The week that was

IL2 Campaign - RAAF, 1942 New Guinea, P40E

I have flown my third mission over Moresby. I actually played it most nights, having up to three attempts at the mission per night. The situation is that a small flight of 4 x P40s (Kittyhawks) take off as their airfield is bombed by about 20 Japanese level bombers escorted by a flight of fighters. My plane was being shot out from under me or I was crashlanding with a damaged plane. I kept replaying it until I managed to at least land my damaged plane in one piece before progressing to the next mission. I occasionally got shots on target but didn't succeed in shooting one of the bombers down before I made my forced landing.

Renaissance Kingdoms

General Dracmuller spent several hours per day in the process of rebuilding the Galloway Regiment. He has appointed the necessary skeleton of staff, issued basic standing orders, planned and got underway a major regimental peacetime maneuver - 'Operation Drummore'. You will hear more of this as it unfolds. Otherwise, just the usual puttering around my various scottish haunts and at least an hour a night spent in a pub chatting and encouraging town activity.

Blog Roll Blog Posts of Note

DM as alchemist, neat summary.
Quiet times, social occasions and the rhythm of Dwimmermount.
John gets excited about Claymore '09.
Another DMG is sighted in cyberspace.

I don't know if it is just me but there seems to be a bit of a sense of community developing within the small part of the gaming blogosphere which I frequent. Hard to put a finger on it exactly, but seems to be something changing...

Flying High Again

After a long long time and much thinking about it I finally took to the virtual skies again in a P40E Kittyhawk over New Guinea on Il2-Sturmovik:1946. Escorted a bunch of B17s from Morseby down to Milne Bay, took about an hour and a half to fly there and back again. Only saw a few enemy way out on the horizon. Bombers hit their target. I crashlanded safely.

Took a little while to get the hang of the controls again but it was a reasonable first mission after such a long break.

Wargamer's Delight

Before I launch off into another RK story, I should say that I'm flying again on IL46. Not a lot and not online, but am enjoying the feel of the virtual wind beneath my wings and the clattering life and death experience of stalking german bombers in my russian fighter plane. Still not a great pilot, but am building a bit of technique up. Beats me how some of the pilots I've seen can be so good!

Back to RK.

One of the joys of this historical MMPORG is the sense of wheels within wheels, layers within layers, always something being beyond the horizon when one tries to understand how the world works. Some of this is in relation to the 'rules' of the coded game (which admin have let the players work out for themselves as a deliberate act of policy).

Much of this sense of 'a bigger world out there', which generates the immersive effect of the game over time, comes from the forum based structures the various players have created to regulate the community. From the Clans and Guilds and Robber Armies to trading emporiums, court and church hierarchies, to governmental structures from town councils to National Assemblies, these larger bodies add meaning to the simple day to day actions of so much that goes on. One of these large organisations is the Royal Scottish Army.

Put simply, Scotland's three counties each has a Regimental structure composed of town bands, each commanded by a Band Leader. The Regiment is commanded by a General, assisted by a Councillor. Together with the Field Marshall sitting on top of the structure, the Generals and Councillors form the RSA High Command. The High Command is answerable to the people through the Steward of Scotland, who spends most of his time in the (s)elected National Assembly.

Most of the soldiers, however, are hardly aware of these arrangements.

The guts of the RSA is its town 'band' structure. Each town maintains its own Band, commanded by a Band Leader. They tend to be subdivided into Groups, which are led by Patrol Leaders. Groups perform the daily work of patrolling, guarding, escorting as required.

Thus, Galloway Regiment has about 50 soldiers organised into five town bands of varying strength and ability, performing a range of tasks that requires steady communication and reliability amongst its members. At its peak we had nearly 100 soldiers, but since then there has been an attrition of leaders as well as troops, partly due the stresses of conflicting goals and ambitions, partly due the stresses of frustrating game system changes over the past three months.

Due various ingame (rebellion, going rogue, being sued) and outgame (loss of connection, lack of time) our Regiment has suffered the loss of its last few Generals over the period when we needed them most. This has contributed to a sense of leaderlessness, which is poison to an army.

So, I was asked to become the General of the Regiment, an honour and a privelege. After considering the additional demands on my time and the stresses I was about to subject myself to, I accepted the promotion.

This is a wargamer's delight. It's like all that theory of supply, logistics, training, command being added on top of the more typical 'military' things of maneuver, combat, deception, coded into a game with thousands of players each taking a little role in character, facing off in real time other groups similarly composed. It's getting close to the 'real thing' as far as admin and organisation go.

I'll be filling in on this blog some of the things I do as general in between the battles which hardly ever happen. It's the stuff between the battles that determine who wins them. So I find it all pretty exciting (in an RK, long term kind of way),

Hurricane v Donier 17s

I've been flying again a bit over the past week. Using IL46 flight simulator after a break of several months. Trying again to get my skills up. Doing it slowly. Have created a scenario using the 'quick mission' menus, 3 Do17's flying in near Smolensk and me in a Hurricane IIc trying to shoot them down before they either land or shoot me down, or I run out of ammunition. In maybe 7 hours and 30 attempts I've shot all three down on one occasion, though it was a close thing as I was left behind enemy lines without elevators. Shooting two down isn't too difficult.

Once I can consistently get all three and land back at my base I intend stepping up the difficulty by putting a Bf109 into the mix as an escort for the hapless bombers. When I am good enough to deal with that perhaps I'll go online again and not embarrass myself so much as I did last year!

Return to Okinawa & Ogame Restart

I have just had my first flight in months on IL46, WWII flightsim. Flew a Lightning over Okinawa, rocketing Japanese airfield targets. Hit nothing of value. Shot down shortly after by 200Sagakawa.

It didn't take too long to remember all relevant controls in this 'full real' server. I was able to navigate with no problems. I did feel, however, that i knew way too little about my plane to fly it properly. For example, in the climb with bandit behind i should have got away. But didn't.

I might start putting in the odd appearance in the skies over the next few weeks, and see if I can build upon where I was at skill-wise when I left off last time.

I have also recommenced my Ogame. After almost a week on 'vacation' mode, I am ranked 1394 with 16,297 points.

Online Campaigns

Having so much enjoyed the online dimension of my favorite WWII flight simulator, IL 46, I have finally dipped into the world of serious MMPORGS (mega multi player organised rampaging gaming scenarios).

