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Time for an unveiling...

Reply...

RJ,

1) The reason why you were getting CTDs when editing these missions most likely stems from the fact that I didn't send you the airbase.dat entries for these missions. You may not have Beauvais in your scenery, or your airbase.dat file. It was originally NOT in Achim's JHS_France_North package, but I revised it in the library after Captain Kurt sent me some airbases Achim did for Captain Kurt's 354th Fighter Group campaign.

2) If the missions are over 64kb, you CAN modify them in mission builder, but you'll get a warning message to the effect that this mission will not work on pre-XP systems, and it will ask you if you want to return to editing. Clicking "no" will save the mission.

3) However, adding objects will undo a hand-edit that I will have to fix. I have configured this missions so that you do not fly as the lead plane, thus allowing the AI in your flight to release their bombs over the target. Saving the mission destroys these hand-edits, but they can easily be fixed.

When I send you tonight's batch of missions, (five in all, and I modified the Coventry raid slightly) I'll send you the GSL file for the Liverpool port facilities and city.

So far, I've done raids on Birmingham, Coventry, Sheffield, Liverpool, and Manchester.
 
Reply...

Good afternoon,

Here are some descriptions for you...

"title_string"=Operation Sealion - Junkers over Birmingham
"summary_string"=Achtung, kameraden! After our successful raid on Coventry, we will attempt tonight to replicate our success over the Midlands city of Birmingham. The city is another essential industrial center for the British, manufacturing crucial parts for their war machine. Let's put another city out of commission!
"objective_string"=The attack of November 18th, 1940 saw more than 365 German bombers raid the city of Birmingham, causing damage on a similar scale to the Coventry raid of five days earlier. While these strikes were devastating for those in its path, the British were able to rebound quickly, and these raids served to steel the resolve of the British people.
"intelligence_string"=Once again, you will depart the aerodrome around sunset, and will maintain a northwest course which will send you right over London. As you approach the city, stay on alert for British night fighters, and watch out for flak over the target. Good luck!

"title_string"=Operation Sealion - Dorniers over Sheffield
"summary_string"=Achtung, Luftlotte pilots! Tonight's blitz raid will be on the important industrial city of Sheffield. Sheffield's steel works are a valuable cog for the manufacture of Merlin engines, and the industries in this city also turned out 18-inch armor piercing shells. Your task is to target these industries, and put them out of commission. Good luck!
"objective_string"=On 12 December, and again on the 15th, Sheffield became another industrial city heavily damaged by German nighttime bombing attacks, known as "The Blitz." These important manufacturing facilities at Sheffield included a Vickers plant, which utilized a drop hammer that forged camshafts required for Merlin engines.
"intelligence_string"=After leaving Caen, your course will take you onto English soil between RAF Tangmere & Portsmouth. Remaining on course should allow you to skirt the defenses at these two locations. As you approach Sheffield, remain alert for British nightfighers. Make sure to place your bombs on target, because the British are stepping up their defenses against our raids. We must sustain this pressure to stamp out enemy resistance!

"title_string"=Operation Sealion - Solstice over Liverpool
"summary_string"=Achtung, Luftlotte pilots! Tonight, our target will be the city of Liverpool. This city is crucial to the British war effort, because many vessels from the North Atlantic dock there or continue on toward Manchester. It is our task to damage the port, and render these docks useless! This city has already been targeted, so their defenses may be stronger than some of our other raids. Good luck!
"objective_string"=The Port of Liverpool was a criticial link between the British Isles and North America, and thus was a primary destination for Allied convoys crossing the Atlantic. The city was struck often during the Battle of Britain, then struck again on the night of 20/21 December & continued to be heavily bombed for a few days just before Christmas, 1940. These attacks inflicted very heavy damage on the city's infrastructure, and these strikes also caused many civilian deaths.
"intelligence_string"=After taking off, your course should allow you to just skirt the heavily defended ports of Gosport & Portsmouth. Your navigation needs to be accurate; you will have little room for error. Liverpool will be heavily defended. Your targets on this raid are the docks & the vessels at anchor. This effort will be supported by other bomber flights, we must put maximum effort into striking this target hard!

