Battle of Britain 2: Aces Mission Pack

Mission Pack File Download

Welcome to the Aces Mission Pack for BOB2 Wings of Victory!

The aim of this pack is to recreate some of the more stirring missions executed by Aces on both sides of the Channel. You will find the mission listed by the name of each of the Aces represented (to allow for future expansion!). Painstakingly researched, if you use the Multiskin add-on to BOB2, you will find most of the Aces represented are flying aircraft with historically accurate aircraft skins, and missions take place on the BOB2 map in the location and at the time of day they occurred in 1940, with the correct squadrons and staffeln faithfully reproduced.

The beauty of BOB2 missions is also that they are infinitely replayable, in that not all mission elements start in the same way or same place each time. And once the mission begins, the intelligent nature of the BOB2 AI means AI aircraft will react differently every time.

How to use the Aces Mission Pack

DOWNLOAD THE FILE ABOVE AND READ BELOW

It contains two folders

BFIELDS
and
BFIELDSbak

Just copy BFIELDS into your BOBII directory and overwrite the current BFIELDS folder. This should give you all the necessary files to run the new missions. You will also find most of your old IA mission are still there too - the only missions deleted to make room were the basic training missions.

If you want to change back to your original Instant Action Missions delete the new BFIELDS folder, copy BFIELDSbak folder into your BOBII directory and rename it BFIELDS again.

What missions are available?

Mission 1 – Alan Deere – Deere over Dunkirk

A reprise of a favorite mission from the Deere IA mission pack. Alan Deere was one of the most famous pilots of the Battle of Britain, serving with 54 Squadron and going on to the rank of Air Commodore before retiring in 1967.

On May 23 1940 Deere recorded the first ever victories over Bf109s by a Spitfire, when he shot
down two Bf109s in fighting near Dunkirk. Can you help the troops on the beach at Dunkirk by driving off the marauding 109s?


Deere with 54 Squadron over the beaches of France.

Mission 2 – Douglas Bader – Big Wing

Few men become legends in their lifetime. Bader lost both legs in an accident in 1931 but fitted with
aluminium replacements he returned to the air and by 1940 was squadron leader with 242 Squadron flying Hurricanes. He was the leading proponent of the Big Wing theory that massed attacks by RAF fighters were needed to stop Luftwaffe raids getting through.

Bader led a Big Wing into action for the first time on September 7, 1940, against a large German formation heading for London. Having been scrambled late, the wing was underneath the bombers and their fighter escorts when they intercepted them north of the Thames. All 242 and 310 Squadrons could do was attack as best they could while 19 Squadron's Spitfires tried to hold off the attacking Me-109s.

Bader himself got a cockpit full of bullets and the right aileron shot off his Hurricane. This is your chance to test the Big Wing theory for yourself.


Where's a Big Wing when you need one?

Mission 3 – Howard Mayers – Scramble! 110s!

Howard Clive Mayers was one of Australia's lesser known Battle of Britain aces. During the
battle he won a DFC and was credited with 8 kills. He went on to score a total of 12 kills,
fighting mostly over Africa before being lost in action at Quattara Depression on 8 July 1942.

Early on 13 August 1940 with 601 Sq Mayers claimed a Bf110 damaged. After a scramble later the same day, he destroyed another Bf110 and was then shot down himself. Mayers baled out, was fired on
by a Bf110 but landed safely in the sea off Portland. He was picked up by an MTB and treated for shrapnel wounds at Portland Hospital. His Hurricane, P2690, crashed into the Channel off Weymouth.

Take off with 601 Sq as they scramble to meet the incoming attack.


Tannoys blare and bombs blast as 601 Sq tries to take to the air.

Mission 4 – Sailor Malan – Malan vs Molders

South African ace Adolph 'Sailor' Malan is at the center of one of the most hotly disputed
encounters of the Battle of Britain, with many claiming it was he who brought down Luftwaffe
ace Werner Molders on 28 July 1940.

74 Squadron was in action between Manston and Hawkinge and Malan had just downed one Bf109 from JG51 when he saw Molders on his six. He turned toward him and battle was joined. Molders aircraft was badly damaged and though he nursed it home to Wissant he was so badly wounded he took no part in the conflict for the next month.

Malan himself made no claim that it was he who damaged Molders, and other sources say it was a Hurricane of 41 Squadron. You can fly as either!


