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#3748681 - 03/10/13 08:09 PM AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover - Episode 25 - FINALE  
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The Sealion Campaign has now been released in two versions (click here for details) , for the 'stock' and 'TF modded' editions of Cliffs of Dover; here is a campaign AAR from mission 1:

CAMPAIGN INTRO

September 15 had revealed once and for all that Britain could not be brought to the negotiating table by the Luftwaffe alone.

Hitler had already realised that despite the bravado of Luftwaffe Fieldmarshall Hermann Goering, he would either need to invade Britain to force the hand of British PM Churchill, or walk away from the battlefield entirely.

He had no intention of walking away.

On September 16 he called together the chief of the army Von Rundstedt, and Grossadmiral Raeder of the navy, and advised them to initiate Operation Sealion on the night of September 21, weather permitting.

Raeder protested violently that without air superiority over the Channel and the whole of the invasion front, he would not be able to defend the fleet against British naval attack. Sustained resupply of the 9th and 16th Armies would be out of the question.

Von Rundstadt however proposed a plan in which the 16th Army alone would be embarked, and landed on a narrow front between Folkestone and Bexhill. From this beach-head they would isolate Dover, Kent, and the whole SE of England, from where they could consolidate their forces and move on London.

Goering agreed that the Luftwaffe could achieve air superiority over such a narrow front, as long as he could redirect resources away from the bombing of London, and critical airfields in Kent such as Lympne, Manston and Hawkinge could be captured as a first priority.

Hitler agreed to the von Rundstedt plan. "We do not need to defeat the whole of England," he declared, "Only one man - Winston Churchill. With our troops driving on London, his government will fall, and Britain with it."



Katschmarek to Kondor Legion ace Hans Karl Mayer! Well if you are going to start somewhere, on the wing of an ace in one of the most famous units in the Luftwaffe isn't a bad place. I'd been a Ju52 pilot through Poland and France but the chance to move to fighters had come about because of all the losses over Britain during the summer.



The stabstaffel had the top of the line 109E4, but I was a bit puzzled by the red bands on the cowlings. I thought JG53 emblem was a Pik As (Ace of Spades)...



As we fired up our 1175 hp DB601As I noticed something else was amiss - no hakenkruez on the tail? In fact they looked they had been freshly painted out.

But there was no time for speculation. Just nerves. My first operational sortie, and the portents were ominous. We were to patrol the Calais area and rumours were running wild that after three months of air war over Britain, the invasion was imminent.



Trucks had been piling past Peuplingues airfield loaded with troops for the last two days, and in the officer's quarters, some of the men who had been up earlier in the day said shipping was moving out of the port.

As we lifted in to the air I looked immediately to starboard...



Sure enough! Ships massing off the coast! Hundreds of them - freighters, coastal steamers, and lines of barges.



We'd been told to keep alert for RAF recon, which always travelled with an escort. And sure enough, within ten minutes Haupt Mayer came over the newly installed radio, "Indians! 12 o'clock about 200 metres above. Probably an advance force. Watch my back katschmarek!" And with that, he surged ahead.



I could hardly stay with him. My first sortie with JG53 and I was already in combat! I had to push my knees together to stop them knocking.

The Spitfires came down with tracer flashing.



As he rolled inverted to turn behind them, I saw that Mayer's machine had been hit! It was streaming glycol.



A Spitfire pulled around behind him and I dropped in on it.



It wasn't within range of him, and I closed. Closer...closer...



"Verdammt Saturn two, break, break!" I heard Mayer yell in anger. I whipped my head around. Another Spitfire, on my tail! I rolled right. Fool!



The warning had saved me. I pulled high and right, while the Spit overshot and pulled toward the sea.



Mayer was still engaged with his quarry, and opened fire.



I rolled inverted and came back down to help.



My machine seemed to be shuddering - had I been hit? I panicked...then I realised it me, shaking. My arms and legs were in spasm. Fear? Or shock...I looked frantically around, but the sky behind me was clear, so I focused on protecting my CO.





Then high to starboard I saw the second Spit again, and it was closing.



