Interlude: 13:00 To 13:45
At 13:00, the German formations were plotted making their way back to France. Churchill was delighted with the results. The WAAF had been due to change shift, but the scheduled relief time could not take place during an operation. By 13:05 the fighters were back on the ground. Rearming and refueling began immediately to return the machines back to battle ready status as soon as possible, while the pilots wrote their combat reports which including filing claims and details of their battle to the best of their recollections. Bader's Big Wing landed. Owing to battle damage, 49 of Duxford's 56 fighters were operational by the afternoon.
By this time, the German bombers were touching down in the Pas de Calais. Two were so badly damaged that they were written off in crash landings, bring the total losses to eight Do 17s. Almost all bore the scars of battle. One machine had sustained 70 hits, another 200.
In the afternoon, RAF Bomber Command abandoned more attacks on invasion ports because of insufficient cloud cover. Six Bristol Blenheims undertook an armed reconnaissance over the North Sea. RAF Coastal Command flew 95 sorties for anti-invasion, anti-submarine, mine laying and reconnaissance missions. Spitfires photographed every port from Antwerp to Cherbourg. They returned with evidence of a gradually increasing build up of amphibious forces. All the Command's aircraft returned.
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