No 46 Mission 4

Good mission chaps - except I got killed....again!!!

RoF 22/10

Another Flak filled fun day out over Flanders.

After playing with minimal flak the last few years it's easy to forget it's there. But with the enhanced flak in this campaign you had better be careful....as Puff and myself found out :(

A day down at Margate

Thursday August 8th, 1940 - The attacks on Convoy Peewit part 1

....Soon, on this day August 8th, the first day of the second phase of the battle, seven squadrons from 11 Group and two from 10 Group would be engaged in fierce combat that would prove costly to the RAF, said by many as the first day of the 'real Battle of Britain'.....

.....out went the order to the 8th Flying Corps at Abbeville to send out all available Ju87 Stuka dive-bombers and the fighters based at the Luftwaffe 27 Group at Carquebut and Crepon and all aircraft to set course for the British convoy CW9 codenamed "Peewit" by the RAF. In all, some 300 Ju87's and 150 Bf109s took to the air and planned to attack the convoy during the early morning....

 



More Stukas than you can shake a stick at

There was a slight mess about down to the TS channel restructre, then 1C decided to release the patch right in the middle of our flying night. Eventually, with Fingers crossed, we spawned in at Biggin, with the task of intercepting a large very large HUGE formation heading towards Convoy Peewit which had just entered the Dover Strait.

Taxying out

We knew there would be fighter cover and were glad of some company.

"Hello little friends, so glad you decided to join us, over"

Brigstock, five o'clock

The glare from the sun was making it difficult to see too much forward, though we managed to find the ships and began the patrol. Ten minutes in, Splash spotted the formation at around 14,000 ft and we headed in.

Due to the volume of targets, you could feel yourself being drawn to one sector of sky, then a better target presented itself. With the large numbers, this process just kept happening and it became difficult to single out an area to attack.

Planes all over the shop

Coming through the middle of the formation and climbing I found myself on the right hand side and settled on stalking a group of nine aircraft that were slightly isolated. I made a couple of passes and got hits, but lost the group in the numbers and ended up attacking another section which Brigstock was getting stuck into.

Running in again, I got some more hits on a Stuka, but stopped a few bullets as I climbed out. With my left wing guns out of action, I headed turned for Blighty expecting to see Manston and finding out that we were already at Folkestone. The fight seemed only to last seconds, yet we'd travelled a long way down the coast.

Splash and Brigstock were still engaged and getting some hits. There was still no sign of the fighters, friend or foe.

Cheeky buggers

On landing at Hawkinge, I taxyed off the runway and saw what I thought was Brigstock returning to base. It was an odd approach he was making and seemed to be pulling out of a dive. As the bullets from his rear gunner started to walk across the turf in front of my Spit, I realised that it wasn't him and that some Stukas had broken from the formation and were taking the opportunity to bomb Hawkinge.

The initial attack over Splash and Brigstock returned. We had a quick cuppa down the NAAFI and then got airborne again.

Airborne

We headed for the convoy to intercept the second wave of the attack. We patrolled for a while and realised it had already been and gone. Calling ground control, the position was given near the French coast.

Feet wet with Splash

It seemed a shame not to push our luck and ruin Hermann's day. So got stuck in.

Brigstock engaging Stukas over France

Returning to Hawkinge, I was sightseeing and admiring the cliffs, just east of Folkestone when I saw a dark shadow pass over my right wing. Thinking it was the returning Spitfires, I banked hard to come round and see what they were up to and whether the landing code has been updated.

It was a shock to see I'd been bounced by Stukas.

Bounced

I lost them quick enough, but landed to save any further embarassment.

This was a bit of a stress test mission, behind the scenes this is what we faced:

First flight:
Enemy
153 JU87's
75 Bf 109 E3's

Friendly
24 Spitfires (12 from 64 Squadron (Kenley), 12 from 65 Squadron (Horchurch)

Second flight:
140 JU87's

Friendly
24 Spitfires

Part 2 next week.

RoF Monday 15/10

Scores on the doors

Looks like the archie has been ramped up along the front....  :)

Thorney Island in your side

THURSDAY AUGUST 1st 1940 ......a Spitfire from one of the Photographic Reconnaissance Units, on patrol over the north of France notices heavy aircraft concentration at Cherbourg. He circles round capturing the airfield on film and heads back to base. Fighter Command are notified at once of the build up, and they decide that the German held airfield should be bombed before they are committed in any offence against Britain.

