Keen not to be shot down, I quickly level off and turn hard. Fortunately for me, the 109s seem more interested in the rest of the squadron, wherever they are. Somewhere below me, I think, but I’m not sure. So I continue to orbit while looking around for threats or targets.

I can see that there is a distant dogfight going on up river, over the outskirts of London. Seems that the two RAF squadrons coming in that way have also been jumped.



Up above, the raid that was contrailing and had split up is drawing some Ack Ack fire, but seems otherwise unmolested.



I head for London, intending to join the air fight I can see over there...



...but I lose the aircraft I intended to follow, when, still a mere speck, he drops below the horizon. I come back around facing the Thames Estuary, by which time the distant raid to my east hasn't got much closer. Looks like they're headed for Hornchurch, North Weald or some other target north of the estuary.



This time I can see that there’s some air fighting going on about where we got jumped by the 109s. This could be our boys, so I roll level and race over to join the party. I get lucky when a banking Messerschmitt 110 sails across my path from left to right. He seems to be on his own, so of course I let him have it.



I didn't even notice the Hurricane, which fortunately had the sense to stay out of my way.



There’s the usual bright flashes and gouts of smoke as my rounds crash into him. Then the outer part of his left wing breaks off and with commendable rapidity, the crew throw off their canopies and bail out. The 110 rolls left and goes down. No doubt about that one.



Incidentally, you can see from the ‘S9’ unit code on his fuselage that despite the belly bomb rack not being modelled, he’s a fighter-bomber from Erprobungsgruppe 210. They has two staffeln of 110 fighter-bombers and one of 109s and as their designation indicates, were formed as an operational trials unit for the new Messerschmitt 210. Anyhow these particular 110s aren’t escorting a raid, they are a raid. Well, there's one less of them to worry about.



Looking around, I get a shock when I see the funeral pyres of over a dozen aircraft are already littering the Kent countryside.



But the party I came here to rejoin is still in full swing. I'm not done here just yet!

...to be continued!

Before I can pick out another target, the Ack Ack boys fill the skies ahead, just beyond the balloon barrage, with black bursts. In between, the air fight is still in full swing.



Aircraft are going in all directions at once, most of them Huns. Unable to think of anything more clever to do, I just wade straight into the middle of it. The 110 you can see here, apparently losing a zoom climb race with a 109, is actually trying very hard to get out of the line of fire of a Hurricane, out of sight to the left.



I bank hard right after a pair of 109s, aiming for the tail end Charlie, who is hit and levels off momentarily. With me right behind him. Bad move. I'm so engrossed in what I'm doing that I hardly notice the sky up ahead is pretty full of little clusters of dogfighting aircraft and bursting Ack Ack.



My next burst starts the Hun smoking. He banks left and goes down.



In between checking my tail is clear, I see him curve earthwards, then level off, porpoise a bit, and level off again. Drat! He's going to get away! My tail's still clear, so I dive after him again.



Another burst and another roll, to the right this time and now, there's no recovery. The orange and red tracers to the left are from a gun on the ground, a Bofors possibly. No doubt they will be claiming my kill; they always do.



But never mind, this is a team game. And so far, I'm not doing too badly, plus I have done my best to fight the squadron's fight and now swan off too far. Even though I don't think I've seen another Spitfire for a while. Which is a bit ominous, considering we were bounced, and there are an awful lot of burning aircraft about where it happened...

...to be continued!

Great shots and reports has always Lima

Thanks Adger!

My sense of triumph is short-lived. Turning to clear my tail brings me face to face with another sky-full of dog-fighting aircraft. Again, of the ones I can identify, they seem mostly to be Huns, apart from a Hurricane whose distinctive black and white undersurfaces give him away. The puff of pale smoke next to him indicates he is taking hits.



Once again, I have little time to do anything other than charge into the thick of it. I go for another pair of 109s that's passing across my nose. This is the number two, the leader being just out of sight ahead of him.



The 109 breaks left and I go after him. A glance in the mirror shows I'm clear...I hope...



I cut across the 109's turn and give him a right royal clobbering.