I have joined two games, Rennaissance Kingdoms (medieval role play) and Ogame (space empire building). They both allow one to join and play for free, although both offer further advantages to players who contribute real dosh to the moderators. As I don't like paying for anything online (the internet wants to be free!), we'll see how it goes.

In honour of the occassion I have created a new collection of links on the sidebar to the left. I will now have to think a bit about my 'category' tags for my posts as, till now, I have been using 'online' as a tag for my flight sims only.

Ogame: My friend, Robbo, put me onto this game. He has been playing it for many many months now. It is a huge intergalactic strategic empire building game, subdivided into a number of 'universes'. Each universe is a discreet game, composed of thousands of players partaking in the struggle for supremacy. It is run from germany, I think, and has a huge following of german players.

I have just started my tilt at the iridium throne and at am present busy developing the planet Aardv Ark to the point where it can build space ships and reach for the stars. Aardv Aark is a fairly innocious planet, the tenth in System 494 in Universe 31. At present I am juggling the development of Metal and crystal mines, deuterium ('deut') production facilities and solar power plants. The accumulation of resources happens slowly over 'realtime', and one can only build or upgrade one facility at a time.

To build anything but basic production facilities (eg level 1 metal mine, basic research facilities) requires you to have built certain other buildings first. At the moment I don't have to worry about that too much, as the only requirement I have for all buildings of immediate interest is the accumulation of sufficient metal, crystals and deut. So I'm presently operating at a fairly base level of resource production and accumulation. There's a world of scientific advances, space travel, intestellar trade and combat and the intercinine politics of alliances and war to navigate in the future. I'll let you know how it goes.

Rennaissance Kingdoms: I came across this whilst surfing, on my second wave of search results into the shores of realtime reality. I've always been interested in medieval and rennaissance history, and I've been a role play gameer for decades. In my rpgs, I've had a particular intertest in low level adventures and adventurers, and the mundanities of my characters' everyday lives. If you take the 'tour' fromthe homepage I've provided a link for, you can see why it is , therefore that I was drawn to give this particular game a go.

This game originates in france and, although not as big as Ogame, still seems to always have at least several hundred players online at any particualar time. It is a bit more commerically oriented I suspect, but we will see how it goes.

For the moment, I am a loinclothed Scottish lad working for my keep in the mines near the new village of Whithorn in the County of Galloway. The only noteable I have ever seen is a candidate for the village mayorship who always seems to be in the tavern where I go with my uncouth accent to purchase bread. My present goals are to earn enough to stay well fed, become properly clothed, seek absolution and venture forth towards the distant centre of civilisation (I am thinking Edinburgh).

IL46: I have flown about five more sorties in the last two nights (realtime). All have occurred in daylight. All ended in grief as I wheeled once too often for one too many attacking dives against targets against which I'd not cleaned up efficiently on my previous runs. In all of them I sustained too much damage from AA fire to do anything but crash. Only twice did I manage to safely bail out (albeit, into captivity). My next step advance in this game will be psychological, knowing when to say 'enough is enough'.

Genova at Night

General Situation: The front has continued to advance in the allies favour to the west of Palermo, on the south coast of Bay of Naples. The allies have captured Monte Cassino.

My squadron of P38s has moved to the southern airstrip on the island of sicily (?). Its first mission is to locate and destroy reported vehicle concentration to the immediate west of the port city of Genoa. The airfields near Naples are a reserve target, in case for some reason we can't find the first.

Genova: I take off on a solo run a couple hours before midnight (server time, that is, (it's late afternoon in realtime)). The silver light of the moon adds a porcelain sheen to the mediteranean ocean, and there is still a faint mustard coloured glow on the western horizon. The diffusion of gold and silver lights in the cloud layers betwen green mountains is beauftiful.

Laden with a dozen rockets, I climb to altitude of 11000 feet for the crossing of the ocean. I am thus able to see the coast from a long way away, orienting myself by the distant docks of Genova. Descending at first to about 6000 feet, I quarter the area in which was reported the enemy trucks. Not seeing them, I descendto 1000 feet and repeat the exercise. The broken clouds above seem to loom threatingly over the hills and mountains, creating dangerous hazards in the diffuse light caused by the hazy conditions. Wind and rain buffet the plane a bit, together with the everpresent black puffs of AA fire, making my fruitless search moderately hazardous.

I lose my orientation once, and have to sudenly pull out of an unintended dive through blinding clouds, only several hundred feet above a rocky mountain ridge rushing towards me out of the haze. I decide to abandon this target. I gather my bearings and head off towards my secondary target, further round the bay, at an altitude of about 4000 feet.

Naples: Seeing Naples from maybe ten miles away, I swoop over it at about 400 mph, looking for any likely ground targets. Not seeing any in the gloom, I bank up and dive towards where my map tells me an enemy airstrip is. Sure enough, I am greeted by small caliber AA fire as I pull my plane's nose around the last few degrees in its diving flight, pushing well over 400 mph as I peer through my gunsight for the telltale flashes of the AA guns. I see it as a useful duty I can do my allied comrades if I take out AA obstacles to their daylight bombing runs. I get to learn to fly my plane at low altitudes, they get a safer run in on their targets.

In this instance I could see the flashes of maybe four separate AA emplacements, clustered around one end of the airfield complex. As I choose one to be my target I notice that there are quite a few undamaged aircraft sheds nearby, and quite a few camoflaged dispersal bays scattered around. In my brief glimpse away from the AA gun in my sights I don't, however, notice any enemy planes on the ground.

I unleash three pairs of 4.5" rockets, about half a second apart, as I swoop over the target gun. One of the last pair of rockets has a direct hit on the emplacement, destroying it in a bright fireball just as I fly over. I am minorly buffetted by the explosion, but suffer no damage. The other nearby guns are meanwhile pouring fire in my direction. I take several hits in my fuel tanks, causing a leak, but the plane is otherwise untouched.

I fly north for about half a minute, steadying both my plane and my nerves, before looping upwards into a diving attack run on another of the gun emplacements. Selecting my target from a distance, I am again buffetted by nearby AA bursts as I approach at 400mph. Again, I unleash six rockets. This time the middle pair of rockets hit.

I immediately start a climbing course for home, kicking my rudder as I go to make me a harder target. I am uncomfortably near Naples. A lot of shells from heavy AA guns explode around me. I am maybe a couple miles out over the Bay, just starting to think I might be able to get my way home, when one of the larger shells gets lucky.

