Force (RAF) aircraft in the area being a Fairey Battle bomber from RAF Warmwell on a training sortie near Chesil Beach. When the pilot saw the raid, he dived for home at full speed. Two Stukas of 7./StG51 were shot down by ground fire, one into the Channel off Portland, the crew being killed and the other crew rescued off the Cotentin Peninsula; a Bf 109 crashed on landing at Théville near Cherbourg. The tug was also sunk and the steamers City of Melbourne, East Wales and MV William Wilberforce were damaged by bombs in Portland Harbour. Off Portland Soon after the bombing of Portland harbour, a Junkers Ju 88 reconnaissance aircraft of 1.()/123 (1 Squadron, Long Range Reconnaissance Wing 123) signalled that OA 178 was south-west of Portland and 24 Ju 87s of I./StG2 from Falaise, escorted by a of I./JG1 took off, followed by 23 Ju 87s of III./StG51 as soon as they had refuelled and rearmed. At about the Stukas attacked Flimstone whose master watched the Stukas pull out of their dives at and the bombs fall close astern, shaking the ship. The attack lasted for about two hours, Clarkia engaging the Stukas with its 4-inch gun and four machine-guns. The chief officer of Deucalion wrote later that the sky seemed full of aircraft which hit the ship with nine bombs and began to sink. The captain and the carpenter were seriously wounded by machine-gun fire and as soon as a lull occurred, the crew abandoned ship. The gunner on Dallas City fired at the Stukas as they began to pull out of their dives, their machine-gun fire hitting the ship around him. Three bombs hit Dallas City, one through the skylight to the engine room, one down the funnel and one into number 3 hold, two crew being wounded. Flimstone, already damaged, tried to avoid Dallas City by increasing speed and putting the helm hard to starboard but was hit on the port side by Dallas City, which smashed a lifeboat. It took Flimstone fifteen minutes to manoeuvre free and set course for Portland. Captain Norman Shalton got the crew of Dallas City into the two portside lifeboats and abandoned the ship at about which sank at . (The crew was rescued about three hours later by Antonio). Antonio was machine-gunned and near-missed by German bombing south south-west of Portland Bill; the rudder and propeller shaft