Having recently invested a little time in getting to know this sim a bit better I just had to drop by and say how impressed I am with it.

For a title that's somewhat long in the tooth I'm amazed at what has been done to keep it alive and I must say that it is probably the best WW2 flight sim I have ever played.

I couldn't believe my eyes when, after a session of circuits and bumps in the old Spit I parked her alongside a Tiger Moth and saw, not only a bunch of chaps reclining in deck chairs by the ops hut and what-not but a troop of three uniformed figures strolling around the airfield! Talk about atmosphere and attention to detail!

Apart from a couple of quick 1-vs-1s I haven't done any real combat yet, my only actual campaign 'op' so far has been one single long, dull convoy patrol with 609 Sqn (I have chosen 609 as my unit for the incredible dynamic campaign after reading the Diary of D.M.Crook DFC, I'm in 'A'-Flight, Yellow Three) but even this short stint has left me speechless at how incredible the AI in this sim is. No balls-ups, tight formations and the leader calls the maneuvers, asks for the surface wind before take-off and he even lets you know when the patrol is almost over!

From a guy who used to play "Their Finest Hour" on the old 286 (and practically every flight-sim in between) I hope it means something to the people who have put all this together when I say that this is an outstanding work of art!

I agree, I play this sim often and it is fun. Try just to survive the Channel Battle.

Well said JB and spot on! I'm sure the chaps who have worked so hard to make BoB what it is are delighted, chuffed and very tickled to receive such well-deserved appreciation!

We do thank players for the very kind words about "Our Time Machine", BOBII.

Amen! that sums it up perfectly!

Time machine is just the word for it!

Another thing I noticed was that each aircraft in my squadron had the correct markings for 609 and I'm pretty sure they each had their individual indentifiers, mine was "PR-C". That's something I've been dreaming of for decades.

I also ran the engine up after landing and tested for mag drop, it was hard to hold her in one spot for this but I managed it with some gymnastics and saw that the tacho correctly indicated about a 50 R.P.M. drop for each bank of plugs when a magneto was switched off. A "chocks in" command might would be very useful if it is possible.

I'm scheduled to go up for another picnic over the Channel later today and I can't wait, hopefully the Hun come up to play this time but even if they don't I'll get some much needed formation flying practice. From what I've read here I guess I'll be seeing more than enough of the Luftwaffe when things warm up.

Dud patrol, nothing doing but everyone in 609 now calls me "Gillette" after I had to be told three times that I was too close to my section leader.

Ho-leee-cow!

Well, after hours of stooging about looking at ships and water I've finally been blooded.

609 was scrambled from Middle Wallop to intercept a formation of 70+ bandits (Ju-87s and 109s) over the channel at about 1915hrs last night. On the way out I noticed that a Hurricane squadron had also been scrambled and were following us into the fray. In the end we were able to claim 12 enemy aircraft destroyed for the loss of one Spitfire and, unfortunately, it's pilot Blue Three. Yellow leader was also damaged and made it home with a shaky engine.

The combat itself was amazingly intense, I've never seen anything like it.

Just above a thin layer of cloud at about 20,000 ft we merged with what looked like every bloody Ju-87 in the Luftwaffe and I don;t exaggerate when I tell you that our fighters went through those damn Stukas like sh*t through a goose! You've never seen such carnage or heard such a lack of discipline on the R/T!

I lost sight of my leader about 30 seconds into the fight, despite my best efforts to stick with him, and subsequently spent the rest of the time madly weaving about to ensure that I wasn't the subject of any attention from the 109s and making runs through the Stuka formation at about 350-400mph when the opportunity presented itself to do so.

I found myself with little time to line up and shoot at these speeds but the Stuka formation was broken up and the 109's were nowhere to be seen so I made a more deliberate pass and landed a good, three second burst on one Stuka whilst closing from about 200 to 50 yards or so. Clouds of debris and the sheer speed of the attack made it hard for me to see what happened to him so I could only claim him as damaged. I didn't have time or the luxury to confirm or make a second attack since the skty was rather crowded with tracers, going every which was and the possibility of being jumped by 109s.