I'd have felt a bit less pleased with myself if I'd known that this chap was behind me, but he seems to have other things on his mind.



I level off briefly. At that very moment, I see a stream of yellow tracer flash past my cockpit a few feet to my left. Instinct takes over and I break hard right.



If this 109's shooting had been just a little bit better, my mission, and probably my virtual life, would have ended at that point. Crikey!



I pull hard around and down, to the point of a black-out. It's enough to get me out of trouble, but I suffer several seconds of something approaching sheer terror, waiting for the hits that will finish me off. But the 109 gives up, and I get away with it.



I take a few seconds to recover my composure, then swear vengeance.

...to be continued!

Looking around for the enemy, I see a cluster of Ack Ack bursts ahead and left. This seems to be directed at a fast-moving single aircraft moving left to right, barely visible in roughly the centre of the pic below.



Sure enough, he's a Hun - a 109 in fact. I chase him but it looks like he sees me coming, for he rolls over onto his back and dives away. Sources indicate that this was a much more common evasive move by Messerschmitts than bunting straight into a dive, possibly because the latter was much more uncomfortable to the pilot.



The 109 doesn't have a lot of height to play with and has to pull out quickly. This gives me a chance to close the range. I squeeze the trigger - but nothing happens! I'm out of ammunition!



I reverse my course and dive away at full pelt.



I can see several aircraft in my rear view mirror...



...so I get right down on the deck and start jinking, all the while fully expecting rounds to crash into my kite from astern



However, my unsubtle exit seems to have had the desired effect, for I'm soon in clear skies and climb a little to orient myself. I'm flying east, nearly parallel to the meandering course of the Thames Estuary to my right. The oil refinery at Thameshaven provides a useful landmark. I know that the forward airfield of Rochford - now London Southend airport - is up ahead so that's where I decide to go.



I drop down to roughly circuit height. I think I'm safe but there's no point being too conspicuous, and I know the Huns regularly came and/or went via the estuary.



I slide back the canopy and can soon see a grassy area at the near end of a small estuary. This looks like Rochford, which is at the western end of the the River Roach's estuary.



The much broader body of water to my right is the Thames Estuary.



In no time, I'm at Rochford, and glad to have survived being bounced and the wild series of dogfights which developed. All the better that I've got a 110 destroyed and two 109s as probables. Things were just too hectic to watch the latter crash, and I'm just glad I narrowly escaped joining them, when that 109 caught me from behind. Quite a start to the day, it's been!

Ok, I will bite, what is the 'Fast India Fund Flight'? Nice report, lots of action, multiple kills, very exciting. When are we going to see you landing one of these Warbirds Sir. For that matter, have never seen you taking off either? What Sorcery is this that you never do either?

S!Blade<><

Hi Blade! As in WW1 - and IIRC you can see this on several RFC/RAF skins in WoFF - different parts of the Empire contributed to the war effort by paying for an aircraft - in this case the Eastern part of India. Also WW2 squadrons were often given honorific names from different parts of the Empire 'on which the sun never set', eg Bob Stanford Tuck's 'Burma' squadron (257) and 92 'East India' squadron. One of the CloD menu screens has a pic of a Spit bearing wording saying it was 'paid for' by readers of the Belfast Telegraph newspaper and across the country, patriotic citizens could contribute to various 'Spitfire funds' to do the same sort of thing.



In BoB2 you have various options as to when you can jump from wargame into sim, and in fact can click on any flyable squadron on the map, to do so. In other sims I often 'warp' right after takeoff anyhow, similarly back to base after combat, so in BoB2 I quite happily lapsed into taking over when contact was made, and quitting soon afterwards. I haven't felt much incentive to change, as it means I maximise the air combat and minimise the cross-country flying.

Landings in BoB2 are unforgiving, more so than in CloD for example. And from what I have seen (which is not much), if you get it wrong, the resulting crack-up triggers a somersaulting aeroplane animation and you don't get to walk away or admire a bent prop. I have yet to make a successful forced landing, so I don't know how those work out.

Here's some pics from previous mission reports - just to prove I have actually managed the occasional squadron takeoff in this campaign!