Mayer had the measure of the Spitfire leader, his rounds punching holes in the Tommy's wings.



But the other Spitfire blasted past and Mayer barked at me, "I have this one, you take the wingman Saturn 2!"



I pulled hard and into the pursuit.



He had speed from his climb and was pulling away. In frustration I triggered my MG allowing for a wide deflection and miraculously saw a puff of smoke on his airframe! He decelerated abruptly and I nearly ran him down.





I'd hit him! I closed and selected MGFF. Firing ahead of him again, he flew straight into my salvo.



I think I must have killed the pilot. The machine just rolled onto its back, and dove into the sea.





I punched the glass of my canopy in elation! My first sortie, and my first kill!

As I came back around, I was just in time to see Mayer finish off his own prey.



I formed on his wing, not sure whether to report my kill or just wait until we landed. I didn't want to appear to be bragging, but

"Saturn 2, my engine is kaput. I'm heading back to the airfield...you stay on station, I have a feeling that was just the advance guard," Mayer said.



He was right. 5 minutes later, I spotted another, larger, brown aircraft boring in over the fleet. A twin engined bomber, but it didn't look like a bombing run. Probably a photo recon machine filming the fleet. I moved in on it.





Suddenly the sky around me was filled with RAF machines! But either they were blind, or failed to realise I was Luftwaffe, because they passed me to port without attacking.



I cheered my luck. I decided the fat Blenheim with the camera was the important target. If this really was the invasion, there was no point letting the Blenheim get home with its film and start counting our ships.

I pulled in behind it and when its wings filled my gunsight, I fired.





The cannon shells chewed it to pieces and it immediately nosed down toward the water and went in, just metres off the bow of a freighter.





Now the Hurricanes woke up, and started closing on me, but right then some of the yellow nosed machines of LG2 suddenly appeared and a melee began.



I saw a 109 with a red band flash past, a Hurricane in pursuit - one of my own staffel! I rolled left and went to help.



As I did, I opened my belly to a brace of Hurricanes and they fired a snap shot at me, but thankfully it fell behind me.



I could see the 109 was in trouble, and he was no crack pilot. It was the number 4 in our schwarm, a new katschmarek himself. Steiner? Reiner? Something like that. He clumsily rolled around the sky as the Hurricane fired short controlled bursts his way.



Once again I fired from greater distance than I should, trying to scare the Hurricane off his tail, but it would not be frightened that easily. It stuck with him through every turn...





I peppered the Hurricane, thinking surely one my rounds must hit home?



But he ignored me. Or didn't know I was there. Or didn't care. He had only one thought in his head, and that was the 109 in his sights!







Finally one of my rounds hit home, and he started trailing dirty smoke.





That was enough for him. The JG53 109 peeled right, and he peeled left, toward England.





My guns were dry, so I could only watch him go, wondering what he would make of the massed fleet of ships below him as he fled for safety.





I imagined a similar sight up and down the French coast...at Le Havre, Cherbourg, Dunkirk. Was this really it?

It took only a minute to reach Peuplingues, and I approached nervously, my lips dry. I'd heard horror stories of pilots surviving combat, only to die ground looping their Emils on landing. It had a wickedly narrow undercarriage that would just as soon fold on you as hold you off the ground.



As I swept across the field, and it was literally that, a large grassy field...I checked my speed.





Too fast...it was too fast. I would have to bleed nearly 100 km/h in my approach turn. I dropped flaps halfway, pulled the throttle back to 20%.



I was still too fast as I came in, but the speed was bleeding off quickly...





200...180...170...I hit the turf and the landing gear groaned. I could feel it sag underneath me. I had probably bent it.



Hold up you swine!

It didn't. The gear buckled, and my dreams of a hero's return disappeared in a ball of French dirt as my Emil dropped onto its belly and skidded to a busted stop.





"Sehr gut!" I told myself drily. "You got your first kills, and wrote off your machine. Nice job katschmarek."

I looked over to the field HQ, where no doubt a chewing out awaited me.



I figured my score was 2 - 1. Two RAF down for the price of one slightly bent Emil.