My Spit stopped a few rounds from the Stukas rear gunner as I zipped past and I instinctively dumped the stick forward to dodge both his firing and a collision with his aircraft. The engine didn't like this treatment much and I mistakenly thought I was hit in the radiator for a while as it coughed and spluttered after being momentarily starved of fuel. After this had sorted itself out I climbed for another pass and was scanning the sky around me for 109s when I saw a Hurri coming back into the fight with what I took to be a 109 in hot pursuit.

Cranking my Spit around to give chase I was a little too eager and ended up in a spin that cost me 5,000 ft of height. By then this wasn't a problem because the Stukas had dived into the attack and now fight was spread all over the sky from 15,000 down to about 5,000 ft. After vainly chasing about looking for something else to shoot or somebody to wing up with at I heard Patin leader come on the R/T ordering us to regroup.

After hunting around the lower level of cumulus I eventually found the rest of the squadron and rejoined. My section leader was damaged and putting out a lot of blue-grey smoke which made me feel quite guilty for losing but, in all probability, the damage he sustained was at from a rear gunner and not a 109 since the 109s seemed unable to mount any kind of effective defense of the Stukas whatsoever. I'm not even sure that they were in position as we attacked since it looked to me that we dove on two squadrons of Stukas, I never actually saw a 109 the entire time.

The remainder of us made it back to base and everybody landed safely in the twilight. I almost pranged into a Hurri on landing, he was taxiing across my path as I came in and I never saw him until the last second since the light was very poor but I managed to react in time and skip over him, giving him a couple of raised fingers in salute as I sailed over his canopy by few inches! Of course this meant that the Gillette jokes and the first round of Pimms was on me again since everyone in both squadrons had seen it. The mess staff must think that Australians are a very generous lot because this is the second day running that I've had to stand drinks to everyone and my mess bill is running quite high! Hopefully I can win a few quid back at poker.

Later that night we heard on the BBC that todays bag was a record for the RAF! A grand total 25 Huns would be fertilising British soil, digging potatoes in Wales or paddling their inflatable dinghys home with their tails between their legs! Wizard!

Excellent combat report! Enjoyed that!

Well thanks McGonigle, glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed reading your recent racing article as well since sim racing is something I'll be interested in investing more time in at some point.

Anyway, back at Middle Wallop:

Yellow leader copped another packet from a tail gunner today. We were up patrolling Ventnor for the second time in two days to trick the enemy into thinking we were covering a convoy and luring up some trade when I spotted a lone Do-17 on a recce run at 14,000ft about 8 miles SE of the Isle of Wight. The others spotted him seconds later and roared off in pursuit before I could pull my finger out. In the ensuing chase my kite seemed to be the slowest of the lot so I didn't get a crack at the Hun myself but I did see Yellow leader attach himself to the tail of that flying pencil like a bulldog to a postman's ankle. He got pretty badly hammered by the gunner for his trouble but, predictably, the Dornier came off second best.

(Eight machine guns trump one every time!)

That flying pencil won't be doing any more doodling in the heavenly margins again. Last I saw he was plunging towards the Channel at about 500 mph trailing a sheet of flame, smoke and bits and pieces that are, according to the manual, usually required to keep an aircraft in flight (wings, engines etc). I think only three of the crew managed to take to their brollies but I can't be sure, there's not much time for sight seeing up there, but if I'm right then one poor sod must have ridden that lot to the bitter end, probably the rear gunner I imagine.

That meant the rest of the patrol was a write-off as we had to cover Yellow leader while he nursed his smoker back home again

Tonight in the mess the C.O. presented Yellow leader with a packet of John Players Navy Cut and told him he would get an extra packet added to his ration every week from now on if he promised to "only smoke on the ground". Since then all the lads have started calling him "Navy". He took it in good humour at least and I wonder who will be the next poor prune to earn themselves a nick-name.

It's really no joke though, I saw how shot up Navy's kite was on the way home. The mechanics found twenty three bullet holes in the fuselage so that's something to think about.

Ops has given us the day off tomorrow, we've been at it hammer and tongs for a few days straight now and it will be good to get some rest.