"title_string"=Operation Sealion - Christmas over Manchester
"summary_string"=Achtung, kameraden! Tonight's bombing strike will be another long one, we will be attacking the city of Manchester. Manchester and the nearby towns are vital to the production of Merlin engines, and the Avro aircraft works are also nearby. We must strike these targets hard and render them useless to the British!
"objective_string"=Manchester was yet another British industrial city which was targeted by Luftwaffe bombers during "The Blitz." Like other cities in the Midlands area and northwest England, its industries were vital to the manufacture of steel armor, munitions, & metal forging for many types of war matériel, including aircraft components. The nights that the city was targeted were the nights of 22/23 December and 23/24 December, and these attacks became known thereafter as "The Christmas Blitz."
"intelligence_string"=After getting airborne, your due northwest course should place you far enough away from London to minimize the chances of interception. As you near the city, prepare for intense anti-aircraft fire, & the ever-marauding British nightfighters. You must make sure to place all of your bombs on target, we do not want to have to revisit!
 
Reply...

Good evening,

Here is a revision I did to the port of Bristol, building that bridge was an experience I'd care to forget. :mixedsmi:
 
Rami this is just for interest, have'nt done CFS for many moons, where is that bridge ? that looks a wide stretch of water it crosses. Prior to the 60's there was only a ferry across the Severn at Beachly.

Just a nosy ex nearly local that crossed the Severn suspension bridge many times
 
Reply...

Rich,

Actually, it is the Severn River Bridge. I wasn't aware that it didn't exist prior to the 1960s, I guess I failed to look it up! :kilroy:
 
Rami, Ms has a bridge there in other versions of Fs what is there is the Severn Tunnel which as you know is below ground/water while the tunnel is marked on ordnance survey maps it is not marked as a bridge, the tunnel is well over 100 years old and takes railway lines.

Prior to the bridge built in late 50's/ early 60's there was a ferry very close to the bridge site which has long since gone, the next crossing up river was at Gloucester.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Railway_Bridge
View attachment 67716
The Old Railway bridge that existed during the 2ww.

Links to the docks around bristol.

http://www.bristolblitzed.org/?page_id=59

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avonmouth_Docks

We had two Bristol Docks during the second world war one at Avonmouth and one in Bristol also called the floating harbour, both docks were targets.

Avonmouth was built because ships got to large to navagate around horseshoe bend.
Portbury was built for even larger ships in the 1970s.

RJ
 
Reply...

Robert John,

That's fantastic! I should have the two London "Blitz" missions (14 October and 29 December) done today, tomorrow at the latest. While I'm thinking of it, inserting a few damaged infrastructure buildings here and there by TheB24Guy may not be a bad idea.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=45&id=5998

When I revised the Port of Bristol, I moved its location toward the city itself, about where Avonmouth is, rather than in its older location, near Weston-super-mare.
 
Reply...

Good morning,

I am happy to report that all of the "Blitz" missions have now been completed. They will compose the final eight missions of the campaign. (18-25) The attacks consist of two raids on London, (one in October and one in December) and single raids on Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield. :salute:

The task that remains is to select and create seventeen missions from 10 July to 15 September that haven't been covered by the other campaigns in the package...
 
A question for our British contingent...

Good evening,

Hi. Forgive me for being the ignorant American, but I have never quite understood something about the Battle of Britain. Where does the "start" date of 10 July come from? It is clear, for example, that Stukas were raiding Portland and convoys in the Channel on 4 July, and there are accounts such as this...

http://suite101.com/article/spitfire-mk1-early-operations-a341617

http://spitfiresite.com/2010/06/battle-of-britain-1940-prelude-to-the-blitz.html

http://spitfiresite.com/2010/07/battle-of-britain-1940-10-july-has-it-started-yet.html

...which I am including in my "Kampfgeschwader" campaign. This indicates that there was significant combat over England as early as 18/19 June, as well as another raid on 26/27 June.

So again, how was the date decided? If it was decided based on the ability of the RAF to successfully intercept, (it is my understanding they failed to intercept the Portland raiders, due to their slow response) then the action of 18/19 June calls that into question, does it not?

I'm not trying to start a fight here, I simply can't understand this. :isadizzy:
 
Don't worry about being confused Rami as it can get confusing for a Brit (like me) too. To some extent the date may be an arbitrary one due to a number of significant facts.

In the early part of the war Hitler's forces and particularly the Luftwaffe were content to attack British shipping in the Channel without taking on targets on the mainland except for a few raids on radar stations (although at the time the Germans did not know their true function and assumed they were part of a homing beacon system for British bombers) and a few raids on major manufacturing centres.

