Bidspirit auction | MILLS JACK PERCIVAL: (1918-2001) Signed

MILLS JACK PERCIVAL: (1918-2001) Signed on ´ The Hardest Day´ of the Battle of Britain - MILLS JACK PERCIVAL: (1918-2001) British fighter pilot of World War II, a flying ace credited with 5 victories who participated in the Battle of Britain. D.S., J. P. Mills Sgt. , one page, oblong 8vo, n.p. (RAF Tangmere, West Sussex), n.d. (18th August 1940). The document, originally part of a larger Combat Report, is completed and signed by Mills and states, in part, ´I was Red 3 and gave Tally Ho on sighting e/a approaching Thorney [Island] . We went into line astern and attacked e/a. 1 Ju.87 turned steeply away and dived for ground. I followed him down and he levelled out and made off out to sea. I dived on his tail and fired a 3 sec burst then broke away because I was over shooting him. I then turned and got back onto his tail, I fired another burst of 2 to 3 secs and he seemed to rock badly. In the same attack I managed to get in another burst e/a rolled over and dived straight into sea.....´ . Some very light, extremely minor age wear, and a couple of small tears to the edges, one only slightly affecting one word of text. About VG Sunday, 18th August 1940, is historically known as ´The Hardest Day´ of the Battle of Britain as the Luftwaffe made an all-out effort to destroy RAF Fighter Command. The air battles that took place on that day were amongst the largest aerial engagements in history to that time. Both sides suffered heavy losses. In the air, the British shot down twice as many Luftwaffe aircraft as they lost. The action which Mills was involved in, and directly records in the present document, was known as the ´Massacre of the Stukas´. The heavy losses sustained during this exact assault near RAF Thorney Island forced the Luftwaffe high command to completely withdraw the Ju 87 Stuka from major operations over the United Kingdom.