Are details being mixed up? this from wiki …. Towards the end of August 1942, the Luftwaffe began launching high-level bombing raids against England. A unit called the
Höhenkampfkommando der Versuchsstelle für Höhenflüge, equipped with a small number of
Junkers Ju 86R bombers, was able to bomb England from above 40,000 ft without impediment from RAF fighters, or from anti-aircraft guns. On one such attack on 28 August a single bomb dropped on
Bristol killed 48 people and injured another 46.
[71][72] To counter the threat, the "High Altitude Flight" was formed at
RAF Northolt; this unit used a pair of Spitfire Mk Vcs which were converted into IXs by Rolls-Royce at the
Hucknall plant. These were stripped of everything not required for the role of high-level interception, lightening them by 450 lb each. On 12 September 1942
Flying Officer Emanuel Galitzine, flying
BS273[nb 4], successfully intercepted a Ju 86R piloted by Fw Horst Göetz and commanded by
Leutnant Erich Sommer
[nb 5] above
Southampton at 41,000 ft. The ensuing battle went up to 43,000 ft and was the highest air battle of the war. However, problems were caused by the freezing air at that altitude and the combat was not decisive: the port cannon suffered a jam and, whenever the pilot fired a burst, the aircraft would slew and fall out of the sky.
[74] The bomber escaped safely with just one hit to its port wing, but having found it to be vulnerable to the RAF at high altitudes, the Luftwaffe launched no further high-altitude attacks against England.
[75][76]