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#4461268 - 02/14/19 12:04 AM Another day at the Battle of Britain office...  
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33lima Offline
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33lima  Offline
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Belfast, NI
The morning of July 20th 1940, to be precise, ten days into my RAF 'commander' campaign in Battle of Britain II - Wings of Victory. Reloading the campaign, I see (and hear, courtesy of the dulcet tones of invisible WAAFs) that a raid - Hostile 702, thirty plus - is being plotted on the map, heading north across the Channel. There are no coastal convoys anywhere in the area. Gerry has changed tack and is now going for our airfields! I select the offer to fly with 79 Squadron, flying Hurricanes out of Hawkinge near the coast, which is scrambled on its own, to meet the threat. I elect to fly as section leader Green 1. The raid can be seen immediately, ahead and well above us. It's coming straight for our own airfield!

[Linked Image]

Without waiting for orders, I lead my vic of three Hurricanes up and around after the Huns. From their formation, they look to be about thirty bombers, in three groups of about ten. If there are escorts, they must be somewhere up above the clouds. I lose track of the Huns in the murk but after a few seconds of anxious, blind uncertainty, I'm out in the clear.

[Linked Image]

My two wingmen have fallen behind, but the enemy formation has come out of cloud too and is right in front. We race in after them, with the whole squadron now in full cry, but losing cohesion in our haste to get at the enemy. With a sinking feeling, I realise we have a cat's chance in Hell of catching them before they bomb.

[Linked Image]

Down below, Hawkinge takes a good pasting.

[Linked Image]

The Germans begin to turn to port, and we bank left to cut them off, seething for revenge.

[Linked Image]

I don't wait for Green 2 and Green 3 to catch up, but go straight for the Huns, full tilt. I can see now that they are twin-engine bombers, Heinkels by the look of them. I'm in no mood for safety first. I'm not on my own, I can see, so I decide to make an attack from astern on the machine to the left rear of the enemy formation. As the range begins to wind down, I start jinking to throw off the aim of their gunners.

[Linked Image]

I open fire and get some good hits. I nearly lose sight of my target in the cloud of smoke which trails back from him as he falls to the left and down, out of formation. That'll do, for starters!

[Linked Image]

...to be continued!

Attached Files shot_181.jpgshot_186.jpgshot_182.jpgshot_183.jpgshot_184.jpgshot_187.jpgshot_188.jpg
Last edited by 33lima; 02/14/19 12:09 AM.

SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

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#4461278 - 02/14/19 01:36 AM Re: Another day at the Battle of Britain office... [Re: 33lima]  
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Rick_Rawlings Offline
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Nice report, lima! I was checking out your latest screenshots earlier, very nice!


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...
#4461383 - 02/14/19 06:46 PM Re: Another day at the Battle of Britain office... [Re: 33lima]  
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33lima Offline
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33lima  Offline
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Belfast, NI
Thanks Rick, and in turn, I was saddened if not entirely suprised to read of the untimely (if predictable) demise of Herr Leutnant Lowenbrau!

Meanwhile, back at that other office...


I pull up sharply after my first attack on the bombers. My sturdy fighter responds without hesitation, even though the sharp plinks of rounds hitting airframe as I went in remind me that I have not escaped entirely unscathed. Shouts of encouragement on the R/T confirm the air fight is still in full swing, so I come around for another go.

[Linked Image]

I can see that the Heinkel formation is still being harried by the squadron. The former’s three distinct, compact waves have closed up again after coming off their bombing runs – professionals who know their trade, these boys. They’ll soon be back over the Channel, headed for home. There’s no sign of an escort. As Hawkinge is practically on the coast, they didn’t have to penetrate inland and really caught us out. The best we can do now is exact payment in kind for their bombing of our base.

I come in for another pass and leave another of the rearmost Heinkels smoking, but possibly not going down, just yet.

