ETO Battle of Britain campaign Mark II

[33lima]

The good news is that we're congratulated on a successful mission!

Better still, I'm credited with a hat trick - two 109s and a Heinkel!

The fly in all of this nice ointment is that I tabbed out of the sim, before allowing the campaign to advance. I got distracted, did some other stuff and when I realised I had left the sim sitting for some time at the debrief, returned to find that it crashed when I tried to move on. So I'll have to re-start from the last saved game, which means flying a morning sortie all over again. At least I can be sure it won't be an exact repeat - though I hope its success will be repeated!

 

[33lima]

609 Squadron, Eastleigh, morning, 16 July 1940

On resuming the campaign, I'm pleasantly surprised to find the date has advanced, after all, and it's now the next day. Better still, the enemy bridgehead in Kent has been pushed southwards against the Channel, although it has linked up with the one to its west, nearest us. Having reminded myself that a front line square's inner colour is our side's 'health' and the border, the enemy's (on a red-amber-green scale) I decide to intercept aircraft in the amber sector. Re-inforce success, not failure, as they say. It's a three-star (three-asterisk, really) target and these are the more important ones in CFS3 campaigns.

Mission selected, I switch from playing the Controller to playing the Squadron Leader, as it were, and check the briefing map. This gives me a better view of where I've decided to send myself.

Like the Duke of Plaza-Toro, I seem to find it less exciting to lead my regiment from behind - when taking off, anyway. After we're airborne, my place will be at the fore, oh.

To enable this to happen with the minimum of fuss, I settle onto a course to the north-east, level off and wait for everyone to form up.

All aboard for another skylark! Time to start climbing.

Time, too, to do a bit of flying by the numbers. The ETO Spit Mk.I cockpit is quite good, if lacking some of the granular detail of more modern versions. The single fuel gauge bottom right makes it more like a Mk.II, I believe. The large box on the LH cockpit wall is the controller for the radio as used by the VHF TR1133 whose roll-out was delayed till early September. Externally, however, my aircraft has the wire antenna running from mast to fin rather than inside the mast itself, so the outside view is of the more representative but unloved HF TR9D set (which also had a different, circular controller). The wires from tailplane tips to fuselage are for a later, radar-based IFF system and again, more of a Mark II or later thing. The big issue with the cockpit is the reflector sight, which is missing the upper adjustment ring and has the square glass, dating it to 1941 and after I believe.

But I digress. We've a raid to catch and Huns to help drive back into the sea!

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

We've a bit further to go than last time, but I'm not in a rush and can once again afford to fly in real time. Up we go, to just over twenty thousand. It's probably a bit too high, but better that, than too low.

On the way, we pass over an airfield which the in-flight map tells me is RAF Odiham - a Bomber Command base, if I recall right.

Up ahead is another airfield - Farnborough, no less. From this height, the weather being clear and visibility excellent, I can also see the south-western outskirts of London, with its prominent reservoirs. Time for a check with the TAC/Controller. This tells me that our target is just four miles out and slightly left of our track. And that there are Bogies astern and ahead - the latter apparently not the raid we're here to intercept, if the Controller's directions, as represented by the pig purple arrowhead, are correct.

The reversed player-target view tells me the Bogies behind are Spitfires, passing underneath us on a roughly opposite course.

The aircraft directly ahead are also lower, but are Huns, possibly chasing the Spits, if they can see them.

It's only when the 109s' white squares on the TAC turn red that I can realistically treat them as identified. But even so, they're not my target. So I keep an eye on them in case they show any sign of coming up after us, and edge left towards where our target raid should be. It's reported at just three miles out, one mile less than the range I've set on the TAC. But there's no squares out there, red or white. Possibly they're not yet in view. Possibly there's been a mix up and we've gone astray.

Either way, we'll soon find out...I hope!

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

There they are! The raid is crossing at an angle, left to right, as it comes in. I roll right and start letting the boys off the leash. They respond enthusiastically - they're a good lot, really, and I'm becoming quite fond of them, though I wouldn't tell them that.

