On 22 December, Mölders, leading four Bf 109s from III./JG 53, engaged three Hawker Hurricanes over the Saar River, between Metz and Thionville, that were trying to intercept an unidentified aircraft. Mölders and Hans von Hahn shot down two Hurricanes flown by Sergeants R.M. Perry and J. Winn, becoming the first German fighter pilots to shoot down a Hawker Hurricane. Mölders shot down another Hurricane on 2 April, when he forced Flight Lieutenant C.D. "Pussy" Palmer of No. 1 Squadron RAF, to bail out, and on 20 April, he destroyed a French Curtiss P-36 Hawk (H-75A) east of Saarbrücken.