After four days, we hadn’t got a serviceable aeroplane

Wing Commander James Storrar

Wing Commander James Storrar discusses the standard RAF fighter formation of the Battle of Britain, where a ‘vic’ of three aircraft was accompanied by a single ‘sweeper’, or ‘weaver’, following behind. The formation was found to be ineffective, since all but the front aircraft had to focus on not crashing in to each other.

After several days of intense combat in early-mid August, No 145 Squadron was stood down after they had virtually no serviceable aircraft.