Biggin Hill sunset

August 13th, 1940 pt 3 ( Late afternoon to dusk)

1700hrs: another sighting was made of a formation of enemy aircraft coming in across the Channel. This seemed to be made up of two separate formations. The larger coming across the coast near Dungeness that were identified as Ju87s from II/StG I, while a smaller group came in over Dover, these were identified as Ju87s of IV(St) LGI with both groups escorted by Me 109s.....

Stuka's invited to the party

An enjoyable first mission last night and a lot of Stukas to deal with. Flying from North Weald was interesting as was trying to find Maidstone. Chasing 70+ Stukas diving on an airfield was quite a sight.

"Splash One, request permission for fly-by?"

Heading for Maidstone

WB at Lympne, or is it Sheppey? :p

DAKKA-DAKKA-DAKKA

After the initial mission, night had started to fall. We had some difficulties taking off at Biggin, I swear there's a tripwire on the bottom runway, then heading west for Reading.

Biggin Hill sunset

Despite the frustrations of getting airborne, "Catseyes" Brigstock manages to find the incoming raiders after a long search over Reading.

Brigstock gives some good news

Having been unable to find Reading and only a rough approximation of where I was in the South of England, I began the search for a runway, anywhere. Splash had also begun to search for a landing site.

Finally, out of the dark, I spotted a larger looking field and descended. Fortunately it was a runway..... somewhere.

Head in the slipstream - where am I?

Miraculously we all survived and managed to land. WB and Brigstock at the same place. Even more amazing was 3 night kills for Brigstock.

WB looking for the runway... "Its behind you!!"

Whilst its not something I'd like to do every week, messing about in the dark was quite a good laugh. I'll get the searchlights working for next time. :)

An afternoon on the south coast

Tuesday August 13th, 1940

1530hrs: The large formation is now on radar just out from the Dorset coast and was approaching to the west of the Isle of Wight. It seemed as if this was to be a massive attack, and the German formations were heading in the direction of Portsmouth and Southampton. As predicted, the formations were now broken into groups, and consisted of 120 plus Ju88s from KG 54 and LG 1, these were escorted by 40 plus Bf109s from V/LG 1 that were coming in from the western end of the Channel. To the east came 77 Ju 87s from II/StG 2 and StG 77 and were escorted by 50 plus Bf109s from JG 27. Flying slightly ahead of the bomber formations were 35 Bf109s of II/JG 53. This was a total of about 450 German aircraft that was approaching the English coast.



KG 54 Ju 88's over the Isle of Wight

Being slightly down on numbers for one of the biggest raids thus far isn't exactly the ideal way to start, but with the Warmwell Spits of 152 Squadron and Exeter Spits of 238 Squadron it wasn't as bad as the three of us first thought.

Taking off from Tangmere as 601 Squadron, Brigs and I did a nice pairs take off and circled the base waiting for WB to get airborne in the late afternoon sunshine.



Circling the base

We climbed as hard to intercept the incoming contacts that were heading towards Southampton.

These few moments before the chaos starts are great, straining to see into the haze knowing that a large enemy force is approaching cranks up the immersion. WB saw them first.

Flying alongside the formation

Around 90 Ju88's with escort were heading north to Southampton. They were already over the Solent and heading up the Hamble river.

Starting in to the rear of the formation, we tried to find isolated groups. Almost immediately I picked up some engine damage and headed for the nearest airfield which was Hamble.

Approaching Hamble, with the docks burning

In the meantime, WB and Brigstock got stuck in as the formation carried on northwards. It soon became apparent that the docks were not the only target as the formation swung NW heading for Andover airfield. (In WW2 - the Luftwaffe mistook Andover airfield for Middle Wallop)

The Spits from Warmwell were dealing with the escort fighters, leaving the Hurricanes free to harass the bombers.


WB and Brigstock were still in touch with the main formation which was now NW of Winchester. Brigstock was now also Winchester himself and headed off for a landing to re-arm and get airborne again. I jumped in another Hurricane at Lee on Solent and headed NW for Andover.

Re-acquiring the returning formation just north of the Hamble river which was now spread out across several miles, I made several attacks damaging several aircraft which wouldn't make it back.