I reverse my bank and curve tightly around and down after the Huns, picking out my own target.

As usual, their camouflage colours make them hard to spot against the ground, but I quickly realise my target is a Stuka.

Coming up behind what I can now see is a small ragged formation of the dive bombers, I get a grandstand view as the action starts. Two of the boys come up on the R/T claiming a victory, and I can see for myself the dark smoke trails made by their victims.

I order them in against fresh targets, but while they're getting back into position, the way is now clear for me to make a pass of my own. Time for the boss to show them how it's done!

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

As I come in behind the Stukas, I find that almost without thinking, I'm making a plan. The dive bombers are strung out either side of straight ahead. My plan is to barge right through them, shooting as many as I can get my sights onto. Short, well-aimed bursts. If I miss, there'll be no hanging around, it's straight on to the next one.

My first burst leaves the rearmost Stuka on fire and falling left out of formation.

Number two gets similar treatment, and though on fire, he's still flying level when I have to break away.

Ditto, number three...

...who looks like he'll be finished off by one of the Spits coming up behind me, if he doesn't do the sensible thing and go down.

Number four banks hard right and burning, after another couple of bursts.

Now that will give the beggars something to think about!

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

I break away and take stock. There's no signs of 109s sneaking up to avenge their compatriots, and the boys seem to be in the process of polishing off the Stukas. There doesn't seem to be much left to be done.

One of the Stukas is slowly going down, trailing pale grey smoke or vapour. He's probably done for, but I decide to take no chances.

They think it's all over...it is, now!

That seems to be the last of them. Some of the boys are already reporting they're rejoining, and I order everyone to do so. As you can see, I've collected a neat row of hits along the starboard fuselage, but everything seems to be working normally.

I circle around then set course for home at a nice cruising speed. Another airfield passes below; this time it's Benson, according to my trusty map.

There's a few anxious moments while the formation comes together, but in the end, they're all there. Good show!

Back at base, I find that the mission's regarded as a significant success. However, I'm a little disappointed to be credited with just two Stukas destroyed. Our squadron's Intelligence Officer is evidently not the easiest man to impress! My official 'bag' now stands at fourteen, set against three crash landings and one bail out. Coming along nicely, though I say so myself.

 

[33lima]

609 Squadron, Eastleigh, morning, 17 July 1940

As I loaf about next to my standard issue stack of CFS3 crates - a welcome change from the standard issue CFS3 oil drum - I wonder why the Huns are sending over such small formations. This isn't what we were led to expect. Something to do with spawns, I've heard the intelligence people mutter. But such things are beyond the ken of common or garden fighter pilots like the boys of 609. Ours not to reason why, and all that.

The next call to arms is back to the same area as before. The worrying bit is not that I'm back at the oil drum - it's that while the enemy is being squeezed out of Suffolk and Kent, he seems to be expanding his western bridgehead towards Southampton. Which is where we are. Not for much longer, if this carries on.

We're soon taking off as usual to the north-east, this time into the early morning sun.

With just over thirty miles to fly, I decide this time to warp. I exit well before the target area, and get a shock when I check the with the TAC/Controller. There are Bogies just astern, and the raid we're to intercept is now just five miles away, slightly right of our current track. Crikey! They're here, already!

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

I take an unofficial 'sneaky peek' (aka the reversed player-target view) at the bogies behind us, even though I will not act on it, for realism's sake. Ooops! They're 109s. Cheating 109s to boot, carrying drop tanks in July 1940.

It's a nice skin, but this is another aircraft type whose service entry date I'm going to have to push back by editing its .xdp file. I can forgive that skin, which is for a Schnelleskampfgeschwader 210 machine about the time they were incorporated into Zerstoregeschwader 1, around the end of 1941. But we can't have 109s with drop tanks in July. It simply isn't done!

Be all that as it may, my immediate concern is the incoming raid, not this fighter sweep. The former soon shows up, three miles out. The squares on the TAC are white, so unidentified, but they're right where the Controller says the raid is. And that's good enough for me.

I start handing out attack orders and roll right, preparatory to going in myself.

