Mission 1 : 10th July 1940

RAF From 540. Flight reports from the 3rd Battle of Britain Campaign. Only ACG RAF can post

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Meaker
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Mission 1 : 10th July 1940

Post by Meaker » Sat Nov 03, 2012 11:02 pm

FORM 540
Mission No.1 10th July 1940 (3.11.2012)
Duration 1 hr 5 mins
Hurricane Mk 1 (100 Octane fuel) SD-G
Squadron Present:SD-K,SD-X,SD-A,SD-P,SD-G

Report
Took off from Lympne at around 20.00 hrs,behind 64 Sqn,followed the coastline Eastwards towards Deal,and then steadily climbed on a right hand heading out towards mid chanel.This was my first real taste of action in anger with 501 Sqn,so appreciate this is a rough idea as I was concetrating on my leaders heading and did'nt want to lose visual contact,and to ensure I was'nt too much of a menace to the Squadron in formation.

We had only been airborne for a shortwhile when we were bounced by yellow nosed bastards coming in from what seemed our Portside,and F/O Robo and Squadron Leader Osprey were shot up,I too must have been hit as I sustained a tiny leak,but was gladly able to still have a flyable aircraft to get me out of danger.I believe my two other comrades LAC Kupsised and Sgt Bunny-Drake were also free of any damage,so we pressed on over towards Dover.

As I did'nt want my damage on my aircraft to worsen and leave me vulnerable to attack I decided to land back at Lympne,which I did.

Hurricane Mk 1 (100 Octane fuel) SD-G:Damaged
Pilot:Ok
Conclusion:I need more training in formation flying

LAC Meaker
Last edited by Meaker on Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:33 am, edited 3 times in total.

Bunny
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No.501 SoW Campaign: Battle of Britain 2

Post by Bunny » Sat Nov 03, 2012 11:56 pm

Form 540 Report for Storm of War Campaign: Battle of Britain 2

Mission No.1 (03.11.2012)
Date: July 10, 1940
Location: Lympne airfield
A/C: Hurricane Mk1 (100 oct) - SD-P - P3084
No.501_Bunny, F/Sgt

Took off as Red 2 with S/Ldr Osprey, climbing to mid-channel with orders to protect our convoy from enemy bombers. Along with Red 3 (LAC Kupsised), we also picked up LAC Meaker from gold group. At approximately 14,000ft, whilst in a slow left-hand circle, I spotted two contacts on our high 3 o'clock heading towards Dover, at roughly 17,000ft. They seemed to miss us as they continued for Dover, and we stayed on patrol for the bombers we were instructed to look out for. A few minutes later, despite seeing flack but no enemy, we were informed that the enemy had struck our shipping. At roughly the same time gold leader FO Robo informed us that he and Valec were in a dog fight with two Bf 109s - they must have been those we spotted minutes earlier. We headed towards their location, and joined in the dog fight where my Hurricane took minor damage to the weapons system. They still worked, so that was something. S/Ldr Osprey instructed us to try and drag them towards Dover where more were waiting to bag them. I had one on my tail and attempted to do so - near Dover I checked my six, but the enemy had returned to his higher altitude - obviously an experienced pilot. Meanwhile, I believe it was LAC Kupsised, though it may have been LAC Meaker, that had been jumped on by one of the enemy and needed to get out of the fight with a damaged plane. I'm not sure if he made it back to base - I heard S/Ldr Osprey telling him to try and RTB. At 10,000ft, just off the shore of Dover, I tried to regroup and caught up with S/Ldr Osprey. We continued to patrol, heading north up the coast from Dover. With my canopy open for better visibility, I could hear the Bf 109's engine before I saw the plane. He came out of the sun on our six. My immediate reaction was to warn S/Ldr Osprey that we were under attack. At the same time I broke hard to port, but he'd hit me. Initially I thought I only had a small leak, but the ensuing spin downwards told me otherwise - half of the starboard wing was shot clean off. I dare not think where the bullets would have landed if I'd not banked sharply to the left. S/Ldr Osprey urged me to bail out, but I reasoned I had enough height to try and correct the spin, and maybe land the Hurricane - land wasn't too far off. If that failed then I could still bail out, but at least I would be over land. It took about 6,000ft to correct the spin and get the plane on something near an even keel. The nearest airfield was either Manston to the north, or Hawkinge to the west - neither close enough. I spotted a clearing away from the city of Dover, and decided that was the place to try a landing. I lowered the under carriage and put on full flaps, to help slow my descent, which I needed to do if I were to hit the clearing at a decent speed. Seconds before impact the under carriage locked into position, and I believe it is this that prevented the crash-landing being worse for me than the few bruises I gained. The carriage held for a while - the clearing turned out to be more of a slope close up. I slid down it, the under carriage eventually giving way, and I came to a stop at the base of the slope, no more than 5 yards from the nearest tree in a wood. I had time to pull my trusty Jaeger LeCoultre Compass from my jacket and snap a couple of shots from the cockpit, before exiting the trusty warhorse. The first you can just make out the tree and the bullet hole that probably caused the initial weapons failure, the second shows the stump of the now completely missing starboard wing.

