several times. We think it could make the attackers break off at least it might even lead them to collide with each other. Wingco stopped ,perhaps for effect,perhaps to allow us to visualise the scheme.Each of us stared intently at him imagining the manoeuvre.There was something irresistibly comic about it,somehow,and I felt my mouth twitching for a grin.
I'd hazard a guess that this is a reference to No 82 Squadron that was almost wiped out not once, but twice in 1940! From No. 82 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia RAF - 82 Squadron notes:
