Carrier Swimming

Crash are 3 stories I wrote after several crashes I made in the Fortress Malta Campaign from vpmedia.

We are en route to Malta. Our carrier has been loaded with several Spitfires. The air force jocks will take off from our decks and join the defenders of Malta, provided we can get close enough. The whole trip we Navy boys have been comparing our Seafires to the Spitfires. Unlike the Spits this is not a one way trip for us. We have the hooks to trap the arresting cables on the deck. Suddenly the alarm bells sound. Radar has picked up several echos heading straight for our armada.

We are too far away from Malta, so its up to us sea lads to protect the carrier and its precious cargo for Malta.

All of us rush to our fighters, which are hastily brought up on deck. We quickly jump into our cockpits, performing the a quick check. My mechanic shouts something about tanks and half empty, before his voice is drowned in the sea of roaring engines. The deck rush below my wheels, before dropping away underneath me as I take to the sky.

Below is are small armada. As the ships anti-aircraft gunners prepare themselves for the German attack, we rush to the sky.

Several miles away, a large formation of He-111's lumbers towards our armada. Equipped with torpedoes and bombs, they have only one target: our carrier.

Soon we are on top of them. Their shadows racing over the waves, reveal their position.

The wing commander cries tally ho and one by one we dive towards the low-flying bombers. Soon my first target appears in the gun sight. Shells and bullets rain down on the helpless bomber.

Riddled with holes, the bomber lumbers on. I am sure it will hit the water before reaching our carrier, but I have no time to admire its demise. There are too many bombers and to few Seafires to send them to Neptunus'realm.

The rest of my squadron pitches in too, as bombers start catching fire everywhere around.

My second victim spins towards the sea, without an engine and rudder. There are no parachutes to be seen.

Circling around the enemy formation, I admire the strings of black smoke falling out of it. This Germans will learn that the Seafire is as deadly as it land-based cousin.

There goes my third victim. This is not an attack, its a turkey shoot.

By now we are within reach of the ships anti-aircraft artillery. Before me there is a wall of shrapnel, which I avoid by steeply climbing upwards.

While circling safe outside the flak zone, I notice that the drama for the German bombers does not stop.

A bomber tries to whiz by one of the escort ships, heading straight for the carrier, but our gun crews are bloodthirsty.

There is a huge flash...

and the bomber disappears in a giant ball of fire as the gunners placed a direct hit.

The poor escort ship is showered with debris as the bomber disintegrates.

But I can't let our ship gunners have all the fun. With disregard for the danger, I dive straight through our own flak barrage towards another bomber skimming the waves.

I pull the trigger, but only my machine guns fire. I am out of canon shells. I spray the bomber with bullets, flashing underneath it. I doubt the effectiveness of bullets against these heavily armored aircraft but they are far from home and maybe one of my wing mates can finish him off.

I scream past our carrier. Before the war, people said the bomber would always get through. But we have proved that theory wrong. There is no single scratch on the carrier. All bombers were shot down or chased away.

As I turn towards the carrier, ready to land, I notice the red blinking light that I failed to see during the battle. Suddenly I remember the mechanics words: fuel tank and half empty.

I lower the gear and hook, praying that I have enough time to make at least one approach.

Without a warning, my engine freezes. Out of fuel, in plain sight of the carrier. The fighter over, diving straight to the sea.

I pull as hard as I can on the stick. If I go nose first it will be the end of me. For a second I hope to make a glide approach but I am too far out.

Sirens sound on the carrier as my aircraft smashes into the sea.

I manage to struggle out of my cockpit, but the carrier won't stop, out of fear of U-boats. But one of the escorts lowers a lifeboat to pick me up.

That evening I am back on board the carrier, when one of the spitfire pilots approaches me asking what's the use of a tail hook if we naval pilots swim aboard.

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