They should not have been sent. And no one was prepared to order them to go to certain death. Esmonde was "asked" how he felt about going in.
Gleave, the Wing Commander, said that when he wished Esmonde luck,
"Although his mouth twitched automatically into the semblance of a grin and his arm lifted in a vague salute, he barely recognised me. He knew what he was going into. But it was his duty. His face was tense and white. It was the face of a man already dead. It shocked me as nothing has done since"