609 Squadron had been based at Drem (and occasionally at Kinloss) in Scotland since the autumn of 1939 and had endured a harsh winter with nothing much to do except fly standing patrols, protect the Royal Navy’s Northern Fleet in several anchorages, escort convoys, and practice formations & drills. On 29 January the first enemy aircraft was encountered, a Heinkel He111 bombing a merchant ship off the mouth of the River Tay. Flt Lt Persse-Joynt, Fg Off Ayre and Fg Off Edge made the interception but despite peppering the enemy plane it got away by evading the Spitfires in cloud.
A month later the Squadron made its first kill of the war. Red Section were flying a patrol above a convoy a few miles off St Abbs Head when another Heinkel He111 appeared at only about 500 feet above the sea attempting to bomb the ships. This one didn’t get away, was shot down and ditched, the crew taking to their life-raft; they were later picked up as POWs.
March was spent on more routine patrols with enemy aircraft very far and few between, but the real war was closing in. On the 9 April Germany invaded Denmark and Norway and the alert state arose, however, all remained quiet and another lull set in for a few more weeks, but 609’s Battle of Britain was about to begin….