Battle of Britain: Monday 15th July 13:50

 "Collins was unlucky enough to be the only one fuelled and loaded when another scramble came. The weather was tolerable with a bit of cloud and Collins soon found the bandits - 3 Ju88s heading over the coast having just completed a raid"

This was based on an encounter between Ju88s from LG1 who were intercepted by a lone spitfire after bombing the Westlands Aircraft works. The Luftwaffe had to get as many planes as possible off the table, Collins had to shoot down as many as he could.

Collins is rated with a Regular pilot rating the Ju88s conjured up 2 Aces and a Regular. The Luftwaffe's good rolling continued into set up with 2 of the Ju88s starting in an Advantaged state.

Turn 1

Collins decides the situation does not require subtlety and comes in fast and hard inflicting a hit on a Ju88 and with a failed save the Luftwaffe aircraft goes down a level. The Germans all get a chance to fire using their turrets but the Hurricane is too swift and nimble for their gunnery.

Collins opens the engagement

Turn 2

The advantaged Ju88s move first this turn and go full throttle for the table edge. Collins gets another shot at the Ju88 he hit last turn but misses. He then burns advantage to ensure he gets on the bomber's tail but his subsequent shot also misses. The Germans blaze away with their defensive guns but it proves ineffectual.

The Hurricane gets in behind the flight of Ju88s

Turn 3

Nothing much happens this round. The Germans all move first and Collins uses his turn to up his advantage level ready for turn 4.

An uneventful turn

Turn 4

Collins gets in behind his target and lets off a burst - its a hit! The German fails and this time it means one of their engines has been knocked out slowing the aircraft for subsequent turns.

Turn 5

Collins persistence pays off this round. Another hit and the damaged Ju88 plunges into the Channel. Confidence up Collins tries for the flight leader but misses. The Germans again fail to register a hit.

One bomber downed another in his sights!

Turn 6

The first Ju88 fires with no effect. Collins' first round of shooting misses but his second inflicts some damage on the flight leader but he must have got too close as he in turn takes a hit and fails to save!

The Luftwaffe and RAF exchange boom chits

Turn 7

The Germans move first with the flight leader managing to inflict another hit on the Hurricane. If Collins fails he will have two boom chits and have to break off. In keeping with my habitual dice rolling standards Collins fails, so this will be his last turn in combat. He doesn't make anything of it missing with both shots before turning his Hurricane round and nursing it home.

Collins dives away and heads for home

Luftwaffe win - 2 aircraft escaped

"'Heavy escort was there, sir'? Collin's mechanic asked when he saw the number of holes in the Hurricane's  airframe. 

'Eh, yes...,' Collins replied somewhat sheepishly, '...a fair few but I got lucky; you know spun, dived... bit of throttle.'

The mechanic didn't look as impressed with Collins' piloting skills"

The Battle of Britain Campaign Page

There's a new page on Khaki Drab allowing followers of the Battle of Britain Campaign to see exactly how 327 squadron is doing. It gives a quick rundown of the active pilots:

And a Roll of Honour:

Along with links to all of the sorties so far. The page can be found here.

 

Battle of Britain: Sunday 14th July 15:00

 "Gold section scrambled at 14:45. Stukas were attacking the convoy Booty off Eastbourne. Chaps arrived just as the Junkers started to dive on the convoy but were bounced by their escort as they closed."

This is based loosely on an actual attack made famous by a radio commentary by the BBC's Charles Garner who stood witness on the cliffs at Dover. A recording of the broadcast can be found on YouTube.

For this battle 327 sent in Gold Section; Reed (flying Y), Blaiden (X) and Buckley (H). Facing them were four 109s, and three Ju87s that were about to dive on the convoy.

Starting Positions

Turn 1

As ever with first turns in BRS this was a quick one. All but one of the 109s ended it advantaged. Gold Section split with Buckley heading for the bombers and Reed and Blaiden bracing themselves for a head on pass with the escort.

End of Turn 1

Turn 2

Battle is joined! The Luftwaffe leader closes on Reed guns blazing, causing a critical hit. Reed fails the save but gets to shoot back as the attack is head on - misses. A boom chit to the RAF.

Critical hit for Reed!

The other three 109s close but are just out of range - luckily for Reed. On his turn Reed manages to fly through the 109 barrier without further incident, Blaiden, however, may be in a lot of trouble.

Buckley gets in amongst the Stukas and out manoeuvres one of them. However, he can't prevent them attacking convoy Booty. The bombers have a mighty fourteen attacks but only one hit! A lucky escape for the merchantmen.

Boom chits: RAF:1    109s:0    Ju87s:0

Blaiden in trouble!

Turn 3

Turn 3 starts with the German 109 leader performing a 180 turn and coming up on Reed's tail. With no wingman Reed is immediately disadvantaged but the Luftwaffe pilot fires wide!

