On the 3rd September 1939, with the German invasion of Poland in full swing, the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain was left with no alternative but to declare war on Germany.

At first the Squadron officers were billeted in the village of Challerange some way from the airfield and the airmen slept in a large barn. Aircrew on standby slept under the wings of their aircraft. Later better accommodation was arranged in the village of Monthois a mile from the airfield.

The expected German assault in the West did not come and for the British and French forces in France the winter of 1939/40 was a mostly a quite time known as the Phoney War. As well as training exercises various lectures were arranged for Squadron personnel on enemy aircraft, tactics and the like and there were visits to nearby Reims to experience the local hospitality and night life.

The Squadron flew it's first operation on the 17th September 1939. This involved a daylight reconnaisance by 3 aircraft along Franco-German border led by Squadron Leader J Coverdale. The operation was carried out at 3000 feet between Bouzonville and Lauterbourg and was successful with no opposition. There followed a series of similar operations which encountered occasional German flak but no fighter opposition and these were completed without loss although one operation had problems with bad weather.

On the 23rd September 6 aircraft led by Flight Lieutenant C E R Tait took off on a high level photo reconnaissance operation to Lebach in Germany. Flying at 24,500 feet it was found that the rear Vickers K machine guns would not fire due to the intense cold. Over oiling was suspected and a test was later carried out using dry guns, which gave satisfactory results.

Three Battles led by Flight Lieutenant M C Wells took off at 12:20 hours on the 27th September for what they thought would be another routine reconnaissance flight between Bouzonville and the Rhine. Whilst flying at 3000 feet the Battles were attacked by 3 French Curtis Hawks near Bitche. The Battles fired off recognition flares and the French aircraft broke off their attack. Soon after the Battles were attacked by three German Bf 109s. The Battle flown by Flying Officer A L Vipan was damaged in this attack and his observer, Sergeant J H Vickers, seriously wounded. In the combat Flying Officer Vipan's gunner, Aircraftsman J E Summers, shot down one of the attacking Bf 109s from close range and the remaining German fighters were chased off by French Morane fighters which had appeared on the scene.

With Sergeant Vickers in considerable pain and the engine of the Battle damaged Flying Officer Vipan decided crash land his aircraft in a field close to French troop positions on the Maginot Line. Sergeant Vickers was taken to hospital where he sadly died on the 7th October 1939. The aircraft was considered damaged beyond repair and struck off charge on the 9th October. Sgt Vickers was awarded the Medaille Militaire by the French authorities just before he died and Aircraftsman Summers received the Distinguished Flying Medal. In their first combat with enemy fighters the Squadron sustained its first fatal casualty, lost its first aircraft, shot down its first enemy aircraft and received its first gallantry awards of World War 2.

It was already becoming clear from early RAF bomber operations that the aircraft undertaking these duties were no match for the Luftwaffe fighters and the theory of the self defending bomber operating in daylight without fighter escort was not viable. The Fairey Battle proved very vulnerable to fighter attack armed with only 1 fixed wing mounted Browning 0.303 machine gun and 1 manually operated Vickers K 0.303 machine gun in the rear cockpit which was totally inadequate. In addition, there was a particular blind spot where fighters could attack from the rear and below. In an effort to cover this area the Fairey company speedily designed a mounting for another Vickers K 0.303 machine gun to be fitted in the bombing aperture in the floor of the fuselage. This weapon was operated by the Observer who had to crouch in an awkward and uncomfortable position and sight the weapon through a mirror, which pointed to the rear. In practise the weapon proved extremely difficult to operate and was not liked by those who had to use it. The Squadron records state that, in spite of the drawbacks, the installation may deter attacks from underneath and the aircraft were fitted with the new mounting for operations.

Wing Commander Gemmel had serious doubts about the Fairey Battle like many of his contemporaries and recalled much later that he found it a most unsatisfactory aircraft and thought it incredible that it was accepted for operational flying in the first place. He was particularly critical of the Battle's performance at altitude and the intercom system, which at this time was unreliable and prone to failure.

Flying Officer R D Max however was more positive about the Battle, which he stated was easy to fly, and a rugged and solidly built machine. However he noted that the engine cooling system was vulnerable to even a tiny piece of shrapnel and also that the Battle lacked speed which made it very vulnerable, particularly at low level. Surprisingly he recalls that the pilots thought very highly of their aircraft, at least in the winter of 1939/40.

On the 28th November 1939 the Squadron moved to a new airfield at Plivot near Epinay and on the 9th December 1939 the Squadron was honoured by a visit from His Majesty King George VI. On Christmas Eve the Squadron organised a party for 45 local children which proved a most enjoyable occasion for all concerned and on Xmas Day the officers and sergeants served the 300 airmen and soldiers attached to the Squadron with their Christmas dinner. All the men received bottles of beer and a good supply of cigarettes and it was noted that the meal was as good as could be expected in normal conditions. On the 26th December a team of officers and soldiers played a rather chaotic and amusing soccer match against a team of sergeants and other ranks and a good time was had by all although it was impossible to establish who won.