..and the odd landing, too...





Note that I remembered to raise my flaps while taxying - some squadrons fined you if you didn't, so I have probably saved myself at least ten bob here (half a pound, in pre-decimal Sterling). And I've gone around the perimeter track to the blast pens at dispersal (not the hangars), protected by Bofors Guns, one of which is in action as I turn off the peri track into a pen.



I'll probably save flying the whole mission until I start a Single Pilot Campaign. Although I have just recently enabled the clickable cockpit and started practicing the takeoff training mission, the plan being to work my through BoB2's little flying training syllabus, in parallel with flying my 'Commander' campaign.

If the morning of August 17th wasn't particularly successful, at least it wasn't especially unsuccessful, either. The afternoon was different, falling fairly and squarely into the latter category.

This was the scene at lunchtime, after a short quiet period once the morning raids had withdrawn. By this time the Germans had clobbered my coastal fighter stations and were working their way through the rest. Another veritable airborne conveyor belt of raids is headed north-west, towards 11 Group's airfields around the Capital. I had a few patrols from 12 Group tasked to cover 11 Group's bases and authorised a few additional squadrons scrambled, over and above what the AI organised. If I was going down, I would go down fighting.



First into action are the Spitfires of No. 72 Squadron. We run into a raid of about thirty bombers, with as many escorts on top, well above us, just west of London. The Hun fighters don't waste time and two groups of 109s drop on us and a squadron of Hurricanes who are also trying to get at the bombers.



The Messerschmitt boys seem to be on top form today and they tear into us. Soon the first Spit is going down - in flames, to boot.



I single out a Hun who is chasing another Spit all over the sky. Before I can get in range, the Spit is damaged.



The 109 closes for the kill, so I fire a long-range burst to put him off. This works, thank goodness, and the Hun breaks hard right and away.



The boot is now on the other foot, and it's my turn to do the chasing.



The fellow in the Messerschmitt seems to know his trade and just when I think I have him to rights...



...he's wriggled off the hook and the chase must begin all over again.



He disappears somewhere over my head, then the next second, flashes past my windscreen, disappearing again, this time under my nose.



It's the last I see of him. I twist and turn to look around, but the sky is suddenly empty. How very frustrating. Where the devil has everyone gone?

...to be continued!

Looking around again, I see distant Ack Ack bursts in various directions, and an indistinct shape which, when I chase it, turns out to be a tightly-packed RAF squadron heading somewhere I don't want to go.



By this time, I'm back over the Thames Estuary, with Canvey Island - more a peninsula really - visible in the middle distance.



Below is Tilbury Docks, the scene of some of the action in my previous sortie. This time, I'm well above those pesky barrage balloons, some of which you can see ahead of and behind my Spit's graceful elliptical wings. Graceful, but thin, and at times vulnerable - I recall a friend's father who flew Spits with 616 Squadron was commended for leading his section home safely after his leader got them lost then killed himself by pulling off his Spitfire's wings in a needlessly-tight turn. Little did I know...



I chase a single aircraft for a while, before realising he's another Spitfire.



He's flying towards a group of specks to the left of some Ack Ack fire. Could this be my outfit, reforming? No, since an enquiry on the R/T reveals they are further away and in a different direction.



I turn instead towards some closer Ack Ack fire to my left...



...but am distracted by a bunch of fighters crossing above and ahead, which happily turn out to be friends - Hurricanes, in fact. I don't think BoB2 models the variations in fighter formations tried by few squadrons - they all look like this, which at least makes IFF a tad easier.



Suddenly I realise there's a fighter emerging from a closer group of Ack Ack bursts to the west, over London. This could only be a Hun and I pull hard around to get at him.



Too hard! At first, I think I've stalled and spun out, but no - I've pulled off a large part of my port wing!



I chop the throttle, wait for the speed to decay, then get out. But my chute doesn't open, and I get the wild scream and flailing limbs treatment, as down and out I go!



In other sims, this would be the end of my campaign, unless I practiced a bit of resurrectionism. But of course in Battle of Britain II, it's just a sad end to one sortie, and the next one is coming soon!

Nice! I know it's a bit tardy of a comment, but if it makes you feel any better, I don't really have a TrackIR profile that I am completely comfortable with either!

Thanks Rick! At the moment I'm still at the 'getting used to/what the heck just happened there?' stage of TrackIR usage, where the eyes still want to go the same way the head does!


Back at the war, this next flight against the 17th August’s morning raids came to an unexpectedly dull end. So any readers who don’t much care for dull endings might want to skip this post, or just have a quick look at the pics. I did warn you!

This time up, I’m with RAF Volunteer Reserve 616 Squadron – the one my friend’s father flew with. As a mark of respect, I made him a model of a Spit he flew and had a photo of, opting back then (about 1980) for the rather large but impressive 1/32 Revell Mark I. He only had available one decent photo of his aircraft, which still had the original pre-war squadron code QJ and individual letter U – all RAF squadrons changed their identity letters sometime after the outbreak of World War 2, 616 having had changed to YQ by about May 1940. The sole photo I had access to was captioned as taken early 1940, at RAF Leconfield; 616 only got its Spits in late 1939. A side-view drawing I made from the photo in an old jotter records that I thought its serial number was L1055, which fits precisely with that aircraft’s history, as now available online, where I also found this different photo:



Underneath, I finished my model in Sky, with a black port wing. This was based on an Osprey Aircam Battle of Britain Special (S.1) showing another 616 pilot’s aircraft slightly later in time, because the old gent could not clearly remember the undersurface colours. But I’m now sure it should have been black port and white starboard wings, with a ‘silver’ (Aluminium) lower fuselage and tailplane undersurface.

But I digress! Here I am at the head of Green Section in YQ-K, in BoB2's rendition of 616's Spits in August 1940. We’re just south of London and headed for a raid that seems to be making its way home.



Here’s the squadron formation, with my Green Section nearest the camera. BoB2 with the ‘multiskin’ feature in the BDG 2.13 update comes with a Spit painted up as a very early Photographic Reconnaissance Unit bird. This seems to take the place of 616’s leader, as you can see here. It’s in the colour known as Camotint that evolved into (or just became) Sky - known more descriptively as duck egg green (but also less descriptively as duck egg blue). One day, I’ll find a way of substituting a properly-camouflaged aircraft.



And here are the Huns!



I padlock them, then use the radio command menu to report them (you hear your own pilot’s voice doing this, unless you have that turned off, eg if using voice comms). The boss as usual acknowledges and also as usual, orders B Flight – Blue and Green Sections – to get the fighters.



However, those fighters are coming to get us!



Hasty TrackIR-based glances to either side show Green 2 and 3 have edged out to my right, while what must be A Flight - with the CO's kite in his jaunty livery - has slipped out to my left.



The 109s come pretty well straight at us...



...and there’s an anxious moment or two, before I realise none of them are shooting at me.

I come around after the Huns but everybody seems to have headed for the deck, the 109s pursuing the Spitfires. I’m reluctant to lose what height I have, so stay up, turning to look for a target. But all I can see at my own level is a distant aircraft over the capital. I close in on this, until I realise is it actually an even more distant formation, not a single aircraft, probably friendly given the tightness of the formation.



I should have gone down with the others without hesitation, but it only takes a few moments hesitation, and then you’re miles away and alone.

By this time, I’m indeed alone in an apparently empty sky, and decide to call it quits. The raid we came to get is now no-where in sight, doubtless well on its way home. And I’m not in the mood for chasing all over the place looking for trade, this far north. I could use the radio, or see what the in-game map shows, but I’ve had enough. I'm certainly not going to switch on labels and turn a nice combat flightsim into flying text sim. A last look down before quitting confirms I’m above London’s southern outskirts, because I can see that the airfield below is Kenley, reproduced in BoB2, as usual, with sufficient fidelity to be readily recognised.



Kenley was famously raided at low level on the next day (18th August) of the real battle, by 9/KG76’s Dorniers. I can see some bomb craters and one of the buildings behind the hangars looks like it is now a neat rectangular pile of rubble. I think Kenley was one of the fighter bases raided the virtual day before. The sight is a reminder that the Luftwaffe has moved on from the coastal airfields and is now hitting those that 11 Group still has in action, clustered around London itself. At this rate, I reckon I’ll be doing well to last another week!