I wondered if Mayer would also see it that way.




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#3748689 - 03/10/13 08:44 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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Damn, you do good AARs. You really bring the whole thing together with good descriptions, screenshots, and storyline.


Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
#3749195 - 03/11/13 06:21 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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wave Real Nice. If it wasnt for Steam I would go out and buy this game.

#3749303 - 03/11/13 09:14 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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Great AAR HK.

Question: Is it worth buying this game in its current state? I've enjoyed the new patch for BoBII, but I've always wondered what this sim is like now, after all the bruh hahah that surrounded it when it was first out.

#3749365 - 03/11/13 10:55 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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Beautiful work Heinkill. A superb read. thumbsup

#3749684 - 03/12/13 04:21 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: Gman45]  
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Originally Posted By: carrick58
wave Real Nice. If it wasnt for Steam I would go out and buy this game.


If you buy the DVD there is a Steam workaround that lets you run it offline without contacting Steam servers after the first time.

Originally Posted By: Gman45
Great AAR HK.

Question: Is it worth buying this game in its current state? I've enjoyed the new patch for BoBII, but I've always wondered what this sim is like now, after all the bruh hahah that surrounded it when it was first out.


I'm a total sim polygamist, within the bounds of prop sims (not a jet jockey me) and there aren't so many options for us prop combat sim fans so I tend to perservere with them all. I know a lot of people bailed on Cliffs of Dover and I understand why they did.

But I think CoD ended up being a good game for those who stuck with it. There are still some things that irk me but if you are a fan of BOB2 I would say:

BOB wins
- Offline AI and dogfighting
- Quick mission builder
- Dynamic campaign
- Historical accuracy - UK airfields, landscape, landmarks, targets, AAA concentrations
- Skins (hard to beat having 6,000 accurate aircraft skins!)
- Weather modelling

CoD wins
- Scripted campaigns (but not the stock campaigns, get the free REDUX campaigns, other user campaigns or buy Desastersoft)
- Full mission builder
- Graphics; landscape, aircraft, effects, all beautiful
- Damage modelling: in a word, awesome
- Range of flyable and AI aircraft types; CoD has the Italian machines, flyable bombers

It's a draw
- Clouds; CoD has them at low and medium levels, but no heavy cloud or rain clouds
- Tiger moth trainer: BOB2 its a special install, CoD has it built in but the training is buggy and the instructor is jerk!
- Flight models: Bluesix has worked his flight engineer magic on the BOB2 FMs for years, and the team had the benefit of Wing Commander Tim Elkington, ex BoB fighter pilot who had flown all the main RAF and LW types in his time, testing all the flight models during development. CoD has fantastic complex engine management and great flight modelling, though enthusiasts are still a little disatisfied with high altitude modelling and the Bf110.

For a full review of the final version of CoD, you can read here:

http://bobgamehub.blogspot.dk/p/cliffs-of-dover-review.html

It is so cheap these days (I think I saw it for $2 on sale recently) there is no excuse not to have it in your collection IMHO.

H


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#3750143 - 03/13/13 12:55 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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Great Writeup! biggrin

As usual, big thumbs up and waiting- craving, actually- for more.


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#3750668 - 03/14/13 09:48 AM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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Sealion -1: 21 September 1940.

After my crash this afternoon I was grounded. I was given an old E1 and told to do takeoff and landing circuits for the rest of the day.

Reiner, the other Katschmarek whose tail I saved in that last dogfight, was ordered to fly on Mayer's wing on the last mission of the day. I didn't tell the CO what I had seen this afternoon - how Reiner had been helpless in the sights of that pursuing Hurricane. He was clearly not ready for combat, and was lucky to have made it back alive. I was embarassed by my own stupidity, and didn't feel I could criticise anyone else. Who was I to warn that Reiner wasn't ready for combat, when I couldn't even land my own 109?

So he took off with Mayer's schwarm for a late patrol over the invasion fleet.

And he didn't come back.



HD: http://youtu.be/-KTU8cTqQb4

...'over the invasion fleet'. I still can't believe it.