There were a few hostelries in the local village which the officers and men would often frequent, sometimes without permission. It was reported that Wing Commander Gemmel used to visit the pubs at night and anyone caught was instructed to immediately return to their billets. Flight Lieutenant Tait and Flying Officer Wells became quite renowned for regularly hiding in a chicken shed next to one of the pubs to escape the wrath of their CO.

On The 7th January 1940 the Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill who, at that time, was the First Lord of the Admiralty visited the Squadron. Night flying training exercises were flown early in January which was the first time the Squadron had undertaken night flights whilst in France and these continued through to the end of April when weather conditions permitted.

The winter of 1939/40 turned out to be very severe and was the worst in Europe for many years with much snow and frost. This was the cause of considerable discomfort for the Squadron personnel and curtailed much of the flying. Keeping the aircraft serviceable was a major problem and tents were erected over the aircraft engines and oil heaters used with hot air blowers to keep the engines from freezing. With the intense cold the batteries would not function and the Battles were started by the use of a rope sling, which was hooked over one of the airscrew blades and pulled smartly by a team of 6 men. This worked well and after 3 pulls most of the engines would fire

During February Air Marshall Sir Arthur Barratt became overall Commander in Chief of the British Air Forces in France taking over the control of the AASF squadrons from Bomber Command and assuming control of the Air Component. He regrouped the 10 Battle squadrons into 3 Wings and 103 Squadron became part of 75 Wing with 88 and 218 Squadrons under the command of Group Captain A H Wann.

On the 15th February 1940 the Squadron moved again to Betheniville, about 17 miles East of Reims, which was a much larger airfield with better accommodation and good facilities in the local village. As the spring thaw set in the airfield became a morass of mud and slush. The open zig zag of metal mats which had been laid proved very successful and allowed for take offs and landings although at times the aircraft did not respond well to their brakes but training flights and operations were able to resume on a regular basis.

Wing Commander Gemmel was promoted to a senior post on the RAF HQ staff at Nantes on the 1st March 1940 and replaced as Squadron Commanding Officer by Wing Commander T C Dickens who was to prove equally as capable and popular as his predecessor. That night the Squadron lost an aircraft on a training flight when Flying Officer A J Carver and crew crash-landed with injuries to all three crewmen.

On the 11th March the Squadron flew practise flights against 1 Squadron's Hurricane fighters which proved a useful exercise and gave the Battle crews some insight into the combat and evasion techniques they could use against modern fighters of the Luftwaffe.

The Squadron were instructed to start leaflet dropping operations, Nickel raids as they were known, over Germany and Flight Lieutenant Tait flew the first of these to Koblenz on the night of the 20/21st March. Searchlights were seen and there was some flak but the operation was successful. Similar operations over Germany were carried out over the next few weeks without loss. On the 27th March the Battle of Flying Officer I P Hinton and crew crashed on a night training sortie when they flew into trees at the military range near St Hilaire-le-Grand killing allthree on board.

In April 1940 the Squadron continued with night training flights and also flew 2 more leaflet dropping and reconnaissance operations to Darmstadt and Frankfurt. 4 Battles flew on each operation without loss.

At this time the Squadron had a good selection of pilots from the Commonwealth countries amongst its commissioned officers. Flying Officers Max and Fitzgerald together with Pilot Officers Hayter, Morton and Cunningham all came from New Zealand, Pilot Officer Pugh from South Africa and Flying Officer Morgan-Dean from Canada. This mixture of nationalities seemed to work well and was a feature of the Squadron throughout the war.

During the winter the RAF in France had been involved in isolated combats with the Luftwaffe but overall it had been a quiet period. With the securing of the Northern flank by the invasion of Denmark and Norway on the 8th April 1940, Hitler felt now at liberty to proceed with his final campaign in the West, aimed at defeating the French and British. Extensive plans had already been made for the German advance through the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, a gigantic and highly risky undertaking. The Luftwaffe had some 3,530 modern combat aircraft available for this task which was opposed by the negligible strength of the Dutch and Belgian Air Forces which numbered in total about 300 mostly obsolete types and the French Air Force which numbered about 1200 aircraft of variable quality. The Royal Air Force had about 350 combat aircraft available, the best of which by far were the Hawker Hurricane fighters.

It is important also to remember that most of the Luftwaffe aircrew had already gained considerable combat experience having served in the Spanish Civil War and/or the invasions of Poland, Norway and Denmark and their morale was very high. They flew mostly modern aircraft and applied successful tactics that had been tested and developed in operational conditions. The aircrews of the Allies facing them had good morale and plenty of courage but they lacked the experience and the modern equipment of their German counterparts and the tactics that the Allies were to employ were soon to be found wanting in operational conditions.

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