The last action flown at this sitting has me flying Spits again, this time with 234 Squadron. We've come all the way over from Warmwell, in 10 Group's area, to catch Hostile 204, a bunch of Dorniers. As it turns out they have recently raided the Sector Station at Hornchurch, east of London, and are homeward bound.

Here's my first sight of them. In between, there look to be the best part of two other RAF squadrons, also trying to catch this raid.



The boss as usual orders B Flight to take the escorts, while A goes for the bombers. This view shows myself and other members of B Flight spreading out before going in. The lighting effects are courtesy of modder Boreas's latest file.



Over to my left, A Flight is doing much the same thing.



At this point, things start to get a bit confused. Or I do, at any rate. The German formations start turning away from us.



The ones slightly to my left at about the same level cut back across my nose and look to present the most convenient target. They look like Messerschmitt 110s. Whether or not they are the fighers I'm supposed to be tackling is not altogether clear. But they'll do, I decide. By this time, the airwaves are filling up with calls which confirm that the party has already begun.



The Huns level off as I close in, and I realise they are Dorniers, not 110s. Never mind. In for a penny, in for a pound. The different elements of the Hun formation yet haven't closed up again after their turn, so now's a good time.



My first attack sets this bomber on fire, causing it to drop a large bomb. This seems fairly common with BoB2's Dorniers, perhaps even after they have bombed. They'd have been better bailing out, instead.



As I come up and around, I nearly run into their escorts, which are back in position but not reacting to my presence. This may be of those cases of the Luftwaffe AI's rather strict 'one squadron, one staffel, everyone else, hold your position'. Which stops the first intercepting squadron always denuding a raid of all its escorts, but is unfortunate of you wander off from your squadron and into unresponsive escorts.



The usual drill in this situation is either to clear off back to your squadron, or make one attack only, breaking if they don't after all react - either way, not taking advantage. At this stage in the battle I reckon I need all the advantages I can get, and decide to make one attack on the 109s.

This nearly goes bad immediately, when a second group slides over from the right.



I hold my breath and course for a second, but the new Huns don't react, so in I go. You can see there's a more distant raid slightly right, also apparently withdrawing.



I come in behind the left hand 109 and let him have it.



...this being the same happy scene from outside...



...and again, from closer in, which does the trick.



The 109s don't react. I shoud really have stuck with the squadron. But if anyone ever re-starts modding the BoB2 code again, improving this aspect of the escort behaviour would be way up at the top of my (admittedly short) shopping list. At least there's a workaround - avoid, don't exploit. But sometimes, it's just too tempting. Especially if you've had a bad virtual day, as I have so far, with August 17th!

The contacts from the morning's raids are still coming thick and fast. Immediately on reloading the campaign, I get another Spitfire, this time with another Auxiliary squadron, No. 611. I quite like the lighting effects on my kite from this angle, with Boreas's new mod.



We're near Maidstone in Kent, chasing south after a retreating escorted raid. There looks to be about thirty bombers in three groups, with some fighters above, and others sweeping astern of them. To the right, there's another RAF squadron coming in.



As we close the range, the boss, flying as usual as Red 1, comes up on the R/T and gives his orders. Also as usual, B Flight, which includes my Green Section, is sent after the fighters.



This is easier said than done. Which fighters? Where?



I look right to see what the rest of B Flight - lead by its other section leader, Blue 1 - is up to. This doesn't help much, except to suggest I should be steering further their way.



Things begin to happen too fast for any further leisurely reflection. A bunch of figthers slips past my nose, going right to left. I start to turn in behind them, hesitantly - their brownish colour makes me think they're ours. Then I realise it's yellow not brown, and they're 109s.



They're going full pelt and I'm wary of being sandwiched between them and a second group of 109s, which is wheeling right and is probably the target of the rest of the flight. But the other 109s draw away and I continue the chase. I should probably have gone for the second bunch as that would likely have kept me with the rest of B Flight.



