a 35 to 40-degree dive and practiced strafing. The 250 lb bombs were fitted with extension rods which detonated the bomb above the ground to cause maximum damage to vehicles and personnel. Drake remarked of the air war: With bombs slung underneath our aircraft and our attention focused largely on the ground, we could have been perceived as highly vulnerable. However, I do not recall any feelings of inferiority to the Bf 109s. Many flight commanders had flown in the Battle of Britain, and were used to seeing Messerschmitts being about. We were also by now aware that there not a great many of them available in North Africa. The Squadron leader's first success came on 6 June 1942. Above Bir Hacheim—during the Battle of Bir Hakeim—Drake's logbook states he claimed a Bf 109F but this is listed as only probably destroyed in other sources. No Bf 109Fs were lost that day according to German losses; however, three Bf 109Es from 4.(H)/12 were shot down—one to anti-aircraft fire. Three Bf 109s and one probable were credited to 112 Squadron. The squadron targeted airfields after the battle. On 12 June 1942 claimed one Bf 109 destroyed and another damaged. On 17 June Drake carried out an attack on Gazala No. 2 airfield and claimed another three Bf 109s on the ground. In aerial combat he claimed a Bf 109E probable on 2 July and 8 July he claimed another destroyed. The British fighter squadrons claimed five Bf 109s, two probable and three damaged. Three Bf 109s from JG 27 were shot down and another from III./JG 53 crash-landed. On 23 July he claimed a Macchi C.202 and the following morning a Messerschmitt Bf 110. Drake made the only claim for a Bf 110. A Bf 110F-2 from 4. (H)/12, Werknummer 5007 BG+G1 was reported lost. Feldwebel Karl Birkner and Leutnant Josef Hofbauer were captured and Oberleurnant Karl Brainer was killed in action. Another Bf 110 and Bf 109 were claimed as destroyed on the ground. On 1 September 1942, a day in which the Desert Air Force suffered heavy losses, Drake claimed two Junkers Ju 87s. On 13 September Drake claimed a Bf 109 destroyed. Leading 112 and other P-40s from the 239 Wing, Drake engaged Bf 109s from I. and III./JG 27 and III./JG 53. 112 Squadron claimed one, a probable and two damaged. Only two Bf 109s from JG