IL-2: 3 Sqn SAAF in East Africa

[33LIMA]

Flying a South African Air Force Hurricane against the Regia Aeronautica in a WW2 backwater

 

 

Notwithstanding the mounting excitement around upcoming new sims, there's still plenty of life in classics like IL-2. I for one was keen to try out a couple of new campaigns released by Greybeard which featured a little-known theatre of operations, Ethiopia and eastern Africa. Here in 1940, Musolini's forces staged an initially-successful offensive into British-controlled territories that was soon rolled back after some stiff fighting, in the air and on the ground. I decided to make a start flying for the victors, in a campaign which puts the player into the cockpit of a Mark 1 Hawker Hurricane in Number 3 Squadron, South African Air Force. The campaign announcement is here:

 

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3864227/No_3_Sqn_SAAF_in_East_Africa#Post3864227

 

I much prefer to fly IL-2 with the Dark Blue World mod. This campaign uses a particular version of the Dgen campaign generator by Asura and although it likely works in DBW I decided to make this my first outing with the Team Diadalos patched version. Before installing DBW I had taken a copy of my IL-2 '46 install (a simple cut & paste operation gives a fully-functional second install) and I patched this with the latest official patches and then the TD patches, to get it fully-up-to-date, then installed the DGen mod and the campaign.

 

Here's the briefing for the first mission. I was assigned to lead a section of three Hurris on what the USN would call a Combat Air Patrol from our base on a rather barren, possibly volcanic, island off the coast opposite the opposing front lines. Clear enough, although the squadron was described at one point as an 'eskadrilyia' (Hungarian?) and the briefing didn't mention the presence of friendly aircraft, whose radio chatter I began to hear early in the mission.

 

 

Anyway here we are, lined up and good to go. The recommended skin is quite superb, don't you think?

 

 

Without further ado, I locked the tailwheel, tested the controls, and started up. Flaps set, I opened the throttle gradually to reduce swing, and was soon airborne. Gear and flaps up, I swung right into a climbing turn inland, and having put on a couple of thousand feet, levelled off and throttled back on a course just off north, waiting for my flight-mates to catch up with me.

 

The island base is nicely done; in fact it reminds me of the old RAF verse, that goes like this:

 

'A little bit of Heaven fell from out the sky one day

And landed in the ocean, oh so very far away.

And when the air force saw it, it looked so effing bare

They said 'THAT'S what were looking for

We'll put the squadron THERE!'

 

 

We didn't have long to wait, for the enemy to show up! While my wingmen were still some way behind, I head the call on the radio 'Fighters! One o'clock!'. And there they were - two specks to my right front, about the same level. I gave the others the command to get stuck into them, and turned into them myself, as they appeared to do likewise.

 

 

The enemy was a pair of Fiat CR42 biplanes and they were short of neither manoeuvrability nor aggression. I gave their leader a fairly wild burst from my eight Brownings as they whizzed by in a frontal pass but it was no time at all after that before one of the b***ers was above me and shooting, ignoring the tracers from ground MG fire.

 

 

For some reason, he then rolled away, perhaps distracted by one of the others. This gave me the chance I needed, and I didn't waste it. I chopped the throttle and rolled in after him, being careful not to push my Hurricane - which I had found in test combats to be prone to stalling - too hard. I got in a good burst and though he was in my sights only briefly, it was enough.

 

 

Breaking away and taking stock, the sky seemed clear of enemies, so my comrades had evidently got the other impertinent Italian airman. I ordered a reform, and was relieved that both my chaps answered the call. Relaxed but still alert, I steered south towards our assigned patrol area, throttling back again to let them close on me before gaining height again as we headed into...what?

 

 

...to be continued!

[33LIMA]

Part 2 - the Italians fight back!

 

As we headed south, I had a little while to admire the IL-2 environmental effects, which are still truly lovely to look at and among the very best. What I didn't like so much, was that my number three, though undamaged, had been slow to catch up and was still lagging. My little force was small enough without it being caught dispersed, in the event of another threat materialising. We had got away with it once today, against that pair of Fiats. I didn't want to have to chance my luck a second time. 'Come on, number three, close up!' I urged him, mentally.

