Operation Juggler...Wiener Neustadt

Rami

Rami

Administrator
Staff member
To all,

I think I'll make one more massed bomber mission, a singe raid which represents the two-days raids by B-24s of the 8th and 9th/15th Air Forces on Wiener Neustadt, Austria. This raids won't be part of Battle for Europe, though...instead it will kind of be a companion to "Tidal Wave."

Here are some mission details...

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.airpower.at/news03/0813_luftkrieg_ostmark/juggler.htm&ei=pfDmTc_kFczqgQelsOn4Cg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3DOperation%2BJuggler%2B1943%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DLFy%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:eek:fficial%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D561%26prmd%3Divns

http://www.jcs-group.com/military/war1941aaf2/44bg.html

Rami

UPDATE - This one is going to be LONG! The initial mission flight path (I always construct the flight path first) from Benghazi to Wiener Neustadt and back again is an astounding 2,255.3 statute miles!

By comparison, the raid on Ploesti, Romania is "only" 2,073.1 miles.
 
Good evening,

I figured I would post a "mission report" on the testing for this one. I had to flight test this one myself because of the length. The flight plan for this mission is modeled on the real raids, taking you from Benghazi to Wiener Neustadt via Yugoslavia and Lake Balaton, Hungary, before striking the target and heading over the southeastern boot of Italy on the way home.

The departure time for this raid was 07:20 hours. The B-24D (The same model as I used in "Tidal Wave," occurring only twelve days earlier) was laden with four 1,000lb bombs and an 800-gallon 'Tokio tank.' Round-trip, the distance to the target and back is approximately 2,255 miles, which was flown without warping to ensure it could be done with onboard fuel. In this manner, the goal was achieved, arriving back over Benghazi at approximately 16:52 hours with 48% main fuel remaining. I wanted to find out what the "reserve" was, because I also have a scenario built in for an abortive landing at Gela on Sicily should you run low on fuel.

Cruise settings for this B-24D at 22,000 feet are 60% power, 1,900 RPM, and 33 Hg of manifold pressure. This gives you an approximate ground speed of about 210-215mph TAS.

It wasn't all good though. I'll have to go back and re-examine some of the details, because there are a couple of events that don't work quite right, there are a couple of timing issues. The enemy AI are also behaving strangely...they trail, but don't shoot. I had one Bf-109 latch on to my tail at Taranto and not break off until I was landing at Benina in Libya.

Very, very odd...
 
Reply...

Good morning,

Now that I test-flew the mission and fixed a couple of the problems, I wrote the mission text for it...

"title_string"=Operation Juggler - Raid on Wiener Neustadt
"summary_string"=Listen up! The veterans of the Ploesti attack have been ordered to once again fly a lengthy mission. This time, B-24s of the 15th & 9th Air Forces are to attack Wiener Neustadt, a enemy fighter plant located within the limits of Greater Germany. This is the first time that such a raid will be attempted from the Mediterranean, but we've been assured we will have the fuel to return safely. Good luck!
"objective_string"=Operation Juggler was part of the larger strategy called Operation Pointblank, an effort to destroy the ability of the Luftwaffe to defend the Reich & to draw resources away from the Mediterranean and Eastern Fronts. The bombing efforts focused on hitting aircraft factories, ball bearing plants, and other facilities deemed important to fighter production.

Operation Juggler was originally supposed to be flown in conjunction with Tidal Wave to saturate the enemy defenses. However, weather and other issues prevented executing this coordinated raid, so an attempt was made to fly it in conjunction with the 8th Air Force raid on Regensburg. Once again, bad weather prevented this effort, so in the end, Operation Juggler was flown as a solo raid.
"intelligence_string"=This mission will put your fuel management ability to the ultimate test. Your flight path will take you more than 2,250 miles over the Med, the Balkans, and finally to Austria before releasing bombs and flying all the way back to Benghazi, crossing Italy on the way. You'll also likely encounter heavy flak and possible fighters en route, so be on alert; you will not have an escort for this mission!

After I get home this afternoon, I'll have to answer some PMs here and at Lindsay's as well as reply to some mail...been skimping on that the last couple of days!
 
On the fence...

Hi,

Since I've already done three of these raids (Regensburg, Schweinfurt, and Wiener Neustadt), I'm debating about whether or not I should continue doing these. Raids on Rostock, Gdyina, Chemnitz, Schweinfurt, (escort and B-17 versions) Ploesti, Ludwigshafen, Wilhelmshaven, Bremen, Hamburg, and Berlin have been covered, at least in escort form, by Battle for Europe, Operation Frantic, The Tuskegee Airmen, 56th Fighter Group, Tidal Wave, or 486th Fighter Squadron.

If you guys want any more of these missions, let me know, but I'm kind of out of ideas here.
 
It is uploaded...

To all,

Pen32Win helped me hammer out some of the details on this mission, and we got it straightened out, so it is now uploaded.
 
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