"Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer". The chronicle of an RAF bomber pilot during The Battle of France.

Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer, Alastair Panton (Penguin Books, 2018), is an RAF bomber pilot’s remarkable chronicle of his experiences during the Battle of France in May and June 1940.  Flying Officer Alastair Panton was a bomber pilot flying the twin engine Bristol Blenheim Mk IV with 53 Squadron.  With other units from Bomber Command the squadron was part of the RAF’s Advanced Air Striking Force which had been sent to France following the outbreak of war.

Flying reconnaissance missions with his crew of two, Panton was in the thick of the action when Germany launched its Blitzkrieg against France and the Low Countries on 10 May 1940.  The next day his Blenheim was attacked by six Messerschmitt 109s and he was forced to crash land, he suffered burns and both his crew were badly injured.  Panton endured ten eventful days until he linked up with 13 Squadron, another Blenheim unit, at Crecy where he learned 53 Squadron had withdrawn to England.      

The German advance forced the RAF to evacuate Crecy and Panton flew a spare Blenheim back to Tangmere rather than see it left behind and destroyed.  Wondering why the Blenheim was handling so sluggishly Panton discovered the cause when he landed back in England - nine RAF ground crew had crammed into the aircraft for the flight home!

After taking some much needed leave Panton was back in action with 53 Squadron on May 29, this time flying bombing missions in support of the troops being evacuated from Dunkirk.  On May 30 during another bombing mission his aircraft was hit by flak.  Panton managed to fly the damaged Blenheim back to England where he and his crew bailed out successfully over Rye.  Nevertheless, he and his crew were back in action the next day flying 3 more bombing missions in support of the troops at Dunkirk.

On June 1 he took off on yet another bombing mission.  This time he was told to fly low over the Dunkirk beaches, after dropping his bombs, so that the men on the beaches could see that the RAF was supporting them.  Since the German Blitzkrieg began many in the British Expeditionary Force had been asking: “Where is the RAF?”  After Panton’s bomb run he did indeed fly at 50ft over soldiers waiting to be evacuated, but was promptly shot down by a Bren-gunner from the Northumberland Fusiliers!  Panton and his crew were again back in England the next morning after leaving Dunkirk on a tug-boat.

Incredibly, Panton and his crew, with two other crews from 53 Squadron, went back to France on June 5 to fly reconnaissance missions for the French and British forces still resisting.  Panton continued operating from airfields south-west of Paris until the fighting ended.

Alastair Panton’s book is an extraordinary account of bravery, skill, endurance and tragedy packed into just 158 pages.  I could not put this book down and read it in one session – I thoroughly recommend it!