Defence of the Reich - mission 4

[33LIMA]

The heavies are back! 

 

 

Here's the briefing for the next mission in my Reich Defence career, flown as per previous missions in IL-2 '46 + Dark Blue World and the same campaign from FlatSpinMan. I say 'briefing' but it's actually a conversational piece between the campaign pilot Willi Redemann and his boss, followed by what has the appearance of a piece of extended radio traffic, from the local Ground Controller to fighters outbound for an interception mission. 'Furniture Vans' - 'Moebelwagen' in German - is a Luftwaffe radio nickname for heavy bombers, so it's pretty clear that we're up against the USAAF's Eighth Air Force. And from the reference to 'butcher birds' - a little-used name for the Focke-Wulf 190 - it's evident that our Bf109Gs from I Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 1, won't be on our own. Just as well, methinks, even if, at this stage of the war, we're not facing opposition from escort fighters. Big formations of Ami four-engined bombers bristling with heavy machine-guns are no easy meat, even unescorted.

 

 

The briefing map's a bit confusing as it shows two tracks, one leading out from the coast and the other (ours, as it turned out) running north-north-east. Neither appeared to originate or terminate at an airbase, which was a strong hint that this was an air-start mission...and so it proved to be.

 

 

As usual for an intercept mission, I've chosen 20mm gunpods and a droptank for my formation, which as before is a schwarm of four Bf109G2s. The mission started with us in echelon right at the designated mission height, which saved us the takeoff and a long-ish climb to height, though I generally prefer to start on the ground. I throttled back slightly, gave the order to change to 'finger four' formation, then opened up again as my comdades slipped into position.

 

 

As expected, there were at least two other flights on the same mission, which I could see from their contrails, above us. Who were they?

 

 

Using the IL-2 view system to 'have a nosey', I could see that our companions consisted of another flight or two of 109s and a couple of flights of 190s. If I remember my Luftwaffe markings right, the checkered-nose 190s are from 1/JG1 and the ones with the 'tatzelwurm' (which is on the opposite side of the cowling of the other 190s, with the cross-hatched fuselage side camouflage) are from IV/JG1.

 

 

 

 

 

Orders from the Ground Controller reminded us to turn right onto heading 090 when we reached the next waypoint, in which direction we'd been briefed to expect to encounter the American bombers heading home from their raid. Up ahead, the other two flights started their turn and rather than wait till I had reached the waypoint, above the lake just ahead, I cut the corner and turned in early.

 

 

 

I didn't gain much ground; the others must have been at full throttle! Whatever might lie up ahead, it looked like they would run into it first. Fair enough, I thought to myself as I rolled out onto my new course, I tried. So be it!

 

...to be continued!

[33LIMA]

Into action!

 

 

Settling down onto a course of due east at the head of my four Messerschmitts, I stared into the sky ahead. It wasn't long before I saw them - a cluster of faint specks in the sky ahead, like a swarn of static midges.

 

 

I waggled my wings as I lined up on them, trying to judge their course. This looked like a great opportunity for a classic head-on attack, from where the US bombers were least protected and most vulnerable. The very high closing speed gave little time to aim but all I needed was enough hits to knock a bomber out of formation, to be finished off at leasure.

 

 

The specks seemed to be growing in size without drifting left or right - perfect! As the range rapidly wound down, I gave the order to drop tanks. Unfortunately there is no way in IL-2 (that I know off anyway) to order a frontal attack so rather than risk my men breaking off and offering good targets to the Ami gunners, I decided I would lead them straight through with me. If they engaged, fine, if not I'd cut them loose after we were through.

 

 

The last few hundred metres seemed to drain away the fastest. As they did so I hesitated over my target. I had selected the lower left-hand side of the oncoming horde, rather than driving straight into its centre. The nearest vic of bombers was slightly to my right so rather than hit them, I decided upon another pair of bombers which was trailing slightly behind them, more or less straight ahead.

 

 

Picking the left-hand bomber - which I could see as he came on was a B-17 - I let him have it with all guns. Just before he flashed past, I saw the orange flashes of hits on a wing, between wing-tip and the inner engine. Next second he was gone, behind me. 

