26 March 1918 – 29 April 1970

Pete Wickham was born in Nairobi, Kenya on 26 March 1918, and he was educated in England at Marlborough College and Farnham Military College.

He entered the RAF College at Cranwell in January 1937. He was commissioned on 17 December 1938 and graduated in 1939 and being posted to 3 Squadron.

On 16 May 1939, he was posted to 112 Squadron when this unit was formed aboard HMS Argus in Portsmouth, Hampshire and in September he was sent out to the Middle East and Egypt.

When Italy declared war on 10 June 1940, he served as Pilot Officer in ‘A’ Flight.

In the end of June, he was temporarily assigned to 33 Squadron to gain experience, which was based at Maaten Gerwala in the Western Desert.

At 06:00 on 29 June 1940, three CR.32s of the 160^a Squadriglia took off for Ponticelli and from there at 11:15, a couple of them took off to operate in the Sollum-Sidi Omar area.
At 12:15, they were intercepted by an unrecorded number of Gladiators which quickly shot down the plane of Sottotenente Antonino Weiss, Adjutant of the 12^o Gruppo. The pilot, wounded, made a forced landing near the “Litoranea” road, west of Bardia.
It seems that the CR.32s had clashed with 33 Squadron. At 04:55, in the first light of the morning, six Gladiators from 33 Squadron’s ‘B’ Flight flew to Sidi Barrani for patrols covering Mersa Matruh and during the day, several sorties (at least three) were flown.
At 11:00, three Gladiators flown by Flying Officer Ernest Dean (Gladiator L9046), Sergeant J. Craig (N5783) and Pilot Officer Wickham (K8031) took off. These were followed by two more flown by Pilot Officer Vernon Woodward (N5774) and Pilot Officer Henry Harrison (a 112 Squadron pilot on attachment to 33 Squadron) (N5768), which took off at 11:40.
At 12:30, enemy aircraft was intercepted and a Ro.37 was forced to land three miles west of Sidi Aziez after being attacked by Pilot Officer Wickham. The rear gunner was apparently hit and the aircraft landed in enemy territory.
Three CR.32s were encountered at 12:40 by one formation of three Gladiators in the Ridotta Capuzzo area. A dogfight ensued and Pilot Officer Woodward forced one of the aircraft down 2-3 miles north of Fort Capuzzo, near the road between Capuzzo and Bardia. He then pursued another aircraft of the enemy formation, which he shot down after a long dogfight. Both aircraft were shot down over territory occupied by the enemy.
During this patrol, Pilot Officer Harrison claimed a damaged CR.32 in the Capuzzo-Sidi Aziez area.
The 33 Squadron pilots seem to have been spilt up and Craig landed at 12:30, Dean at 13:15 and the three other pilots at 13:20.
The IMAM Ro.37bis claimed by Wickham probably belonged to 64^o or 73^o Gruppi Osservazione Aerea. It is possible that this claim in fact relate to the combat Wickham was involved in the next day (30 June). Wickham also claimed an additional CR.32 during the day.
Woodward’s claim seems to have been Sottotenente Weiss.
Totally, it seems that 33 Squadron claimed three or four victories during the day while in fact the Italian losses seem to have been one CR.32 (Sottotenente Weiss).

At 08:00 on 30 June three CR.32s of the 160 Squadriglia took off from Ponticelli to escort a reconnaissance Romeo Ro.37. Over Bir Sceferzen the Italian aircraft were attacked by Gladiators, which immediately shot down the Ro.37, killing the crew and the Fiat of Tenente Ivano Vanni, who parachuted from his burning aircraft. Sergente Aldo Santucci force-landed his CR.32 close to the T5 airfield, west of Tobruk (probably due to combat damage). While doing this he hit an Army truck, seriously wounding the Army driver and writing off the aircraft.
According to some sources Vanni was shot at by the British fighters while descending in his parachute but managed to land safely.
It seems that the Italian aircraft had run into a patrol from 33 Squadron, which claimed two fighters during an early morning patrol over Bardia. The Italian aircraft were variously identified as CR.42s or CR.32s, one of them shot down in flames. One of the planes was claimed by Pilot Officer Wickham while the other fell victim of Flying Officer Ernest Dean. One Gladiator was damaged in this combat.
Dean described the combat:

“Peter Wickham and I were patrolling near Bardia, and spotted two CR 42s. We each took one, and within minutes there were two black plumes on the ground. I got involved with another CR 42, a quite aggressive “Eyetie” (most rare), and I unfortunately got into head-on attacks with him, which are not recommended. We had three passes at one another but with no apparent damage, except that when we reached base together I didn’t perform any victory rolls, although Peter was performing perfect flick rolls in formation. Lucky for me, because my riggers reported to me that my centre section was badly damaged, and it was well I had overcome my exuberance.”

Later he returned to 112 Squadron.

During August 1940 the Mediterranean Fleet was out for a raid in support of the Army. The battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Ramilles and HMS Malaya, supported by the cruiser HMS Kent and three flotillas of destroyers bombarded Bardia harbour and Fort Capuzzo on 17 August, starting at 06:45 and continuing for 22 minutes. As the vessels headed back towards Alexandria a series of bombing attacks were launched against them by the Regia Aeronautica.
The RAF and the FAA provided escort for the fleet. HMS Eagle's Fighter Flight of three Sea Gladiators had been flown to Sidi Barrani airfield in Libya, and from here patrolled over the Fleet. 'B' and 'C' Flights of 80 Squadron provided air support with flights of four Gladiators over the ships from dawn to dusk. ‘A’ Flight of 112 Squadron was positioned at Z Landing Ground (Matruh West) while ‘C’ Flight of 112 Squadron was based at Y LG about 18 kilometres further west.
At 08:20 Flying Officer Peter Wykeham-Barnes and his four-aircraft section from ‘B’ flight of 80 Squadron spotted a Cant Z.501 flying boat over Tobruk. Wykeham-Barnes dived down through the clouds to attack it. As he was about to open fire his starboard gun came unmounted and ripped through the fuselage, severing a strut and damaging the leading edge of the tailplane. The Gladiator started to roll but he reacted quickly, put on full aileron to hold the mainplane and then continued the attack. The flying boat eventually fell in flames and crashed into the sea after several passes by Wykeham-Barnes and Flying Officer P. T. Dowding.
This was a 143^a Squadriglia Z.501 from Menalao, flown by Sottotente Cesare Como with Sottotenente di Vascello Renzo Monselesan as observer that was shot down; the crew perished.
Two hours later the attacks on the Royal Navy began when, at 10:40 five S.79s were seen at 12,000 feet, heading in from the north-east. Over the fleet there were, on standing patrol, at least the Gladiators of ‘A’ Flight 112 Squadron (probably six of them), the three Sea Gladiators of HMS Eagle’s Fighter Flight and a single Hurricane from ‘A’ Flight 80 Squadron flown by Flying Officer John Lapsley. They intercepted the Italian bombers and altogether claimed six of them; one by Flight Lieutenant Lloyd Schwab, one by Pilot Officer Wickham, (both from 112 Squadron) and three by Lapsley. Two Sea Gladiators flown by Lieutenant (A) Kenneth Keith (N5513) and Lieutenant Anthony Young (N5567) attacked several formations. Young attacked one in company with a 112 Squadron Gladiator flown by an unknown pilot. Keith joined the attack and the port wing of the bomber burst into flames, two members of the crew bailing out before the Savoia crashed into the sea. Commander Charles Keighly-Peach (N5517) became separated, and realizing the futility of chasing the fleeing bombers alone, headed back over the Fleet in time to see to more formations attacking (totally 25 S.79s were counted). He made three attacks on one bomber, seeing numerous pieces fall off and it went into a shallow dive. One man baled out, but as the aircraft lost height rapidly, it disappeared into cloud. He attacked another twice but without result.