So what manner of Huns are these? This manner of Hun, as it happens.

...to be continued!

 

[Daiwilletti]

Intel

loose lips sink ships, but there is a rumour about that in fact different spawn sets have been tested over the past few days - using a different BoB install, but apparently with some backwards compatability to ETO.

Strange effects have been observed, like two 109s flying in a tight pair, and I don't for the life of me know how that happened. It seems that the cfs3 engine gets a bit pushed when asked to spawn three different formations in a single entry in the intercept.spawns table.

 

[Daiwilletti]

Updated Spawns

Here is a set of updated spawns. Don't use unless you have properly installed the first set with associated files and instructions. Intercept and CAP should be more intense.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/isyx0sxr01copkf/New_spawns_06-20.zip/file

Hint: These spawns can also be used in Pat's Bob if MrJMaint's updated BoB spawn set has been installed.

 

[33lima]

Thanks Daiwiletti, really looking forward to running with these!

Just to be clear on what I need forst - is it:
1 the spawns that come with MrJMaint's ETO BoB campaign, latest update; plus
2 your 'new package' (as linked to here: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...BoB-Campaign?p=1222112&viewfull=1#post1222112 ); plus
3 this latest release, on top of 1 & 2?

Or is it just designed to go on top of item 1 above?

Ivor

 

[33lima]

A couple of the boys are already reporting successes as I come in behind my own chosen victim. It’s not as easy as I was expecting. From dead astern, the Henschel is just an indistinct speck - until it suddenly fills out and sprouts wings, giving me little time to shoot, at my fast overtaking speed. There’s also a lot of empty space between the wings, and having to take a picture while all this is going on doesn’t help.

I was expecting the fire of eight Brownings to swat the biplane like a fly, but no such luck. I leave him trailing a faint smoke trail and perhaps going down slowly, but otherwise intact.

I issue some more attack orders then come around for another go. I find myself behind a different Henschel and have a pop at him, instead. My aim is a bit better, and this time I reckon I have him nailed.

Suddenly, tracer whips past and into my kite. I roll over, yanking back the stick...

...and look behind. There’s a couple of fighters back there, and one of them looks like a 109!

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

I call for help and shove the nose down, but I'm quickly hit again, much harder this time. Fire blossoms from somewhere above and behind my canopy. Crikey!

That fighter sweep has evidently turned back to protect the Henschels. And now one of them has caught me, fair and square!

Nothing else for it, but to try to get out, while I still can. I manage to exit the burning Spitfire…

…narrowly avoiding the pursuing 109…

…and completing a full somersault…

…before stabilising my tumbling descent. My abandoned Spit is now in a gentle but steeply-banked sideslip, as if she's making one last effort to stay aloft.

It's a sorry sight, but right at that moment, I'm more interested in finding out if my parachute is going to open!

...to be continued!

 

[33lima]

My poor abandoned kite's struggle is coming to its inevitable end. But least my ‘chute has opened.

Finally, the help arrives, but he's just a bit too late.

In what seems like no time, I’m on the deck and struggling to release the harness as I’m dragged unceremoniously along. This is getting to be a habit!

Despite my being ‘out for a duck’, the interception is rated a success, so the boys have done more than enough damage to the Huns. And I've got my trusty oil drum back, to lean on.

The news from the front is mixed. To the east, the enemy seems to have been all but driven out of Suffolk, and in most of Kent, their backs are to the sea. But in our area, they have pushed further west and occupied Portsmouth and Southampton, including our base at Eastleigh. The Squadron has relocated to a new airfield, at Chilbolton. Things are getting interesting!

************************
As an aside, as well as pushing back the service entry date of that 109 with the drop tank in its load-out, I’m going to set the Henschel 123 not to spawn. It’s the easiest way to ensure it doesn’t show up, although I suppose its presence supporting ground troops after Sealion was launched could be considered appropriate. I will also remove its ‘clean’ loadout as I did for the Stuka, so that they don’t fly missions with only a pair of MGs. I may add these aircraft modifications to MrJMaint’s BoB campaign which I’ve set up as a JSGME mod, so that they don’t affect the ETO Expansion when not playing this campaign.