At this point my TrackIR goes haywire and wants to keep looking down at my reddish bakelite seat. I pause it, and mouse view control instantly takes over. But almost as quickly, the 109s are gone. Looking around for them, I see the Ack Ack boys are firing off a terriffic barrage, somewhere south of the Medway, to my east.



To the north, there's more action over the Thames, east of London. But all of this is some way off and not what I came here for. On the airwaves, I can hear my own squadron's radio calls as its engagement continues. The one I should be part of.



I ask the boss for a bearing and he tells me the boys are behind me, nearly due south. That would explain the activity I can see in my rear view mirror.



Naturally, I execute a quick about turn and set course to catch the raid, which is obviously under fighter attack. This is more like it! Hang on chaps, I'll be with you in a minute!



...to be continued!

I'm about half-way to the raid when it begins to break up. It's a pretty dramatic sight.



It soon becomes apparent that what I'm seeing is the three groups of Heinkels which make up the raid making independent turns. The hardest-hit group has several of its surviving bombers streaming smoke and is still under attack. So I leave it to the others and swing around after one of the other groups. Happily, the only fighters I can see, though few in number, are friendly ones.



The group of bombers I'm going for is turning tightly and has stretched out a bit, into two three-plane vics. I home in on the rearmost threesome, knowing the Huns will close up again soon. I'm determined to get in my first attack before they do so.



I tighten my turn to come in behind them...



...and let rip at the hindmost Heinkel as they start to roll out of their own turns. At the same time, the Hun gunners also open up. They're good shots too, for they quickly land some hits on my kite.



Tracers going in both directions criss-cross the patch of sky separating us.



The bombers level out and I bank hard right to get away. I holed my target's right wing but the return fire definitely put me off. Its accuracy is not predictable in BoB2 and when you are up aganst more skillfull air gunners, you'll know about it.



The last of my own tracers go flying off harmlessly into space, but the occasional enemy round still smacks into my Spit.



I get clear and take stock. I have some holes visible in the top of my port wing but the flight and engine controls are all answering normally. Two bombers are now straggling behind the bunch, the rearmost one smoking, so I come in for a pass at the latter. This time, I take more care not to present an easy target, as I approach.



Got him! I break left at the last moment, convinced the damaged Heinkel won't survive this additional punishment.



Pulling up well above the Huns and clearing my tail, I bank left and look down. I see no sign of my victim, who must surely have gone down. Instead, I spot the other straggler, the one who wasn't leaving a smoke trail. He's just left of the middle bolt in my front windscreen frame, in the pic below.



I dive down, aiming to come up behind and below the bomber. As I'm closing in from astern, another Heinkel suddenly rises up in my windscreen and I just manage to dodge around him, getting shot as I go. Looks like that doomed bomber, wasn't!



Not only that, but avoiding him has spoiled my pass at the one ahead of him. I just about manage to get in a burst, with these results.



But the Hun has started to pull up, a split second before I decided to do likewise, as you can see from our elevators.



There's a lurch and the next thing I know, all I can see ahead of me out the windscreen is field patterns, revolving rapidly. Nothing works, and I can't open the canopy or get out! It's me who's doomed!

A sudden end to this report, to be sure, but it was a sudden end to the flipping mission!

Oh No! Two Mates down in one day. 33 Lima time to get back in the Fight Sir. Take down those Huns!
Good reports Sir. Keep up the Good Fight! For Queen and Country!

S!Blade<><

It's still 'King and country' old boy, as in the BoB2 time machine, HM King George VI is still with us!

Screeenies for previous pages seem to have disappeared leaving just the thumbnails which rather spoils the effect for anyone coming late to the party; dunno if it is just me, or Just IE11, or affecting everyone due to hitting some kind of site limit. Maybe need to start a new thread or something.

