After the costly raid on German warships on the second day of the war, there was no day activity of any kind for Bomber Command squadrons until 20 September, when a series of photographic reconnaissance flights over Germany commenced. The purpose of these was to discover whether the Germans were carrying out a military build-up in Western Germany after the end of the Polish campaign and whether a German attack on France was likely to occur. Road and rail communications were thus frequently photographed. A watch was also kept on German airfields and naval bases. 2 sorties were also made to the Ruhr to photograph power stations there which were being considered as future bombing targets. These daylight reconnaissance flights were all carried out by Blenheims of 2 Group. The first phase can usefully be consolidated into this composite entry.
The Blenheims flew 37 of these sorties on 11 days during this period, the most sorties in any one day being 6 on 30 October. These dangerous and lonely flights were carried out with much determination, but at heavy cost; the Blenheim was no match for the German fighters which were often encountered. 5 Blenheims were shot down, including the plane of the commander of 110 Squadron on 28 September. This was Wing Commander I. M. Cameron, an Australian, who crashed near Kiel on the day when Hitler was there to present the first Knight's Cross to a U-boat commander. 3 other Blenheims were lost over the North Sea, including 2 planes of 114 Squadron which collided on 11 November. The 7 planes lost in this period represented 194 percent of the sorties flown. The reconnaissance flights over Germany were stopped on 25 November.