Nice reports, great read. Captures the fun of BOBII perfectly.

Many thanks Heinkill,

I've been away for some time with other obligations and fiddling around with FSX and continuing to fly RoF for the last month or so but I aim to continue these AAR's at some point in the near future, perhaps restarting them from the perspective of a pilot in the initial stages of training through to combat itself since BoB lends itself to such an immersive simming experience that the writer in me just cant help himself.

I recently tried the one-on-one dogfight with a Bf-109 (breathtakingly realistic) and learned how to set up the AI and day by day campaign properly and the experience is truly amazing. I wish many features of this sim could be transplanted into some other titles I invest a lot of time in.

Yup a stutterless CLoD with the campaign from BoB2 would be an awesome marriage...

Well, we cannot promise that the all-in-one sim will arrive, but I can say that BoB II 2.12 is now nearing completion.

Many updates will come, but the main one is the feeling of 'being there at the time'.


More to follow.

That is good news!

Great combat reports. Keep em coming!

Gives me some vicarious flight sim time, because at the moment I'm busy crawling around the muck in Berlin with a Springfield sniper rifle in Sniper Elite 2...

The convoy phase can be a bit hit and miss in terms of action, but it is a good warm up for the real party later...

Very Well...

12th June, 1940

Area of action: 20 miles S of Isle of Wight


We scrambled from Middle Wallop in the evening, about half an hour before sunset and headed out towards a plot coming across from the Caffiers area in France, control estimated around 70+ bandits in two groups which suggested bombers and fighters. Upon nearing the area where the raid was anticipated to be I spotted a formation of 12 aircraft heading towards us through a thin layer of cloud at about 20,000ft. Calling red leader on the r/t I warned him of their approach but he could not see them and I soon lost them in the clouds.

Soon afterwards we spotted a large gaggle of the enemy milling around at about 10,000ft over a convoy that was about 20-30 miles from the coast. Red leader called tally-ho and I scanned the air behind me to check and see what might have become of the twelve bogeys I had spotted earlier. You can imagine my surprise when the sleek, menacing shark-like snout of a BF-110 appeared within lethal range behind me! I called the squadron to beak and promptly made the sprog mistake of hauling the stick too hard and ending up in a spin.

I lost 5,000ft in the spin, recovering at 9,000ft which put me below the action somewhat so I began a slow and cautious climb back to fighting altitude. Upon passing through 12,000 feet I eased out my climb to pick up speed and saw what looked like another 110 ahead of me, higher but travelling quite slow and coming at me from 2 O'clock. I got the speed up to 350 and hauled back on the stick before he passed overhead to get on his tail, taking a high deflection shot at his belly as I climbed. My speed carried me well above him and I immediately set up another pass, noticing as I did so that a Hurricane and another Spitfire were entertaining similar thoughts. Having made the first mark on his dance card I plunged down and gave him a goodish burst from about 200 yards which caused white smoke to start coming from his starboard engine.

After this attack I tried to join up with the Spit I had seen earlier but managed to lose all three of my companions in the clouds as the fight descended into a lower sky covered by 8/10ths cloud. Dodging about and keeping an eye over my shoulder I managed to pick them up again just as the Hurricane was delivering the coup de grace to the Hun, presumably killing the pilot as the machine took a sudden dive into the drink.

Covering the them from above I noticed other 110s, Spits and Hurris in the area and due to the confused state of things by now I was unable to take any further effective action and so proceeded as best as I could to find my squadron so as to be able to get home before dark which I only just achieved.

Hehe, my flying and writing are a little rough at present, shouldn't be long before I'm back in the swing of it though.

JB,

Superbly detailed combat reports and equally satisfying to see that the original Rowan's BoB of over eleven years ago has been developed in stages to a point at which it can still elicit convincing Battle of Britain gaming experience - and will continue to do so for many years.

I must have read hundreds of similar reports from r/l experiences Dux and it's astounding how my own missions in BoB pan out to be just like so many of them.

(Well, apart from one mysterious Hurricane that flew all the way home from the Channel leaving a merry trail of smoke and fire behind a mile long, but we won't mention that.)