Day 344 August 9, 1940

Battle of Britain Day 31. Göring believes Luftwaffe has control of the air having successfully attacked many convoys and excluded Royal Navy ships from the English Channel during daylight. Overestimates of downed RAF planes and underestimated Luftwaffe losses further convince him the RAF is almost beaten (in reality, RAF is stronger than a month ago, with losses [84 fighters] less that half the Luftwaffe’s [227 aircraft]). Göring orders new tactics to destroy RAF’s fighting capacity by attacking their airfields, control centers and radar. These tactics cannot be put into effect, however, as cloudy weather allows only reconnaissance patrols. 1 Heinkel He111 is shot down. At 4.45 PM, R.D. Ritchie of 605 Squadron crashes his Hurricane into the sea and dies off Dunbar, East coast of Scotland.

At 8.32 PM, 70 miles west of Ireland, U-30 sinks Swedish MV Canton carrying 7900 tons of iron, cloth and other cargo from India and South Africa to England (16 dead, 16 survivors). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/456.html