All of a sudden the plane starts a steep dive towards the left, almost immediately commencing to rapidly spin. I have about a second to check if any of my controls work. They don't. Making a snap decision, I hit the eject button.

Falling out my cockpit I have a glimpse of the damage suffered by my plane, most noticably by my left wing. Half of it is missing. Less than a minute later I watch my plane crash into the ocean beneath.

I float down beneath the silence of my parachute canopy. The guns are quiet. I survive the dip in the ocean and am captured. Total time, about 35 min.

Duel with Heinz

Two missions. Daylight. Clear. High scattered clouds. Flying a P38 'Lightning' with rockets on seek/destroy ground attack missions over Italy.

Morning: Skies to myself. Flew up to about 8000 feet over Bay of Naples on direct route to what is reported as an active enemy airfield a few miles east of Limone. Spot it from far away, enter controlled descent to attack run. Airfield appears pretty well wrecked by previous raids against it by others. I fly towards largest group of enemy plane silhouettes, and unload all twelve rockets over it in one attack run. Do a hammerhead turn nearby, returning with to strafe with cannons as i head south towards home. Throughout, notice several AA explosions in the sky, none of them near enough my looping diving plane to cause any worry. I fly a beeline to Palermo, use that as a IP for final turn into descent towards home base in long approach glide. Land in regulation fashion. Mission over in less than half an hour.

Early Afternoon: After checking the squadron notice board I observe that the enemy is destroying more ground targets than we are. So I decide to fly back to Venosa to try my luck again at finding the alleged vehicular targets in the vicinity. After a fairly thorough but frutitless search of the area, I enter a long climbing turn towards Limone.

As I do so I am sent a report of Enemy bomber heading off from either Naples of Milan, heading South. I know that I won't be able to intercept it before it strikes its target, but I might be able to catch it on its return journey if I am canny. I set up a patrol across what I believe will be its return route, flying large circles around an island out of AA range of Naples, covering the seaward approaches of the bomber to its base.

Within five minutes my plan pays off. In the distance I can just make out the black speck of the enemy plane as it returns from its mission. I am flying at maybe 6000 feet (above clouds), roughly level with the enemy. As he approaches, I climb and fly on a course that will bring me onto his tail. I come in from a highish angle, opening fire at a couple hundred metres. Streams of tracer pour out of his tail gun. One of his shells causes a minor fuel leak in my plane. I don't think I hit him.

He continues towards his base. I loop around and try again, braving the fire of his tail gunner. This causes me some more structural damage. Angered at this, I unleash six rockets in his direction, again from about 200-300 metres. They all miss. Taking hits all the time, I close on his rear, pouring MG and cannon fire into his right wing area. And see debris fly off but no smoke. I loop around for another attack run, noting that my fuel leak has grown worse. I am now pouring out a trail of fuel vapour, making me easily visible against the white clouds. I note he is diving away for cloud cover, so I pursue.

Spotting him a couple kilometres away and a thousand feet below, I try for a boom and zoom attack, diving beneath him and pulling up into his belly. Realising what I am upto, the German pilot slips down and into my turn, as I pull up beneath, exposing me to another of his gunners. More hits in my fuel tanks. Some minor damage to him.

I am considering whether to call it quits at this time and head for home while I still have some fuel and altitude (I am still 50 miles over enemy territory) when my plane decides for me. My right engine starts making terrible grating noises. I decide to try and get home.

I peel off from my present attack run and set course for home. Curious, I look behind. There in the distance is my friend Heinz, following me from a safe distance. I am wondering why he doesn't either attack me or fly home when my right engine gives up entirely. I am now flying on one engine.

Throttling down, I take my bearings on the coast and divide my concentration between making an approach run for home and where Heinz is. He seems to be content hovering a few hundred feet above, about half a mile behind. So, nursing my sole straining engine, I enter approach run towards runway.

I have committed myself for a landing and am only a couple dozen feet off the ground when I hear Heinz fly directly over me. Looking up, I watch him pull up his nose so that his tail gunner can hose me with fire. In dodging out from his bullets I lose my alignment with the ground and am forced to retract my undercarriage and pour on the throttle. Thinking 'bugger it,' I start climbing towards his own lumbering machine.

Sadly, I forgot that I had slowed right down to land, and thus find my airspeed less than is needed. Stalling my plane at only a couple hundred feet above the ground, I lose control and crash my machine with fatal results. It is cold comfort that Heinz crashes a couple minutes later, victim of a late arriving spitfire. This mission took about an hour to fly.

Lightning tour - Venosa and Limone (long post)

I flew only one long sortie tonight, about an hour and a half in a P38 lightning, loaded up with a dozen wing mounted rockets. Server time was early arvo, bright sun but hazy and turbulent beneath the scattered clouds at 1500 m. There were no other pilots online over Italy.

I took off from my squadron's base at Tripadi. The spitfires formerly also based here have moved North to near Mesina, a small coastal village twenty miles to the east of Palermo harbour. The front line has moved since last I flew over Italy. Then, there had been german fighters based at Mesina. I suspect they are now based near Limone. This is the Dynamic Campaign Generator at work.

Venosa: Having visited recent pilot logs (available on server) I knew that the red team (allies) hadn't hit many ground targets on the current map. So I obtained a list of target locations and flew towards the nearest - reported transport assets near the village of Venosa, a few miles inland of the the Bay of Naples' most easterly coast.

I used roads, railways and the occasional village to check on my navigation. Took awhile, the patchwork of fields beneath often serving to conceal the landmarks I was looking for. Eventually I located the target area, in a pass between coastal range and the high barren mountains which form Italy's spine.

Circling in at about 1800 feet, I knew there was opposition because there was the occasional burst of heavy AA guns nearby. I, however, couldn't see either the gun(s) or what it/they were protecting. Beneath me was a gentle rural scene, with a small village (Venosa) and many fields. I had about a 10 sqare mile area in which the target was supposedly located. I quartered the valley looking for my prey. To no avail.

On about my third pass over the village, nestled into the western slopes of the coastal range, I spotted what I thought looked like an 88mm AA gun set up near what looked like a school. I loosed off two pairs of rockets from under my wings on my fourth pass. Missing the gun, I rubbled the buildings to either side. Shame,' I thought to myself, and immediately began calculating my next attack run. I realised then how 'disconnected' an act is that of bombing from the air. On my fifth pass I destroyed the gun.

