Retribution: A Bombing of Berlin

[RAF_Louvert 101]

After the daring daylight raid by a lone Boche two-seater on the harbor at Dover, it was immediatley evident that retaliation was in order. To let such an afront stand unchallenged would devastate morale. And so a plan was devised as we sat around the dinner table that evening, a plan that involved striking at the very heart of the Fatherland. We would bomb Berlin!

 

We contacted the Commander of 100 Squadron as he had a full compliment of FE.2b's at his disposal, and all were rigged for night duty. We outlined our proposal to him, and being the daring fellow that he was, he jumped quickly onboard with the whole affair. He recommended that GHQ not be informed of the operation until afterwards, as the Brass Hats would likely never give the go-ahead on such an outing, (smart man). Realizing the limited range of the Fee's, arrangements were made to have a trio of the 100's allotment ferried across the North Sea and landed at an airfield near Ribe, Denmark. My crew and I took the boat trip along with our kites, and after they had been unloaded and properly tuned up we flew them up and over to Svendborg for a refueling stop. Then on to a covert field that had been prepared for us at Gedser; a small Dansk community situated on a spit of land jutting out into the straights of the Baltic, and the closest point to the Hun mainland.

 

 

 

 

We chose a night with a full moon, a bomber's moon, in which to work our mischief. A crisp fall breeze was lightly blowing from the northwest, and barely a wisp of clouds hung low on the horizion. 1:30 was our time for take off, and my boys were ready and willing for the task at hand.

 

 

 

We warmed the engines. My gunner/obs Sgt. Shewtum readied his office, then gave me the thumbs up. I throttled up the Beardmore and it roared out its approval. We were off!

 

We climbed up and over the Baltic, keeping the moon off our port wing, and in just over 15 minutes time we saw the coast of Germany slipping beneath. Rostock sat dark and quiet below, they were clearly not giving us any notice. We continued our ascent until we reached 8,000', and at this height we could coax about 80 mph out of our buses. With the breeze behind us that meant we should reach Berlin a little after 3:00.

 

 

 

 

We flew on, over Lake Muritz, then followed the Havel River for some miles, all the while doing our best to hold a true 156 compass heading. And, after the alloted time, there it was, the northern outskirts of Berlin!

 

 

 

 

Unlike the small towns to the north the capitol city was not quite caught napping, and while the defenses it threw at us were rather light, they none-the-less kept us on our toes.

 

 

 

I throttled back and glided down to 6,500', aligning the Fee directly towards the Stadtschloss. While we had decided not to bomb the royal palace itself, we were going to drop our eggs close enough to get some attention. Kenny and I picked out a cluster of industrial buildings situated on the opposite side of the canal from the palace as our target, and as I held the bus straight and true to the Sergeant's signals, the drop point was determined, and away went 130 pounds of the King's finest greetings. Then the wait. While it only takes about 15 seconds at that height and speed for the bombs to reach Mother Earth, when you are hanging about over a very unfriendly burg that would like nothing better than to blast you from the night sky, it seems like an eternity.

 

 

 

Then suddenly...there it was. Hits on the target! (Ironically, the palace itself was just coming into the crosshairs at that moment...oh to have just one more little egg for Wilhelm.)

 

 

 

 

The other lads let go their cargo in quick succession, and as I made the turn back north I could see they too had caused some consternation for the Kaiser. As we bobbed and weaved along, we took great satisfaction in the fires we could see burning below. That should take some of the starch out of 'em!

 

 

 

 

After getting away from the range of the searchlights and AA, we made a course change to towards the west for a while, just in case any Boche scouts were on the way to intercept us. We then turned and set our real heading back to the north and made best speed across the hinterlands. If we were being followed, they never got near enough to do anything.

 

The sun was just cresting the eastern horizon as we slipped once again over the straights. Our bomber's moon was now high in the sky and fading in the morning light. It had served us well.

 

 

 

Upon approaching Gedser, I throttled back and glided down towards the makeshift field, and as I turned to land the morning sun was painting the water a golden hue. The warm glow gave a welcoming feel as we touched down on the dewy morning grass. We had made it back to tell the tale. There would be celebration tonight and a fair amount of toasts raised to Willie's bad luck and our own good fortune. Take that you crafty Allemanders!

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

[stumpjumper 3]

bravo bravo

[Rickitycrate 10]

Lou, great job of not taking it laying down. Yes, the affrontery committed by Bullethead in crossing the channel to commit his dark and evil crimes, demanded an answer. I'll say you gave back in good measure sir! Jolly good for you. I sense this may become a bit personal. Good show!

[Olham 164]

Vatt hav you done? Bombing der Kaiser's Stadtschloss?!?

Don't you know, der Bullethead is an American? You should have bombed der Statue

off Liberty in New York harbour, you should!!!

[Dej 17]

And some very nice pictures for the album too. Good job you had your camera with you.