German leader tucks in behind Reed

The other 109s gang up on Blaiden following the same maneuver, a 180 to bring them onto Blaiden's tail. The first one shoots and misses! The second has a deflection shot that results in a boom chit for the RAF. Because it is a deflection shot Blaiden has nine dice to avoid being shot down.

The Luftwaffe gangs up on Blaiden

He fails and his plane explodes.

That's the RAF with more boom chits than engines so the game will end this turn.

Buckley gets a chance to shoot at a Stuka and gets a hit but its saved. He then moves behind a second Stuka and fires this time shooting it down. This means the Stukas would also retreat at the end of this turn but, given they had already dropped their bombs, this was their plan anyway.

Buckley tries to extract some revenge

This left the 109s controlling the skies over this little piece of the Channel at least.

Boom chits: RAF:3    109s:0    Ju87s:3

Finishing positions

"Reed had seen Blaiden's plane explode. The C.O. gave him a grilling at dispersal but Reed was adamant - must have hit the petrol tank, big flash, no parachute."

Battle of Britain: Saturday 13th July 17:30

 "Convoy codenamed Bread was attacked by Stukas and 109s. Green and Blue Sections arrived at the convoy just as the bombers were making their approach."

This game was based on an encounter which took place that day. At 17.30 twelve Stukas from II/StG 1 accompanied  nineteen ME 109s from II/JG 51 attacked a convoy at Dover.

The setup was simple with Green and Blue sections from 327 facing directly across from the Lutwaffe elements. Unlike the previous convoy battle the opposing forces were arranged on the long table edge only four feet from each other instead of six. So battle would be joined a lot more quickly. The convoy was arranged slightly closer to the British side.

The German Ace

327 had six aircraft:

• Green Section: Bourne (A), Jameson (F), Ball (H)
• Blue Section: Davis (D), Robson (X), Fraser (Y)

The Luftwaffe twelve, six Stukas (2 Aces, 4 Regular) and six Me 109s (1 Ace, 4 Regulars and 1 Rookie). 

Green on the left

The Luftwaffe line up

Turn 1 followed the usual Blood Red Skies routine with everybody trying to climb for advantage. The ME 109s tried to get ahead of the Stukas to engage the Hurricanes before they could close on the Stukas

Blue Section over convoy "Bread"

On turn 2 Fraser tried and failed to outmanoeuvre the German Ace. Nobody else was close enough to try anything. By the end of the round all fighters are in an advantaged state which means the Luftwaffe Ace will get to move first next round. 

Nothing much happening here

And straight away the Ace outmanoeuvred Fraser causing him to drop an advantage level and allowing the Ace's wingman to get in an attack. This was a head on attack which in BRS means the target gets a chance to fire back but on this occasion everybody missed.

The German fighters attacking Green Section manage to drag down Ball's advantage level. Meanwhile Blue Section burst through the Luftwaffe fighter shield delivering a boom chit on the way. This meant that Blue Section could go after the Stukas next round.

Blue Section on the cusp of a breakthrough

Turn 4 starts with everybody ganging up on Davis of Blue section with two 109's performing 180s to get on his tail and start shooting. Fortunately for Davis nobody hits partly as Davis plays the Hurricane's robust card lowering the number of attack dice.

The Germans clearly need some shooting practice, after failing to hit Davis they have two attacks on Green Section which again fail. Another 109 has a deflection shot which are hard to succeed in due to the large number of defence dice but finally the Luftwaffe inflict a boom chit on the RAF.

Fraser gets a couple of shots off on the 87s inflicting one boom chit. Bourne fires and then gets in on a Stuka's tail and fires again, neither are hits. Then the game turns against the bombers. Blue Section's Jameson fires on an already disadvantaged Ju87 which fails its save and Jameson has a kill. He then burns advantage to get on the tail of a second Stuka, let's off another burst and the second Stuka of the round goes down. 

Not the position a Stuka pilot wants to find themselves in 

This means the Stukas have more chits than engines and so will break off their attack at the end of the turn but before they go, one of the rear gunners puts a hit on the Hurris.

End of turn 4. The Stukas have been hit hard, the 109s are regrouping

The Stukas are gone, it's a straight dog fight. The two advantaged 109s move so they are now heading for the Hurricanes again. Everybody else is climbing or turning for position this turn with little firing until right at the end when Jameson outmanoeuvres the Rookie 109 and Bourne nips in and shoots him down! 

This time a 109 feels 327's guns

Turn 6 starts with the German ace immediately getting on Davis' tail but once more missing (an Ace? really?). 

A large dogfight ensues

There's a head-on exchange between a 109 and Bourne with the Luftwaffe pilot coming off worst. Jameson and Davis both manage to avoid the attention of a 109 as the Luftwaffe continue to demonstrate abysmal gunnery.