 

 

I nosed down and banked around, glad not to have taken any hits in return. As planned, I gave the order for a free-for-all attack on the bombers and looked around for my own target. I was excited to see that he was now lagging behind the other B-17 and trailing a thin but distinct line of smoke.

 

 

I was soon pulling up behind him again, cutting across his trail then rolling in for a second attack, this time from astern.

 

 

 

Once again my guns rattled. This time I started with my nose-mounted MGs and cut loose with the cannon when I started to get strikes on him. Taking screenshots and accurate gunnery don't mix too well and in my anxiety to capture the moment, my marksmanship was sadly lacking. I got some hits, for sure, but still the Fortress refused to go down.

 

 

I broke hard at the last minute, nosing down to increase my speed and escape. Again, I was lucky to escape any hits myself, but it looked like I would have to push my luck a third time.

 

 

...to be continued!

[jeanba]

Did you track a frontal attack ?

It requires carefeull planning but it is fun

 

"I broke hard at the last minute, nosing down to increase my speed and escape. Again, I was lucky to escape any hits myself, but it looked like I would have to push my luck a third time."

=> "Famous last word" !

Edited June 25, 2014 by jeanba

[33LIMA]

Did you track a frontal attack ?

It requires carefeull planning but it is fun

 

"I broke hard at the last minute, nosing down to increase my speed and escape. Again, I was lucky to escape any hits myself, but it looked like I would have to push my luck a third time."

=> "Famous last word" !

 

I saved the track of the mission after completing it. Often, tracks seem to play back differently from the actual mission but this one played fine. It provided some interesting pics of my initial attack, which was from head-on...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...but it also seemed to confirm that my schwarm broke off before reaching the bombers and did not follow me through, even though I definitely ordered them to attack bombers only after my first pass. If there is a way of making my flight engage during a proper formation attack from the front, I don't know what it is!

 

 

 

There really isn't enough return fire from the bombers in (I have bomberskill=0 set in conf.ini) but as far as I'm concerned, 'not especially lethal' is better than 'deadly', if that is the choice...lots of scary return fire but not especially accurate (unless you park behind a bomber) would be a good compromise IMHO.

 

Anyhow, mission report to be concluded tomorrow or Friday, when I have more time!

[33LIMA]

The luck is pushed...and pushed...

 

Having damaged my chosen B-17 in my first, head-on pass and hit but failed to finish him in my second, from astern, it was time to have another go. I reversed my turn and dropped back behind and below the damaged Fortress, clearing my tail and generally sizing things up before making another attack.

 

 

 

There was plenty going on. No Ami fighters, but to my right, a couple of our own aircraft had ganged up on another lone B-17, which was already trailing dark smoke and seemed unlikely to be able to hold out much longer.

 

 

Lower down, another lone bomber was struggling, and I was tempted to go after him. But I saw tracers from his tail gunner and realised that somebody had beaten me to that one, too.

 

 

So! Evidently, it was time to renew my acquaintance with the fellows in 'my' B-17. He was now well out on his own but appeared to be maintaining altitude. I straightened up and went for him. Impatiently, I foreswore any attempts at tactical subtlelty. No messing about - up and at 'em!

 

 

 

As I closed, the bomber began a series of gentle turns. I started firing first with my nose-mounted rifle calibre MGs and opened up with my cannon as he got closer, jinking between bursts to put off his gunners, who returned only a few inaccurate rounds.

 

 

 

Once again, somewhat distracted by taking screenshots and still aiming rather too casually, I failed to clobber him hard enough. Again, I broke away. And again, I got away with it!

 

 

This was becoming embarassing. But I wasn't about to give up now. Nor was I going to recall my flight from their own attacks - now, hopefully well under way - just to help kill off this stubborn enemy. I'd knocked him out of formation and now I was going to knock him down, whatever it took. I banked around for yet another pass.

 

...to be continued!

[33LIMA]

Back for more!

 

 

I know B-17s are a tough opponent but it was thanks mainly to very indifferent shooting that - after a head-on attack followed by two passes from astern - my target was still airborne. However, he was on his own and in a bad way. My second pass had removed his right elevator and he now had a hole in his fin that - to borrow one B-17 crewman's pithy description of similar airframe damage -  you could shove a sheep through. Not that such creatures could often be found at this altitude and in the middle of a desperate air fight, but you know what he means.

