This is one of the many missions made by Mongoose that are included with the recent update to the CFS3 Battle of Britain mod - details available on the CFS3 forum over at Sim Outhouse. It represents the famous low level raid by 9 Staffel, Kampfgeschwader 76 on the RAF sector station at Kenley, south of London, on 18th August 1940.

To save us the trouble of flying all the way from Cormeilles-en-Vexin, the mission starts in mid-Channel. I'm leading six Dornier 17s. There's another kette of three up ahead, as it happens, so we have the full nine aircraft that flew the real raid. This is my aircraft, skipping across the waves.



And there are the others, barring one who's off to my left, out of shot.



We're actually carrying the markings of KG3, geschwader code 5K. KG76 used F1. Still, it's a nice skin.



Enemy coast ahead!



The real raid made landfall near the white cliffs at Beachy Head, where they were observed and reported by Observer Post K3, atop the cliffs.



We've hardly reached land when we come under ground fire. Or perhaps sea fire; not visible in this pic is some shipping, behind us. In real life, the first shots fired at 9/KG76 came from patrol boats.



Just inland, the first waypoint comes up and I begin to turn left. Up ahead, the three leading Dorniers are just visible as they make the same turn.



Kenley here we come!

...to be continued!

We're soon settling onto our course for the next leg, which will take us to the north-west, before turning north for the run in to the target.



If I warp, I get taken up to about 1400 feet, way too high, so I fly most of the route in real time.



Speaking of the route, you can see it in the next pic. The mod's update over-wrote my replacement map, made by a modder for WotR and is ideal for the BoB mod too.



The turn north made, we thunder low over the English countryside.



A navigation check with the tactical display indicates we haven't far to go - maybe five miles. There's no sign of any opposition, nor of the high-level raids which are supposed to hit Kenley first - but were late in real life.



Bomb bay doors open!



Soon, it'll be Bomben auf England!

...to be continued!

Suddenly, there's the rapid rattle of MG fire and hits patter onto my airframe. We're being attacked head on by a bunch of Hurricanes, just short of the target!



Our formation quickly breaks up. My own Dornier has taken many hits and both engines are trailing faint trails of grey smoke. The controls are sluggish and she wants to climb of her own accord.



I struggle to maintain my heading. Up ahead is Kenley, the runways, blast pens, hangars and other buildings -including the vital Sector Operations Room - all laid out as they were in real life. Somebody - a fighter, or one of the leading kette of bombers - has crashed near the perimeter, and a single parachute hangs in the air. I decide to bomb the camouflaged hangars - if I can make it that far!



Pushing my crippled machine back down to just above the deck, I send my sticks of 50 kilo bombs crashing into the hangars...



...then let the Dornier rise again, trying at the same time to crab around to the right and get away.



My bomber is going up like a lift now, barely under control. Another aircraft has smashed into the ground next to a railway line. Behind, the hangars are aflame. I can't tell if anyone else has had any luck.



It'll be all I can do now, to save my own skin!

...to be continued!

Aircraft are spread out all over the sky behind me, friend and foe alike. At least some of the others are still in the air!



I continue to swing around to the right, intending to get onto a southerly course which will take me back towards the Channel. I'm tempted to hug the ground, but I don't fancy my chances in a forced landing, even if the damage doesn't get any worse. Instead I want to be high enough to give us a chance to bail out, if seriously attacked again.



And seriously attacked we soon are! A Hurricane sweeps in from behind to my right, her wings lit up by the muzzle flashes of her guns. First one engine, then the other, goes on fire.



My Dornier rolls uncontrollably onto her back and goes down. And the rising terrain under us at this point means there's no time for any of us to get out!

As the debriefing shows, I got 14 hits from 18 bombs and destroyed three hangars. But the 8 'experience points' awarded won't be much use to me! Incidentally, I'm still using a previous RAF pilot identity.



This is just one of many new missions for the updated BoB mod, mostly grouped into two sets covering big days in the Battle of Britain - 18th August as here, and September 15th, Battle of Britain Day itself. Where appropriate, the missions feature much larger numbers of aircraft than anything commonly seen in CFS3. The pic below is from a 501 Squadron mission on 15 September and you can see the formation of about twenty Heinkels astern of my Hurricane. I'm chasing a bunch of Dorniers up ahead and there are 109s and Hurricanes dog-fighting all over the place. If you want your Battle of Britain air combat historical and dangerous, this is for you!