CFS3 ETO campaign report - RAF, Battle of Britain

[33lima]

17 Squadron, Beaulieu, 15 July 1940

It's after 07:30 that we get what's fast becoming our regular early morning call, to do battle with the Huns. Today, I've chosen a frontline sector a little further west than last time, as it's still in a nasty red colour. If I recall right, turning these amber or green is what you want, in a CFS3 campaign. I'm soon leading our usual eight Hurricanes off to the south west.

This time, I take more care to exit warp early. I want to give myself the best chance to spot the raid in good time to decide how to deal with it, rather than finding myself on top of it and needing to act in haste. I check with the Controller (aka the TAC) who tells me the Huns are now about six miles ahead. Heights, he's sadly not at all good at providing.

I slide off to the right of the vector then bank left. I don't want to meet the Huns head on, not least since this would put them under my nose, if they are lower. The Hurricane's forward view is better than most single-seaters, but it's not that good.

As seems to be happening a lot lately, the raid is actually coming in low, again.

I order the boys in, two to a target for starters. I'm staying high for now, in case there are also Huns in the sun. My orders are briskly obeyed. That's the way to do it, as Punch would have told his youthful audience.

In no time at all, the first firing passes are being made and joyful victory reports are filling the airwaves.

It's an excellent start, and I'm at last beginning to get the hang of CFS3 flight-leading, again. And to enjoy the experience. This is not one of those sims where you can just barge on in and forget that you're the leader.

Anyhow the skies are clear of escorts and there are still targets down there, so it's time I picked out one for myself. Whatever they are - I haven't quite worked that out, yet.

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

I spiral down after the Huns and latch onto a group of three which is heading towards the Solent. Some of the boys are reporting 'rejoining' so I order one of the enemy attacked and pick one of the others for myself.

The enemy begins a turn across my nose from right to left and I cut the corner. It's as I do so that I realise they are Focke-Wulf Condors! Recovering from my surprise, I wing over after my chosen victim.

I close in quickly and start shooting.

I'm fairly laced with return fire from at least two of the bombers, which puts me off no end. I break away without having done much damage to the Hun...

...but with my own tail feathers in rather tattered condition!

Not so good! I feet rather chastened - these big aeroplanes are truly bristling with guns! My kite now feels decidedly sluggish, but I reef her around for another go at the bomber.

Better luck next time - I hope...

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

The three Condors I tangled with are now headed back out to sea. No-one else seems willing or able to get to them. So this will be up to me. Directly ahead is some shipping, which looks like it could be the Condors’ target!

I pick the Hun leader and go for him, catching up slowly. My damaged Hurricane feels like she’s dragging a lead weight behind her. The two Condors on either side break away, starting with the one on the left which is attracting some Ack Ack fire from the ships. Probably, if they haven't already dropped their loads, they will have, by the time I catch them.

Finally, I’m in range and start shooting. There’s a flash of orange-white fire as my target breaks up in a cloud of dark smoke and flying fragments!

The Condor’s right wing has snapped off, the fuselage falling like a rock. No doubt about that one!

Down below, the ships seem to have escaped unscathed.

Hopefully, the Navy will appreciate my efforts, even though we weren’t able to stop all the bombs from dropping.

…to be continued!

 

[33lima]

I turn after the left-hand Condor. Calls for help go unanswered, which is a bit ominous. Down to me, again!

This time, he’s got no covering crossfire from his friends, and I manage set him on fire without overshooting or taking more hits from return fire.

By the time I break away, the Condor's fuselage and both inboard engines are burning.

Down he goes. The sailor boys are getting a grandstand view of the action, this morning!

The third Condor has reversed his turn and is now heading eastwards into the sun, in an effort to get away.

He makes it, too, because my guns fall silent after firing the briefest of bursts. Three hundred rounds per gun doesn’t go very far!

Now, where is everybody else? Time to find out!

…to be continued!

 

[33lima]

I turn for home and call the others back into formation. Nobody replies. Either my radio is dead, or theirs is…for whatever reason. It’s a bit worrying.