 

 

My next attack simply repeated the pattern. I closed as fast as I could to minimise my exposure to return fire and jinked between firing, but again, I got only a few hits. In the condifion he was in, I think I was expecting that one or two more strikes would tip him over the edge. But no, he still wouldn't go down! On the 'plus side', return fire was still sporadic and inaccurate.

 

 

 

 

Deciding the next one would settle the matter, I made a more determined pass, holding my course without any evasive action and firing longer bursts. This had two effects. First, I expended my remaining cannon rounds and second, of course, this time I finally I got hit. Oil splattered my windscreen. Bound to happen, really.

 

 

 

 

Nevertheless I had another go with my two 7.92mm nose MGs. Once again I was thinking, maybe a few more hits is all it'll take, for the cumulative damage to send him down. But no such luck! He was losing height but still under control and on my last pass, my MGs fell silent, too.

 

 

 

Snaking around above my doughty opponent, I now reconsidered calling my flight-mates over to finish him off. Seeing them closing up on me, I gave the order, but they were unable to comply.

 

 

Perhaps they were out of rounds or could not identify the B-17. I had some difficulties tracking the bomber myself, as he was still losing height and beginning to drift in and out of sight between the many little cloudlets at lower level.

 

 

All that remained now was to watch and wait for him to crash...I hoped. But I was denied even that. A wingman reported the victory but I saw nothing, the clouds blotting out the B-17's crash site. As the recorded 'track' showed afterwards, the Fortress had finally slipped into a long, shallow spiral earthwards which had ended badly for the big bomber and its crew, none of whom had bailed out.

 

 

 

By this time, my increasingly oil-starved engine was starting to complain, audibly, in the form of the usual grinding, clanking sound. I ordered my flight to break off and return to base - thankfully, all three were still airborne - and consulted my map. The nearest airfield was still some way off but I turned in that direction, gradually losing height as my engine's power faded.

 

 

 

Before long the prop spun to a stop and down I went. The extensively-forrested terrain was a bit of a worry but there were also decent tracts of clearer countryside, in between. I steered for some open ground near a village; hopefully I could catch a lift home from there, without a long hike across the fields. Not needing to get very far, I held my nose down to keep my speed up and avoid a stall.

 

 

 

Turning in to land wheels-up, I was nearly caught out by a little hill that I hadn't noticed earlier but I managed to avoid it. In doing so I ended up coming in faster than planned as well as having to make a late change of forced landing site. In holding her off the ground till the airspeed bled away, I nearly ended up running into some trees I noticed rather late and was lucky my untra-low-level avoiding action didn't cause a stall. But my trusty Messerschmitt behaved impeccably and I smacked down fairly gently. Climbing out, I set off for the village at a steady trot.

 

 

 

This was an enjoyable mission which would have been more fun still if I'd taken more care taking shots and less care taking snaps. Another issue was that I did something wrong before starting the mission - perhaps it was kicking off a different campaign, between this one's missions - that caused me to be presented with repeating the previous mission to this one, though I am quite sure that I 'accepted' its results.. I re-started that one then immediately quit, rather than completely re-flying it; then I moved on to this mission. But in so doing, I lost my kills and medals from mission #3!

 

Unfortunately, head-on attacks in flight formation in IL-2 seem difficult or impossible to set up; while you can make one yourself, your flight does its own thing, in my experience anyway. Still, it was a pretty good show in more than one sense; to my eye anyway, the latest IL-2 visuals still look rather lovely, even without modded effects. As for missions like this one, USAAF bomber formations, while lacking the tightness, precision or intensity of defensive fire of, say, European Air War, make most impressive and exciting foes and I'm certainly looking forward to the next mission with JG1 in defence of the Reich. Watch this space to see if I can do any better, next time!

 

[CaptainMcMuffin]

As always great writing. What version of Il-2 are you using? Do you know if a version of DBW for 4.12 has been released yet?

[33LIMA]

Thanks, Cap'n. I'm on 4.10.1 which I think is the latest compatible with DBW. Haven't tried additional 'The Full Monty' (TFM) mod for DBW yet; the drill seemed a bit convoluted and/or tedious tho it looks quite worthwhile taking the plunge.

 

Apparently a 4.12-compatible version of DBW is in the works: http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,38549.0.html