 

 

In my anxiety, I took the liberty of calling up the in-game map. As I fly 'map icons on' (but labels off, in the 3d world) I consider this the equivalent of asking a ground controller, with access to reports from the ground and the air if not also from radar, for an update on the air situation. And this is what I saw:

 

 

You can see my Hurricane in white, swinging south, with my trailing number three in red behind (it can be hard to get used to the IL-2 convention that the Allies are Soviet red, while the Axis are the blue normally reserved for friendlies in NATO practice). There's also a red, friendly flight heading north, at the bottom edge on the map. But as you can see, there are two blue, enemy flights heading into our airspace, coming in the direction of our island base. A bombing raid, perhaps?

 

It wasn't long before I could make out two pairs of specks hanging in the skies, more or less directly in front. They closed fast and aggressively, and it wasn't long before they were identified on the radio as incoming fighters. Here we go again, I thought to myself, four of the beggars and my number three lagging well behind. Not a good start but there was no chance for any fancy tactics to get a better position; the four CR42s barreled right into us and the fight was on.

 

 

Same form as last time - a slashing head-to-head pass, a hasty burst at one of the biplanes as he flashed past and just as hastily, tapping out the order for a general engagement. Throttle wide open, I pulled up and around after them. One of the Fiats had gone low and I was on to him quickly, firing as my sights came briefly on, desparate to clobber him before he used his superior agility to get away from me again.

 

 

I got some hits on him and he leveled off, trailing faint white smoke. YESSSS!

 

 

 

With three other enemies somewhere behind me, I knew that indulging in target fixation at this juncture was about the silliest possible thing I could do. One last burst and then I'm off, I said to myself. Bad move. I fired again and failed to knock him down. Deciding I'd pushed my luck far enough, I broke down and away. Too late. Much too late.

 

 

I was now in rather a spot of bother. I pushed the nose down and tried to dive away. One of the nice things about the IL-2 early Hurricane is that it replicates the engine faltering from the carburetor flooding under negative G. Not only that, but while it splutters you get two nice little brown smoke trails from your exhausts. The effect is almost exactly what you see and hear when that real-life Hurricane does a victory roll over a column of French refugees in the opening seconds of the film 'The Battle of Britain'.

 

Superb attention to detail. But not what you want, when you are trying desperately to escape from a bunch of Italian aerobatic aces determined to nail your hide to the proverbial wall.

 

 

I hoped superior diving speed would quickly get me away but it wasn't long before I was hearing the unpleasant metallic whack of heavy-calibre machine gun rounds hitting my poor Hurricane, which was soon leaving behind it a dark streamer of smoke. It was all the more mortifying that the bloke trailing white smoke, far from being down and out, was leading the pack which was snapping at my heels. Hurries are stout machines by repute but she couldn't take too much of that medicine.

 

 

All I could do was continue my dive towards my base and hope that if I failed to outdistance the Fiats, I might lure them over our airfield and gain the support of its defences. But the flames reached my fuel tank before I managed to reach my base, so it was time to part company with my machine.

 

 

That was about it. I was credited with my kill from the first air combat but Fleming, my number two, was wounded and my own kite was obviously a write-off. I'm going to have to be a bit less incautious in future engagements with these Italians in their nimble little aeroplanes. I'll need to adopt tactics which take better advantage of my superior speed and firepower and don't play to the enemy's strengths.

 

 

 

To adapt that old Roman saying, 'From IL-2, always something new' and this campaign is a welcome change in pace and a great addition to the many already available. Definitely recommended!
 

[MigBuster]

nooo - the shame of getting had by a biplane! 

[33LIMA]

nooo - the shame of getting had by a biplane! 

 

AND it happened again, tho at least this time we managed to clobber the Fiats and my kite wasn't a write-off - overconfidence, leading to bad tactics and underestimating the enemy...bound to end badly...

 

 

Oh the pain...the pain!