Flight Officer Yellow Section 17 Sqn B Flt Hawkinge AF.
4 Kills 1 damaged
Sept 4, 1940
Smashing good day. Up twice the 1st was a standard Patrol Chain Home No joy. The second a punch out with a Reported 20+ Over a forward AF at Dover. We were covering Swingfield down on the coast when Control had us on intercept for the enemy Trade. I got one although I didnt see it crash added to the bomber on the 3rd Sept I now have 4. The odd part of the mission was I only saw 2 flights of e/a but our total claims were 11 e/a destroyed . I guess that one will be for the bean counters at Hq.
Victor Barbercane Flight Officer Yellow Section 17 Sqn B Flt Debden AF.
4 kills 1 damaged
5 Sep 1940.
Morning Parade : Awarded the Air Force Medal.
Afternoon: Scramble Trade at angels 12 just south of London. The Sqn had 8 a/c up. B flights 4 a/c managed an intercept a 10 + flight of Bombers. The lead a/c our Flight Lt. knocked one down. I made 2 passes and couldn't hit a sausage. The rest missed as well or maybe damaged one e/a ?
Victor Barbercane Flight Officer Yellow Section 17 Sqn B Flt Debden AF.
4 kills 2 damaged
7 Sep 1940.
Bit of luck, B flight was at cockpit readiness when the flap started. Off our six a/c went to orbit above Croydon AF, when the flight leader called Tallyho ! There 2000 feet lower , I spotted Two Flights of Do 17's. We attack in line abreast massing our fire power then zoomed thru then scattering. I fire at 2 a/c damaging the last one. Them out of ammo, I passed under 9 or 12 He III types taking a few hits . I made a emergency landing at Kenley checking damage the topped off the fuel and RTB. The chaps claimed 5 bombers for 1 Hurricane lost a chap named Billings.
Late in the day. A personal Aid to the Ministry of Finance In a Shiny Automobile popped by to pick up Sqn Leader A.G. Miller for a Hurricane Fund Rising Dinner at the P.M.'s I say , Smashing nice ride.
Victor Barbercane Flight Officer Yellow Section 17 Sqn B Flt Debden, AF.
4 Kills 3 damaged
10 Sep 1940.
I lost another Hurricane today. The C.O. said one more and I make a German Ace. The Sqn was at 18,000 and caught 9-12 bombers Escorted by 6 109's Managed to fend off the fighters and get at the bombers. I shot at 3 the last one I got hits then I caught a bunch of Nasty hits all over the Nose of my kite. The gauges went off the clock as the Temp's screamed red hot ., The cooling system had been shot away' Off to port I could see a Yellow Nose bandit heading over to finish me off so I bailed. I say , cheated him out of a sitting duck.
Harry Mallo 17th Squadron Debden 1st Mission July 19, 1940
Well. Three months ago, I was driving a lorry for the Army when a couple of chaps came up to me and asked me what 3D means. I said "Forwards, Backwards, Left, Right.... and Up." They said "You're going to make a great pilot, old sport!" And here I am! My first combat mission was a scramble against incoming bombers! We were vectored south-east to the mouth of the channel to intercept aircraft coming in from Calais. When the Tally-Ho came, it was on a small flight of medium bombers, probably having broken off from a larger group. They were so small, in fact, that we must have missed them on our initial go-round, as they were almost on our ships whn we finally caught up. I took a pass at one, closing fast and gave him a burst or two at short range. As I pulled up, my wingman, a decent chap by the name of Lathram, came in and sent it spiraling down to the waters below. Two chutes! Quite an exiting bit of combat for my first day active, I must say!