Malan goes down to Molders...no, wait, it was supposed to be the other way around!

Mission 5 – Josef Frantisek – Frantisek vs Wiggers

Czech ace Josef Frantisek achieved in just 27 days the title of highest scoring RAF pilot of the Battle of Britain, with 17 confirmed victories in Sept and Oct of 1940. A lone wolf, his commanding officers found him impossible to control, but loathe to lose his abilities in the air, he was made a 'guest of 303 squadron' so that he could continue to fly and fight during the Battle. His short career ended on October 8 in an unexplained accident following an uneventful patrol.

September 11, 1940, was a day of glory for the largely Polish 303 Squadron. Fifteen minutes after being scrambled, the squadron in full formation intercepted a German raid. Thanks to a determined attack, the pilots scattered the German formation but ran foul of the determined escort fighters of JG51. One Bf 109, shot down by Sgt. Frantisek, was piloted by Hans Wiggers, an ace with 13 victories to his credit.


Frantisek takes on the Luftwaffe: alone again, naturally.

Mission 6 – Arty Holmes – Ramming Speed!

Though not strictly an Ace, Ray 'Arty' Holmes warrants inclusion for one of the most memorable victories of the Battle. Holmes entered the history books when he attacked a formation of
Do17s over London on Sept 15. In a classic case of the 'red mist of battle' taking over, Holmes chose to ram one of the Dorners with his Hurricane and at a closing speed of 400 mph he cut through its tail section like butter.

Unfortunately he also totalled his own machine.

The attack was immortalised on film by a camera-crew, who filmed the Dornier crashing into the forecort of Victoria Station, while Holmes floated down to the streets below, close to where his Hurricane cratered the crossroads at Buckingham Palace and Pimlico roads!

Your challenge (fly as Red2, Holmes famous TM-B Hurri) in this mission is to repeat Holmes attack and bring down a Dornier without firing your guns! Remember to set air-air collisions=on in your options. Will you live to drink a pint with the fire brigade afterwards, as Holmes did?


Somewhere in that fire ball is Arty Holmes' Hurricane...

Mission 7 – Ernest McNab – Fog of War

Canadian Ernie “Pee Wee” McNab scored the first Canadian air victory of World War 2 while attached to 1 Sq RAF. When 1 Sq (Canadian) was officially formed in June 1940, McNab took the reins. The squadron first entered the fray on August 24 1940.

1C Squadron scrambled 12 fighters, led by McNab, to patrol at 10,000 feet. Having earlier observed a combat in progress, they spotted three Ju88s approaching below. McNab led the attack.

After the engagement the jubilant Canadians claimed to have destroyed one Junkers 88 and “probably destroyed” a second. Canadian newspapers quickly trumpeted the success:

London, Aug. 25 (CP Cable reporter Harold Fair) Roaring into action together as a unit for the first time the first Royal Canadian Air Force fighter squadron to reach England proved itself Saturday by downing two German bombers.

A brief Air Ministry news service bulletin said: "The first Royal Canadian fighter squadron to reach England went into action yesterday for the first time. Flying their Canadian-built Hurricanes, the pilots yesterday afternoon shot down two Dornier bombers."

No further details were given out for the moment.

There was just one problem...


Tallyho eh? Ju88s above!

Mission 8 – Carl Davis – Letter to Mrs Davis

The RAF in 1940 was bolstered by pilots from at least 14 other nations, among them several Americans. One of these was US Ace Carl Raymond Davis, DFC, a US RAF volunteer, who died 6 September 1940 with 9 victories.

The British Battle of Britain monument lists 9 US airmen who served in the RAF, either as US citizens, or claiming to be Canadian. Davis received his DFC after shooting down two Ju88s, a Bf109 and a Stuka in the space of three days.

A witness to his death wrote a moving letter to his wife, “Dear Mrs Davis, I hope you will not mind receiving this letter from a stranger, one who saw the air battle in which your husband gave his life on Friday morning last...”


Carl Davis falls to the hun in the sun

Mission 9 – Adolph Galland – Galland vs Allen

Adolph Galland is possibly the most famous of the Luftwaffe Aces, finishing the war with 104 victories from 705 sorties. An entire mission package could be built around just this one flyer. This mission recreates one of the many sorties where Ace clashed with Ace and only one flyer survived.

On 24 July 1940, Galland led III./JG 26 over the north coast of the Thames Estuary. Here they engaged Spitfires and Galland was able to shoot one down to the north of Margate.