 

[Daiwilletti]

Thanks Daiwiletti, really looking forward to running with these!

Just to be clear on what I need forst - is it:
1 the spawns that come with MrJMaint's ETO BoB campaign, latest update; plus
2 your 'new package' (as linked to here: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforu...BoB-Campaign?p=1222112&viewfull=1#post1222112 ); plus
3 this latest release, on top of 1 & 2?

Or is it just designed to go on top of item 1 above?

Ivor

If you have already installed the first items (the "new package") then you just install these spawns on top of the "new package". Hopefully there will be increased activity in you campaign missions!

Actually I was worrying about this overnight. I really would like to move on to using this spawn set in Pat's Bob, simply because there are too many fiddly changes needed in ETO Era 2, and I don't want people to end up without being able to "go back" to the original state of ETO once they've experimented with these Era 2 files. I see there have been quite a few downloads of the original linked "new package". No disasters and SNAFUs reported yet, but it is the reversal process I'm worried about, when people want to use other eras!

 

[Daiwilletti]

Hs 123

The Hs 123 is a tough old bird. Reading about how it was thrashed on the Russian Front because it was so reliable gave me some sneaking admiration. I may have extended the "entered service" date just to encounter in in the first month of the BoB, although entirely fanciful. I suppose seeing a Cr42 over the Channel would be more likely!

So you could also change the left (or exited) service entry back to April 1940 or thereabouts, rather than setting spawn="N". Then the Hs123 would be available for random spawning during the Phoney War and the BoF.

 

[33lima]

Good idea re the Henschel - I'd forgotten we didn't need to worry about it's post-BoF service, outside CFS3's main ETO. So mid-June as an end of service date would be good, to fit in with France's cessation of hostilities and avoid it being around by the start of July.

Yes I think it's a good time to focus entirely on the BoB mod and its version of this campaign. I'll certainly give these new files a try since - apart from anything ouside the cfs3 install folder - they can be enabled and disabled safely with JSGME and as we have an ETO version of the BoB campaign, we may as well be able to play a better version of it, even if the BoB mod version is better still.

 

[Daiwilletti]

Yes I think it's a good time to focus entirely on the BoB mod and its version of this campaign. I'll certainly give these new files a try since - apart from anything ouside the cfs3 install folder - they can be enabled and disabled safely with JSGME and as we have an ETO version of the BoB campaign, we may as well be able to play a better version of it, even if the BoB mod version is better still.

Thanks very much for your thorough testing, 33Lima, I really enjoy your mission reports and hope these spawns do the trick!

 

[33lima]

609 Squadron, Chilbolton, evening, 17 July 1940

We've only moved a few dozen miles to the north-west, which is maybe we're back on ops later the same day. We're soon scrambled against a raid in the same general area as the morning show.

This time, the rumour factory is telling us that the Huns have finally decided to operate in larger numbers. Is it true? Is it just another rumour? We'll soon find out! There's just time for me to check my own map, before we get weaving.

At least now, we're operating out of a proper RAF station, not some sort of glorified civilian flying club. It's up to our own efforts, I suppose, whether and how long we get to stay here.

Course is soon set to the north-east and the formation begins to come together. The sun dips harshly behind us, in the west.

Rather than fly the thirty or so miles in real time, I warp and come out at about twenty-one thousand, short of the interception point. A quick check with the TAC/Controller tells me I've judged it reasonably well - we're still about eight miles short of the oncoming raid.

I want to stay out to one side or the other of the approaching Huns as I don't want to run straight into them, especially if they are lower and liable to be hidden under my Spitfire's long nose. So I keep slightly left, which will put the sun in their eyes. Soon, another check with the TAC/Controller shows Bogies at about three miles on our original Vector, and the target raid now about six miles away, slightly further right of our current track.

I'll need to keep an eye on those Bogies, but I can't afford to get distracted - it's the raid I'm after, and they'll be along very shortly!

...to be continued!

 

[Daiwilletti]

forgot to mention - try the CAP campaign missions at your peril.