Fortress Malta Campaign

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Pursuant to what we were talking about during the meeting, how we organize comms and command and control does'nt matter to me from the mission builder's perspective.

If we want to be all on one channel or split squadron comms, there are pros and cons to each.

Same with whether the 3 squadrons and HQ flight act independently or the CO and HQ directs the squadrons.

The briefs will be structured like this :

1 - List of important events that have occured since the last mission, if any.

2 - Mission date, time, brief - The brief itself will often be very short, sometimes little more than a single sentence order to scramble. It might include some further info on what is occuring on that day or the previous few days but that's it.

3 - Slotting instructions - Once the squadrons are split this will be quite easy, for example the guys from 2nd will know the 249 squadron aircraft are theirs and can start slotting in right away.

4 - Skin option info - Just some stuff referring to what generic skin to use with markings on, what one to use with markings off.

You will not get specific information on the incoming raid(s) until you are airborne. I'm using triggers to display messages that represent communication from the ground controllers, these messages will display on screen for 20 seconds each. They might go something like "Incoming plot approaching St. Pauls Bay from the north, estimate 30+, angels 20, over." So you know the enemy is approaching north of St. Paul's Bay, 30 or more enemy aircraft in the formation and at a height of 20,000 feet. How accurate this information will be will vary, it may be perfectly accurate, it may be a little off.  So that's the kind of info we'll receive and it will be up to us to effect the interception.

Sometimes it will be a single incoming raid, other times it may be multiple formations, multiple waves, approaching from multiple directions. You won't know until you are airborne and start receiving messages from the grounds controllers. So how we want to tackle the threats as the info comes in I'll leave up to HQ and the Squadron Commanders.

DW

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

I'm already scared

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Did we confirm a December 1st start date at the meeting? I was a little late.

DW

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~
   Are the skins out and I missed it?

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

Yes DW, 1 Dec 1940

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

No skins yet TD.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

There is a skin pack out that includes generic skins, it's in the Paintschemes Downloads section. The custom Spitfire skins have not been done yet as we will not need them for some time, probobly not until mid-January. Right now I'm just gathering up the info in that request thread and when the time comes I will do them up and zip them up into one big pack.

DW

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Thanks for the help with the testing last night chaps, it gives me an idea of how the aircraft match up and what we can do with them.

Whats kinda scary is we're gonna first encounter the Bf-109Fs while still flying Hurricanes.   :help-sos-sos-29402:

DW

[_AH_z5o]

Team work. I think that's going to be what decides who goes home alive and who don't when it comes to the 109F4 vs. Hurricanes. Sure not going to get them in a flat all out run. Got to get them turning, maybe chasing someone acting as bait. While his wing sneaks in on the turn.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

We're certainly gonna have to get used to using flaps for really hard evasive turns in the Hurries. Can't leave anything on the table.

We're also gonna need to exploit any altitude advantages we have to the max. If they go down don't follow and pitch back up, target another higher enemy. Force them to burn their energy coming back up to us.

DW

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Here's a thought, campaign nights fall on the 22nd and 29th of next month during the holidays. Are we going to fly one or both of those weeks? I don't know if they are sufficiently spaced from Chirstmas and New Years to be an issue. Something we can yak about at the next meeting.

DW

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~
   For z5o
<Got to get them turning, maybe chasing someone acting as bait. While his wing sneaks in on the turn.>
Usely it was the wing man who was the bait and his lead who sneaks in for the kill. If it did not work out there were always more wingmen around.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

The first mission brief has a bit of a prologue and it's a little wordy, so I figured I would post it ahead of time so you can peruze it at your leisure.



It's always a good day when I can use the word "peruze" in a forum post.

DW

[_AH_z5o]

S! TD,
Kewl, I didn't know that to be honest. Makes since, going to have to try to do that more often.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Beurling wrote a book called "Malta Spitfire". It's an interesting read cause it was written during the war. He was a very peculiar fellow, he was the highest scoring pilot of the campaign, allied or axis. Guy had phenomenal eyesight and was a master at deflection shooting.

Some other books on the topic if you're the reading type would be :

Malta Spitfire Pilot by Denis Barnham - Previously published under the title One Man's Window, as the name suggests Barnham was a spitfire pilot on Malta, kind of the anti-Beurling. He was a very introspective pilot who is quite honest about his fears and his reservations about killing. He was also an artist and did alot of sketching in his diary. I've tried to find digital versions of some of his sketches but have failed so far, some of his self portaits are quite poignant.

Fortress Malta by James Holland - Aside from having a title that makes a great campaign name, this is a recent book that gives an excellent overview of all aspects of the seige of Malta.

Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #83 : Malta Spitfire Aces - This is where I get most of my mission info. This series of books is great for that, they also have some excellent colour plates of aircraft for skinning. These books have alot of dates and figures so they might be a little dry if you are not into that stuff. I also used Hurricane Aces 1939-40 and Hurricane Aces 1941-45 from the same series for a bit of info.

DW