By this time, there was a growing amount of AA bursts and tracer filling the sky around. I made one more diving pass, failing again to spot any targets despite their firing at me. This area was too hot for me now, so I left. Maybe I'll return some day. Waving farewell to Venosa, I flew towards the bay to my west.

Limone: Following the coastline at maybe 2000 feet, its sandy beaches curving towards the Northwest, I observed the occasional village or river mouth pass beneath. Checking these against my map, I eventually turned out over the bay to prepare for an attack run on the port city of Limone.

I still had half my load of rockets. As a secondary target, if necessary, I knew there was a german airstrip to the north of the city. I suspected that Limones might be heavily defended, so I didn't plan to tarry as long as I had over Venosa.

I came in over the ocean at something around 350 mph at 500 feet, finding it relatively easy to study the harbour facilities and look for likely targets. I couldn't see any ships in harbour. Before long, the odd black burst of AA exploded nearby. I watched them impassively, clinically realising that if one hit me that would be my end, and even a close miss would probably irretrievably damage my plane, miles over hostile territory.

I sighted the flash of one of the heavy AA guns by its muzzle flash. It was almost at harbour edge. It looked like its landward aspect was concealed by the large industrial complex behind it.

I sent four rockets into the industrial backdrop, causing a satisfying explosion as I swooped over the still firing gun at high speed. Rubble from the factory was still in the air around as I jinked my plane (to make me a difficult shot to the AA) towards the secondary target.

A couple minutes later I swooped low over the airfield, identifying no assets worth my final rocket munitions. The field appeared abandoned. So I gained a bit of altiuted in a climbing turn back towards Limone. I reached about 2000 feet as I brought my nose onto a bearing towards the 88mm at the distant wharf.

I dived in at high speed, loosing my rockets whilst still at a 45 degree angle to target. I had a clear shot because the factory was no longer shielding the gun from this landward direction. I was bang on target, and was already pouring on the the power in a steep turning climb to get me away from the harbour and on course for home when my rockets destroyed the gun and all around.

I noted that my plane had been more stable aerodynamically at high speed close to sea level than it had been thousands of feet up. But that accords with what I know of compressibility, as the speed of sound is greater at sea level than at altitude (due the greater density of air). Big tick to the Flight Model of IL46.

The return journey over the sea was uneventful. I crossed the south coast of the bay to the west of Palermo, where I had planned, and was able to come in for a three point landing on my initial approach. I switched my engines off about an hour and a half after I'd turned them on.

Over Italy with an Italian

My Polish squadron having transferred from Scotland to Traperi in Southern Italy, I have been enjoying the sunny climes of the mediterranean skies recently. Tonight I flew a P38 lightning, and several spitfires. Not a lot of success with either.

Lightnings are difficult planes to fly. They are also, in their own way, a pleasure. These are the allied heavy fighters which had a twin engine setup, with the pilot inbetween in a fusealge which rests upon the single big wing. There is a twin tail type configuration also. Perhaps I need to get a photo of it? Anyway...

I've been reading a book about the history of this type of plane. It speaks of an early problem which earned it the reputation of being a 'pilot killer'. The problem is called compressibility, and it occurs in very high speed dives. Apparently, some of the air flowing over the flight surfaces cracks the sound barrier (though the plane never does), creating situation where airflow over the wings alters in its characteristics with a consequent almost total loss of lift. Thus the plane goes down. At same time, the consequent effect of the altered airflow over wings leads to almost total loss of tailplane (elevator). Thus one can't pull out of the dive.

I'd wondered whether compressibility was simulated in IL 46. I learnt that it is. Long steep dive into a vertical meeting with the ground was the result. At least there was Adzel in the air nearby in a Machi fighter to get a laugh out of it.

Flight two and three were in spitfires. Adzel shot out my controls on the second mission. I was able to bail out just before my left wing broke off. I watched the wreckage plummet to the earth beneath.

Flight three was an attempted tutorial with Adzel in a spit also, him trying to get me to fly formation. No chance, I'm only just getting to the stage where I can learn basic maneuvers, and probably need to put a bit of effort into learning to see the skies around a lot better. I seem to be losing other planes visually too often for comfort. I put the plane into a pancake landing before exiting.

Farewell Norway

I flew three flights over Norwegian seas yesterday afternoon. 'Taj' (Tajfl, actually, but I just call him 'Taj') from Slovenia was airborne in a german fighter. So I had some real opposition as I flew my beaufighter in from the sunset and declining light of dusk towards whatever naval targets were available. Realising my crate would be no match for Taj's FW190, I resolved to keep my eyes peeled for him and try and stay invisible.

Sunset: I took off in the last fiery rays of the sun, setting over the Scottish landmass. I headed into hotile waters at under 200 feet in clear skies, hoping to not reveal my plane to any enemy on high flying patrol. I also flew on a course a bit south of the direct path. As I approached the Norwegian coast I caught sight of my opponent far far away and several thousand feet above, to my North. He didn't seem to react to me at all. Splitting my attention between the sea while I looked for targets and the sky while I watched Taj fly away, I began to turn towards the north so I could follow the coast. Almost straight away I saw a freighter in the distance. Using trim controls, I maneuvered into an attack run at about 100 feet, all the time looking to my West as Taj vanished into the fiery bloom of sunset.

I dropped the torpedo from a long way away, and was had flown in a long curve north and west before it struck the target. I was nowhere near it, and racing for home on a path to the North of the direct route. Before I reached base, I learnt that Taj had been shot down by naval AA fire. My landing was regulation in its perfection.

Dusk: Confident in my invisibility I tried to repeat my previous mission. The air was full of the red light of sunset. Beautiful. As the Norwegian coastline came into view, I still hadn't spotted Taj. I thought nothing of it. Near where I'd spotted the tanker I came under fire from a motorboat. Circling back towards it I felt some of its shells striking home. More than I'd hoped for. To this day, I don't know if there was another boat in the vicinity or not.

Anyway, I muffed my torpedo run. As I came out of my tight turn to come onto the boat I was approaching from the wrong angle, and my wings were still banked as the ship rushed towards me. Hurriedly I dropped the torpedo, knowing as I did so that I was too fast, too close, too high, too banked to have any chance of hitting him. Not wanting to tarry, knowing that the AA fire would be visible for many miles and draw Taj in his FW 190 like a moth to a flame, I skedaddled for home.

