A lone RAF aircraft flies into the German Blitzkrieg, 10 May 1940

As dawn broke on 10 May the roar of German aero engines throbbed through the skies over eastern France. All of the French air force’s bases and a number of civilian airfields were pounded by bombs and strafed with machine guns as the Luftwaffe roared in at low level out of the rising sun. Surprise was total and within the hour much of the French air force had been reduced to smoking wreckage. Based on temporary airfields, the AASF largely escaped this onslaught.

Flying into this storm of Nazi destruction was a Battle of No.15 Squadron of the AASF on a routine dawn patrol toward the German border. With a degree of courage that was to win him a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Alan Oakeshott, ignored the chaos unfolding around him and continued with his mission. While Sergeant Albert Taylor shot off roll after roll of film to document the advancing German hordes, the gunner Sergeant Treherne kept a wary eye on the skies around them.

Eventually one of the many black dots moving about the sky veered off its course and came to investigate the lone Battle. As it grew closer the new arrival could be seen to be a Bf109. Treherne alerted Oakeshott and the pilot headed for cloud cover. The German was too quick, however, and made a diving attack. Accurate shooting by Treherne kept the Bf109 at bay until Oakeshott could get into the clouds. Back at base the photos were rushed off to Intelligence where they proved to be “most valuable”. All three men in the crew were decorated for their flight.

The troops photographed by Taylor turned out to be just one of several German columns of panzers and infantry on the move. Most marched over the border into Belgium, as expected, and also into the Netherlands. The British and French at once put into operation their plan for a joint defence with the Belgians. The Dutch were not part of the plan as it had been expected that, as in 1914, the Germans would not attack that country. The Dutch government surrendered on the sixth day of war, though not before sending their navy, merchant marine and every aircraft that could fly off to Britain.