Something a bit different this week. As the Blenheim is flyable, we'll give the bombing mission a crack and then depending on what happens there's some small activity up and down the coast for the remainder of the day. Its likely to be a one way trip in the Blenny, so I'd suggest not making plans for the weekend.

 

The route out

After the trials and tribulations of last weeks "familiarisation" with the Blenheim, we managed to all get airborne on the first attempt. I'd say it was uneventful, but the near collision with WB lined up to take off on Runway 030 and Splash lined up on runway 160 had me closing my eyes.

Heading out on a heading of 210, we formed up in a loose formation with your truly leading. The 20 minute flight across the channel passed quite quickly, almost as quickly as the "dropping tanks" break I needed, with the rest of the flight wondering if I'd make it back before I hit the sea.

The flight out

Landfall was pretty good with Brigstock identifying Cherbourg and the bay of Le-Havre. We crossed the coast with WB close in formation with me taking the left side of the airfield and Brig and Splash the right side.

The first pass there was a large explosion as we touched off some ordnance being loaded onto the JU88's. The initial explosion from mine and WB bombs took out two hangars and several aircraft.

Badoooom!

The flak woke up and started to find their mark. Both Splash and WB reporting damage. As we were free from fighters we made several passes on the airfield and gave Jerry a damn good thrashing.

Burning aircraft

Eventually we knew the Luftwaffe would arrive on the scene and didn't much fancy the support of the escort we had, so decided to head back. Splash was now struggling to control his aircraft, but couldn't work out the problem. A quick check over from the boys gave him the joyful knowledge that he'd lost both ailerons.

Suprisingly, despite the flak, we'd managed to get away without being shot down. The intercepting 109's didn't find us and we had a reasonably easy crossing back to Thorney Island.

Off Bembridge

Arriving back at base is where the fun started. Little did we know that although the Blenheim is reluctant to get airborne, once its flying its reluctant to give up its lofty status and speed doesn't bleed off as much as you want.

First up was Brigstock....

Bent it - No 1

Second was the flak damaged Whiskey....

Bent it - No 2

Third was Splash who made a good landing with no ailerons

Splash down

Which left me. I was happy in the knowledge that my aircraft was flying sweetly with no damage - the smugness left me as I tried to lower undercarriage and flaps. All hydraulics had gone. I tried the emergency controls and they too failed, so I had to pancake.

Sadly there's no picture of my wreck. I put her down at around 150mph and both wings were ripped off. The fuselage, stripped of its stabilisation tumbled out of control into one of the hangars. You can see the smoke in Brigstocks landing photo.

A really good fun mission, which we all (almost) survived.

The next mission is Aug 8th, where the Battle of Britain really starts to get tough.

New Campaign New ScoreBoard

First mission in the new campaign....and it was a cracker. We took off from La Gorgue and headed north along the front line. We hadn't gone far when myself and Splash spotted an enemy flight off to our 2 o'clock. It seems as we spotted them, they spotted us and from both sides of no mans land the 2 flights merged.

The ensuing furball soon became frantic with our AI getting shot down in no time, leaving only Splash Puff, Keets and myself to tackle the 6-7 enemy Alb DIII's. Splash was the victim of a mid air with an Alb and Puff took a few shots to his engine and dove for our lines with a pair of Albs in tow. I has kept my alt and manage to damage one Alb and also shoot down the Alb flight leader. As the fight was now losing altitude I drifted down looking for my next foe. Which didn't take long and the fight didn't either as I managed to put in a sustained burst on his wing. I saw his wing fold up and started looking for Keets.

No sooner had we linked back up when I spotted a single aircraft diving towards us. I turned promptly to face him, not totally sure if it was friend or foe. that was soon sorted out as a short burst whizzed past my head. One stry bullet grazed my head and I was left dazed and with blurred vision. Luckily my aircraft appeared unscathed. So I turned tightly trying to draw him in and lining him up for Keets.

With Keets firmly in control over the single enemy and myself wounded, I decided to head home. Keets dispatched the Hun and soon caught up. He also did me the service of giving the field a fly by to ascertain the wind direction for me as my sight was very poor by then.

Unfortunately a combination of poor visibility and poor flying I snagged a wheel on landing a turned the crate on it's head.... a few days of bed rest will sort that out.

Overall a very good mission and lots of fun....bring on the next one. :)