Spitfire Test

This AAR is based on mission from the campaign “Battle of Britain: Hurricane Season” designed by Cobra427so.
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Yesterday a new aircraft arrived at our base. We have been fighting off the Germans with our faithful Hurricanes, but now at least one slender Spitfire arrived. And I have been selected to fly a test run with. I climb aboard the agile fighter, preparing myself for an early spin. But the Krauts have other ideas.

Radar detected a large formation of German bombers, heading this way.

They are heading for the harbor and must be stopped at all cost.

There is no time left to switch planes now. I guess I'll have to take the Spitfire into combat. Lucky for me the crew chief did load her up with fuel ammunition boxes.

But first the rest of the squadron has to take off. Some of my co-pilots even use the taxiways to take off as quickly as possible.

Finally the last Hurricanes have left the tarmac. They race towards the oncoming Luftwaffe bombers.

I taxi to the start of the runway. The Spitfire is harder to taxi with its smaller wheelbase. The long nose forces me to zigzag to keep spotting the road.

I reach the start of the runway, which is by now completely deserted. I line up and push the throthle full forward. Like stallion the Spitfire jumps forward.

Above me, the first Hurricanes have already encounters the Luftwaffe escorts, Me-109's.

The German bombers pass right over my base as I leave the ground. But our runway is not their target. They are heading straight for the harbor.

I am too late to prevent them from dropping their bombs. I hope my Hurricane-brethren had more luck. But I decide to tail the bombers while they make their retreat over the channel.

The Germans try to escape in the low-hanging clouds. I dive down, trying to catch up with a bomber which is heading for nearby safety of the clouds. I quickly fire a burst with my guns, setting the starboard wing aflame.

At first sight the damage seems irrelevant, but somehow my attack must have spooked some of the crew, because quickly small dots jump out of the plane.

But there is no time to loose, this is a target rich environment and the German escorts are all gone. A second bomber feels the wrath of my anger.

However I closed in too fast and have to dive below the bomber. Its belly gunner tries to hit me but I am too fast.

A quick loop brings me back on the tail of the bomber. This time I take my time for the shot, making sure that every bullet hits the target. Like a saw, my bullets tear through the bomber, shearing of its tail. Like a leaflet the bomber tumbles towards the sea. There are no parachutes.

I have no time to admire my latest victims plunge to death. I already focus on my next victim. But a Hurricane beats me too him, peppering it with gunfire. As I close in I spot small dots leaving the aircraft.

The crew of this bomber finds it also wisely to abandon ship.

There is no use to waste good ammunition on a crew less bomber, so I peel off. But as quickly as the fight started, as quickly it is over. There are no bombers to be seen. I dive below the cloud deck, hoping to spot a lone bomber limping back home, that I can finish off but the sky remains empty.

There is nothing left for me but to go home again. As I touch down, I am in awe of the beauty, strength and lethality of the Spitfire. I sure hope we will replace our Hurricanes for the Spitfire.

The end

BOB - Sqn 74

This is an AAR based on the mission, BOB SQN 74, I designed. You can download the original mission at Mission4Today . You can also find the original thread at SimHQ .

The mission was designed using information gained at the Battle of Britain Historic site. Its not intended to be a complete faithful representation of the events but offers 'my take' on the events.

SPOILER WARNING: If you intend to play the mission, you might want to wait with reading the AAR, because it is possible that some events might be revealed.

Scramble, Scramble! Radar has detected a number of bogeys, crossing the channel. Some hurricanes are already directed towards them, but we are to take off and assist them.

Radar can't give us an exact number and type of aircraft, but in all likelihood He-111's will lead the German attack.

(In real life the attack was done by a D0-17, since its not present in the game, I replaced it with a He-111)

This is the target of the Germans. Ships bringing vital supplies to the UK. We will have to show them that the RAF means business.

Ambulances are waiting besides the runway. Let's hope we won't need them.

Our fighters are spread around the airfield, in case the Germans come after our airfields.

Hurricanes are already speeding towards the interception point. Lets hope we arrive in time.