The good news is that the Navy has got off scot-free.

My kite is still flying sluggishly. I decide that I’d better get her down sooner, rather than later. My map tells me that Tangmere, near the coast, is almost due north so that’s where I go. The airfield is soon in sight.

I steer to the left of the airfield, intending to land on the east-west runway, without worrying about wind direction. Now all I need is another landing like my last one…

...though this time, I’m in a damaged aircraft.

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

As usual, I aim to make a curving final approach, to give me a better cockpit view of the landing area.

This goes reasonably well despite the damage…

...until I realise that I'm sinking faster than usual, just as I’m crossing the airfield boundary.

I shove the throttle forward in an effort to hold her off. This gets me over the perimeter track. But then my Hurricane drops onto the runway with all the grace of a shed-load of bricks. The undercart collapses at once and I slide along in cloud of brown dust.

I grit my teeth and wait for the explosion. But she slides to a halt and I’m out and away, like a greyhound from the traps!

I had entirely forgotten that this neat little animation existed in CFS3 and it was a delightful little surprise to see it again - almost worth the loss of my kite!

Despite that loss, the powers that be are pleased with our performance and I’m credited with two victories. Many in the squadron have higher tallies than my five overall, but my CFS3 prestige rating is top of the heap! What our own losses were on this trip is less easy to find out, although it might show up if you look closely enough at the squadron roster, or had used labels to check and note down who was flying with you and afterwards checked who is still there for the next hop. The useful detail in the debriefing is limited to a success/fail rating on the mission overall and my own vital statistics.

At any rate, I have now edited the Condor’s .xdp file so it doesn’t spawn. It’s another aircraft that’s great to have for Quick Combat or user-made missions, but I would not want it appearing in a campaign system that’s designed to handle only aircraft used for formation-based offensive operations.

As the saying goes, 'Tomorrow is another day' - and I've lived to see it!

 

[Daiwilletti]

The 20mm defensive cannon is rather disconcerting! Luckily the Condor's wing was a known weakness.

 

[33lima]

Yes it's just not fair, having that cannon turret, later model Condor flying in 1940 - I think it was that weapon that did the damage. Won't be sad to see the end of them in campaign missions

 

[33lima]

17 Squadron, Beaulieu, 14 July 1940

I reverted to a saved campaign after setting Condors not to spawn and flying a few missions to test rince33's revised spawns (designed originally for the Pat_Pattle BoB install version of MrJMaint's BoB campaigns rather than the ETO one). One reason was that I wanted to see if I could reverse the German invasion that had happened without warning and got nearly to London, overnight! I appreciate the CFS3 campaign allows for 'ground offensives' by either side and the possibility of Operation Sealion being launched if things go badly in the air adds an interesting dimension to any BoB campaign. However, in this case, it happened way too readily and I will have to see if I can hand-edit something to ensure it can't happen much before mid-to-late August.

I rarely succeed in capturing screenshots of my mission briefings but I managed this one. It's not of the map tab, which showed that the front line was impinging on the south coast near the headland at Dungeness. If the enemy handn't already landed, it looked like they soon might! So I chose to fly a mission to that sector, in an effort to influence this and save the day!

I'm soon leading eight Hurricanes away from Beaulieu - which looks great but as I mentioned before, wasn't an operational fighter base at this point in WW2. I could transfer my squadron to a base that's nearer the critical point, but that needs 'prestige points' and we don't yet have enough.

As shown on the in-game map - I'm using the map mod for WotR - our interception point is over the Channel, just east of Dungeness.

Warping takes us up to about 21,000 feet and I drop out about five miles short. I then turn on the tactical display/TAC to simulate directions from the Controller in the Ops Room. The usual purple triangle appears, showing the enemy are close, but they don't appear on the TAC. This may be because my vision isn't good enough, this being one of several qualities you can improve as you fly CFS3 campaigns.

As you can see in the pic below, the raid is again slipping underneath us, just to the right of our track.