Before long, I realised I had a problem. Although both engines were ticking over nicely I was only managing to go slightly quicker than stall speed, with a huge yaw to the right which kept making the plane wanting to point its nose groundwards in that direction. I was spending most of my concentration on trying to keep plane in the air and flying towards home. I suspect I'd lost most of my tail and possible the rear bits of at least one wing. Not good when you're flying alone over the North Sea with a hostile fighter in the area.

Sure enough, in sight of the green lands of Scotland, I heard the sound of several shells striking my plane from behind. I heard five 'clunks'. Then his shells found my cockpit and the world turned black.

Evening: I can't recall much of this flight. It didn't last long. I flew a Mustang (single seater long range fighter) in the growing dusk towards the target area with a couple of medium sized bombs beneath me, but don't think I'd crossed the front line, when Taj warned me that he was behind me with some bullets flying past my left wing. I immediately dropped my bombs (they slow you down significantly) and threw my plane into gyrations trying to get back over friendly fleet AA guns.

No luck. Taj locked onto my rear and took out my engine. Stranded, I started a long glide towards friendly lines (I had gained a lot of altitude during the chase). Taj was having nothing of this tactic, and put a few more shells into my plane. I had no choice but to bail out, and watched my plane tilt at an increasing angle into a nasty crash in the ocean. Taj waggled his wings on his return journey past me in midair. My pilot was captured.

I did not know it then, but this was my final flight over Norway for forseeable future. The squadron has moved to Southern Italy to participate in the next campaign on the Norwegian Server.

5 flights 4 strikes 3 landings 2 tankers 1 mboat

I flew for about three hours tonight (realtime). Almost the whole time I was accompanied online over the North Sea by 'Wolf', a far more experienced pilot than myself. He lives on the East Coast. Flight time started about midnight (server time) and I disconnected when the first solid glow is visible in the East. Weather again is fine (although Wolf reported fog over the the Northern part of the map around Gossen).

Mission 1: Flew at 10000 feet in semi-formation with Wolf, he bombed and we both returned to base (myself via a pancake landing).

Mission 2: Torpedo flight to strike targets due East about 50 miles. Wolf followed me in at low altidtude to enemy motor boat. I was at wave top height when AA bursted around me, flipping my plane around in sky too much for me to control and I crashed in the sea. Wolf continued the attack, sunk the boat and returned to base.

Mission 3: Torpedo flight, Wolf following, over tankers to East of Oygarden. He peeled off behind me as I entered attack run at about 200 feet, and we struck neighboring ships. We kept up our low altitude run, sweeping onto a course over Herdla field which we strafed with our cannons. We made three passes. I didn't hit anything. The AA fire I drew, however, got me and I crashed in the bay with fatal results.

Mission 4: Lone torpedo flight towards Oygarden whilst Wolf flew north towards Gossen on a bombing raid. I braved some AA to home in on a lone Motor boat protecting the seaward entrance to the inner sea channel near Herdla. Dropping torpedo from about half a mile, the ship had blown up by the time I had set course for base.

I carefully listened to the reports Wolf was sending from Gossen. Heavy and high AA, submarines on direct bearing between our base and the target, very big german warship in bay on Norwegian East coast.

Mission 5: I set off with torpedo to hunt reported subs on bearing of 35'. I don't find any, so head east at 300 feet until I hit the main enemy island chain and then head towards where the enemy battleship was reported. I don't find any battleship, but do spot a tanker to the North East in the large bay to Gossen's South. With all the time in the world, I excute a long sweeping curve to release torpedo a couple hundred metres from target, and then sweep on up and over it and to home.

At different times during the evening there were various other pilots up in german planes. Not too many of these pilots were able to cope with the combination of full real and night time. Natal was up for about an hour in a FW 190, raiding our field at Peterhead. I never saw him, however. Phew!

Predawn Duty

Flew two online sorties before dawn (server time) in beaufighter. No other pilots share the skies with me (the flightsim world generally appears a bit quiet tonight).Usual drill: try to find and torpedo enemy shipping close into the Norwegian Coast from my base in North Scotland, and return without being shot down by enemy AA fire. As usual, weather was fine and predawn light quite sufficient for flying 400 feet over the ocean at 280 mph by compass bearing.

Sortie 1: light is still relatively dim, although brightening as flight continues. I think I'll get one more flight in before the fog closes in around the airfields. Turning my mind to the task at hand, I locate the southern end of Norway's seaward island chain. About 10 miles to its west lies an enemy tanker. It appears to be on its own. I take advantage of the fact, sweeping around in a long descending circle, using this as a chance to recce the nearby southern entrance to the channel which forms Norway's inner sea. I see no other targets there, so return concentration to my target tanker as my turning flight brings it onto my forward horizon.

I am flying about 100 feet above ocean now and the plane feels as steady as a rock, both engines humming nicely. I throttle up to maximum as I release my torpedo from probably 3 or 4 miles' range. This is a long shot! I enter a slow spiralling climb, watching the wake of my torpedo over my right wing. Eventually I see it get close to the tanker. I am about 2000 feet above when I realise that it looks very much like missing the bow of the ship by bare yards. Gritting my teeth, I continue my circling, willing the torpedo to not miss. It doesn't. The tanker explodes with a satisfying bloom of flame. I turn for home. Less than half an hour after I departed I return, bringing my crate home in a safe but spectacular pancake landing.

Sortie 2: This time I fly due east towards Norway. The sun is getting close to rising in the middle of the bright horizon ahead. The clouds are taking on a slight pinkish tinge as I cross into enemy waters at about 500 feet altitude. I know from past experience I will need to be fairly quick or I will have to land in the fog which will soon be rising. Dropping closer to the ocean, I search for a target.

Out of the corner of my eye as I examine the seas over my right wing I spot an enemy boat. I can't identify its type, but can see the bright orange streams of its tracer bullets heading towards me. I am end-on to the ship. I throttle up, and begin slowly weaving up and down as I enter a circling path that should lead me onto the target for a torpedo run at a reasonable range, without giving him any clean shots.

Half way through the maneuver, however, I spot an easier target. Freighter, dead ahead! Range, under a mile! I drop the nose of my plane, level out at about 100 feet, dropping the torpedo from a couple hundred yards. Dead meat, the ship explodes seconds after I have passed over it. Staying low, I make a beeline for home trying to beat the fog.

