Flying the new Westland Whirlwind in IL-2

[33LIMA 972]

A campaign mission in the RAF's short-lived twin-engined fighter

 

I thought I'd fill time to my next report on IL2 WW1 mod DBW 1916 by posting my impressions - in the form of a campaign mission report - of a recently-released and very welcome addition to IL-2's Second World War planeset - the Westland Whirlwind.

 

 

Children of 'the Airfix Generation' like myself will likely know this aeroplane from the great kit-maker's 1/72 scale incarnation. The aircraft itself wasn't a great success. It was built around an engine - the Rolls-Royce Peregrine - whose development was ended early. The Whirlwind's relatively short range left it with few advantages over the Spitfire once the latter had begun to carry reliable 20mm cannon, which weapon was apparently the main requirement behind the design. The Whirlwind served operationally with only a couple of RAF squadrons between late 1940 and late 1943. However, its performance, though falling off at higher levels, was apparently very competitive in terms of speed, general manoeuvrability - and of course, firepower. Survivability was also well regarded and the short nose and clear-view canopy gave outstanding pilot visibility. Having seen the release announcement for the Whirlwind developed by modder 101tfs and others, I was keen to check out the IL-2 version, in Poltava's aptly-named 'Reaping the Whirlwind' campaign:

 

http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,37163.0.html

 

Having installed the necessaries in my IL-2 '46+DBW 1.71, including the recommended C&C mod which (as I was soon to confirm myself) amongst other good things helps ensure missions can replay differently, I fired up the campaign's first mission, eager to get off the ground and into action. Here's the mission briefing, which is written in the style of a personal narrative and while not very military, is nicely crafted:

 

 

I'm not an expert on IL-2 campaign flavours but the campaign is evidently a 'DGen' one, accessed via the IL-2 campaign menu option, and not just a set of single missions flown as such. One of IL-2's limitations (compared, say, to CFS3) is the breaking down of theatres into relatively small maps, but the one used here gave good coverage of the English Channel area, including much of southern England and a good swathe of northern France & Belgium.

 

And so to the flight-line! I'd have preferred to have found myself leading the flight but it looks like I'm not the briefing's diarist, rather the new bloke being taken up to be shown the ropes. Perhaps if I had chosen a higher starting rank than the one recommended, I would have led.  Anyway, we started at RAF Warmwell, in machines with correct squadron markings (for pioneer Whirlwind unit 263 Squadron) and I was rewarded with a very effective rendition of both airfield and aircraft.

 

 

I don't bother with complex engine management so it was a simple matter to check the controls, set the flaps, start the engines and then hare off after my leader when he took off over the grassy, snow-spattered airfield. I followed as he climbed, turning south to takes us out into mid-channel.

 

 

As we climbed away from the coast, I noticed a straggling line of aircraft at about 11 o'clock high, coming in the opposite direction. They did not react to us nor my leader to them; nor were they being fired on by our AA, so I assumed this was an incoming friendly flight of some description.

 

 

We leveled off and I took the opportunity to admire my machine, inside and out. When I get a chance I will install some of the higher-resolution skins available for the Whirlwind, but she's already a fine sight, inside and out.

 

 

At first, the leg to the south was uneventful, and as the campaign advertises that some missions could see no contact with the enemy, I was beginning to wonder if this was one. So I concentrated on trying to stay in reasonable formation with my leader.

 

 

As we approached the next waypoint, things suddenly livened up considerably. My leader announced the presence of bandits on the RT and broke down and left. I dutifully followed, not wanting to miss out on the action!

 

 

For a little while, I could see nothing of the enemy and kept somewhat behind and above my leader, just in case. Then I saw our target: a large, greenish aeroplane, heading on a reciprocal course, quite low over the waves.

 

 

He was a German, all right, a whopping great Focke-Wulf Condor maritime patrol aircraft, seemingly caught without an escort.

 

 

I was now in a hurry to get a crack at the Condor, before my boss polished him off. I spralled down as he passed beneath, and then rolled out after him.

 

 

Unfortunately, in pausing and un-pausing the sim to take screenshots, letting go of the joystick in between, I lost the fluidity of my pass and screwed up my attack. My leader, free of any such distractions, made no such mistake, and his four 20mm cannon made short work of the big German machine.

 

 

I watched the Condor spin seawards, and was surprised to see a series of parachutes blossom, the last one just before the inevitable waterspout marked the end of this particular Luftwaffe sortie.

 

 

I climbed up after my leader and we returned to our patrol route.

 

 

The rest of the flight was uneventful, and soon we were back in sight of the south coast of England once more, slipping in past the barrage balloons protecting Weymouth harbour.

 

 

I got the 'mission over' on-screen confirmation as - having got permission from Ground Control - I came in for a landing. It wasn't easy to make out the grassy airfield in the countryside but I made it down ok.

 

 

Not the most eventful of first flights in the new Whirlwind but it was an engaging and interesting one and a good intro to my machine and our area of operations. My mount seemed fast and tractable with no vices that I've found so far. Unfortunately, I missed my opportunity to try out her firepower but I'm looking forward to remedying that omission on the next mission! Highly recommended, and Kudos to 101tfs, Poltava and the SAS team for this package!

[JDUK 13]

Nice one! I must get this mod. When I was a wee lad, I used to read the thicker action-comic books. Don't remember if they had a series name, but anyway, my fave one ever was a story about a squadron of RAF Whirlwinds that went East to fight with the Russians. I really liked that story and you never see much about the Whirlwind anywhere - I think most people never heard of it.

Edited October 8, 2013 by JDUK

[33LIMA 972]

You mean this one?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Whirlwind-No-1772-1984-Commando-Comic-67811-/281128604134

 

I very well remember the 'Commando' comics/mags myself, tho I don't recall reading that particular one - my favourite was the one about a tank squadron's battles to stop a column of Tiger tanks escorting one carrying a Nazi atom bomb! If you're into some nostalgia, collections of Commando stories were recently republished as sets in thicker, vinyl covers; you can find them in those bargain bookshop type shops at times or on eBay, along with the originals.

 

That's the great thing about these air combat sims, eh? We get to 'fly' beautiful models of the kits we made and the planes we read about or saw on TV docuemntaries 'back in the day', never dreaming that one day, there would be affordable visual simulators which let us have some sense of what it was like to fly and fight in them. And now, the Whirlwind, too...!

 

You probably need the Dark Blue World mod to get the best from this new bird, besides DBW's a must-have anyway if you haven't already got it. I posted some advice on how I found it best to get this mega mod after the WW1 Nieuport 28 mission report on DBW 1916, if you're interested:

 

http://combatace.com/topic/78684-a-nieuport-28-campaign-sim-by-sim/page-2?do=findComment&comment=631496