The He-111 lumbers towards the ships. Because of the rain and poor visibility the bomber has to remain below the cloud cover. For a single bomber it is heavily protected.

Bf-109's zigzag above the bomber, looking for RAF opposition. (in real life the single DO-17 was escorted by 10 Bf-109, just like in this mission)

Our flight of 4 spitfires forms up. The sea appears in the distance, still cloaked in soaking rain. If we find the ships, we'll try circling around in the hope of detecting the German bomber before it drops its bombs.

Suddenly the hurricanes announce over the radio that they detected German fighters. The immediately attack them, but they fail to spot any bomber.

The He-111 however has spotted the ships and steers towards on of them.

The bombardier crawls on his belly, using the bomb sight to aim for one of the ships.

Bombs away!!!

A large plume of water erupts near the ship. The bomber missed!

The ships continue their mad dash towards the safety of the harbor.

Our flight arrived to late to stop the He-111, but I immediately dive after it. I split my flight in two. The second element goes after the fighters protecting the bomber while I will destroy the bomber together with my wing man.

The bomber pulls a hard left one, but I stick to it like a bee to honey and pepper it with bullets and shells. Parts of the tail separate as pull away, making room for my wing man to take a shot.

But he won't have to waist his ammunition, as I speed past the bomber it starts to plummet towards the sea, spinning around like dead leaf.

The bomber impacts the water, which is solid like concrete at these speeds. I saw no parachutes.

With the bomber gone, I decide to aid the rest of my wing and the hurricanes. I spot an aircraft trailing black smoke, so I figure that if I follow the smoke in the opposite direction I should arrive at the dogfight again. The burning aircraft blows up in the sky. Luckily it turned out to be a Bf-109.

Another flight of spitfires is nearing the coast and the fight. It looks like the tables will be turned against the Luftwaffe.

I join the fight, the Germans are to busy fighting with the other spitfires and hurricanes, and fail to notice me or my wing man. We quickly jump upon an unsuspecting Bf-109.

Like they say, the one that gets you is the you did not see. The German fighter bursts into flames and its pilot decides not to stay with his burning aircraft. I wish him good luck in the freezing waters of the Channel.

High above a wing of German fighters, loops above us, trying to gain a better position to dive on us. I pull my spitfire into a vertical climb, chasing the Germans who are at the top of their loop.

I race into the sky, the higher I get, the slower my speedometer turns. I aim for the German wing man. His aircraft appears for a mere second in my gun sight but I pull the trigger.

Behind me, my wing man yells that I bagged the German. I have no time to see the wingless wreckage fall to the ground, as I struggle to keep control of my fighter which is near stalling.

As I dive towards the sea, I single out another German fighter. But my speed is to big and I pull too many G's. The world turns black.

Immediately another German dives behind me. As I regain my vision, the tell-tale smell of cordite is in the air as German bullets whiz by my cockpit.

Luckily my wing man watches my back. He jumps onto my attacker and blasts him out of the sky.

I in turn, attack the wing man of my attacker. The poor bastard tries to outrun me, but I clutch on to him like a hungry dog to a bone.

I am running out of ammunition, but with my last burst, I manage to set the fighter ablaze. The German fighter climbs before its engine quits, but still the flames lurk around the aircraft.

I follow the aircraft, expecting the pilot to bail out any moment now. The fire must by now have reached his cockpit.

But the fighter rolls over and crashes into the sea. Either the pilot was killed by my bullets or overcome by the fire. At least one German less to invade my country.

Its time to head back for home.

Back at the base a freak accident takes place. One of the hurricane pilots lands his aircraft to hard. The aircraft careens over the runway. The pilot jumps out of the cockpit, but the now pilot less Hurricane swerves right towards some parked aircraft.

To their horror the ground crew sees the aircraft rolling right to them.

The Hurricane crashes straight into a fully fueled spitfire. With a tremendous explosion both aircraft explode, detonating other aircraft parked around them.

How is this possible? Four aircraft are lost without taking a single German fighter with them!

When it is finally my turn to land, one of the wrecks is still burning.

Shutting down my engine, I am glad to have survived this mission. If it was not for that freak accident in the end, I would consider it a real success.

The End