Geriaviator,
Let me second Chugalug's remarks. Rupert has nothing to reproach himself with: he did his best with what they gave him - and no man can do more. That what they gave him was nowhere good enough was no fault of his - but that of a country that had ignored for years Churchill's warnings and would not spend the money needed to equip itself properly for its own defence.
Of course, we wouldn't be so stupid today, would we ?
I think Garland and Gray's two VCs should stand for all who went out in their "Battles" in the face of (as they well knew) the much superior Me109. They "knew the score", they knew there was always a tiny chance that they might be able to destroy (say) a vital canal bridge or lock, but the near certainty that they would be shot down doing it.
I can understand his chagrin at being an unwilling non-combatant for the next five years, but "The Fortunes of War"..............old chap !
Danny42C.