Turn 7 started with a head-on pass between Bourne and a 109, boom chit apiece.

Head-on attacks are effective but perilous for the attacker

One more and the 109s will exit. But just then the Luftwaffe start finding their marks. The Ace hits Davis and soon after two 109s manage to get hits on Jameson. Finally, another 109 gets a bead on Davis and suddenly a Hurricane is plummeting towards the channel.

Davis is shot down!

At the end of the round the 109s have 6 boom chits the RAF 7 meaning both sides will break off but its a very narrow Luftwaffe win.

"16 seconds of ammo doesn't last long and, guns empty, I opened the throttle and headed for the coast. I did notice Davis had managed to ditch, have to hope the convoy picked him up."

Battle of Britain: Saturday 13th July 15:00

"Red section were flying over a convoy near Lyme Bay. Nothing much seemed to be happening until Collins spotted a flight of ME 110s vectoring in. Unfortunately they'd spotted the Hurris too and turned to meet them..."

On Saturday 13th July at about 15.00 Hurricanes of 238 and three Sptifires of 609 Squadrons encountered a large enemy raid over the Channel. The enemy formation included the first use of ME 110s in numbers during the battle which seemed as good a reason as any to introduce them to 327's Red Section.

The set up was simple, three versus three, no advantage both flights start facing each other.  

Very straightforward set up

Turns 1 and 2 went quickly with both flights hurtling towards each other and climbing to get advantage.

Nothing much has happened... except they are getting closer

Turn 3 finally saw some action. The German flight leader outmaneuvered Fletcher-Hove who despite being the Squadron Leader for the Brits was the worst pilot on the board. Reynolds tried to return the compliment on the German but failed. Luckily for F-H neither of the other German pilots could manage to get in range for a shot!

There was a little shooting in Turn 4 and a few outmaneuver attempts but everything seemed to fail with my infamous dice 'magic' ensuring that the two flights made their first pass of each other without anybody accumulating a boom chit.

Turn 4 - a lot of graft for no returns

Start Turn 5

Reynolds started Turn 5 by burning advantage to turn 180 degrees and then reducing the advantage level of one of the 110s. This left that 110 vulnerable to a very lucky deflection shot from Collins who not only gave the Luftwaffe their first boom chit but also (after the German pilot failed to roll a single 6 on 7 dice) shot it down.

Collins takes advantage

Next turn started with the German leader having a good shot at Reynolds which missed. The remaining 110 wingman made no such mistake, playing a heavy hitter card his cannon shells battered into the Hurricane causing it to flip over and crash into the Channel!

Reynolds' sortie comes to an untimely end

In Turn 7 F-H tries to avenge Reynolds and manages to cause a boom chit but this is saved. All others are trying to find a position from which to make an attack.

The C.O. manages to hit something!

In what was the final turn F-H proved that the previous turn was no fluke inflicting two more boom chits on the 110s. Both are saved but the Luftwaffe had enough chits now to mean their morale was depleted and with no more shooting the Germans sped off towards France and safety.

"Hard to guage F-H's mood on landing. He grunted at the ground crew, grunted at the chaps in dispersal, found a phone and started grunting into that. I guess he was trying to find out if Reynolds had been picked up or not but he doesn't seem to be a sharer our C.O."

Battle of Britain: Friday 12th July 12:30

 "Blue Section was scrambled to defend a convoy. They reached it before the enemy and managed to intercept Stukas forming up for an attack”

This was to be the first big(ish) game. A single Hurricane section was taking on six Stukas and two 109s. The Luftwaffe simply had to reach and drop bombs on a convoy represented by some very tiny ships I had acquired and quickly painted up in grey.

The convoy steaming through the Channel

Starting positions were straight forward, the Hurricanes stationed above the convoy and the Germans entering from the opposite short edge of the six by four mat.

The Hurricanes arrive to protect the convoy

Six Stukas and Two 109s start points

The first three turns were bereft of action. By setting up along the narrow edge there was plenty of room to manoeuvre before contact. The 109s used this to their advantage to get ahead of the Stukas and ensure that the first shots would be between them and the Hurricanes. By the close of turn three only one not in an advantaged state was the 109 wingman who had burned advantage to accelerate towards the Hurricanes.

Positions at the end of turn three

Turn four saw the first bit of action, both ME109s attempted to outmaneuver Davis the flight lead. The first manages this but Davis regains advantage after his move, he subsequently passes his saving roll for the second attempt.

At last combat begins!

Finally turn five saw some shooting. The German ME109 ace attempted to get on the tail of a Hurricane but failed. Davis managed to reduce the Stuka's flight leader's advantage level allowing Fraser a deflection shot on him - its a hit. In Blood Red Skies a hit always results in a boom chit but not necessarily a reduction in advantage level. Because deflection shooting is more difficult and the Stuka pilot was an ace, the Luftwaffe man had to get one six on ten d6 in order to save. But of course I rolled the dice and probability tends to nip off for a cuppa when I roll the ivories and the save failed. This left one Stuka in a disadvantaged state.