Anyway, not had much stick time for the last few days so pending the next campaign mission here are some training mission pics. In setup, I chose to fly a 257 Squadron Hurricane operating from Kenley, and was pleased to find myself flying Robert Stanford Tuck's famous kite. Doesn't have the kill markings, the serial should probably be V6864 not V6873, and the rear fuselage band isn't painted over the serial number but it looks a good representation. As adopted about November 1940, she has the black port wing and Sky 'adornments' as MJF Bower called them in 'Fighting Colours', are correctly in a lighter shade than the duck egg green early version of Sky.



I'm a bit low on finals, partly as I forgot which key I'd assigned to the elevator trim. But you have to admit, you do get a nice view of the typical 1930s commuter belt semi-detached bungalows featured in BoB2, complete with garden sheds or greenhouses. Don't see any Anderson Shelters, though.



Made it down nevertheless, and that was flying from the cockpit, not the external view. Which is good by my standards, especially as BoB2 isn't as forgiving as some sims, with these things.





And the real thing, V6864...






The fuselage band on the BoB2 Hurri tends to suggest its rear fuselage is a bit too rounded in cross-section, I see, but it's not noticeable otherwise.

Ah yes King and country, silly me. I looked at several previous pages and I am seeing all of the full sized pictures Sir. Maybe something on your end. I see there is no flap at all being used in the above pictures for takeoff. I will have to pass that along to OBD as there Hurris(not sure about Spits) use like a 10 degree flap for takeoff in WOTR.
Nice pics Sir and nice takeoff. I agree about advancing ahead close to the battle before taking control of the player plane to save time. I have taken a strange fascination with trying to fly in proper formation to and during the Patrol Line. Once engagement happens it is chaos and only 50% of the time does my flight reform. I still like to try to
fly the complete mission now as it is the most immersive to me, especially if i have a damaged plane and have to try to limp it back and deal with damaged systems upon pancaking. To each his own, and I understand time constraints in this busy age. Anyway, good to see you making a nice landing Sir, but the Village Folk would appreciate
it if you took a bit higher glide path on your way in to pancake in the future, else you might take a load of bird shot or two.

S!Blade<><

Hi Blade. About flaps, Spits (early marks anyway) only had one flap down setting, which was fully down, and Hurris just two. There were some dodges used - Geoffrey Wellum in 'First Light' mentions that they needed all the help they could get, flying off fully-laden Spits (Mk Vs probably) from HMS Furious to Malta during Pedestal. They used 25 degree wooden wedges a bit like door stops, which were manually held between wing and flap while the flap was retracted, so that the wedge held the flap slightly down, to get some extra lift. Once airborne they opened and closed the flaps so that the wedges fell out. They may not have used these except in training, because for the actual run they had been refitted with new 'hydromatic' airscrews which made life easier.

Spits and Hurricanes generally took off with flaps up - as you noticed in the vic from 257 Squadron above. The April 1941 Pilot Notes for the Hurricane Mk I, Merlin II or III, DH or Rotol CS airscrew, gives the take off drill - acronym 'T(rimming), M(ixture) P(itch), Fuel Flaps and Radiator' says 'Flaps - UP (if taking off from a small aerodrome, the flaps may be set at 28 degrees down - two divisions on the indicator)'. This is from the little Osprey 'The Hurricane Pocket Manual'. The Spits had the same acronym for the drill but flaps were simply up, for takeoff. The Haynes manuals for Spit and Hurri say simply flaps up for takeoff for both aircraft.

I have always loathed formation flying in sims and fly as leader when I get the chance, which means extra tactical decision-making to do, which is much better than playing follow-my-leader. Haven't moved beyond section leader in BoB2 yet because BoB2 squadron-leading works a bit differently to what I'm used to. I wouldn't worry about getting split up because it seems that was how it normally worked, especially with the RAF three-plane formations, which almost always seem to have broken up in a real fight and did not always manage to reform.

PS an interesting detail I just noticed on that 257 pic is that while DT-A has the bulbous Spitfire spinner commonly fitted to Hurricanes which had the Rotol prop, DT-G has clearly also has the pointy-bladed, tight-waisted Rotol prop, but the long, bullet-shaped spinner designed for the Hurricane with that prop, which is usually seen on the Mk II but is here on what is definitely a Mk I Hurricane.

Well done 33 lima ur a pro.