That all changed when Hitler decided to approve the plan for the invasion of England (code named 'Operation Sealion') on July 16th, 1940 and then the targets became RAF fighter airfields in Southern England as it was vital that the RAF (especially the fighter squadrons) were taken out of the war if the plan was to succeed.

The term 'Battle of Britain' was coined by Winston Churchill in his famous 'This was their finest hour' speech on the 18th of June, 1940 (roughly a month before the dates usually quoted for the start of the battle) when he said "The Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin."

So you can see that events happened over a period of several weeks so how anyone can come up with a decisive date is open to debate.
 
As I understand it and Grandad always said, the battle started on July 10th 1940 when the Luftwaffe attempted to gain control of the Straits of Dover.
 
Hugh Dowding (CinC) Fighter Command always claimed the Battle started on May 10th 1940 when the Germans invaded the Low Countries .........:mix-smi:
 
From the writing of John W R Taylor,

On the night of the 5-6 June. 30 bombers crossed the east coast and attacked airfields and other targets. Thats when the "softening up" started.
There is doubt as to the date of Adlerangriff day. Deferred from the 10 to 12 August. Germans claim main assult on the 13th.

10th and 11th were devoted to attacks on channel convoys and the ports of Dover and Portland.
The Luftwaffe lost 63 aircraft. The RAF lost 52.
Primary targets on the 12th were airfields and radar stations.
By the evening of the 12 Manston was out of action. Lympne and Hawkinge had taken a battering but could still operate, pilots using narrow grass strips between the craters to land and take off. Five radar stations were out of action.
The germans lost 36 aircraft, against 22 defending fighters. All the raid that day were intercepted.
The 13th is recorded as different from most days that summer in that it was cloudy. Should have helped the Germans especially since the radar defences had been weakend.
485 bomber sorties and 1000 fighter sorties were flown against Southhampton, Portland and airfields in Kent and Hampshire.
The RAF improved their score 45 kills against 13 fighters lost.
 
Finding more evidence...

Good morning,

More evidence from my research indicates a staffel of KG 2 struck Hull / Middlesborough on 1 July, and 34 Dorniers struck Kenley on 3 July.
 
Battle of Britian started on the 10TH July when Germany invaded Belgium. Its a date that is reconised that Britian could no longer stay out of the war and people knew that Britian would soon be Hitlers next target.

FROM GOOGLE.

Belgium remained strictly neutral, but was invaded by the Germans for a second time (on May 10, 1940). The Germans struck at both the Netherlands and ...
 
Although Briton was at war, alot of people called it the war the Phoney war.

The Phoney War was a phase early in World War II that was marked by a lack of major military operations by the Western Allies against the German Reich. The phase was in the months following Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany (shortly after the German invasion of Poland) in September 1939 and preceding the Battle of France in May 1940. War was declared by each side, but no Western power had committed to launching a significant land offensive, notwithstanding the terms of the Anglo-Polish military alliance and the Franco-Polish military alliance, which obliged the United Kingdom and France to assist Poland.

10/5/1940: Germany invades Belgium and Holland 10/5/1940: British prime minister Neville Chamberlain resigns and is replaced by Winston Churchill ...

So I think the 10 of May 1940 is the start of the Battle of Britian because Churchill became prime minister.

Like with a lot of wars it takes more than a few little wars to become substantial world war.
When did ww2 start. It was not a world war as such, it was a European war until pearl harbour, then churchill got his wish and thank god he did and America joined and saved our way of life.

10 May 2006
The UK is about to pay off the last of its World War II loans from the US. But it hasn't always been so fastidious.
On 31 December, the UK will make a payment of about $83m (£45.5m) to the US and so discharge the last of its loans from World War II from its transatlantic ally.

RJ
 
From Eagles High published 1990 for the 50th aniversary

In the foreword by ACM Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris (Chairman Battle of Britain Fighter Assocation)

"...during the official period of the Battle, 10 July - 31 October, 1940 (this timescale itself seems somewhat questionable and arbitrarily selected - there was plenty of hard fighting before 10 July and after 31 October)."

Seemingly it was a dates chosen after the event, perhaps during which the fighting was considered at its most intense. For me, as one who was around then as a child, it was the summer - autumn (fall) of 1940

peter
 
Reply...

Peter,

Additional research has proven this to be correct, thank you! :salute:
 
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