No.253 Squadron took off from Kenley to patrol over Canterbury at 15,000 feet to meet an incoming German raid. The commander, Myles Duke-Woolley decided on his own initiative to climb up to 28,000 feet as some recent German raids had come in at a greater height than the radar had estimated. A few minutes later the Big Wing approached from the north at 20,000 feet. They were heading due south to intercept a different German raid crossing the coast near Folkestone. Since the Canterbury raid had not materialised, Duke-Woolley decided to follow the Big Wing to see what they were after. As the Hurricanes swung in behind and above the Big Wing, the 12 Group pilots spotted them for the first time. Thinking that the Hurricanes were Bf109s, the Big Wing began to circle so that the “enemy” could not get behind them. Puzzled, Duke-Woolley also began to circle on the assumption that the Big Wing commander was waiting for a German formation to arrive. After several minutes of this, the Big Wing began to run low on fuel, so it turned off north to return to base while No.253 Squadron, by now equally low on fuel, returned to Kenley.
The recriminations that followed saw Leigh-Mallory condemning the freelance movements of Park’s squadron, while Park denounced the Big Wing’s shortage of fuel caused by the time it took to form up before heading south. The men of No.253 naturally mocked the pilots of 12 Group for their inability to tell the difference between a Hurricane and a Bf109.
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