33LIMA 972 Posted May 10, 2015 Some Battle of Britain action in Il-2's new supermod! Well, I said I would and I did. After stooging around in the dark (in both senses of the expression!) with a few missions in a Lancaster campaign in the last IL-2 mission report, I decided that I would transfer back to Fighter Command, for my next campaign with the recently-released Community User Patch (CUP) for Il-2 1946. In fact I also turned the clock back, from the winter of 1941-1942 to the summer of 1940, famous for the Battle of Britain. The resulting mission report features SAS~Monty's 'Spitfire Scramble' campaign, which you can find out about here. Though made for the former's earlier TFM mod, I'm indebted to Griffon_301 over on the SAS CUP forum for reporting that 'Spitfire Scramble' seems to work fine in the new CUP mod. Neither the aircraft nor the campaign need any introduction here, so let's get down to the detail. I'm flying with No. 152 (Fighter) Sqaudron, based until Spring 1941 at RAF Warmwell, close to the south coast of England and part of 10 Group, covering the south west of the country. There's a good squadron history site here. The first mission is a familiarisation flight that starts with one of the formation takeoffs that are one of the trademarks of the 4.12 version of Team Daedalos's modded version of IL-2, on which CUP is based. No need to wait in the traditional Il-2 conga line, to take off, now...at least, in campaigns or missions that are designed to take advantage of this feature. Our aircraft for this campaign seem to be the Mark II version of Reginald Mitchell's classic, with a more powerful Merlin engine but still with eight .303 machine guns rather than the later Hispano 20mm cannon. Anyway, they carry the Sky Type S spinners (previously black) and rear fuselage band in that same light colour, which if I recall right were introduced in late 1940, which would also be right for the Mk II. While my Spitfire looks great, RAF Warmwell is another visual highlight of this campaign, which the first, familiarisation missions gives you an opportunity to appreciate. Details abound, as you can see in the screenshot below. If you look closely enough, you can see that there are some airmen 'fell in' on parade (or 'formation' to use the US term), just to the right of the flagstaffs. The first mission also gives you the chance to 'suss out' the local topography, which is also nicely rendered. For example, you can make out the little port of Weymouth in the screenshot below, nestling in the distinctive local coastline. Part of our role will likely be the defence of the major port and naval base of Southampton, which is not far along the coast to the east and it's good to see the local landmarks accurately represented. This report features the campaign's second mission. Unfortunately I seem to have done something wrong during installation, because the usual text briefing panel is completely blank. However, the campaign's instructions make it clear that you are a lowly Flight Sergeant and your job is basically to follow your leader. Besides, anyone with even the slightest notion of what went on during the Battle of Britain doesn't need to be told what to expect: 'Get one up!' as Robert Shaw's gruff Squadron Leader character put it, during the eponymous movie, and get stuck into the Luftwaffe. The mission loaded and I wasted no time starting up, while I tested my controls and set my flaps. The others didn't waste any time either and were soon away, leaving me roaring after them in a virtual haze of burnt high octane aviation spirit and relishing the realism of a decent formation takeoff in this classic air combat sim, still at the top of its game, over thirteen years from its first release. That was the easy part, done and dusted. But this Spitfire scramble was for no cross-country jaunt, I knew that much. This time, I knew we'd be up against Goering's finest. ...to be continued! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mono27 83 Posted May 11, 2015 Nice stories! Next time one about the Flying Tigers in Burma, please Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeanba 1,915 Posted May 11, 2015 (edited) EDIT : I downloaded and checked the mission briefings, you can try renaming all *_ru.properties in* _en.properties If you find this task tedious, use either ant renamer or lupas rename or similar software to make massive renames. http://rename.lupasfreeware.org/ http://www.framasoft.net/article1918.html I cannot test it now, but I will try tonight if you want Edited May 11, 2015 by jeanba Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
33LIMA 972 Posted May 11, 2015 EDIT : I downloaded and checked the mission briefings, you can try renaming all *_ru.properties in* _en.properties If you find this task tedious, use either ant renamer or lupas rename or similar software to make massive renames. http://rename.lupasfreeware.org/ http://www.framasoft.net/article1918.html I cannot test it now, but I will try tonight if you want Merci, Jeanba I'll give that a go. I'd had a look at the files compared to other campaigns and was rather suspicious of all those 'ru' ones! ...and yes mono27, funny enough I was thinking of doing a Pacific campaign next and a Tigers CBI one would be as good as any, if there's one that works with 4.12 . I'll dig out Grubstreet's 'bloody shambles' and/or Osprey's 'Dogfight' compilation, which includes the P-40 -vs- Ki-43 'Duel' monograph, to get me in the mood! Edit - I'll try this one, since Monty's spit campaign seems to work in CUP: 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