[Hauksbee 103]

A bold initiative indeed, and a clear warning to all to turn back from this madness lest it become common practice.

[Hasse Wind 46]

Great pictures and story!

 

But I wonder if they even had such searchlights in Berlin during WW1 - there weren't that many Entente planes capable of flying there and back again, only one Handley Page (V/1500) comes to my mind which had such a long range, and it came into service too late to be used against Berlin.

 

 

Edit: I'm pretty sure Denmark would pay a high price for allowing the Brits to use their territory...

Edited September 7, 2009 by Hasse Wind

[Dej 17]

Edit: I'm pretty sure Denmark would pay a high price for allowing the Brits to use their territory...

The very point I was about to add. I'm sure our British 'higher-ups', not to mention the Germans themselves, would take a very dim view of compromising Danish neutrality. Better keep this one 'under wraps'... you'll get a gong no doubt, but not until the war's over.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

That's why I made the point about it being a covert airfield. There, and then gone, like a will-o-the-wisp. Did you really see what you think you saw, or does it recede into the mist before your very eyes? As to getting a gong come War's end, well I'll worry about that then, assuming I haven't gone west before the bloody thing ever closes. And it's amazing how many promises made before the conflagfration really got rolling can now be broken with a few cases of good Irish whiskey and several pounds of first-rate pipe tobacco.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

 

[Bullethead 12]

Zo, now der Vorld finally zees zhe Atrocities of die Britischers! Not kontent mit starvink our Vimmenz und Kinder all zhese years mit zheir illegal und unmoral Blockade, now zey rezort to bombink zem in zheir beds! Der Vorld hast ingored zhe Blockade, but it kannot ignore zhis bombink!

 

Und zhose back-stabbink Danes! Zhey just THOUGHT Bismarck settled der Schleswig-Holstien kvestion! Vunce ve haff zaved der Vorld from zhe barbarisch Britischers, zhe Danes vill pay!

 

==================================

 

Seriously, good show, Lou! . And I find it cool that the Fee was the 1st to bomb Berlin.

 

How long did this take you in real time?

 

Now, where did you get a Fee with a working bombsight, let alone one with crosshairs? Last time I looked, the Fee's bombsight was a solid gray screen with no view of the ground at all. And do you have a bombsight with crosshairs for the DFW?

 

If OBD ever comes out with a Home Defense expansion, I'll give London a try. But until I can warp part of the way, I'm out of the strategic bombing business. Flying for hours over the water isn't much fun for me.

Edited September 7, 2009 by Bullethead

[RAF_Louvert 101]

Bullethead wrote:

Now, where did you get a Fee with a working bombsight, let alone one with crosshairs?

 

I was wondering when someone was going to ask me that.

 

I took a liberty there with the screenshot and added that after the fact to duplicate what I do use when bombing with these planes. I incorporate the old RB3D trick of a bombsight overlay for my monitor, which when in place looks pretty much just like what I am showing in the picture. I took a clear, flexible film cut to fit my screen and added the graduated crosshair lines and circular mask. This film will suck itself down onto the screen due to static and because it is cut to fit it lines up dead center every time. So, when I start my bomb run, I have my plane all trimmed out to fly level and true, I hit F3 for invisible cockpit, drop the film onto the screen, and using my Track IR simply look straight down and try to hold myself as still as possible as I approach the target. I have a rough table figured out as to when to release based on alt and speed, and I use the hash marks to determine when to drop based on that table. Works pretty well, and likely about as accurate as what my WW1 counterparts had at their disposal.

 

Now then, as to these British war atrocities you're claiming? "Hello Mr. Kettle. I'm Mr. Pot. My, but you're black."

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

[Bullethead 12]

I was wondering when someone was going to ask me that.

 

Good trick. Do you have day and night versions with different colored lines? I can imagine the effort that went into making your table of speeds and altitudes to use your sight--I've done similar things in other games, and swore never again .

 

When I first learned of OFF's bombsights and discovered that the DFW (the only plane where it actually works) didn't have crosshairs, I dug around looking for its texture with the idea of reskinning it with crosshairs. But I couldn't find it anywhere, at least not with an obvious name, so I gave up on it. Besides, if I'd put crosshairs on it, I would then have felt obliged to go and and spend a lot of time doing practice drops to develop the type of table you've got, so I could upload the whole thing as a complete package for folks to use.

 

It appears, however, that the DFW's bombsight is much more complex than just an overlay mask around a downward view at a fixed angle. I'm thinking some CFS3 WW2 stuff still exists in it. I've only used it a couple times, but it seems that the center of your view is always where the bombs will hit, regardless of your speed, altitude, or even angle of attack. Also, if you use the rudder while in the bombsight, you don't seem to bank the plane nearly as much as you do otherwise. But I could be wrong on all this and just lucky where the bombs have landed.

 

Anyway, it's too bad the Fee's bombsight doesn't work. It looks like OBD WANTED it to work, but either had to give up on it or didn't have time to finish it.