The Italians lost four bombers and claimed seven Gladiators shot down in return (it seems that all the seven claims were submitted by the gunners aboard the Savoia bombers, two of them by 10^o Stormo gunners). In fact only the Gladiator of Pilot Officer Richard Acworth was seriously damaged when he attacked an S.79s, but although wounded himself Acworth was able to fly back to base where he crash-landed and the aircraft was written-off.
Italian units participating in the attack were the 10^o Stormo with ten aircraft and the 15^o and the 33^o Stormi with another sixteen aircraft. The Italians arrived over the target in consecutive waves. There is a lack of details of the attack of the 15^o and the 33^o Stormi but they suffered no losses and claimed no successes.
The 10^o Stormo aircraft were a first group of five Savoias of the 58^a Squadriglia and a second group under the command of Capitano Musch and composed of four aircraft of the 56^a Squadriglia and one of the 57^a Squadriglia. The 58^a Squadriglia took off from Derna N1 at 07:55 and arrived over the Royal Navy ships at around 10:00 where they unloaded forty 100 kilos bombs. A group of seven Gladiators tried to intercept after the bombing but was left behind while AA was reported as extremely intense and precise.
The second group led by Capitano Musch arrived over the fleet just to find all the enemy fighters already alerted and ready for the interception. Attacked by the Gladiators and Lapsley’s Hurricane the first to go down was aircraft ‘57-7’ flown by Tenente Visentin, and Sottotenente Sartore (crew; Maresciallo Fasce, Primo Aviere Radiotelegrafista Pian, Aviere Armiere Vitolo, Aviere Scelto Motorista Innocenti). It was shot down while losing height rapidly to force-land after having been damaged when it was attacked by several Gladiators. The crew were all killed. The second aircraft to go down was the aircraft of Sottotenente Mussi of the 56^a Squadriglia with the loss of the crew. The third to be shot down was ’56-9’ flown by Tenente Lauchard of the 56^a Squadriglia, which was seriously damaged. With all the crew dead inside the second pilot Tenente Cèard (Lauchard was wounded) made a forced landing on a beach. The beach was in Egyptian territory and the two pilots were taken prisoners. The plane of Lauchard was later recovered and, taken to Alexandria, was exposed as a war prize on Ismailia Square. Lauchard left a realistic narration of his capture where he told that he was transported to the airport of Sidi El Barrani where he was taken to the Officer’s Mess where an Intelligence Officer examined him. Lauchard told him only his name and rank and the amused British Officer showed him a chart where all the units of Regia Aeronautica were recorded with airbase, number of planes and names of the crew chiefs. There his name already was, written on a tag that the Intelligence Officer removed. Later the RAF officers offered a drink to him and he met a young Flight Lieutenant that around ten days before was shot down by Italian fighters and obliged to bale out. The British pilot told Lauchard that while descending in his parachute an Italian fighter pointed on him but instead of opening fire he passed near him weaving with his arm. It seems that the pilot was almost surely Flight Lieutenant 'Pat' Pattle.
The two surviving Savoias ran for home but only Capitano Musch arrived back at Derna, with the aircraft damaged and a wounded crewman (Primo Aviere Motorista Falzoni). The other S.79 flown by Sottotenente Venosta and Marsciallo Breda was almost shot down by the fighters when a cloud saved them. They were however obliged to force land at T3 where the plane was written off as a consequence of the damage suffered. The 10^o Stormo’s records reported that three of their numbers where shot down by a single Hurricane that, hidden inside the Gladiator formation, attacked with quick passes of its guns but always remaining out of range of the Italian return fire.