I had studied history at Heidelberg before joining Deutsche Lufthansa as a trainee pilot. So I knew that the last successful invasion of England across the Channel was in 1688 when the Dutch William of Orange invaded to depose the English King James. There had been several more attempted or planned invasions since then, but none had succeeded. Even Napolean had baulked when bad weather sunk his landing craft during an exercise.

William had used 463 ships: 49 warships of more than twenty cannon including nine frigates, 28 galliots, nine fireships, 76 soldier transports, 120 small transports with five thousand horses, about seventy supply vessels and sixty fishing vessels serving as landing craft.

He landed 40,000 men.

I had heard that our fleet would need to carry 300,000 men.

It was hard to doubt the judgement of the Fuhrer, after he had led us from victory to victory in Europe, and we had already defeated the British army in Norway and France, so of the British ground forces, I had no fears.

But the Royal Airforce had shown us over the last three months it would not be defeated, and the Royal Navy had shown us in Norway that the Kriegsmarine was no match. Norway had gutted our fleet, as the RN destroyed two heavy cruisers, two of our six light cruisers, 10 of our 20 destroyers and six U-boats.

The RAF was a foe we knew, and respected, but after my first dogfight, and a victory over their vaunted Spitfire, I was not afraid of the RAF.

As I thought of 300,000 men in boats, and the ships that would need to constantly sail between France and England to supply them, it was the ships of the Royal Navy I feared.



Part of the Royal Navy Home Fleet lying off Invergordon, August 1939.
The ships shown are: (left-hand line) Repulse, Royal Sovereign, Royal Oak, Resolution, Rodney;
(central line) 2nd Cruiser Squadron; (right-hand line) destroyers.




Home Fleet KGV class Battleship, the HMS Prince of Wales.





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#3751196 - 03/15/13 02:21 AM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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Looking forward to reading more Heinkill. smile


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#3751398 - 03/15/13 02:00 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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It was not an exercise.

With the early dawn, the first 50,000 troops and tanks hit the beaches at Folkestone, Hythe and Saint Mary's Bay.



We were woken at 4 a.m. for our briefing. Our first mission of the day (I was sure it would not be the last) would be escorting Ju88s which would be attacking a British armoured reserve encampment five miles behind the landing zone at Reinden Woods near Folkestone.



It was essential the Ju88s hit it hard to prevent a quick armoured response to the landings, and it was reportedly heavily protected by AAA.



I also found out why JG53 had the reputation of being a group of renegades. Who else would react to a shaming by Goering, who took away their geschwader emblem and replaced it with a red band, by painting out the swastikas on their machines? It was unheard of! But they had got away with it. This was a unit which demanded respect from its friends, and fear amongst its foes!

As we had not established air superiority over the landing zone yet, ingress would be directly over Folkestone port, which was also heavily fortified with AAA. It was therefore essential the attack be a surprise, so to hide from the British radio masts, we met the Ju88s at just 500 metres and swept in low toward Folkestone. The rendezvous was not ideal...we were still climbing up when we met the bombers.



But there was no time to improve our tactical position as we were only 5 minutes out of Folkestone.

The minutes spun past and in no time we were crossing the invasion beach head. Below us I could see the landing vessels beached on the shore, men huddled in their lee, while the tanks rolling off their decks and out of car ferry ramps were hammered by AT guns and British armour.







Despite our low and fast approach, the Spitfires found us immediately. As we crossed the coast, a flight appeared directly in the path of the Ju88s. They had height and speed and ignoring us, turned immediately behind the bombers.





"Pick your targets!" Mayer called and surged forward. I fired a long distance burst at the receding Spits, seeing my cannon shells explode harmlessly in their wake. They were fast.



But they were focused on their prey and I inched closer, finally getting within range.





My shells took a bite out of my quarry and he began to bleed.





I was closing to finish him off, when a mighty explosion under my port wing flipped me inverted. My wing was on fire!



Reflexively I pulled the nose up and looked to port, to see huge holes in my ailerons and flames streaming behind them. AAA! A damned lucky shot from British flak gunners.



Fire! It was my worst fear, and there was nothing in my fighter training about how to deal with a flaming wing!