A heart stopping moment as a formation of fighters whizzed over my canopy, initially I thought they were 109's, but turned out to be a flight of Hurricanes from Middle Wallop who were also attacking the formation.



Bombers and the Needles in my sights

Brigstock and WB had now re-acquired the formation as it headed out over the Needles and began picking off stragglers.

Having now run out of ammunition, I headed back for Tangmere. I was shocked at how quickly the time had gone, 90 minutes had passed when I touched down. I didn't expect the mission to take as long as that, as it was getting late, we've left the second mission for Aug 13th part 3.

Brigstock and WB back at base

Claims board

East of Eastchurch

Tuesday August 13th, 1940

0645hrs: 74 Squadron Hornchurch (Spitfires), under the command of "Sailor" Malan, were ordered to patrol the Thames Estuary as a precautionary measure.... At 0655hrs, enough enemy aircraft could be seen coming out of the cloud to confirm that an enemy formation was coming in from the Thames Estuary and flying in a westerly direction.
 

1140hrs: A build up of a small formation was picked up by radar off the French coast off Cherbourg. It turns out to be 20+ Bf110s who were to escort Ju88s of KG54 on a raid on Portland Harbour. KG54 had received the message that the raid had been cancelled and they returned to their base, but the message was not conveyed to 1/ZG2 and the Bf110s continued their path across the Channel.
 

Due to Swoop growing up next opposite the old Croydon aerodrome, five of us took to the skies flying as 111 Squadron.  Spotting local landmarks we headed east over the outskirt of London thing.

Combat spread

Out to the Isle of Sheppey and the expected target of Eastchurch airfield. Fairly soon we could hear 74 Squadron already engaging the incoming Dorniers.

Over the Isle of Sheppey

We spotted the incoming bomber stream, to which the now familiar expletives were heard on the airwaves.

Join the dots

After previous weeks of barelling in through the middle of the formation and stopping quite a few rounds, we took the safer option of picking on one side of the formation on the first pass. Very quickly we were through the mass of bombers and climbing hard to come back in on the starboard quarter.

A flight of bombers that had started to struggle to keep with the main stream became our main focus.

Picking up the back markers

We seemed to be doing ok, then Splash was collided with a Dornier due to a lag collision. Swoop, WB and I continued firing peas with only a couple of bombers seen to be going down.

Quite quickly I had no ammo left and landed at Maidstone airfield.

A quick change of venue and I was at Lympne airfield to try and intercept the stream which was heading towards Folkestone.

Dornier down

Unable to catch the main stream and not wanting to head over to France (Dowding's orders) we headed back to Lympne.

Another change of venue and we took off at Tangmere with 601 squadron to intercept incoming raiders heading for Poole harbour. A loose form up and we were out over the Isle of Wight climbing hard.

When we spotted the raiders, 238 Squadron were well engaged and a large furball of Me-110's and Hurricanes wheeled about the sky. I lost everyone quite quickly dogfighting with a 110 who I proceeded to loose and didn't re-acquire.

As we started to form up again, Brigstock noticed we had been invaded by some uninvited guests (2 of the 1.Java boys and a random) who had guessed the server password.

Who are the #@$%! hell are you?? :)

Fortunately they were used to ATAG and headed to the usual places, which was well away from our operating area.

We all (ahem) landed at Tangmere again for tea and medals.

Splash's love affair with the Hurricane, continues....

and we didn't need this guy, even though I put him in the mission.

I am the walrus

Stats

Phew, what a scorcher

Monday August 12th, 1940

The Bf109 and 110 formation was flying directly for Dover, then, as soon as they flew over the coast they suddenly turned and immediately attacked the tall towers of the radar installations. In a swift and precise move Dover CH was damaged and put off the air.....

Epro 210 squadron attacking Manston

1325hrs: The airfield at Manston was the first to be hit. Rubensdoerffer's Erpro210 was back again after the earlier damage it had done to Dover and Dunkirk radar stations. This time dropping bombs and machine gunning the satellite airfield just as 65 Squadron (Spitfires) were taking off on a routine patrol....

 

Things started off quite gently last night, having got airborne at Hawkinge to intercept the initial group of raiders that were out to destroy the chain home radar sites.

