Sicily Campaign Briefs

Started by AH_DealnDave, March 07, 2018, 06:39:33 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

AH_DealnDave

#60
Nice turn-out for mission - 06, we had 17 pilots altogether !!!  Here is the next briefing to be flown on Tuesday - April 24th.

"Sicily Campaign"
Mission - 07
Date: June 30th, 1943

After Action Report:

Welcome to the island of Gozo, part of the Malta Islands.



The group is now attached to the 79th Fighter Group, flying the P-40E. Well done hitting those enemy planes over the Tunisia Peninsula.  The group destroyed over 40 enemy aircraft, bombers and fighters alike.





Intelligence:

The target today is the port and airfield, at or near, the village of Pozzallo, grid CE-20, pad 1 & 3. Both areas have AAA (med. strength). We also have submarine reports of supply ships heading for the harbor. As before, numerous supply convoys and trains maneuver though-out the island.

Recon photo: Harbor



Recon photo: Airfield



The Mission:

1st Squad (P-40) - will arm with a bomb, then proceed to target the harbor area, CE-20, pad 1.



2nd Squad (P-40) - will arm with a bomb, then proceed to target the airfield, CE-20, pad 3.



3rd Squad (P-40) - will arm with a bomb, then proceed to target the supply ships heading for the harbor. After your attacks, target any supply convoys and trains in the area., CE-20 (entire grid area).

HQ & Guests (P-40) - will arm with a bomb, then proceed to target the harbor, airfield, any supply convoys, and trains in the area., CE-20 (entire grid area).

Notam's:

* All pilots to use the same comm's channel this mission.
*All aircraft are zero fuel at this time.

1st Squad (seats 1 - 8)
2nd Squad (seats 17 - 24)
3rd Squad (seats 9 - 16)
HQ & Guests (seats 25 - 28)

Good Luck ...
Salute,

AH_DealnDave

AH_DealnDave

#61
Great turn-out for mission - 07, we had 21 pilots altogether !!!  Here is the next briefing to be flown on Tuesday - May 1st.

"Sicily Campaign"
Mission - 08
Date: July 3rd, 1943

After Action Report:

Good job hitting the enemy facilities at Pozzallo.  Supply ships sunk, numerous aircraft destroyed in the air and on the ground, supply trains, and vehicle convoys, the group did a great job !!!

Intelligence:

The target today is pretty much the same as your last job, except today we are hitting the Agrigento area, grid BY-23, pad 1, on your map. Hit the port and airfield.



Both areas have AAA (med. strength).

We also have submarine reports of more supply ships heading for the harbor.

As before, numerous supply convoys and trains maneuver though-out the island.

The Mission:

1st Squad (P-40) - will arm with a bomb, then proceed to target the airfield area, BY-23, pad 1.

Airfield Recon Photo:


2nd Squad (P-40) - will arm with a bomb, then proceed to target the supply ships heading for the harbor. After your attacks, target any supply convoys and trains in the area., BY-23 (entire grid area).

3rd Squad (P-40) - will arm with a bomb, then proceed to target the harbor area, BY-23, pad 1.

Harbor Recon Photo:


HQ & Guests (P-40) - will arm with a bomb, then proceed to target the harbor, airfield, any supply convoys, and trains in the area, CE-20 (entire grid area).

Notam's:

* All pilots to use the same comm's channel this mission.
*All aircraft are "zero" fuel at this time.

1st Squad (seats 1 - 8)

2nd Squad (seats 9 - 16)
3rd Squad (seats 17 - 24)
HQ & Guests (seats 25 - 28)

Good Luck ...
Salute,

AH_DealnDave

AH_DealnDave

S~ All,

Here's tonight's mission, see above ... good luck to all.  :)
Salute,

AH_DealnDave

AH_DealnDave

#63
Good turn-out for mission - 08, we had 17 pilots altogether !!!  Here is the next briefing to be flown on Tuesday - May 8th.

"Sicily Campaign"
Mission - 09
Date: July 7th, 1943

After Action Report:

Good job hitting the enemy at Agrigento.  The port and airfield are no longer operational.  The enemy will not be able to use them before the invasion. AND ... an excellent team effort knocking out the enemy destroyer, that ship took six bomb hits before she went down !!!

Intelligence:

Today the target is a fighter sweep over the Comiso area.  We've received a report of large enemy aircraft formations staging near this area. AAA at Comiso is considered heavy, with large AAA guns, high altitude 88mm type, as well as, low level 20mm flak guns. It's believed that the enemy may know of the invasion and are reinforcing the southern coast of the island.