Instinct drove me. If the fire took hold, the wing would be lost. I threw the machine into a vertical dive...



Out of the top of my canopy I saw the Spitfire I had been firing at spiralling down as well, but I gave him no thought. My entire being was focused to port, as the 109 screamed down through 2,000 metres, 1800, 1600 and the speed climbed, 300, 350...400, the airframe shaking and prop screaming as though they knew the hounds of hell were on our tail.

At 800 metres the flames went out.



I pulled up, trailing smoke and radiator fluid, but the fire was out.



I set course for France. Between myself and a watery end was an overheating engine, a half responsive wing, and about 20 litres of fast falling radiator fluid.

Over the target, the Ju88s let loose their bombs.



Below, the AAA hammered away, sirens wailed, and the British troops tried to get their machines moving and out of danger.



They had no chance. The surprise attack had worked, and they were still trying to flee their compound as the bombs rained down.





The attack had probably single handedly ensured the success of the Folkestone landings. There would be no rapid armoured reinforcements at Folkestone today.





And the RAF faced a similar fortune. Scrambled late, unprepared, their bombers attacked in small formations and their obsolete Blenheim Is and IVs were no match for the pilots of JG53.





They fell like sparrows to hawks.

I had other concerns. My water temp was now off the gauge, over 120C. RPMs were dropping and it was just a matter of minutes before the Daimler would die of heat stroke.



Sure enough, halfway across the channel, with a gout of oil, the engine coughed and died. I pulled the canopy release immediately. I was too low to jump but if I was going into the drink, I wanted at least some chance of getting out of the cockpit.





I could see the smoke from ship funnels and factories at Calais as I went in. That gave me some hope...I was closer to France than England, with at least some chance of being picked up.



But the white cliffs of Dover still loomed large in my mirror. It would be a roll of the dice...English destroyer, German seaplane, or a simple, anonymous death under the waves.



I dropped flaps, pulled up the nose, and at 120kmh the machine belly flopped onto the surface of the Channel.



And flipped onto its back.



I had toyed earlier with the idea of loosening my harness so I could get out in a hurry after I ditched, but thank goodness I had forgotten in the last minute panic of the ditching, because it was all that saved me from being thrown against the instrument panel as the machine spun on its cross axis and buried itself upside down in the sea.

I held my breath, suspended upside down, and waited for the storm of bubbles to subside.



When the weight of the engine started to cause the machine to slide toward the bottom, I punched my harness release and kicked toward the surface, popping up amid a froth of seawater, oil and glycol.



I was alive. But what now...




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#3751422 - 03/15/13 02:36 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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Originally Posted By: HeinKill
I was alive. But what now...




OR


Last edited by Heretic; 03/15/13 02:36 PM.
#3752222 - 03/16/13 11:25 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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Awesome start! Always love your AARs.


I used to work for a living, but then I took an arrow to the knee.
#3752321 - 03/17/13 07:46 AM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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I was only in the water 10 minutes before an He115 spotted me. He hauled me in and took me to Calais.



Within two hours I was back at Peuplingues. If I expected any sympathy I was soon disappointed.

"Another kill. Not bad for a truck driver," Mayer remarked as I walked into the mess, carrying my still wet jacket. "And another machine lost."

I tried to explain but he cut me short. "Pack your gear, we're leaving Peuplingues."


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#3772762 - 04/24/13 10:14 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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Heinkill,

I don't know if this is the proper place but I just wanted to thank you for the great work, the AAR's and most of all the missions to download and fly. I just downloaded the Sealion LW 1-28 to try them out and wanted to say Thanks! thumbsup


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#3772770 - 04/24/13 10:33 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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welcome! actually the team is just putting the finishing touches on the Luftwaffe REDUX campaign...it is very very immanent!


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#3780500 - 05/10/13 09:29 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
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(And the campaign is out now, so there's time to actually enjoy flying it! On with the story...)

"Pack your gear, we're leaving Peuplingues..." Mayer said.