 

Forming up at Hawkinge

Patrolling down to Pevensey, we didn't see any sign of the raiders so headed back up the coast towards Dover.

 

Slipping through the net

Re-assurances from the in game ground control told us that the enemy was still about, then I spotted a small group coming in low over the Dover harbour. Within minutes there was Messerschmitt 110's all over the place. A quick couple of bursts and I had one streaming fuel and oil. More 110's were joining in, with no sign of 54 Squadron Hurricanes who were detailed to help out.

 

It was a hectic 10 minutes and I don't recollect much of it aside from firing at targets and watching my six.

 

Heading back to Hawkinge with WB we approached and with all the excitement I forgot the two stage undercarriage lever in the Hurricane.

 

Undercarriage lever a bit sticky, sir?

 

A quick transfer to Manston as trouble was brewing across the channel. We all jumped in our aircraft and were taxying out when the first bombs fell.

 

Don't just sit there, get one up!!

Climbing out with Brigstock, trying to gain altitude and looking for the bandits was proving difficult. Osprey and Splash both called that they were over the base a lot higher than us. Circling round, Osprey then informed us that 109's were diving on us.

 

Turning round, I could see four 109's screaming in and broke left. I lost one of my elevators, but was still able to maneuver. Osprey and Splash were now airborne and joining the fight, along with 65 Squadron who were hitting the 110's.

 

He wont make it back

 

 

The next few minutes were a combination of breaking out of the way and trying to catch the 109's on their zoom climbs. Splash, Osprey and Brigstock all managed to bag a 109. In the end I had to land as another 109 pass took out my port machine guns.

 

Before they had chance to land, Splash called out a large formation was approaching Manston from the sea.

 

Bandits - 11'oclock high

For an age it felt like I was the only one who couldn't see them, then finally I spotted two flights of Dorniers at around 13,000ft. As they turned I could see another formation of Dorniers co-alt behind me, so decided to turn and take them head on. It was a bit of a shock to find they were 110's as the bullets started whizzing by my head.

 

Taking out another 110, I headed back for base, or what was left of it.

 

Moonscape

Manston. A par 5, tricky dog leg to the right between the bunkers.

Good fun again. Congrats to Brigstock (ace in a day) and commiserations to Splash and Osprey who had some bad luck.

 

DiD scores below and full stats on the 92 squadron page.

 

 

Dover to Pompey

Sunday August 11th, 1940

"Fighter Command had been warned of the small build up that was moving in towards the coast at Dover, radar had supplied the position and direction of the enemy formation, and the Observer Corps reported the type and strength. Park was informed that the formation consisted of 30+ Bf110 and an equal number of Bf109s."

"But the Luftwaffe plan was to attract as many of the British fighters into the air as possible at Dover while the main strike of the day was to be concentrated much further west near Portland.........."

Me-110 bombing Dover

The first mission of the night was to defend the attack on Dover which hit around 8.30am on the Sunday. After some shenanigans getting airborne, we climbed out and formed into two pairs around 14,000ft just off the coast. We had two sections of 74 Squadron Spitfires high of us looking out out for the incoming attack.

Hun in the sun

Radar reports were a bit sketchy and the bombers managed to slip through before we spotted them over the town.

Closing in

I latched on to a 110 which tried unsuccessfully to give me the slip. The ammo change I'd made, removing the ball ammunition for AP, ripped the port engine to bits and started a fire in the wing. The pilot was the only one to bail.

Going down

74 Squadron were doing a good job in keeping the fighters at bay. I did see quite a few 109's and Spits wheeling about the sky around 2000ft higher than us, but was constantly checking my six to be able to watch it for long.

Damaged - 74 squadron Spit

Splash and Swoop had made early returns to Manston, with Brigstock and I being the last ones back. We hopped into the transporter room and appeared in the ready room at Tangmere. This time flying for 601 squadron in Hurricanes.

After getting airborne, there was a few comparisons with the Spit, but we were soon began enthusing about its roll rate and how steady she felt in the air.

Radar were on their game for this raid, which was approaching the Isle of Wight from Cherbourg. The naval base at Portsmouth was the obvious target. Climbing out we saw the barrage balloons had been put up.