Hurricane Rotol 100 oct damaged
Pilot Okay
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Last edited by Bunny on Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:18 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Bounder
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Re: No.64 Squadron SoW campaign reports

Post by Bounder » Sun Nov 04, 2012 1:52 am

2nd Storm of War campaign

Mission 1 (Saturday 03/11/12):
Duration: 31 minutes
Home Airfield: RAF Lympne
Aircraft: SH-B; Spitfire Ia 100 Octane

Scrambled from RAF Lymphe as no.1 and circled the airfield to form up. Climbed to 14,000ft keeping west of Lympne attempting to gain altitude before vectoring toward naval convoy in the Dover area; however we lost several members of 64 in the climb and whilst attempting to pick up stragglers the Squadron was bounced by 109s in St Mary's Bay. We had spent too long forming up, not all of the flight was together and at the moment of the attack we were at a significant altitude disadvantage. Nitrous spotted the 109s dropping in and the command was given to break.

In the initial attack several pilots reported damage, I moved to intercept a 109 attacking one of 64 at around 12,000ft and got good deflection hits into his side and cockpit area, the 109 broke and dove and appeared to be venting. I took shots at a second 109 before evading his wingman, however during evasive maneuvering light damage was received. I returned fire at one of the 109s but the second managed to get a hit on my radiator and I started to vent. I disengaged by split-S maneuver losing the 109s and reported over radio that I was hit and would RTB - however as I vectored toward Lympne I spotted a lone contact, my engine was still good (for now) and I was fast approaching the bogie's six so I pursued - bogie turned out to be a Hurricane so I returned to vector toward RAF Lympne. On approach to the airfield on finals I had a governor failure and so throttled down to prevent further damage to the a/c; luckily I was well into my landing approach and managed to land without issue. At the end of my flight I saw a report that one of the 109s engaged had gone down.

Claims: one bf109 destroyed.
Pilot: OK
Plane: SH-B damage to radiator and governor.
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Robo
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Re: No.501 SoW campaign reports

Post by Robo » Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:31 am

Mission No.1 (03.11.2012)
Date: July 10, 1940
Location: Lympne airfield
A/C: Hurricane Mk.I (100 oct) - SD-X
No.501_Robo., F/O

Flown as Gold leader and got KIA like a complete newbie.

Hurricane SD-X destroyed
Pilot KIA

Urizen
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Re: No.64 Squadron SoW campaign reports

Post by Urizen » Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:19 am

2nd Storm of War campaign

Mission 1 (Saturday 03/11/12):
Duration: 35 minutes
Home Airfield: RAF Lympne
Aircraft: SH-K; Spitfire Ia 100 Octane

This is it. My very own Spitfire. I am very eager to take her into the sky, unfortunately, rumour has it, that she is a flying coffin. Six of my predecessors died in that plane and only one to enemy fire. I love the smell of saltwater in the morning...

We have our Orders. A convoy, codename "Bread", is making its way from Dover to Dungeness, before heading out to sea. We have to patrol the area over the ships and make sure, that they don´t end up with the fishes. Took of as No.2 climbing to 4500ft waiting for Nitrous (the little bugger had too much tea in the morning or one woman too much, who knows). On formup, we climbed heading 190° towards Dungeness. We spotted a formation of targets midchannel at low alt, at which point Gromic and i were seperated from the rest of the squad. As i was taking element lead, i was bounced by a 109, resulting in minor damage to the engine. Gromic was bounced too and had to disengage, as he was leaking oil badly. I saw an opportunity in a passing 109 and took it, however my deflection shots were off, so i did no damage. I got bounced a second time, resulting in oil splattered across my windshield, at which point i dove towards Folkestone, with a 109 on my tail! I received no further hits and the 109 broke off the attack. dropping to 6000ft, i changed rod to 1000ft/m and made my way towards Lympne. I crashlanded on Lympne AFB. As my engine had died, i had no other choice as to disregard landing protocols and get her down as quickly as possible.

But i have proven, that my spit ain´t a effing coffin.

