Peter Ayerst climbing in
to his Hurricane
Peter Ayerst risked his life almost every time he took his
Hurricane or Spitfire off the ground.
But his peacetime role as a publican
failed to provide the thrills and excitement of aerial combat. He
needed something more so took to the skies from Rochester in a
Tiger Moth.
Sometimes Peter would swoop low over
The Royal Devon, a pleasure steamer which plied between Margate and
Southend. Sometimes he would "beat up" a Kent airfield such as
Lympne. Always he would perform aerobatic stall turns, loops and
rolls which were life savers during the war years.
Peter came to Rochester as a member of
the RAF Volunteer Reserve, a group financed by Short Brothers,
which needed the services of experienced pilots and ground crews to
develop their aircraft business on the banks of the Medway.
Little did they realise he was the
first pilot of the war to take on the German Messerschmitt 109
fighters. It meant pioneering new battle techniques for the less
powerful but more manoeuvrable Hurricanes he flew.
Because he was one of the few pilots
with combat experience against the Messerschmitts, Peter was
transferred to a training squadron as an instructor during the
Battle of Britain, which means he doesn’t technically qualify as a
Battle of Britain combatant, although he did shoot down a Heinkel
bomber in that period.
Jimmy
Corbin, another pilot with Rochester connections, certainly can
claim to be a Battle of Britain pilot. Jimmy learned to fly under
legendary instructor Vic Arnold at Rochester after he joined the
RAF in 1938.
His non-flying training was carried
out at Chatham.
Having grown up and gone to school in
Maidstone, Jimmy had to finish his teacher training course before
he was allowed to take to the air with the RAF.
"The most frightening experience was
being jumped by 30 or more 109s from behind," he said. "The
standard technique for taking evasive action was to perform what we
called a ‘split-arsed roll’ which meant climbing steeply then
banking round to one side or the other."
Both men's amazing stories feature in
last Friday's Medway Messenger, which is still on sale.
And you can read more about the Battle
of Britain over Kent in our 28-page souvenir supplement, which
salutes the courage and determination of all those who defended
Britain during her darkest hours.
There are first hand stories, unique
photographs of bombing raids, maps and a schools poster featuring
the aircraft that battled over Kent.