When the purple traingle swings around towards our tails, I consider myself informed of this and spiral down to search for the Huns. There they are! A small, triangular formation, so likely they're bombers. They look to be near sea level, but are in fact at about 6,000 feet. There's o sign of a fighter escort.

I pick out three Huns one after the other, each time ordering an attack, which despatches a pair of Hurricanes after each. A last look around from above reveals no escorts. So I tighten my spiral descent and pick my own target. Dornier 17s, they look like.

Time to earn my pay!

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

I tighten up my spiral so much that I nearly black out, my vision narrowing until it seems like I'm looking through a straw! I ease back on the stick and come out below the bombers, who are already being whittled down by the boys.

I roll wings level and race after the remaining Huns, who are rapidly approaching Dungeness, harried by another Hurricane.

Both of us end up attacking the right-hand bomber. Predictably, this ends up rather badly for him.

I bank up and away, fairly sure the other chap will get the credit - he was the last one firing. No matter, they all count and the success will increase his effectiveness.

The surviving Huns turn and run for home. Maybe they've bombed; maybe they've just had enough. But I haven't. I order two of the retreating bombers attacked and take the nearest one for myself.

Let's see if we can make this a clean sweep!

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

By now, the boys are joining in the chase as the Huns try desperately to get away.

I'm soon tearing into my own chosen Dornier...

...who, though well holed, doesn't seem very interested in being shot down.

Meanwhile, another Hurricane has arrived and is curving in from the right.

I have eyes only for my original target, who is still airborne but seems to be wallowing.

So be it. I come around in a wide sweep, ready for another pass. As I come in, another Hurricane is blasting away at a bomber who's off to the right.

Soon, it'll be my turn again.

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

I line up the Dornier carefully. I usually aim for a point between an engine and the fuselage, hoping to disable the latter or start a fire in a wing tank. Depending on how steady my hand is, sometimes it works well, sometimes it doesn't.

This time, it works very well indeed. My very first burst sets the Hun on fire and he falls away to the left.

This certainly makes up for his refusal to go down, after my first attack.

But then the Dornier recovers and levels off, though still well alight.

Predictably, this doesn't last. Next second, he rolls over onto his back and takes what writers given to melodrama like to call the final plunge.

Right - time to see if the boys have left any other targets for the boss to knock down.

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

As it happens, there is one Dornier left. I can hear the boys on the R/T, telling me they're rejoining. But rather than wait, I go for the bomber myself. Rank hath its privileges and this is one such. I throttle back, slow down and take aim.

Once more, the results are rapid and impressive. I'm getting good at this, I tell myself smugly.

Down goes the Dornier. I don't see anyone get out. Some people are just plain unlucky, it seems.

I swing right, back towards friendly shores, and quickly get my bearings. I can see that I'm just south-west of the prominent triangular, flat headland of Dungeness.

I orbit slowly while the boys catch up...

...then set course westward for home. Back at base, we're congratulated on another good show. We seem to have wiped out the raid but for some reason I'm credited with just one kill. I'm pretty sure I got two, but sometimes these squadron intelligence officers can be hard to convince. Never mind - the squadron's had another good day, and that's the main thing.

 

[33lima]

PS somebody asked earlier about the green-tinted water. I've realised these are the .dds files cfs3h2o, cfs3h2on, cfs3h2of & cfs3h2or in the ETO folder effects/fxtextures. The former seems to be the one with the green rather than blue overall textures but I copied them all over to my CFS3 BOB install and they worked.


Before:

After:

Both pics, taken in QC in the same conditions, feature the bonus Klingon starship cloaked as a cloud and threatening Dover

 

[Daiwilletti]

Nice specular shine on the Spitfire. I find Ankors shaders and the Pat's Bob Spits don't mix well because the skin treatment makes them shine like a Dulux ad.

BTW, I often find my kills poached by over-zealous wingmen. They follow the doomed aircraft down and, if they can land a few bullets, the intelligence officer (an oxymoron if ever there was one) assigns them the kill!