He had shot down the British ace P/O “Johnny” Allen of 56 Sqn, who at the time had 7 confirmed and 5 probable kills to his name. Allen was killed in the crash-landing that followed this combat.


Galland zooms up for the kill

Mission 10 – Erich Groth – Hammerhead

Groth, in his famous 'Sharkmouth' Zerstorer, was the top scoring Bf110 ace, with 12 BoB victories - no mean feat in a machine outclassed by both the Hurricane and Spitfire.

Groth used the 'Hammerhead' turn in the Bf110 to great effect - diving away then zooming up until at the top of his climb he would stall and kick the rudder to turn the pursuit into a head to head game of chicken, letting him bring his 4xMG17 and 2x20mm cannons to bear on his unsuspecting 'attacker'.

This mission recreates August 15 1940. A black day for Groth's ZG 76/II unit, which lost no fewer than 8 aircraft in one fighter sweep. Losses like these resulted eventually in the Bf110 requiring its own escorts, and it was eventually dropped from the air to air role altogether, except as a night fighter.

Mission 11 – Eduard Tratt – Erpro 210s opening blow

When he died in 1944 Tratt was the leading Bf110 ace with 38 victories, 10 of them achieved during
the Battle of Britain as part of the elite Erpro 210 experimental bombing unit.

In one of the opening blows of the Battle of Britain Erpro 210 attacked the British RDF system on
August 12.

The attacks put Dunkirk, Pevensey, Dover and Rye stations off the air but were judged by the
Luftwaffe to be a failure as they were apparently back on air again later the same day. Len Deighton in 'Fighter' notes the attacks were more effective than Luftwaffe intelligence had judged though, with two of the stations effectively crippled having been put back on the air with false signals to fool the Germans.


A message from Erpro 210 to let the Brits know the Battle of Britain has begun

Mission 12 - Helmut Wick – Big Day Out

Helmut Wick became the leading Luftwaffe Ace of the Battle of Britain, and stayed in the lead until his
death in November 1940. He emerged from the Battle of France with 12 kills, took over JG2/1 (7) in Jagdgeschwader 2 'Richthofen', and finished the BoB with 42 kills. The mission represented in this pack technically falls outside the dates of the Battle, but is too impressive to ignore.

October 5 1940: In the aftermath of the Battle, Wick flew an afternoon patrol near Bournemouth and
encountered Hurricanes from 607 Sq. He personally accounted for three. Returning to France to refuel and rearm, he patrolled the area of the Isle of Wight at sunset and ran into Spitfires of 238 Sq, downing two and bringing his total for the day to 5 RAF aircraft! The feat earned him oak leaves for his Knights Cross.


Wick starts his day with a little strafing run, to warm up the guns...

Disclaimers

Please point out any historical innacuracies (but be aware the limitations of the beta Mission Editor mean it is not always possible to match the right unit/skin with the relevant ace.

The Groth mission has a quirk you may notice, which I can't eliminate quite yet. Working on it!

Missions have only been tested from the side of the specific ace mentioned eg RAF side for RAF aces. They should play from the other side but haven't been play balanced for this.

I get this message when I try to download:
Perhaps I tried while you were making an adjustment to the file pack?

EDIT: got it using the link at A2A - seems there's a single character - an 8 - on the end of the address in that link which is missing off the end of this one.

Thx PV have fixed link above. Enjoy...

thanks for taking the time to make this mission pack!

Thanks WhirlyBird. Reinstalling the game after my other computer crashed awhile back. I'll give it a shot.
ST

Great! Thanks, I am really enjoying these new missions.
BadBud
www.simflite.com

Glad to hear it. More on the way...

Have just completed a mission reflecting the role of Bomber Command 2 Group (82 squadron) in attacking the invasion barges and luftwaffe airfields.

Now working on (would you believe it...) a mission for the 'Hurricat' - the ship launched version of the Hurricane trialled by the Fleet Air Arm for convoy protection...

It aint pure Battle o Britain but it will make for an interesting mission!

I can heartily recommend flying these from the Luftwaffe side (my preference anyway!)

I think they are probably a little easier from a play balance perspective because WB seems to have stacked the odds to make it tough for the RAF, but then the RAF aces are set to ace skill levels, which makes for a great fight and some really nice 1-1s once the furballs devolve.

Well done Whirly!