Another historical single mission from Battle of Britain II Wings of Victory - this time, I'm in Heinkel III A1+JM of II Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 53 'Legion Condor'. The BoB2 German twins aren't flyable; instead, you can man the air gunner stations, and I'm starting off in the dorsal position. Visible to our left are some Messerschmitt 109s of our close escort.



Our immediate formation comprises a gruppe of thirty aircraft.



Our target appears to be London's docklands - we're headed for the famous U bend in the Thames, the Isle of Dogs, where lie many commercial docks. Ahead of us is another large wave of bombers...or are they fighters, coming to get us?



Wo ist der Royal Air Force,to quote the film. Not far away, is the answer. The defending squadrons seem to be operating in pairs today, both Spitfires...



...and Hurricanes, like these ones who look to be coming up on our ten o'clock high.





Three more squadrons are coming down from the north - Leigh Mallory's 'Big Wing', perhaps. As one of the German aircrew was reported to have said sardonically when he saw the swarms of RAF fighters not the handful Fighter Command were supposed to have left -'Here come the last fifty Spitfires!'



Will our numbers...



...and our escorts...



...be enough to save us from a mauling?

...to be continued!

This has ended up more an after action report than a screenshot thread, but anyway...

Our gruppe rumbles on...



...towards the East End of London.



There are at least two other waves of bombers ahead and astern of of us, including these Dornier 17s of Kampfgeschwader 2 'Holzhammer'.



There's nothing much doing behind us, so I switch to the nose position. From there, I track some single-engined fighters which flash past on the left, but don't open fire as the range is long and at least some of them look like Messerschmitt 109s.



I go back to the dorsal position and am soon in action against a series of Hurricanes which attempt slashing attacks through our formation from astern.





Meanwhile the flak intensifies, firing away into the middle of the air fight, endangering friend and foe alike.



Some Hurricanes break off, others blast their way between our ranks. All the while, the target area is getting closer.



The flak people seem very determined to stop us. So do the fighters, which press on with their attacks even as we make our bomb run...



...then start a turn to the south, back towards our bases in Northern France. A long way off, still.



...to be continued!

As we make the turn, I can see that in the distance and slightly lower down, there's a big dogfight in progress. At this moment, though, I'm most concerned about surviving the terrific flak barrage.



Finally, we draw clear of the flak, still turning. Out to the east stretches the Thames Estuary.



We are still turning when the flak picks up again. At the same time, Hurricanes are renewing their attacks.



The RAF fighters press home their attacks with determination, as well they might, defending their capital city.



We level off but the flak and the fighters are relentless.



The bomber behind us is hit and begins to drop out of formation, narrowly avoiding taking us with him. It's small consolation that the docklands can be seen to be taking a real pounding from German bombs.



Next thing I know, it's our turn. Rounds whack metallically into our aircraft and the order to bail out is given, although we don't seem to have been hit too hard. Maybe the other bomber contacted us, too.



Sadly my parachute didn't open! It was a long way down. Anyway as I type, tomorrow is Battle of Britain Day so this report on the BoB2 re-creation is well timed!