I sweep in over the Scottish coast at about 600 feet, complete a half circuit of the airfield to calm my nerves, and make a regulation landing after dropping out of a gentle curve under full flaps onto the centre of the runway.

I call it night. Both because of the time in realworld (have to work tomorrow morn) and on the server (fog will be rising).

The waters off Oygarden

I flew three missions tonight (local time). On Norwegian server my first flight occurred at night, my second just as the predawn glow begins to dominate the Eastern horizon, and the third occurred just as the the light level began noticeably improving, clouds started turning rose coloured, and I could switch off my cockpit lights.

There was always at least one german plane flying while I was in the air. At one point there were six pilots, four germans (FW 190 (fighter), He 111 (bomber) and two Me 110s (heavy night fighter)) and two allied (beaufighters). At no stage did I see any other fighter, though I heard them take off from my dispersal area and saw the explosion as one of them crashed. Certainly changed the dynamic of the game though!

Sortie 1: I head ESE to check out the extremity of the island chain. I fly at about 700 feet above the ocean, eyes peeled to the likely route of enemy aircraft to my North. Eventually I wheel up into the channel between the outer islands and the coast proper, and immediately spot a missile boat. I have dropped into my approach runbefore he starts to fire at me. My torpedo has thudded home and I am pulling up and away back to the Northwest before any of his bullets strike. I feel smug as I pull out of effective range before he is blown up by the torpedo.

I shouldn't have smiled, because I was immediately flying through a constant flak barrage for the next several minutes. I threw the plane around the sky a bit to avoid the worst of it, but still emerged at about 1000 feet without any rudder. Could be worse. I fly home, but find it difficult in the dark to properly locate myself for the perfect approach run that would be required to land safely without rudder. I am close, but not close enough, and flip my plane on landing into a nasty burning wreck.

Sortie 2: This time I strike at the Northern end of Oygarden Island, roughly 60 miles ENE of my airfield at Peterhead. This time I enter enemy territory at about 600 feet, and drop down to 400 on trim controls as I start searching for prey. From a distance of several miles I spot a tanker in the bay I had been attacking last night. I swoop in unnoticed, and am able to confidently drop my torpedo from a distance of a couple of miles. I sweep back out over the ocean in a level bank and am long gone when the exploding ship lights up the predawn darkness with an early orange sunrise. I again take a slight deviation for my trip home at under 500 feet so that I'm not entirely predictable to any FW 190s that might be drawn to the recent explosion in an attempt to get me. I make a regulation landing on my field.

Sortie 3: The sky is as bright as it's going to be for several hours. From past experience I know that this is likely to be the last sortie before the fog rises and makes flying too dangerous. There are also four german planes in the air somewhere, so it is going to be quite a challenge to get in under their noses and wipe out another of their ships. I take heart, however, that my low level flying seemed to make me pretty invisible to flak as long as I didn't fly right over it.

This time I head out to the North East, turning out at sea to sweep into the bay (at the mouth of which I'd got my tanker) from the North, crossing Oygarden Island at only a couple hundred feet above its fields and villages. I rely upon my speed to protect me, but spot nothing of interest on the island nor, for several minutes, in the waters to either side of the island chain. Eventually I notice a fishing vessel in the channel to my left, and wheel in and take it out with my torpedo. I think briefly of using my cannons and continuing on to find a juicier target for my torpedo. I reject the idea upon consdering the beacon effect my cannon fire would have upon any enemy fighters that might be in the area (I am flying offshore of Herdla airfield at this point). So, I loose my torpedo and wheel around for home long before anyone has noticed my presence. The fishing boat blows up several minutes after my departure. I am not shot at at all for the whole trip.

For some reason I don't understand I fudged the landing, found myself bouncing almost out of control towards a line of parked planes. Not wanting to destroy them with my crashing wreck, I force my bouncing plane in the other direction. I snap my undercarriage, and slide out of control into a parked truck. We catch fire, and the plane explodes before I can scramble out.

The Strategic Dimension

Norwegian Server's Norwegian map has renewed itself, with a new set of targets and defences. Each 'map' seems to stay online for about 60 hours before renewing itself, the set up on the new map being partly influenced by player actions on the old. To affect the ground war, and hence the front line, becomes a strategic goal of one's air actions. Bombers (including torpedo bombers) take on their historical war winning role.

Fighter aircraft too find their role being expanded to cover more of the historical 'types' of aerial warfare than the traditional dogfight map allows for. Interdiction, air defence, denial of territory, ground attack, combat air patrol, intrusion, recce, sweep - all of these types of sortie become relevant in game terms, no longer relying upon the good will of players and their willing suspension of disbelief - a pre-requirement for many single scenarios to 'work'.

This is one of the reasons I like campaigns so much, I enjoy the strategic dimension.

The downside (if you can call it that) is that a lot of players want a 'quick fix' and thus head to the popular dogfight channels in preference to the long navigational flights, counterpoised with brief moments of surprised terroror, which is typical of the campaign experience.

In my mind, the time invested to derive the benefit is well worth the payoff in terms of enjoyment.

Dawn scurry

Flew two beafighter missions in the immediate pre-dawn air over North Sea. Took off on similar bearing to previous flight, aiming to sweep across one of the main approach routes up the Fjord system to Herdla and try and clear any picket subs or patrol boats from the area.

Sortie 1: Air clear and crisp, visibility good. Fog not yet risen. Navigate off compass and map for 20 min, including dogleg section and descent to 1000 feet as I enter target area from the North. Targets should be well lit and the sun not directly in my eyes. Soon, I am engaged with what appears to be a sub beneath me, its AA clustering around me but failing to hit. I am a bit rattled, never the less, and muff the approach run. I can't even remember the release of the torpedo, but know it missed.

As I swept up and away out of the danger zone I am braced by AA hits, losing my right engine and feeling as though there's been some damage to the tail. I limp back towards base, relying on my one engine and the heavy use of all control surfaces to make up for my damage. My speed and altitude both slowly decline, and the challenge is on. My plane keeps wanting to veer off to the right, which makes it a constant struggle to keep any kind of bearing. Eventually, at half the speed and altitude I had had upon departure, I limp back to my base. At low altitude and with flaps the irregularities in the planes control surfaces magnifies itself. Sadly, I only work this out virtually as my wheels touch the ground. Struggle as I might to hold down the front down I can't and I am bouncing out of control down the runway. I dimly realise that this isn't my home field, a neighboring one, as my plane spins out of control across the ground, eventually coming to rest upright in the centre of the field.

