NEW MONTH, NEW CAMPAIGN

This time, I've rolled forward my campaign start date to 1st August 1940, still in the initial 'Convoys' phase of the Battle but getting closer to Adler Tag and the beginning of the assault on the airfields.

I much enjoyed reading Aussie Olive Gordon's 'Spitfire Ace' so I've signed up my virtual pilot with his squadron, No. 65, and find we're based at Hornchurch. With update 1.19, we have an historical complement of pilots and aircraft (16 and 20) but I have squadron mission strength set to flight not full squadron, also new to 1.19, and which is actually the appropriate setting for patrol missions typical of the convoy phase. The RAF would not have mounted a standing patrol in squadron strength (as opposed to the sort of offensive patrols mounted over Dunkirk).

This works out well, because my first mission is a partol over a convoy. I have the 'Always lead' setting selected, I soon find myself climbing to the south out of Hornchurch with five other Spitfires. They really ought to wait for their leader to take off first, but the chaps are always keen as mustard.

Spits didn't take off with flaps and it was common to do so with the canopy open, so I do likewise. The group of more distant specks nearer the horizon on the left is actually a balloon barrage, not aircraft.

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The shipping lane we're to patrol is in the eastern reaches of the Thames Estuary, so I turn left and climb in steps, easing off every so often, to help the boys keep up.

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Soon, we're over the convoy at about 14,000 feet, with the ships visible between breaks in the cloud. You can see that my Spit has the A Scheme camouflage pattern and lacks the unsightly gas warning panel on the port wing, while the kite below has the mirror-image B Scheme and the panel, as well as the correct squadron ID letters and an individual aircraft letter.

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We orbit for a while before I decide to call the Controller in the Sector Ops Room for information on any Bandits - another new feature for 1.19. This now really gives you the sense you're part of what today they would call an integrated air defence system, not flying blind. The Controller comes back with the dramatic news that there are Huns south of us, about 14 miles off. I sweep around in their general direction. But by the time I've spotted them, right and a bit lower, they're quite near the convoy. There's about four Huns that I can see and they're splitting up as if for an attack - whether on the ships or on us, I can't yet tell. I quickly order the boys to get stuck into them.

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Chasing the nearest Hun myself, I can now see he's a bomber, his speed and stubby outline suggesting a Junkers 88. There's no sign of escorts, happily.

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I cut the corner and the range winds down rapidly. We open fire about the same time, and each get hits. But I've got eight machine guns, and he can only shoot back with one at a time. Gordon Olive writes that Ju88s had a 'sting in the tail' of two .50 calibre MGs, but that's not right, and probably more a testament to the skill of German air gunners, who did a lot more damage than they're generally credited with.

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Got him! The 88 begins to fall away, trailing a barely-perceptible streamer of pale smoke. He's still on a level keel and under control, though, so I'll need to have another crack at him. You can see he's an A-1 model, with the original shorter wingspan, the most common variant in the Battle. He also looks to have the authentic upper surface camouflage pattern, in 70 and 71 (Schwarzgrun and Dunkelgrun respectively).

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Anyway, I have unfinished business with this Hun, and begin to position myself for another pass.

...to be continued!

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