The Mission:

This is a fighter sweep. Our patrol area is along the southern coast from Comiso (grid CC-20, pad 9) to Pachino (grid CE-20, pad 3). Engage and destroy any enemy aircraft encountered.



*All Squads (P-40E) - will arm with default ammo, then fly to the patrol area.

Notam's:

* All pilots to use the same comm's channel this mission.
* All aircraft are zero fuel at this time.

1st Squad (seats 1 - 8)
2nd Squad (seats 9 - 16)
3rd Squad (seats 17 - 24)
HQ & Guests (seats 25 - 28)

Good Luck ...
Salute,

AH_DealnDave

_AH_DarkWolf

What are we flying for 09?

DW


"In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Good Will" - Winston S. Churchill

AH_DealnDave

Salute,

AH_DealnDave

AH_DealnDave

Mission 10 ... we get Spitfires  :)
Salute,

AH_DealnDave

Kopfdorfer

Hey Dave,
   
               What model Spit and what unit is represented ?

Kopfdorfer

_AH_DarkWolf

Quote from: AH_DealnDave on May 03, 2018, 07:11:48 PM
Mission 10 ... we get Spitfires  :)

Yup, I checked your list just the other day.

According to Dave's info its Spitfire Mk.VIIIs of the 31st FG, Kopf.

DW


"In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Good Will" - Winston S. Churchill

_AH_DarkWolf

Was going through a PDF of a book and saw this :



Pretty interesting, shows the variety of types of Spit they were flying.

In another book it mentions the 308th FS flew a mixture of Vs and VIIIs, while the other two squadrons in the 31st FG had a mix of Vs and IXs. So I guess with MK.VIIIs that puts us specifically in the 308th FS.

DW


"In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Good Will" - Winston S. Churchill

Kopfdorfer

Thanks DW.

Interesting.
My initial plunge into the 31st FG shows that the group flew SpitVs and IXs (307th FS) but not VIIIs.
I'm going to delve a little deeper.

For general info , the 3 Sqdns of the 31st in this time period were :
307th FS  Sqdn Codes MX
308th FS  Sqdn Codes HL
309th FS  Sqdn Codes WZ

Kopfdorfer

_AH_DarkWolf

From what I've read, Mk.VIIIs started to be used in the MTO in June of 43. I wasn't sure if maybe the american's got theirs later but one website does mention the 308th getting some Mk.VIIIs in the latter part of May before the operations against Pantelleria.

DW


"In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Good Will" - Winston S. Churchill

Kopfdorfer

#72
This is what I have found if anyone is interested in historical representation.
Note that the serials I uncovered did not have dates of acquisition , so some of the conclusions are presumptive on my part , though based on "likely" historical truth...make of it what you will.

31st Fighter Group Spitfire Serial Numbers

This list is not complete , but is all I could track down so far.

Spit MkVB
AB811 , AD187 , BL338 , BM371 , BM511 , BM635 , EN748 , EN838 , EN847 , EN909 , EP179 , EP971 , ER130

Spit MkVC
ES182 , ES340 , JK609 , JK707 , JK870

Spit MkIX
EN255 , EN307 , EP615 , JL253 , MA616 , MH999

Spit MkVIII
JF340 , JF660

Serials with unidentified Types
ER187 , R6835 , R6895 , W3370

That Flight Ops Board that DW put up is really interesting.
Too bad it wasn't the one from June !
I concur that the MkVIIIs were specific to the 308th , which puts my original numbers off a bit.
Regarding the Serials to unidentified Types I found the following info :
1)R6835 and R6895 Were MkIas , and crossed paths with the 31st FG during their conversion to SPits in Mid 1942 at an RAF OTU , probably no.61. These Spits never left England.
2)ER187 was a MkVB and was the personal aircraft of Capt Frank Hill , 309th FS in May 1943.
   I found no info as to when he upgraded aircraft.
3) W3370 was a VB assigned to the 307th FS on 20 Apr 1942 , and was transferred to 350 Sqdn RAF which in Sept 1942 was based at RAF MArtlesham Heath , then RAF Redhill , so it seems likely that this Spit never left England either.


The Spit VIII is listed AFTER the MkIX , because in production it actually
appeared after the MkIX. The MkVIII was on the drawing board in late 1941 when the disparity between the MkV and the FW190A forced the action of marrying the existing Spit V airframe with the next series Merlin 60/70 series (intended for the MkVIII) : the MkIX was the result.
Ultimately , the MkIX was so successful that the production run for the MkVIII was reduced in favour of more MkIXs.