On 6 September, a series of operations started with the aim of putting the railway station of Mersa Matruh out of action.
The first formation, 15 bombers in three vics of five, took off from Tmini led by Generale Porro himself. The take off was done under a sand storm and three SM 79s suffered engine failures and were forced to crash-land immediately (they were classified RD) while three others were forced to turn back The rest of the formation: four aircraft of the 60^a Squadriglia, 33^o Gruppo, with Porro and Tenente Pastorelli and five planes of the 45^o Gruppo under Colonnello Attilio Biseo proceeded to the target. After the bomb release, seven Gladiators attacked damaging slightly the plane of Pastorelli. All SM 79s landed at Tmini at 10:40.
In the meantime 15 SM 79s of the 15^o Stormo (ten SM 79s of the 47^o Gruppo led by Colonnello Napoli and Maggiore Tivegna and five SM 79s of the 21^a Squadriglia led by Capitano Lualdi) took off from Maraua with the same target. The attack was carried out under heavy AA fire while the Gladiators attacked. This time too the SM 79s were able to defend themselves without suffering losses, the returning crews claimed many hits on the railway and two Gladiators shot down plus two probables.
It seems that the two Italian formations had clashed with Gladiators from 112 Squadron. A patrol composed of Flight Lieutenant Lloyd Schwab, Pilot Officer Henry Harrison and Pilot Officer Wickham, was over Matruh at 15000 feet and reported to have met and driven out to the sea a group of five SM 79s.
Another patrol composed of Flying Officer A. M. Ross, Pilot Officer Leonard Bartley and Sergeant G. M. Donaldson attacked five SM 79s without results; Ross’ Gladiator was damaged by one bullet in fuselage on the starboard side. It seems that Flying Officer Joseph Fraser claimed an unconfirmed SM 79 on this occasion.

He left 112 Squadron on 30 October and was again posted to 33 Squadron, apparently claiming two further victories during the First Libyan Campaign of December 1940/January 1941.

On 25 December, the 23^o Gruppo flew its first escorting missions after its arrival in the theatre, one of these was at 15:00 with 12 CR.42s in collaboration with 22 CR.42s from the 10^o Gruppo, which had taken off at 14:35 to escort the 15^o Stormo’s SM 79s bound to attack Sollum Harbour.
The fighters from the 23^o included four from the 70^a Squadriglia (Maggiore Tito Falconi, Tenente Claudio Solaro, Sottotenente Oscar Abello and Sergente Maggiore Balilla Albani), four from the 74^a Squadriglia (Capitano Guido Bobba, Tenente Mario Pinna, Tenente Lorenzo Lorenzoni and Sergente Emilio Stefani) and four from the 75^a Squadriglia (Tenente Pietro Calistri, Tenente Ezio Maria Monti, Sottotenente Giuseppe De Angelis and Maresciallo Giovanni Carmello). The fighters from the 10^o Gruppo included six CR.42s from the 91^a Squadriglia (Maggiore Carlo Romagnoli, Capitano Vincenzo Vanni, Sottotenente Ruggero Caporali, Sottotenente Andrea Dalla Pasqua, Sergente Maggiore Leonardo Ferrulli and Sergente Maggiore Lorenzo Migliorato), seven from the 90^a Squadriglia (Tenente Giovanni Guiducci, Tenente Franco Lucchini, Sottotenente Alessandro Rusconi, Sottotenente Neri De Benedetti, Sergente Alfredo Sclavo, Sergente Luigi Bagato and Sergente Enrico Botti) and nine from the 84^a Squadriglia (Capitano Luigi Monti, Tenente Antonio Angeloni, Sergente Maggiore Salvatore Mechelli, Sergente Domenico Santonocito, Sergente Luciano Perdoni, Sergente Corrado Patrizi, Sergente Piero Buttazzi, Sergente Mario Veronesi and Capitano Mario Pluda (91^a Squadriglia)).
The formation was attacked by some Hurricanes that were counter-attacked and obliged to flee. Two Hurricanes were claimed as probably shot down by the pilots of 90^a and 91^a Squadriglie (the 90^a Squadriglia used 160 rounds of ammunition), which claimed them as shared with the 23^o Gruppo even if the pilot from the 23^o Gruppo in fact weren’t able to claim anything. Tenente Guiducci landed at T5 with engine trouble while the rest of the formation landed at Z1 between 16:50 and 17:00. No losses were suffered by the bombers, which claimed to have hit an aircraft carrier. In fact, they aimed their bomb load at a monitor, but it is not known if the ship was in fact hit.
The Hurricanes were probably machines of 33 Squadron with Flying Officer Wickham and Flying Officer Vernon Woodward that encountered one SM 79 and one CR.42, damaging the CR.42. The action was however recorded in the morning.

