Entry: May 4, 1941

May 4th, 1941

South of Tobruk

Today we got our first taste of combat. We were escorting He-111 to Tobruk. When the bombers were finished with their bombing runs, 4 Hurricanes came screeching in! Guns blazing, one of the bombers was heavily damaged but escaped. I was element lead in the finger four formation of us. In a heartbeat, I heard the command to break and to engage the Hurricanes. I saw one trying to get behind a bomber. However, the gunners on board the lumbering hulk forced the nimble fighter to break left. I followed suit and gave chase after him. Hans, my wingman, continued to follow me and protecting my tail from any would be fighter ace. I closed in as close as I could, and let rip my cannons and machine guns. The nimble Hurricane then crashed into the arid desert below. The rest of the flight of Hurricanes fled and our flight formed up and made for home. The flight leader, Wilhelm, congratulated me for my first kill of the war, and that he expected more kills in the future. It was relatively quite for the rest of the evening, since the SAS and the LRDG were out trying to sabotage our equipment.