[Linked Image]

This time, instead of coming around in another wide circle for my third attack, I keep on climbing and slide off to the left.

[Linked Image]

From here, I size up the situation before having another crack.

[Linked Image]

You will have noticed that I have completely forgotten that I'm flying as a section leader today, and have shamefully neglected my two flight-mates. Hopefully they are amongst the gaggle of Hurricanes which I can see, snapping at the Heinkels' heels.

[Linked Image]

Time to rejoin the party! I slide back over to the right, then roll in after a bomber which is already streaming a light trail of smoke - possibly the one I attacked earlier. I throttle back a tad as I go down, so as not to close at too fast a rate. This attack might see the end of my ammo and I want to make it count.

[Linked Image]

I end up levelled off behind him, still closing fast, and see the flashes as some rounds hit home. Clouds of dark smoke billow back and obscure my view of him. But I can see enough to realise he’s not going down. So instead of breaking off, I take a chance. I keep on closing and shooting. I’m basically firing into the centre of the cloud of smoke but reckon I can hardly miss, I’m so close.

Too close. Ka-bang! Suddenly, the view out the window starts rotating wildly. Then, still spinning, I can see water, where before, there was sky. Collision! One of my kite’s wings has been ripped right off, a few feet from the root.

[Linked Image]

Panic! The controls are useless. I try to open the canopy. Nothing happens! I realise I should have chopped the throttle, to reduce the torque and the speed of my fall. Throttle to idle. Canopy still won’t open. This looks like the end! Desperation fades to resignation. Finally, I try to bail out. I feel sure that I’m still going much too fast.

[Linked Image]

But suddenly, there I am, falling free from the doomed Hurricane. Below me is the steely blue-grey expanse of the North Sea. I free fall towards it. How high am I? Not high enough, very possibly. There’s a sudden movement, and I hear myself grunt as my ‘chute jerks open and breaks my fall. Saved! And hanging there under my off-white canopy of live-saving silk, I’m newly-qualified for membership of the Caterpillar Club!

Far above and to the right, I can see the retreating German formation is about to slip silently out of sight behind the clouds. All I can hear as I go down is the occasional distant snarl of a Merlin, as a Hurricane flies past somewhere out of view.

[Linked Image]

A few seconds later and the dead calm sea is rushing up to meet me. I’m distracted from the imminent prospect of a virtual cold soaking by the sight of an aircraft going straight down a mile or two away. As he rotates about his long axis, I see he is one of the Heinkels. Perhaps my Heinkel! I didn’t see the one I inadvertently rammed go down, but I feel sure that - by one means or another - I have damaged three, two possibly fatally.

[Linked Image]

Once in the water, my chute sinks from view and my yellow dingy quickly inflates. I stand precariously upright in it as the bright marker dye spreads on the water round about. Hopefully the air sea rescue boys will drop by soon. After all, my real old man spent much of his early ‘50s RAF career on an ASR launch. Least they could do, really...

Mightily relieved that Green 1 is safe and pending pick-up, I exit the flight and find myself back in the Operations Room. I watch in 20x accelerated time as the blue and white marker for 79 Squadron returns to base and the red and blue one for the raid makes its way south to the French coast. A glance at the clock tells me it’s still early morning. At this rate – shades of Falcon 4’s intro – it’s going to be a very busy day. Better grab a cup of tea, while I still have a chance!

Attached Files shot_189.jpgshot_190.jpgshot_191.jpgshot_192.jpgshot_193.jpgshot_194.jpgshot_195.jpgshot_196.jpgshot_197.jpgshot_198.jpg
Last edited by 33lima; 02/14/19 07:07 PM.

SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4461432 - 02/15/19 12:04 AM Re: Another day at the Battle of Britain office... [Re: 33lima]  
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Rick_Rawlings Offline
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Well, glad I am not the only one with collision blues! I was coincidentally just reading your IL 2 review the other day from years back. Did you ever get into head tracking?