Fine, I thought. With the invasion in full swing, it was a bit much to expect a cushy billet in Le Havre, but Peuplingues was little more than a row of tents in a glorified farmer's field, so I dared hope for a roof over my head this time and perhaps a nearby cafe, with a pretty barmaid...

"Lympne?" I muttered in confusion as I listened to the briefing, "Where in France is Lympne?"



"It isn't in France, you dolt," said the leutnant beside me, "It's England." He clapped me on the shoulder, "But don't worry. The RAF rules on that side of the Channel, I doubt you'll live to see it."

I studied the tactical map carefully.



Our route would take us in over the invasion beach head at Folkestone, where our troops had landed East and West of the Port. The paratroops had managed to take and hold Lympne airfield, west of Folkestone and about 5 km inland. But it looked to be behind enemy lines! It could be in English hands again for all I knew.

As we waited on the flight line, I looked over at the soggy tents that had been my home at Peuplingues and wished them good riddance.



"Stick to my tail like glue this time katschmarek," Mayer said over the radio, "It is going to be hot over there. Indians everywhere. I don't want my back filled with lead because you weren't watching it."

And who will watch my back? I thought to myself. Pah. Aces. Not too hard to become an ace if all you had to do was watch in front of you and shoot whatever got in your way. It's the poor katschmarek who always takes it in the neck. By all accounts, I was Mayer's third wingman since the start of the war over England.

But as we surged into the air, our bellies laden with HE, I felt the same thrill as always.



Out to starboard the second echelon of the invasion force was assembling.



And France looked unnaturally still in the soft morning light.



Here it was just another autumn day, while 20 miles away, over the invasion beachhead, men were tearing each other apart with shot and shell...



There was no time for contemplation. I pulled in behind Mayer's starboard wing and sat there riding his wake on the ten minute journey across the ditch at 500 metres altitude and 400 miles per hour. As we approached the beach head he banked right, "Spitfires! Forget the ground targets. Stay with me this time," he growled. We jettisoned our bombs and swung in over the Cliffs of Dover.



Below, the battle raged. Landing craft disgorged troops from freighters standing off the coast, as coastal guns on the Cliffs hammered them into matchwood.



Mayer pulled around and behind some unseen enemy. I pulled around with him.



Around me the sky was full of small, darting specks, but whether they were friend or foe, I couldn't tell. We were moving too fast, too low. I could only keep my eye on the space between myself and Mayer's tail and try to make sure no Spitfire barged in between us.

And suddenly, one did.



Like a javelin thrown from behind my shoulder, a Spit flashed over and down vertically between Mayer and myself as he banked after his quarry. I surprised myself with my own calmness.

"Spitfire on your six, Kapitan," I said into the radio. "Stay in your turn, I have him."

Did I? Not yet. I was out of range, but sure he was more worried about saving his own man, than thinking about me. If he had even seen me.



I slid up behind him as he tried to manouvre for position on Mayer and from 100 metres let fly with cannon and MG. He nosed over and his port wheel dropped out of the nacelle.



Mayer flashed overhead, still in pursuit of his own kill, "Stop playing and finish him off katschmarek!" he called, "And get back on my six."



It was easier said than done. He wallowed around the sky like a drunken sailor. Twice I had him in my sights only to see him slide away...



I managed to get some separation and then turned back to make a head on pass at him. He loomed in front of me...



I had time for a two second burst and he was past and underneath me again.



Suddenly, I was wrapped in cloud.



Panic gripped me. I remembered a combat instructor yelling into the earpiece in my helmet as he jumped me out of a cloud, "IF YOU HIT CLOUD - CLIMB YOU FOOL!"



So I did. For two terrifying minutes. Surrounded by white mist, I groped for the clear blue sky. And when I found it...



It was empty.

"Meteor 1! Gruppenkommandeur Mayer, this is Meteor 2, what is your position?" I called on the radio.

There was no reply. "Meteor flight, this is Meteor 2, respond please."

Nothing but static. I could pick up the calls and cries of other flights, but apparently no one could hear me. My radio must have broken a valve with the violence of my manoeuvering.

My orders were clear though. Attack enemy aircraft over Folkestone, then land at Lympne. I pointed my nose to the West and scanned the sky feverishly.

