Spitfire shoots down Messerschmitt Bf 109

On the morning of 8 October 1940 the Luftwaffe's 4./JG52 was on a "free hunt" fighter sweep over the Thames Estuary when it was bounced from behind by RAF Spitfires from No 603 City of Edinburgh Squadron. 'White 2', a Bf 109E-1 flown by Fw. Paul Boche, the Staffel's technical NCO, was hit in the radiator. The engine overheated and stopped and he made a forced landing at Little Grange Farm near Maldon in Essex - hitting a haystack and wrecking the aircraft. Injured, he became a prisoner of war.

The man who shot him down, flying Spitfire R7020, was P/O. Ronald "Ras" Berry, who had already made a name for himself in the Battle of Britain by shooting down three Messerschmitts in one day. He went on to have a long and highly distinguished RAF career, rising to the rank of Air Commodore. He died in 2000.

My picture was commissioned for a BBMF Yearbook 2015 feature about the Battle of Britain.