The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
Put in my first claim today. Another scramble down to the SE, it's all we get lately. As I went to start up the engine, I accidentally let slip "Split formation!" over the comms, which is of course what I say instead of cursing... Well wouldn't you know that after that the rest of my flight wouldn't even talk to me for the duration of the mission? Unbelievable! It's like I hit some key by mistake that rendered me invisible to them for the rest of the flight or something... Anyway, I made my way on my own down to the coast and established a pattern at a comfortable remove from the rest of the squadron and waited for the fun to begin. It was about fifteen minutes until the call of "Bandits below us!" rang out. I never did see the bombers, although I did spot a couple of stricken ships later on, but I managed to attach myself to the tail of a 109 attacking "A" flight. He twisted and turned and spun away as I sent a tremendous volume of rifle rounds his way until we were down to about 1000 feet out over the middle of the channel. At that point his engine quit on him and he settled into a rather smooth water landing. I gave him a wave and radioed in his location before heading back to file a claim, which I have just done!
The older I get, the more I realize I don't need to be Han, Luke or Leia. I'm just happy to be rebel scum...
Put in my first claim today. Another scramble down to the SE, it's all we get lately. As I went to start up the engine, I accidentally let slip "Split formation!" over the comms, which is of course what I say instead of cursing... Well wouldn't you know that after that the rest of my flight wouldn't even talk to me for the duration of the mission? Unbelievable! It's like I hit some key by mistake that rendered me invisible to them for the rest of the flight or something... Anyway, I made my way on my own down to the coast and established a pattern at a comfortable remove from the rest of the squadron and waited for the fun to begin. It was about fifteen minutes until the call of "Bandits below us!" rang out. I never did see the bombers, although I did spot a couple of stricken ships later on, but I managed to attach myself to the tail of a 109 attacking "A" flight. He twisted and turned and spun away as I sent a tremendous volume of rifle rounds his way until we were down to about 1000 feet out over the middle of the channel. At that point his engine quit on him and he settled into a rather smooth water landing. I gave him a wave and radioed in his location before heading back to file a claim, which I have just done!
Really nice Rick and a good fight. I am guessing you noticed your mixture was to rich right before the 6:00 mark as I kept watching your 3000rpm and 0 boost and yelling at you "adjust your mixture! Lean it out Mate!" I am not that great of a Sim pilot but I will share this with you: If you use the Prop pitch on an analog slide or rotary you can bring your RPMs back to like 2600rpm and achieve 250+ mph in level flight with cooler temps for the engine. I was yelling this at you when you were chasing down the 109 in level flight. I have read that some of the pilots learned that instead of using the Prop Pitch Lever either full fine or full course that they could move it in the middle between the 2 positions and achieve these results in the real Hurricane. I am not sure if this is Historically true or not, but it does work in WOTR. It is just FYI, take it or leave it. Again, nice fight vid Sir. You have inspired me to fire up WOTR instead being lazy tonight and watching a movie. S!Blade<><
Flight Officer Yellow Section 17 Sqn B Flt Debden, AF.
5 Destroyed 3 damaged
Sep 15th 1940.
Its a regular Meat Grinder out there. Up twice on scrambles over the London Docks. During the 1st one , A 30+ Raid, I was firing at a bomber ( Hits ? ) when Me 110's came down. I turned to port and chase one when a 109 passed under me low and all alone so Bounced him Sparks flew then fire. I saw a chute come out. Out of ammo I dove out of the fight and RTB. On the 2nd flight, I attacked 2 flights of Bombers escorted by Me 110's. I ended up playing tag with two till I could brake free. Claims, 2 109's ( 1 is mine) 5 Bombers, 1 Me 110. Losses: 4 Pilots KIA. 1 Badly Wnd. All 5 a/c are write offs. + Mine with a few holes.
Flight Officer Yellow Section 17 Sqn B Flt Debden, AF.
16 Sep 1940.
We had 8 a/c for the morning Scramble. We were over London mixing it with 30+ I called Line astern and down we went at full power. Green Section called Fighters coming down as we machine gun the second flight of Bombers then it was circle and Ring around Rosy till we could get clear. On the second flight B flight's 5 a/c hit an 18+ raid no joy for me but saw shuts come down. We lost 1 hurricane + 1 damaged 3 bombers destroyed. Afternoon , The Sqn Leader said good work and I was officially an Ace.