Claims: none
Pilot: well shaken, not stirred
Plane: Spitfire Mk1a 100 Octane damaged (Right wing missing, Engine damage, Airscrew damage)
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Kupsised
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Re: No.501 SoW campaign reports

Post by Kupsised » Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:24 am

Mission No.1 (03.11.2012)
Date: July 10, 1940
Location: Lymne airfield
A/C: Hurricane Mk1 (100 oct) - SD-A - L2045

Took off from Lymne as Red 3 with S/Ldr Osprey as Red 1 and F/Sgt Bunny as Red 2, picking up LAC Meaker as Red 4 shortly after takeoff. Went to CAP over the ships, but found out we had missed the bus with the incoming bombers. We headed east to RV with Gold section who were in contact with two 109's. Established visual on Gold, then some 109's turned up (whether they were the same ones that were engaged with Gold or different ones I am not sure). We engaged with potentially multiple contacts (although it could have been just one) and the squadron broke up. Confusion ensued in which I failed to indentify any enemy contacts, although they were definately about going by what was being said on coms. Later regrouped with Red 1, lost him, then later found Red 2 and started to head for Dover. Red 2 was then engaged, I tried to help him over coms, but then aquired what I believe to be a 109 myself, took evasive manouvers and lost contact with Red 2 in the process. The 109 only made one pass at me, but erring on the side of caution I continued evasive manouvers and headed for Red 1 and Red 2 who were now over Dover to my west. On my own and having some engine troubles (it was coughing quite seriously and I couldn't figure out the cause. Fiddled with pitch, throttle, mix and rads and nothing seemed to stop it), I was bounced by three contacts (two confirmed 109's and one unkown, also likely a 109) just short of Dover. After evading for a good few minutes, Red 1 and Red 2 turned up just in time to see me get hit and go down. I took engine damage and was slightly wounded from a 109 so dived for the deck and tried to head for Hawkinge to make a landing, but my engine gave up so I had to ditch. I managed to safely ditch in one peice somewhere inland between Dover and Folkstone, which, I discovered, is not an easy place to ditch in. Would strongly recommend to HQ that they do some landscaping in the region to make it a bit easier should the situation repeat itself.

NB: From where the squadron broke up the rest of the mission largely consisted of confusion on my part. Multiple contacts spotted, and I knew there were 109's about, but largely failed to indentify anything other than Hurricanes. Contacts that I tried to shake could have been friendlies, but I couldn't take the risk. The only thing that is 100% certain is that I was definately engaged and damaged by at least two, likely three, 109's, and that Red 2 was engaged by at least one 109 as we were heading back to Dover.

P.S. As somewhat of a confession I think it's worth adding that after being hit I ignored the advice of Sq/Ldr Osprey to bail out. Although this could be viewed as disobeying orders, I viewed it as more important (and I hope that Sq/Ldr would agree) that the Hun was denied the satisfaction of a kill.

Pilot: Slightly wounded by 109, but ok
Aircraft: Engine inoperable (oil leak caused by 109 later leading to governor failiure), Propellor inoperable (all three blades bent on ditch), small fuel leak (caused by 109) but airframe all in one piece and apparently working order.

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Gromic
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Re: No.64 Squadron SoW campaign reports

Post by Gromic » Sun Nov 04, 2012 11:43 am

2nd Storm of War campaign

Mission 1 (Saturday 03/11/12):
Duration: 35 minutes
Home Airfield: RAF Lympne
Aircraft: SH-Q; Spitfire Ia 100 Octane

I'll keep this 540 short. The flight wasn't much longer.

Took off from RAF Lympne with the rest of 64 Squadron flying cover for Urizen enroute to cover convoy "Bread" which was entering the area south of Folkstone. We were climbing slowly to CAP altitude when we were bounced by high flying 109s that dropped on us with unbelievable speed. Urizen and I were caught in the first pass at around angels 12. The term sitting ducks comes to mind. Bastards! The caution warning lit up as my radiator ceased to exist and I had to break off immediately to an emergency landing at RAF Littlestone.

Nitrous had bricked his spit on the runway at RAF Littlestone but stayed on RT and saw me approaching Runway 280 with my airscrew windmilling and the airframe coughing smoke. He called out that I was approaching gear up. The hun must have damaged my hydraulics as well as the locking mechanism. Emergency gear drop was unresponsive. I cleared over Nitrous's spit and bellied her in on the left of the runway with a terrific bang, showering grass and debris behind me. I came out of the event uninjured but my aircraft will probably be a complete write off.

Claims: None.
Pilot: Shaken AND stirred
Plane: SH-Q / write off due to crash landing at RAF Littlestone.
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Re: No.64 Squadron SoW campaign reports

Post by Dickie » Sun Nov 04, 2012 5:55 pm

July 10th 1940
Duration: 1 hr 4 mins
Home Airfield: RAF Lympne
Aircraft: SD-K; Hurricane Ia 100 Octane

I led 6 of No.501 on a scramble after a call from command about Hun gathering and hunting our shipping. The wait appears to be over! Gold section became separated and I heard they got into a fight over the R/T. After patrolling the convoy and seeing nothing I headed out to meet gold section finding them above us in a fight with 2 109/'s After trying to climb up further 109s arrived and a fight started. I avoided being struck and a couple of the chaps were forced to land. I lost contact with all enemy and landed at Lympne safely having not fired my guns

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