but saw no sign of the Australian. He assumed Cullen had gone off to scout for more enemy aircraft after missing out on Pattle's victory. Now alone, he was attacked by another lone G.50bis while flying towards Vlorë. After a brief combat, he shot down the Fiat. It crashed into the sea southwest of Vlorë harbour. He then became involved with a third such fighter over Valona harbour and claimed to have shot this down into the sea in flames on the west side of the promontory. After his return to base, he was informed Cullen had been posted missing in action. Pattle and the squadron considered he had most likely been shot down and killed. Squadron leader On 12 March 1941, Pattle was promoted to squadron leader. The following day, the squadron returned to Eleusis north of Athens. There, Pattle was reassigned to No. 33 Squadron. Pattle received a Bar to his DFC on 18 March 1941, for which the citation read: "In March 1941, during an engagement over Himara Flight Lieutenant Pattle shot down three enemy fighters. This courageous and skilful fighter pilot has now destroyed at least 23 enemy aircraft". Pattle arrived in Athens and was immediately unimpressed by No. 33 Squadron. The group was already indignant and many of the veterans believed one of their number should have been promoted instead. He gathered the pilots together and made a statement of his intent: After the lecture, Pattle took another pilot, Pilot Officer Ping Newton, up for dogfight practice. The squadron watched. They climbed to 10,000 feet, separated and then began a head-on attack so neither would have an advantage. Soon, Pattle had moved onto his tail and Ping could not shake his leader off. He criticised the pilot for being too smooth on the controls and urged his men to be rough with them in combat. Within a week, constant practice had moulded the squadron into an effective team. He impressed on his pilots one critical point about his own approach to combat: On 23 March, Pattle flew his first missions with No. 33 Squadron, now based at Larissa. They flew as escort for Blenheims from No. 84 Squadron over the Pindus Mountains and Paramythia. Supported by No. 112 Squadron Gladiators, they flew to raid Berat. The cloud base was low and thick and they descended below it at 1,900 feet. The bombers attacked and two