33LIMA 972 Posted May 11, 2015 Tally ho! Once airborne, I cleaned her up and finally, closed my canopy. It wasn’t long before I heard the flight leader on the R/T, ordering a climbing turn to the south-west, and then another one, to the west. As I’ve said before, I really don’t like formation flying...but at least this time, it was daylight. Another 'plus' was that - this being the Battle of Britain - we were defending our own turf and I shouldn’t have too far to fly, before formation flying became a less pressing consideration. I was so keen not to get left behind, that I actually ended up ahead of the others, for a while, until I calmed down and carried on. By the later months of the Battle of Britain, the RAF had begun to abandon the earlier rigid three-plane ‘vic', adopting the Luftwaffe’s ‘finger four’ or similar, more flexible formations. There were four of us in my flight but we seemed to be in no hurry to adopt any particular formation, ending up in a long line which gradually started to close up, as we headed west. This gave me a little while in which to admire my mount inside and out, from the nicely-rendered Dark Green and Dark Earth camouflage and subtly-applied markings to the excellent cockpit, complete with functional rear view mirror; a superior representation of a superior aeroplane. Watching the skies again, ahead of us against the clouds I spotted a small group of four dark specks, slowly drifting left to right across our front. Our leader, up ahead, gave no bandit call so I concluded these were friends, which turned out to be correct. More Spitfires, in fact; I think, a section that had taken off ahead of us. Just as our own section was beginning to get into formation and I was finding my place in it, our leader called out enemy fighters at ten o’clock. The nearest Spitfire, on my left, banked in that direction and I banked with him. But the section ahead beat us too it. A flight of grey-ish aircraft slipped across our front, slightly below and moving left to right. Their neat formation suddenly dissolved as the leading section of Spits wheeled right and pitched into them. Battle had begun! Turning right, I quickly lost sight of my own flight mates, one of whose tails I should have been protecting, as a wingman. I should have located him and then tried to follow him as best I could. But I gave in to temptation and decided that the fastest way help everybody else was to get stuck into the Huns. I pulled around after the developing dogfight in a wide, slightly climbing turn at full throttle, careful to maintain my speed and my slight altitude advantage until I was ready to use both to best effect. My initial anxiety at being in the presence of these dangerous foes faded fast. The excellent visibility, speed and responsiveness of my virtual Spit - imparting the sense that I was in a superior flying and fighting machine, as deadly as she was beautiful - gave me a sudden surge of almost serene confidence, the feeling that I was the master here, I would call the shots. But first, I needed to find somebody to shoot at. I rolled out into a promising position behind an another aircraft, hoping he wasn't one of ours. His square wingtips soon confirmed him as an enemy. A quick glance in the mirror showed my tail looked clear. But as I closed, the 109 rolled over and dived away steeply. I decided not to go after him, while there might still be fighting at my present level. The ether began to fill with radio chatter from the others. Somebody called for help but I couldn’t locate him; from the radio traffic which followed I think he got away with it, nevertheless. Instead, my section leader was congratulated on a kill. Turning north I saw the scene of that action, some dark specks whirling and tracers flashing. Arriving at the scene, I chased after another 109 but again, lost him when he dived away. In fact I tried to take a screenshot but the slightly increased lag I get when doing this in the CUP mod meant he was gone when the action resumed! The sky around me suddenly cleared again but I made sure I didn’t fly straight and level too long, or stay too long in a turn without clearing my tail and/or changing direction. If there was nobody nearby at my own level, perhaps they’d be somewhere below? Banking left and right, I looked down at the sea, hoping to pick up somebody I could stalk from above. Instead, I saw a string of aircraft some way off, apparently headed out to sea. From their heading, I deduced they might well be the enemy. So I lined up an interception course, checking my tail was clear as the range wound down. I soon saw that they were Stukas, and that whatever escort they might have had, was nowhere to be seen! This would do nicely. Another Spit had got there before me and attacked from below, with no result that I could see. Now it was my turn! I rolled right and went for the beggars. ...to be continued! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