JU88's with Heinkels

Swoop and I patrolled the southern edge of the Isle of Wight, with Splash and Brigstock over the Solent.

We spotted the formation first, which was a couple of thousand feet higher than expected. Climbing hard we moved in.

Closing in on a large formation

The formation split and we began to work on the stragglers, finding the Hurricane the stable gun platform she was reputed to be.

All to quickly we were out of ammo and landed at the nearest airfield. As there were still aircraft in the area, I took a Spit out of Gosport and saw Splash had similar ideas.

Climbing for the Isle of Wight, there were still bombers over Portsmouth. I was joined by Brigstock at this point and we hassled the retreating bombers for a few miles before we all landed back at Tangmere.

Swoop landing his Hurricane.

A location change after the first scramble was stretching the imagination a bit, but seemed to work quite well. The Hurricane is a delight to fly and hopefully we'll be using that some more in the next few missions.

As the formation approached Portsmouth we got some slowdowns. I can only assume this was either the built up area or the ships I put in the harbour firing at the aircraft. I'll re-run this mission this weekend and remove the ships firing. I also keep forgetting to reduce the amount of bombers firing back as this too can cause some slowdowns.

RoF 05/11

Yet another atmospheric Furball over Flanders Tonight was a balloon attack with Puff taking rockets. 

It was going so well on the approach to the front. 9 Pups in formation, everything looking good. 

There was even talk of some sort of tactic. We had surmised that there must be some sort of cover over the balloon. Half of us would tackle the protection the remainder would take care of the balloon.

This talk of tactics was probably just before Splash called out 10-12 bandits 11 o'clock. All plans out the window. Trust PWCG to spring something like this on us. The ensuing melee saw 5 of us downed. 3 killed, 1 captured and 1 wounded. 

........and one novice pilot stacked it on landing. I don't want to name and shame the pilot but it was Keets :)

It takes two to Tangmere.

Thursday August 8th, 1940 Part 2, the afternoon....

....Further down the coast, the convoy ran into better weather, the low cloud had dispersed and the waters of the Channel were bathed in brilliant sunshine. Sperle had ordered Stuka and Bf109 Squadrons from his Luftwaffe 3 bases to attack and destroy "Peewit" just off the Isle of Wight........    
 

Convoy Peewit off the Isle of Wight

 The continuation of the defence of convoy Peewit had five of us scrambled from Tangmere, along with a squadron of Spitfires from Middle Wallop, to intercept a large formation heading in to the convoy from the SW.

On Patrol

We quickly spotted a large formation of Stukas, approximately 150+ heading in. Seeing such a large formation of aircraft is a daunting sight. With targets everywhere there was a feeling of futility in trying to stop them with just 20 aircraft in total.

Splash was lost to a lag induced collision, whilst the remainder of us attempted to bring down some of the Stukas.

I quickly ran out of ammo and headed back for Tangmere, forming up with WB.

On approach to Tangmere a couple of the escorting fighters had broken off from the main force and came in low over the airfield. Splash scrambled and took off after them with Whiskey. The pair of them quickly dispatching the 109's within sight of Tangmere.

We scrambled again as Marsh returned from baby duty.

"on your five"

We lost Swoop at this point to a disco, right at the point of seeing another formation of around 90+ Stukas heading in to the convoy. We gave chase as they headed towards Poole harbour.

South of the Needles

Concentrating on a few sections of aircraft, we had more success this time. With several aircraft catching fire.20 seconds isn't much ammo and we were soon heading back for Tangmere.

Heading home

Overall we faced around 270 aircraft. Just over 150 Stukas in the first wave and 30 109's, 90 Stukas in the second wave. Aside from the two to overfly Tangmere, we didn't see the fighters, but the boys from Middle Wallop were engaged for quite a while. Of all those aircraft, the numbers dispatched were quite low and realistic.

Scores on the doors

With various system capabilities, I think the first wave induced low levels of stutter on most machines. The second wave was much better, so as a guideline I'll leave the formations at around 90. I'm not sure how it looked visibly to you chaps, but I couldn't tell too much difference between the first and second wave.

Good fun all.