The unit then moved to Greece.

On 6 April, Germany declared war on Yugoslavia and Greece and immediately attacked.

As German forces streamed through the Rupel Pass, the Royal Air Force waited tensely for news. Pilot Officer Winsland of 33 Squadron at Larissa later recorded:

“We heard the news before dawn, got up, washed in freezing water- and dressed. Everyone was tense; our feelings and thoughts were confused - what was going to happen now? Our army was on the retreat in Egypt; the Greeks were only just managing to hold the Italians back in Albania; had we sufficient British troops to hold the Germans in Greece? What was going to happen in the air? While we had sufficient to cope with the Italians, surely we were going to be hopelessly outnumbered by the Germans? For weeks past we had heard of colossal German air forces forming up in Bulgaria. What were we in for? Little did we know! In the afternoon (having been on instant readiness all morning, with all available Hurricanes parked at the end of the runway, facing into wind, ready for take off) all available Hurricanes (12) took off for an offensive patrol over Bulgaria. I had the good fortune to be flying next to Sqn Ldr Pattle. Suddenly we spotted eight Me109s and dived to attack. This was my first really good look at a Hun from close quarters. I saw the CO beside me shoot down two of them in a few seconds. What a sight. I shall never forget it. What shooting too. A two second burst from his eight guns at the first enemy machine caused a large piece to break off in mid air, while the machine turned over vertically onto one wingtip as the pilot baled out - his parachute opened while his feet were still in the cockpit but he got clear in spite of the chute opening so soon. A similar fate awaited the second enemy machine which went spiralling down in flames. I did not have time to see what happened to its pilot.”

“While all this was in full swing and machines were twisting and turning in all directions I found myself directly on the tail of another Hun at whom I let off burst after burst, but either he was made of cast iron or possibly my shooting wasn't so hot! I fear it was the latter as I have had cause to discover several times since. However, I do know the cause - excitement - which is something. I start firing with the centre of the gunsight dead on target, then find myself a few seconds later aiming purely by my tracer - looking round the edge of the sight instead of through it! On this occasion the enemy plane merely "vibrated" all over and started a diving turn to the left. I continued to chase it but still could not get it down. Luckily another Hurricane (F/Sgt Cottingham) suddenly came diving at it as well as myself and at last the enemy “bought his packet.”.”

On 13 April Flying Officer Wickham caught a reconnaissance Bf110 from 7(F)./LG2 over Mount Olympus and shot it down in flames. This was L2+HR flown by Leutnant George Lange (fate unknown).

During the day on 20 April Eleusis was almost under constant attack but in the afternoon there was a pause in activity, which allowed a little time for the ground crews to bring the maximum possible number of Hurricanes up to readiness state. Squadron Leader 'Tap' Jones decided that if no further attack had developed by 18:00, all available Hurricanes would undertake an offensive sweep in an effort to raise morale amongst the civilian population of Athens and the surrounding areas, and as a boost to the defenders of Eleusis as well as to the pilots themselves.
However at about 16:45 a formation of 100 plus Ju88s and Do17s, escorted by Bf109s and Bf110s was reported approaching Athens. The Ju88s (from I/LG 1) peeled off to make low-flying attacks on shipping at Piraeus, while individual Bf110s of II/ZG 26 scoured the area, shooting up likely targets. One appeared over Eleusis just as the Hurricanes (nine of 33 Squadron and six of 80 Squadron) were preparing to take off. Fortunately, none were hit, and all took to the air individually, climbed to 20 000 feet and headed for Piraeus, forming sections of two or three en route.
The first trio to arrive over the port, flown by Flying Officers Wickham, Flight Lieutenant Henry John Starrett (RAF no. 40188) and Percival ‘Ping’ Newton (a Rhodesian), caught 15 Ju88s dive-bombing ships in the harbour (the Greek hospital ship Ellenis was sunk during the attack). The three Hurricanes followed them down and attacked as they pulled out of their dives; Wickham claimed one shot down, whilst Newton claimed two more. Just then Pilot Officer William Vale arrived on the scene, reporting seeing some 30 Ju88s:

“I carried out eight attacks on the Ju88s. One caught fire and started going down, so I left him and attacked another. Big chunks broke away from his wings and fuselage, and smoke poured from his engines. He went down vertically. I was then attacked by a 109, but I easily outmanoeuvred him, had a crack at some more, and came home when my ammo was exhausted.”