33LIMA 972 Posted May 11, 2015 Stukas! To digress for a moment, the Stuka interception in the peerless movie of the Battle is naturally one of my favourite film sequences (no matter that the pilots snatch their triggers and the dive bombers are large radio-controlled models - and D-models by the look of it, rather than the B variant of 1940). In what other movie would you see a completely mad Spanish pilot, flying a 109 with a Merlin engine, all but wrapping a fence round his prop, so low is he when strafing Hurricanes in front of a simulated French chateau? Meanwhile, back at my own particular 'Stuka party' (as the RAF fighter boys dubbed these combats) I selected the right-hand dive bomber and closed rapidly from behind and slightly below. I wanted to get a virtually no-deflection shot while keeping the rear gunner’s field of fire masked by his tail. I’d rely on a fast closing speed to reduce the risk from the gunners in the other Stukas in the flight. In the last few seconds I started firing, short, sharp bursts. My second one certainly hit him; he flew on but his left wing root burst into flames. I gave him another quick burst, setting the whole centre section on fire before breaking left and down at the last minute, avoiding a collision by a whisker in my anxiety to make certain of a victory while I had the chance. Behind me, the two crew bailed out of the stricken dive bomber and down he went. Got him! I pulled up and around, clearing my tail again. No point in getting shot down myself now; I wanted above all else to make it back to brag about this one in the Sergeant’s Mess. One very definite kill would do very nicely, for my very first combat. The expected retribution from a swarm of angry and protective 109s failed to materialise. The Messerschmitts were there, all right...just not where they were most needed, at that point in time. They certainly looked the part, though, featuring a variety of authentic and well-rendered skins for real Battle of Britain units, like these 109s from Jagdgeschader 54... ...and then, there's this equally finely-skinned bird, from JG 51... They may lack bump-mapping and dynamic shadows but with such fine artwork and the latest cockpits and 3-d model refinements, the aircraft and environments of Il-2 today are still really lovely things to behold, worthy of something you might see in a fine aviation painting. In the continued absence of a fighter escort, evidently tied up by my squadron-mates, I decided I would have another crack at those Stukas. I completed my turn and hared after the retreating dive bombers. My second attack closely followed the pattern of my first one. Including the outcome. There was some return fire, but it didn’t hit me. I certainly hit my target, again firing several short bursts in the last few seconds before breaking off sharply. Two Stukas down! Time to go home, i quickly decided, saving whatever ammo I might have left for self-defence. I turned back north, leaving the Stukas, some still with their bomb loads for whatever reason, to the attentions of others. Back north towards the coast I flew, glad of an area of operations that was relatively easy to navigate, with little need to call up the map. I steered cautiously past the scene of the earlier fighting, listening to the now more intermittent radio traffic from the combat. I suppressed a slightly guilty feeling that I was slipping away from the party, reminding myself that my ammo was likely just about gone. Soon my leader was calling out a course back to the east so I knew they had called it quits, too. I saw a distant aircraft flit across my nose heading that way, and took him to be one of ours. Once back over land I turned east too and was soon looking out for Warmwell and other traffic entering the circuit there, over to my ten o’clock. Needless to say I was now quite keen not to end a successful mission with a mid-air collision. I turned left to stay away from possible trouble and flew north with Warmwell on my right, to let the other Spit land and get permission to do so myself. This was quickly granted and wasting no time, I turned sharply 180 degrees and into a tight left-hand circuit. Soon, I was turning onto my final approach. For some reason, the big grass airfield is marked out with white strips down the middle. While these markings look to indicate a sort of north-south landing strip, when you get close you can see that each white strip seems to be edged with what look like small wooden stakes, such as might rip your tires to shreds. This didn’t happen then I landed in the marked zone on my first, familiarisation mission but this time, I took no chances, and set her down on the grass to the left, drifting in over a couple of Spits near the boundary that looked like they might have had a little traffic accident. Once down, I pulled back the canopy and steered slightly left, to where I could see a stationary green and grey Spit - likely one of the new cannon-armed Mk V jobs – sitting at the end of a hangar. As good a place as any to pull her up, I thought, so that’s what I did. Looking back, I was startled to see a dark cloud of smoke. An accident, behind me? Had somebody crashed on landing? I hoped I’d been no part of that! But perhaps not an accident at all - tracer fire whipped up from somewhere to the left of the smoke. Looking for its target, I saw three specks zipping right to left about a mile off, maybe a couple of hundred feet up. As I watched, they pulled up and away. Seemingly, the 109s had tried to catch us napping, perhaps in revenge for us doing the same to their Stukas. It didn’t last long...and just as importantly, whatever damage they might have done, they didn’t get me! I'd live to knock back a few pints in the Sergeant's Mess, after all! Thus ended my first ‘Spitfire Scramble’, with the results screen confirming my kills. No medals yet, but at this rate, it shouldn’t be long...assuming I survive, that is! One thing is certain - I'm much looking forward to the next mission in a campaign whose aircraft, airfield, settings and action all rather beautifully evoke the heady days of that historic summer and autum of 1940. Tally ho! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mooncat 1 Posted May 12, 2015 Great stuff! I think I need to reload IL2 and read up on the CUPS install Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