In no time at all, on a bearing to the airfield, I saw smoke rising in the sky. Lympne.



There were already some 109s in the circuit, so I slid in behind them and started to drop my wheels.



Except...they weren't 109s!



Spitfires!



Pure reflex took over. My wheels were still coming down. My thumb reached for the trigger on my stick and my machine shook as the MGFF carved across the sky in front of me.



MG fire smashed into my canopy from my right, but I held my thumb on the trigger and pushed my nose to the earth. The recoil and the drag of the gear slowing me to a stall...





The enemy formation scattered like gulls before a hound.





I plummeted toward Lympne.



There was no time for fancy flying. I looked frantically behind me, but the sky was clear. Momentarily...I had no doubt the Spitfires would regroup and be after me.



I dropped toward the long landing strip. Flaming vehicles on one side, parked aircraft on another, I was crabbing in just above stalling speed.



My machine dropped heavily onto the turf and bounced...



Over two craters on the runway...



One looked as deep as a tank trap as it flashed under my wing.



I pulled up near some troop transports, and shut the engine down with relief.



I'd never before been so glad, for so bad a landing.

But I was down.

And I was in England.



[Linked Image]
#3780727 - 05/11/13 01:16 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,743
HeinKill Offline
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HeinKill  Offline
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Joined: May 2006
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Cloud based
Mission 5 PART 1

"This invasion is lost if the bloody Kriegsmarine can't keep the Royal Navy out of the Channel," the leutnant next to me scowled. This was the same leutnant who had predicted I wouldn't make it to England alive. I was beginning to understand why the chair next to him was always empty.

We were at the briefing for our first mission off British soil.



It was going to be hairy. Our route took us out into the Channel to avoid flak at Folkestone and Dover, and the worst of the RAF patrols, but we needed to get to Manston as quickly as possible and hit it hard, to give our navy a chance.



Off Ramsgate a screen of Kriegsmarine destroyers was holding back a superior force of Royal Navy destroyers and cruisers, and being harried by RAF Blenheims and fighters out of Manston.





Mayer led us out of the cramped field at Lympne, in single file.



As we cleared Folkestone, I looked down at the port, where our troops had finally cleared British forces out and were beginning to unload fuel, ammunition and armour.





It was intended to be a coordinated evening attack. We would hit Manston, while skip bombing 109E3Bs from LG2 took on the Royal Navy destroyer flotilla. I saw them holding level with us, down at wave height.



Meanwhile, two waves of Stukas were crossing from France. One would hit Manston immediately after we had attacked and drawn off any cover. The other would hit the British destroyers again, with SC500 SAP 'deck buster' bombs. They wouldn't do more than slow down the British cruisers, but they should be able to disable or even sink a destroyer.



The sky over Manston was blessedly clear when we arrived at the ingress point. "Follow me in Bergkristall flight. Once you unload, it's every man for himself," Mayer ordered. "Shoot anything that moves."



There were no RAF fighters around, but their flak gunners were awake. Black puffs exploded around us, and my machine shook with the blast waves. But there, on the runway below, was a beautiful sight. The sun, sparkling off the windscreen of enemy machines, taxiing out to take off. We had caught the RAF napping!



I heard a cry. A throttled yell. One of our jabos fell, its wing torn off by AAA



I swept over the landing strip and pickled my bombs, the enemy fighters lined up beneath me like ducks at a shooting gallery. It was impossible to miss, the first two bombs landing smack in the middle of the enemy formation.



As I swept past, the rest of the formation unloaded, and the British men and their machines were torn asunder.





Off Ramsgate, the LG2 Jabos let fly with their own ordnance.



Their bombs skidding across the waves and smacking broadside into the hulls of two British destroyers...





"No Indians in sight Bergkristall flight," Mayer called, "There are more machines on the ground, focus on the bombers."



I pulled up and over to get a better view and saw what Mayer was talking about. Wellingtons, fat lines of Wellingtons parked near the British hangars.

I nosed down and walked a cannonade of MGFF across the noses of the parked bombers.