“I dived on the rear one, and he rolled on his back, and crashed to the ground with smoke pouring out. I made a similar attack on a second, and the pilot baled out. I had a go at a third, but didn’t see what happened this time.”

“I took off late with Squadron Leader Pattle - we climbed into a swarm of Ju88s protected by masses of Messerschmitt 110s. We were overwhelmed. In sun I recall shooting down a 110 off Pattle’s tail, in flames, then probably a Ju88. Shortly afterwards Pattle got a confirmed Ju88 (or Bf110). Subsequently I lost contact with him, then damaged three more 110s, then, being out of ammunition returned tentatively to Eleusis. It was all over – for that day.”

He was awarded a DFC in July, a Bar following on 25 August 1942 for his leadership over Dieppe on 19th of that month. Both citations credited him with nine victories, the Bar citation adding that he had also claimed five probables. Immediately after this award, he was posted to command 131 Squadron.

He was rested in November but returned to operations in April 1943 as commander of 122 Squadron, which he led until November. He then became Wing Leader of 122 Wing in 2nd TAF.

He was promoted to Squadron Leader on 1 January 1944.

From January to March 1944 he served with OLTW. In March 1944 he joined 2 TEU as CFI, remaining on strength until 12 September, when he was posted to HQ, ADGB.

From October 1944 to March 1945 he was a staff officer at HQ, Fighter Command, following which he led the Peterhead Mustang Wing on sorties up the Norwegian coastal area.

At the end of the war a full account of his wartime activities was prepared to support a recommendation for a DSO, this listing his claims as ten confirmed, seven probables and 15 damaged. The DSO citation, which appeared in August 1945, combined the two former figures and credited him with 17.

Wickham ended the war with 4 biplane victories and a total of 7 (plus another 3 without details) destroyed.

He remained in the RAF, commanding 43 Squadron on Meteors from February to December 1949, and ultimately becoming a Group Captain.

He was stationed at Duxford in the mid 1950s, becoming a Wing Commander again on 1 January 1953. At the end of June 1956 he was posted as Air Attaché, Bern, Switzerland, as a Group Captain. He retired from the service on 26 March 1961.

Pete Wickham died on 29 April 1970.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Time	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1940
1	29/06/40		1	Ro.37 (a)	Destroyed	Gladiator I	K8031	3m W Sidi Aziez	att. 33 Squadron
2	29/06/40		1	CR.32 (b)	Destroyed	Gladiator I	K8031		att. 33 Squadron
3	30/06/40		1	CR.42 (c)	Destroyed	Gladiator II	N5783	Bardia	att. 33 Squadron
4	17/08/40		1	S.79 (d)	Destroyed	Gladiator		Bardia-Alexandria	112 Squadron
	25/12/40	morning	½	CR.42 (e)	Shared damaged	Hurricane		Sollum area	33 Squadron
	1941
5	06/04/41		1	Bf109E (f)	Destroyed	Hurricane I		Rupel Pass, Bulgaria	33 Squadron
6	13/04/41		1	Bf110 (g)	Destroyed	Hurricane I		Mount Olympus	33 Squadron
7	20/04/41		1	Ju88 (h)	Destroyed	Hurricane I		Piraeus	33 Squadron
	1942
	27/04/42		1	Bf109E	Damaged	Spitfire Vb	AR281	5m N St Omer	111 Squadron
	19/08/42		1	Fw190	Damaged	Spitfire Vb		off Dieppe	111 Squadron
	19/08/42		1	Fw190	Damaged	Spitfire Vb		off Dieppe	111 Squadron
	1943
	25/07/43		1	Bf190	Damaged	Spitfire V	EN841	Ghent area	122 Squadron
	25/07/43		1	Fw190	Damaged	Spitfire V	EN841	Ghent area	122 Squadron
	25/07/43		1	Fw190	Probable	Spitfire V	EN841	Ghent area	122 Squadron
	1945
	25/03/45		1	Fw190	Damaged	Mustang IV	'Z'	S Bremanger	Peterhead Wing