Sortie 2: There is just the faintest trace of whisps of low level cloud beginning to form as I repeat my course for a final attempt to clear the seaward approach to Herdla before the fog comes in and makes low altitude flying too dangerous. Without incident I locate my previous antagonist, which I this time positively identify as another U-Boat. Failing to line it up properly the first time I see it, I fly a circuit, dropping in height at the same time as his gunners close in on me. Panicking at the last moments of my perilous corkscrew descent to attack run, I drop the torpedo too soon.

Pissed off, I see it flash harmlessly past the submarine's bow as I dive in on the boat with my cannons. I make a total of three cannon runs, and see lots of strikes. At the same time, I am aware that I am losing fuel out of my right wing, and that the fog is noticeably thickening around me. It will be worse by the time I get home. So, reluctuantly, I leave the sub behind and return to base, leaving a trail of smoke behind.

The fog thickens as I approach home, crossing the coast about 5 miles north and at 700 feet (necessary, because of the fog's increasing affect upon visibility). I circle into an immediate approach run. Perhaps a trifle steep, I manage to land safely on runway 1. My engine is smoking heavily as I taxi to a halt, waving my fist and cursing the wily sub commander who now has his chance to vanish in the morning mist.

Coastline at Mignight (long post)

I have just flown three online torpedo missions over Norwegian Sea. It is mid afternoon local time, midnight on the server. Thus all three flights took place in the dark of night. The moon rose over the period of the three sorties.

Thanks to Wandalen's Dynamic Campaign Generator (DCG), the flights I make on Norwegian server form part of a larger picture, with the results of any particular mission having an effect on what is there for the remainder of the time for which that particular 'map' is up on the server. I haven't yet found the DCG on any other server. The best one can usually hope for on a well managed server are well designed time limited scenarios (which are enjoyable for their own sake, but which also foreshorten , to my mind, the strategic dimension of game playing). Anyone who knows me well knows I like a good campaign!

My slow campaign against german shipping is reducing the number of available targets in future missions, as well as disabling the irritating naval AA screen of fire of german warships (which both poses a direct threat, as well as providing a visual early warning beacon (when they fire tracer, it can be seen for miles) against incoming raiders for any german fighter looking for some action).

What I'm actually trying to do (besides sink shipping for the sake of it) is clear a passage through to the coastal and esturine facilities for the daylight bombers which will no doubt be flying later in the day on the server. Hopefully they'll be better able to make successful raids against Herdla airfield and the associated harbour facility.

Anyay, back to my sorties...

Before Midnight: I took off from Peterhead airbase at about 11:30 pm, intending to sweep the southern seaward side of the Norwegian Island chain. I cruise in at around 2000 feet, dropping down to 1500 feet as I take a long curving turn to end up flying North, parallel to the island chain several miles off my right wing. I can see the glow of moonrise to the East over my right wing, the reflection on the sea beneath lighting up my view consdierably in that direction. As that's where I expect to see any shipping, that's where the majority of my attention is focused.

I quickly realised however that I was taking AA fire from the North, in front of me and fairly close. I drop my nose straight into a power dive, scanning the sealine above my gunsights for the source of fire. I only see the waves rushing towards me, so level out of my dive at about 500 feet. With a burst of orange lights, the enemy vessel opens up again. I can get a clear fix on his location now. Straight ahead. I drop to wave top and steady my sights on him, using my rudder to make increasingly fine adjustments to my course. Once I have him steady in my sights, I release the fish and pull up and away to port. Rapidly gaining height, I kick the rudder to slew my plane around along its course, making me a harder target for the AA which is still following me.

Satisfied with my distance, I bank to the vertical on my left wing and swing around to the south. This allows me to watch over my left shoulder the track of torpedo and the subsequent explosion as it strikes the enemy patrol boat. Satisfied, I head home. I eventually land safely, but only after having to abort three faulty landing approaches. Not sure what was wrong but I was always too fast or too high until my fourth attempt, and even then I crunched my undercarriage and ruined my propellors as I slid across the verge of the runway (thank heavens this occurred away from the dispersal areas of the numerous stationary planes based at the field).

Midnight: I return to the site of my most recent sinking, and take up the hunt to the hunt to the North. This time I scour the oceans to the immediate East of the coastal islands at an altitude of only about 1000 feet, trusting to my undivided attention and methodical manner to ensure I don't provide an unwitting target at point blank range for Kriegsmarine mariners.

I am rewarded after several minutes of anxious peering into the night when I see a freighter dead ahead. I descend steadily to torpedo altitude, and release the fish only about a half mile from the target. It has blown up by the time I am able to bank around for a look. With only a spreading oil slick to mark my passage, I return home and make a reasonably regulation landing.

Moonrise: My final midnight sortie is a bit more cunning than the previous two. The fact that I flew so far before sighting the tanker on the previous flight indicated to me that other pilots have recently been busy in the area. Therefore, probably not worth my while returning there. That's when I decided to instead look at the seaward opening of the complex of fjords that lead to Herdla and Bergen as they exit the island chain into the North Sea proper.

So I fly on a direct bearing for this target area, sweeping north before I arrive at it so that I can circle in and make my approach run through the bay in a southerly direction (allowing potential targets to be lit up by the moon, low on the horizon). I have just commenced this maneuver when I observe AA guns being fired from a ship at about 10 o'clock. Too far to be too effective, I am flying fast enough that I immediatly have to decide whether or not to attack.

I take a punt, and convert my navigational turn into a diving attack run. I kick the rudders several times (metaphorically speaking) slewing my plane back and forth along its flight path to put off the enemy's aim. Tracer flies past to left and right, seemingly missing me by inches each time. My luck holds, and I am now close enough to identify the target as a Type VIII U-boat. Nasty.

I release my deadly load at close range, swooping up and over the boat. It continues to fire at me throughout, shooting a hole in my right fuel tank. My plane is shuddering a bit at the explosions around and things don't seem that good when my torp strikes home behind me, sinking my opponent as I fly away. I don't have time to breathe a sigh of relief however, as my path is taking me over the mouth of the bay. Where there's one u-boat, there's often more.