End of Turn 5

The ME109 ace saw his skills pay off at the start of turn six. Finally he got on the tail of Davis automatically reducing him to a disadvantaged state. It got worse for Davis, by the end of the turn he was isolated with the two 109s for company.

Meanwhile his wingmen were busily reducing the advantage levels of the first flight of Stukas. But although another boom chit was inflicted, probability had nipped back into the room and the Stuka flight leader not only saved but escaped the melee and managed to get back into a neutral stance.

Hurricanes get in amongst the Stukas

Turn seven saw the ME109 ace set up Davis so his wingman could have a pop! Fortunately for Davis the gunnery was not what it should have been and he survived. Fraser tried to reduce the advantage levels of a Stuka from flight 2 and Robson got a shot in resulting in another hit but its saved. Still, the boom chits are starting to mount on the Stukas - three so far.

Davis in a lot of trouble

By turn eight the Stukas have nearly reached the convoy.

Target in sight!

The 109 ace gets a deflection shot in on Davis with six dice and misses. Robson gets to take a shot at his Stuka again. Another hit and this time the Stuka crew's luck runs out and they are shot down. 

First kill of the day!

The gunner does squeeze off a burst as Robson's firing and the RAF have their first boom chit! However, the Stuka squadron has five boom chits and five engines remaining another hit and they'll disperse.

And that comes quickly, Robson moves and finds himself on the tail of another Stuka; blazes away and has another kill! Two in the one round.

And a second!

That's it for the Germans with the Stukas morale exhausted they dump their bombs, break off and scuttle back to France.

So close...

So lucky...

 "All three planes came back. Robson did a couple of victory rolls over the airfield, so we knew the news was good."

Battle of Britain: Thursday 11th July 08:30

"Gold Section was sent up to patrol above a convoy. Forty minutes in they were vectored to intercept approaching Stukas but before they could reach them they were bounced by two ME 109s. First anybody new of them was when the cannon shells started…"

This encounter is based on an engagement between 501 Squadron, flying Hurricanes, and some ME 109s. 501 were patrolling above a convoy off Dorset on the morning of 12th July when radar spotted inbound bombers which turned out to be Ju 87s. The Hurricanes turned to face them but before they could engage were jumped by enemy fighters.

The set up was simple, Gold Section led by Dermot Reed was flying in vic formation and two ME 109s were deployed behind them. I didn't have much hope for 327s performance given the results of the previous two sorties and none of these games were going to be particularly fair.

Starting positions on new sea mat!

And it didn't start well for the RAF, two aircraft being disadvantaged from the set up rolls and the Luftwaffe closing fast. The first 109 got a bead on Buckley (flying X), maneuvered onto his tail but completely missed.

Buckley gets lucky

The second bandit could only get a deflection shot in which also missed.

The Hurricanes broke, Buckley and Reed climbing to get to neutral and Blaiden who started advantaged burning some of that so he could perform a 180 and face the enemy.

Positions and the end of round 1

Round 2 - the Germans continued to close but didn't have advantage so couldn't shoot. The other two Hurricanes burn advantage to face the enemy. No shooting occurred.

Near miss!

In the next round one 109 made a head on attack on Reed resulting in a saved hit but in this game that's still a boom chit.

The first head on attack fails

The second 109 also made a head on attack on Reed and hit him. This time Reed failed his save and became disadvantaged.

Blaiden was next to move burning advantage to get on the tail of a 109; he fired but missed.

Blaiden gets in behind a 109

Buckley moved and tried to outmaneuver one of the enemy but failed.

The turn ended with the RAF having 2 boom chits and the Luftwaffe none.

Next turn started with a ME 109 getting behind Reed who was still disadvantaged. Fortunately for Reed and the RAF the German pilot missed.

Blaiden was still on the tail of the other enemy fighter and this time he hit! The German failed to save and, as he was already disadvantaged, was shot down. 327 had their first kill!

327's first victory!

They also had their first victory, the Luftwaffe now had two boom chits and only one active plane, so the game concluded at the end of that turn with no further shooting occurring.

501 didn't fair so well in reality. A Hurricane and pilot were lost. The Stukas were intercepted by six Spitfires of 609 Squadron but they in turn were hit by a large escort.

"F-H was delighted that 327 had opened its score. As soon as we were stood down the lot of us decamped to a pub a couple of miles from the airfield. We were on our second or third pint of something peculiar when Collins turned up, hardly a scratch on him after his escapades yesterday. His re-appearance boosted the sense of celebration. I think F-H was pleased to see him, though you wouldn't know it from the greeting, 'Where the hell have you been?' he bellowed followed rapidly by, 'And where's your bloody kite?'"