Biplane victories: 4 destroyed.
TOTAL: (According to citations) 10 destroyed (3 no details), 7 probables (6 no details), 15 and 1 shared damaged (9 no details).
(a) Claimed in combat with Meridionali Ro.37bis probably belonging to 64^o or 73^o Gruppi Osservazione Aerea. Not verified with Italian records.
(b) Not verified with Italian records.
(c) Claimed in combat with CR.32s of the 160 Squadriglia escorting a Ro.37. The 33 Squadron claimed two victories and the Ro.37 (the crew was killed) and one CR.32 were shot down (Tenente Ivano Vanni parachuted).
(d) RAF and FAA claimed six S.79s and 1 probable for one damaged Gladiator. The 10^o Stormo aircraft lost three S.79s and got two more damaged.
(e) Possibly claimed in combat with CR.42s, which claimed two probable Hurricanes without losses. The 33 Squadron claimed one damaged CR.42 without losses.
(f) Claimed in combat with Bf109Es of 8/JG27. 33 Squadron claimed 5 without losses while 8/JG27 lost four aircraft and a fifth crash-landed. Oberleutnant Arno Becker (Black 2) was killed (possibly by Pattle), Leutnant Klaus Faber baled out and became POW (possibly by Pattle) and Gerhard Fromming (Black 8) was wounded.
(g) Bf110 L2+HR of 7(F)/LG2 flown by Leutnant George Lange shot down.
(h) Probably claimed in combat with Ju88s from I/LG 1. RAF claimed five for the loss of one Hurricane. I/LG 1 lost one aircraft (L1+ZH - Unteroffizier Helmut Benke and his crew killed) and got one damaged while claiming one Hurricane.

Sources:
50^o Stormo d'Assalto - Nino Arena, 1979 STEM Mucchi, Modena kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Aces High - Christopher Shores and Clive Williams, 1994 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-898697-00-0
Aces High Volume 2 - Christopher Shores, 1999 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-03-9
Ace of Aces: M T StJ Pattle - E C R Baker, 1992 Crécy Books, Somerton, ISBN 0-947554-36-X
Air war for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete - Christopher Shores, Brian Cull and Nicola Malizia, 1987 Grub Street, London, ISBN 0-948817-07-0
Gloster Gladiator - Alex Crawford, 2002 Mushroom Model Publications, ISBN 83-916327-0-9
Gloster Gladiator Aces - Andrew Thomas, 2002 Osprey Publishing, London, ISBN 1-84176-289-X
Gloster Gladiator Home Page - Alexander Crawford.
Fighters over the Desert - Christopher Shores and Hans Ring, 1969 Neville Spearman Limited, London
Hurricanes over Tobruk - Brian Cull with Don Minterne, 1999 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-11-X
Luftwaffe Claims Lists - Tony Wood
Malta: The Hurricane Years 1940-41 - Christopher Shores and Brian Cull with Nicola Malizia, 1987 Grub Street, London, ISBN 0-89747-207-1
Shark Squadron - The history of 112 Squadron 1917-1975 - Robin Brown, 1994 Crécy Books, ISBN 0-947554-33-5
Storia di 10.000 aeroplani – Franco Pagliano, 2003 Ugo Mursia, Milano, kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
The Desert Air War 1939 – 1945 – Richard Townshend Bickers, 1991 Leo Cooper, London, ISBN 0-85052-216-1, kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo
Those Other Eagles – Christopher Shores, 2004 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-904010-88-1
Woody - A Fighter Pilot's Album - Hugh A. Halliday, 1987 Canav Books, Toronto, ISBN 0-9690703-8-1
Additional information kindly provided by Ludovico Slongo.