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...
#4461486 - 02/15/19 11:17 AM Re: Another day at the Battle of Britain office... [Re: 33lima]  
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33lima Offline
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33lima  Offline
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Tried FacetrackNoir, Rick. Found it tiresome trying to get the sensitivity 'just right', not too much, not too little. And I found it horribly counterintuitive - having to gyrostabilise your eyes on the screen while moving your head. Probably I could have got used to it but don't feel the need. Have got accustomed instead to using mouselook and taking my left hand back to the joystick throttle if I need to. I now have a mouse with some extra buttons I could use for a throttle, but have have left those to elevator trim at present. If I could assign throttle to the mousewheel that might help.

Don't think I will bother with VR either. Seems to be an FPS hog and is mis-named, being only a head-mounted monitor. If you get a bit of perhiperal vision, that is a big price to pay for losing sight of your keyboard, joystick and mouse. Once it can actually put you in a virtual cockpit with VR gloves at the very least, then it'll be worthy of the name.

Haven't been back to Il-2 BoX since my 'press/review copy' of BoS expired. Have recently tried CloD as I got a cheap copy, but even in its current form and with user-made campaigns, it's a nice plane sim...

[Linked Image]

...and probably great for MP, but not much cop for single player.

Last edited by 33lima; 02/15/19 11:20 AM.

SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4461735 - 02/17/19 12:53 AM Re: Another day at the Battle of Britain office... [Re: 33lima]  
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462cid Offline
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462cid  Offline
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I struggled with CLod SP

Haven't played much these last two years, not easy for me at the moment but I'm getting better and I just ordered a new gee-whiz PC, but CLoD is a balancing act between frustrating SP moments and awe at the feel of the whole thing. It's a flawed gem to be sure.


What kind of car is that? What does it matter? When I drive it, I'm Steve McQueen
#4461883 - 02/18/19 04:30 PM Re: Another day at the Battle of Britain office... [Re: 33lima]  
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carrick58 Offline
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Well done 33 Lima. Great read and good pics.

#4461923 - 02/18/19 09:41 PM Re: Another day at the Battle of Britain office... [Re: 33lima]  
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rwatson Offline
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Good AAR 33Lima..I had BOB II on my drive last year..Replaced it with CLOD..And yesterday took it off and put BOB back in..It has soul CLOD just didn't pull me in..Searched last night and this morning and gave up ,,I was moving some computer stuff around and the cd was inside the manual inside the map..And now a new fully patched install and more important a flight sim with a real manual and not a PDF file


Russ
Semper Fi
#4461927 - 02/18/19 10:13 PM Re: Another day at the Battle of Britain office... [Re: 33lima]  
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33lima Offline
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33lima  Offline
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Belfast, NI
Thanks guys. As well as the 'limited edition' of BoB2-WoV (includes a documentary DVD) which has a printed keycard and small but useful map, I have the original 'big box' Rowan BoB(1). And that had the full printed & bound manual, which sits on the bookshelf in front of me as I type this. I was pleased to see that with BDG 2.13 in the Docs folder comes an updated version that is even better, tho not ready-printed.

Goerings' boys are keeping me busy; the beggars caught me out by hitting Manston this time while most of my nearby squadrons were tied up, with a second lunchtime raid on the same day...

[Linked Image]

...but while the escort was busy, 605's Hurricanes hit the Heinkels hard on their withdrawal...

[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

At this stage I would say it's still touch and go whether or not they'll be 'marching up Whitehall' before the summer's out!

Sadly and despite some false dawns, there's still no sign of a fix that will consistently stop BoB2 versions higher than BDG 2.01 often CTD'ing when you Alt+X to quit a single mission (and sometimes during a campaign mission) in Windows 8 or 10, but I'm not regretting getting a dual boot Win 7 drive set up mainly so I can play this classic sim with no such problems.

Last edited by 33lima; 02/18/19 10:51 PM.

SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)


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