This is a list of 31 Aircraft Serial Numbers.
This number is a little light for a normally equipped fighter group , which should show out from 12-16 AC per Sqdn , or a total of 36-48 AC.
Because the MTO was considered a "Secondary" Theatre of Operations , the equipment allocation would nomally reflect this by an allocation of less than front line aircraft types , or reduced numbers of such.
If it is approximately representative of the numbers of aircraft available to the 31st FG before Operation Husky in July 1943 (incidentally the MkVIII was not available ANYWHERE until June 1943) , then the representative proportions of the types of Spitfires available at this time in the 31st FG should be (fractions rounded) approximately (based on 36 aircraft allocated to the group) :
Spit VB    40% (I rounded the fractions down for this type as it was the oldest available , and likely the first to be phased out)
Spit VC Tropical 20%
Spit IX 20%
Spit VIII 20% (personally I believe this to be high at this time due to the aircraft only being available for 1 month anywhere , but there is some anecdotal evidence that the 31st flew these aircraft prior to Husky , as DW has indicated)
This would break down to the following total number of available airframes :
SpitVB x 15
SpitVC Trop x 7
SpitVIII x 7
SpitIX x 7

Adjusted Numbers for the 308th FS.
Eliminating the MkIXs from the mix , and keeping the proportions of MkVBs , VCs, and MkVIIIs in keeping with the group ratios of older vs newer models 60%:40% , we get a distribution of :
Spit VB  40%
Spit VCTrop 20%
Spit VIII 40%


If we looked at this proportionally for a normal AH mission turnout of ~20 pilots , the airframe allocation available would be :
SpitVB        x 8
SpitVC Trop   x 4
SpitVIII      x 4
SpitIX        x 4


or in terms of Aces High Turnout Numbers (approx) based on 20 Pilots...
Spit VB               x 8
Spit VC               x 4
Spit VIII              x 8

I don't expect any changes to be made in DealnDave's Campaign , I just thought if the numbers were interesting
to me , they might also be to csomeone else.


Kopfdorfer





_AH_DarkWolf

Yeah, the deployment of IXs and VIIIs to the MTO was not done on the basis of converting whole squadrons immediately but rather spreading the wealth around so as many units as possible had some of the newer type to fly top cover for the Vs. Because the Mk.VIIIs had integral dust filters they were earmarked for use in the MTO and Far East, they didn't serve in western europe.

When I first saw Dave's planeset with the MK.VIIIs I thought a similar thing, that a mixture of Vs and VIIIs could be fielded. But I think he went a good route by just going all Mk.VIIIs. It simplifies things, the Mk.Vs I think are a little underwhelming in this game and it avoids anyone feeling like they got stuck with a Vc (let alone a Vb) while other guys are zipping around in VIIIs or IXs.

DW


"In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Good Will" - Winston S. Churchill

AH_DealnDave

Great turn-out for mission - 09, we had 20 pilots altogether !!!  Here is the next briefing to be flown on Tuesday - May 15th.

"Sicily Campaign"
Mission - 10
Date: July 10th, 1943

After Action Report:

Excellent job on the fighter sweep over the south-eastern coast. The group destroyed over 40 enemy aircraft.

Intelligence:

Today "Operation Husky", the invasion of Sicily begins. Our forces are landing at Gela (CB-21, pad 8), while the British and Canadian forces are landing at Avola (CF-21, pad 2).

Enemy air cover is expected to be high. AAA is of medium strength for both Gela and Avola.

The Mission:

Provide air cover for the sea-borne assault landings over both locations.

1st Squad (Spitfire) - will arm with default ammo, then proceed to patrol the grid area in CB-21 (U.S. Forces - Gela area).
2nd Squad (Spitfire) - will arm with default ammo, then proceed to patrol the grid area in CB-21  (U.S. Forces - Gela area).



3rd Squad (Spitfire) - will arm with default ammo, then proceed to patrol the grid area in CF-20/21 (British & Canadian Forces - Avola area).
HQ & Guests (Spitfire) - will arm with default ammo, then proceed to patrol the grid area in CF-20/21 (British & Canadian Forces - Avola area).



Notam's:

*All aircraft are zero fuel at this time.
*See below for comms assignments.

1st Squad (seats 1 - 8) - use main channel comms
2nd Squad (seats 9 - 16) - use main channel comms


3rd Squad (seats 17 - 24) - use red channel comms
HQ & Guests (seats 25 - 28), - use red channel comms


Good Luck ...

Salute,

AH_DealnDave