The pilot of the German aircraft shot down by the Cpl. Sims and Pte. Shaw in the previous photo is rescued from the sea.

Rescued German Pilot

In the last phase of the Battle of Britain the enemy employed many Messerschmitt 109 fighters fitted with makeshift bomb-carriers to take two bombs.  But this improvisation had its perils, and here is an Me 109 whose bombs were exploded in mid-air by bullets from a pursuing Spitfire.

Messerschmitt hoisted on its own petard

Cpl. Sims and Pte. Shaw with the Spandau machine-gun which destroyed a Messerschmitt 109.  The gun was salvaged from a Dornier 17 brought down over the S.E. coast in October 1940, and mounted by a detachment of the Somerset Light Infantry on a high-angle mounting.  The Messerschmitt, flying at about 1,000 feet, was hit and crashed into the sea two miles from the shore.  The rescued pilot is seen in the following photograph.