The British gunners on their Bofors took afront, and filled the sky around me with angry black clouds of flak.



Suddenly I heard a jubilant cry, "Blenheims!" And sure enough, a flight of the hapless British bombers had appeared in the wrong place, at the wrong time.



I was eager to bag one, but Mayer was cautious. "Bergkristall 2 & 4, high cover. The rest of you form on me to attack the British bombers."

I cursed and pulled my nose skyward. High cover. Against what? The sky was still clear of British fighters. While the others were having a party with the unprotected Blenheims, I would be swanning around above.



But I did my job, scanning the skies. Forward, down left, down right, behind right, behind le...

What? A shadow crossed the sun.



I peered harder, and saw...



"Hurricanes!!" I called, "Six o'clock and coming down fast! A whole squadron."

We had been drawn low by the bombers and were easy prey for the British fighters and Mayer knew it. "Bergkristall break, break! Disengage and back to Folkestone!"



It was easier said than done. There were enemy fighters in every direction. We would have to fight our way out. I latched onto one...



Sending a burst across his tail from about 100 metres



The shells shattered his wing, blowing it clean off





I quickly looked behind me. More Hurricanes...



But I focused on the ones between me and my escape route. Another made the mistake of swinging in front of me, intent on his own target.



My cannon ran dry but my MG kept chattering as the tracer bored into his fuselage





He spun toward the sea, and the sky ahead of me was clear.





I pointed my 109 east toward the small pocket of England we had claimed...

TO BE CONTINUED









[Linked Image]
#3780729 - 05/11/13 01:27 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 24,029
oldgrognard Online content
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oldgrognard  Online Content
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Lifer

Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 24,029
USA
I can't compliment you too much on the quality of your AARs.


Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
#3780731 - 05/11/13 01:42 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,743
HeinKill Offline
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HeinKill  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,743
Cloud based
MISSION 5 PART 2

Meanwhile, the first Stukas had arrived over Manston, and begun their screaming dives...



Their bombs rained down on the already burning RAF station, turning to wreckage the remaining RAF machines...





They crossed underneath me, heading for France, AAA following them out, but no British fighters. The plan had worked, and we had drawn off the British fighter cover, leaving the Stukas a clear run...



I checked my instruments, and throttled back a little to preserve the engine. Fuel was still at 3/4, temps were all fine...



Then I heard the chatter of guns and saw tracer flying toward me from behind!



A flight of Hurricanes had chased me out of Manston without my noticing, and had closed to firing range...

I bunted, pushing my nose underneath the flying lead.



Then pulled up sharply, doubling back on my attackers



There were five. The next few minutes were a whirling dervish of terrifying images...

Clawing for the sky with a Hurricane on my tail...



Rolling desperately right and left, trying to shake his wingmen...



Another Hurricane, overshooting, guns banging so close, his empty shells whanging into my prop and canopy...



I had no hope of fighting them off, so I pushed my throttle to emergency and dropped to the trees.



I had to bet a Daimler Benz could outrun five Rolls Royces.



It was a bet I won. The Hurricanes gradually fell behind, and then peeled away.



Lympne came up surprisingly fast after that. Just five minutes flying and it was already in sight.

It was a short strip, so I dropped my machine right on the edge of the landing field...



And coasted to a halt beside a newly landed transport.



I claimed two fighters destroyed in the air, three Spitfires destroyed on the ground and three Wellingons set ablaze on the ground. In all, we claimed 17 RAF destroyed.



As the others came in, one by one, the price we had paid for our surprise attack became apparent. Six men down. Half the staffel.



That night, Geschwaderkommodore Major Hans-Jürgen von Cramon-Taubadel, himself, flew in to congratulate us on our success.

If this was victory, I was terrified to see what defeat would look like.





[Linked Image]
#3781335 - 05/12/13 09:43 PM Re: AARs from Luftwaffe REDUX for Cliffs of Dover [Re: HeinKill]  
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,801
Heretic Offline
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Heretic  Offline
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,801
GER
"Minensuchboote". No "n". (Last debrief.)

Other than that, a darn fine read!

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