If there was another u-boat, I saw nor felt nothing of it, and was able to bring my plane onto course for home without further incident. My right wing is leaking a stream of fuel into the night. I hope the engine keeps turning until I land.

It does. I navigate across 70 miles of ocean to within a kilometre of where I want to be, and am able to put my wounded plane onto the ground in one gently sweeping landing approach.

A good night's hunt.

Midocean at Midday

Flew two brief missions in beaufighter over North Sea at around 3 am local time. Server time was 1130 roughly. There were two other pilots initially, a mosquito flying from Peterhead and a Me 110 from Helda. They seemed to be involved in variously attacking shipping and each other down near the german base.

Sortie 1: I fly due north past the tip of scotland, locating myself over map (roughly) by flying at a steady speed for a certain time on a given bearing. I turn East, hoping to come in towards where I suspect some tankers might present juicy targets. Instead I bump into a submarine, first noticing its AA fire from about 1500 feet. I have to do a 180' circuit to circle in onto its beam at several miles. Too long and too predictable, he has me in his sights as I start my low approach (under 500 feet). Rattled, I take too long to line him up from too far away and are knocked out of the sky by his defensive fire destroying my controls. I note with grim satisfaction that the grid reference of my demise is that which I had intended to be in at the time.

Sortie 2: The lone german pilot has switched to a FW 109 fighter plane. I believe he is about to try and hunt down our bombers. He knows where it was I was last shot down. He might decide to patrol the approaches to that spot. He might, on the otherhand, patrol the seas near our airfield, or the target area of my comrade in the mosquito. I therefore opt to fly further north, and come in towards the same location I had last time on a bearing of SSE rather than E (as previously). Coming in like this would allow me far better observation of likely paths of approach of any FW 190 intent on 'ambushing' me.

All theory, however, because while flying in a straight line and working it all out at only 1000 feet, I flew directly over a sub I hadn't noticed. I was shot out of the sky, again losing various of my controls to their accurate fire, before I'd realised what was happening. I guess at that range, they couldn't miss.

Perhaps I'm fatigued after a pleasantly busy day. Who knows. In any event, I'm off to bed.

Predawn (Norway)

I've just flown a couple missions in the afternoon (real time) - which is night time over Norway. Wandalen has jigged his server a bit and it is again updating its stats pages in realtime. Sadly, however, while he was out boating for a few days (possibly in the very same seas I was flying over in the virtual world), his sever didn't capture my great victories of recent days. Let's see I can keep it up now that the eye of the server is again upon me!

Night: Flew East with a torpedo, believing that there might likely be more target ships in the area. I was right, spotting a couple of submarines. I circled in to have a go at one once I realised which way it was facing so that I could come in on its beam. I think I completed one circuit of the target too many, however, as I gave it and its companion too much time to fire too many shells at me. Inevitable some of them hit, and I lost control in my attack run to crash in the sea nearby.

First Eastern Glow: Returning to the area as soon as I could (about 15 min later), I approached more cautiously from further south towards where I had roughly fixed the location of the U Boat. I overflew a freighter entering the channels between the islands at about 2000 feet, mentally marking its location for my future attention. I steadily descended to be about 1000 ft by the point where I expected to be able to fix target location visually. Imagine my surprise when, as I spot the U-boat in the distance, I am opened up on by a surface ship directly ahead of me, midway between myself and the U-boat.

Making a snap decision, I decide to attack the more immediate threat and increase my rate of descent to several hundred feet per minute. I level out about half a mile from the ship, coming in on it's stern. This is a difficult shot, not much of the ship presents itself to me. Thus, I have to fly far closer than I usually would. luckily, because I am coming in on the stern, not all of the ship's guns can shoot at me as I approach at point blank range. I release the torp from a couple hundred metres, and zoom up and out of there at full throttle. I hear the sound of the explosion of my missile destroying the motor boat as I straighten out on a bearing that will take me home. Landing is a bit hairy as my tailwheel is locked when I touch down, but I come to rest safely on the verge of the field.

Moonrise: The moon is rising, casting light sufficient to conceal the faint sun sign on eastern horizon. I head back on an almost identical course as previously to attack the tanker I'd seen. This time, I keep to below 1500 feet, and curl effortlessly into attack run at wave level. I release the torpedo about a mile from the target, a nice fat tanker! This gives me enough time to bank up and away, watching the silver track of my torpedo in the moonlight and the bright orange explosion as it buries itself in the enemy ship. Not wishing to prolong my good fortune, I return to base and make a regulation landing - cross coast at 1000 feet, reduce throttle and altitude as I turn onto runway approach, cross the runway line at about 100 feet, 15% throttle, drop flaps and roll to a halt just near where the turnoff to my dispersal point is.

I seem to have got the hang of landing the beaufighter, flying by instruments, trimming the aircraft to fly where I want it to with minimal effort. These are all good skills which I hope to translate onto the dogfight channels in not too distant future.

Predawn (Realtime)

I fell asleep early last night and thus awoke at around 3 am. What else should I have done but hopped into my online cockpit and gone for a flight in my Beaufighter over Norway?

I must have been in a bit of a daze because, as I write this, the details aren't too clear in my mind. So this will be very brief mission report. Both sorties occurred in mid afternoon (server time), only light broken cloud at about 4000 feet and otherwise a clear sky.

Sortie 1: I was only pilot in sky, and went for a recce with rockets. I unleashed them at a freighter which had made its way into the channel I had been attacking in before dawn, to no effect. I then overflew Herdla airfield, checking out how I would mount an attack on next flight. Return to base was uneventful, the seas pretty cleaned out of enemy shipping in the area.

Sortie 2: I was joined in the air by Sandy from Norway. He was flying a FW 190 from Herdla airfield. He took off just before I did.

With an enemy fighter in the air I didn't take the direct route to target, but instead flew north aways and then turned east, swinging in to attack my target from the (hopefully) unexpected direction of the North East. I managed to avoid the fighter on my way over, but again got confused in the clouds of flak exploding around me as I passed over the nearby port facility. I did however notice a particular cluster of AA guns on a point of land jutting into the channel as they peppered my plane with shells. I disposed of one with my own cannon before being riddled with shells myself. Fuel pissing out, elevators gone, fire in my starboard motor, I crashed into the South side of the bay.

I hope these fighter pilots don't expect this bomber pilot to try and make it easy for them to find or get me!