Adlerangriff. Mission 22: 12th August Noon (IoW)

[Bubi]

Mission Date: 22th August 1940

Name: Bubi
Rank: Gefreiter
Unit: 5./JG26
Aircraft: Me109 E1
Markings: Black 10
Aerodrome: Theville
Pilot Status: OK
Aircraft Status: OK, RTB

Victory Claims: N/A
Role/Position: Rotte1/Katschmarek
Witnesses: N/A

AAR:
Today my trusty combat reporter's camera was back in commission...

Almost didn't make the flight line today, my guard duties kept me busy to the last minute before takeoff, literally



After ramp up, chocks pulled, rolling out on the taxi way with my 5-2 mates.


On the way to the take off end of the runway, passing by the camouflaged Me110s as I zig-zag my way forward


Over my port wing is the Gruppenkommandeur taking off


After in takeoff position, I check my starboard are my Im Rotte1 (kette) mates LEE and ZASLA.


I take a quick check-6 to see our second rotte (FlyBy, Krass). Everyone is in position.


With a full 5 plane takeoff, Schwarm2 is up and tactical under the Schwarm-furher leadership, with me on his #3 starboard wing


After crossing most of the channel, the 6th out in front peel off right and down to intercept a small flight of Indians going under us.


As we near the English Portsmouth area heading north-west, I spot a flight to my high-5 o'clock and call it out. Both FlyBy and I peel off to go investigate. They turn out to be Me109s, probably another 6th schwarm that had flown over the English coastline a 1000m higher than our flight. Here FlyBy and I are flying as an ad-hoc wingman pair.


We get calls from KRASS that he was in the Isle's North East area looking to help the schwarm that was on the deck in a scrap, but he got hit by a Spit. He was caught whilst looking to join up with FlyBy and I. Amazing how quick something like this can happen and be over in a flash. We did not find KRASS but helped him VFR navigate as he limped home injured and damaged. What a trooper!

We three hooked up over the coast near home base and KRASS asked for help and needed a gear check. So I flew under and gave him the 2 gear down status. He continued on for a smooth landing. Well done.


FLYBY and I set up on our base leg and perch for our finals in formation, with Papa Bear (LEE) threatening to kill us if we died upon landing and taking the extra risks...


Our formation landing is precision clockwork as we don't want to upset our flight leader


WIngman till the end, I taxi in formation up to where we chock up another mission completed.



Was just a turn around the park for me this round, but thats the way it was often in the history books.
Sorry that the bombers were decimated. Was an honor to fly for the Fatherland, and that everyone was back at the bar in good cheer.

Of course, because I was almost late to the party, I got the fun duty of "cleaning our birds"


While the rest of the Schwarm2 were inside enjoying themselves

[Atreides]

Mission Date: 12th August 1940 12:25-13:37

Name: Atreides
Rank: Oberleutnant
Unit: 5./JG26
Aircraft: Bf 109E-1
Markings: Black 3
Aerodrome: Theville
Pilot Status: OK
Aircraft Status: RTB

Victory Claims:

Time	Place	Aircraft	Opponent	Confirmed
13:07	Near Selsey	Hurricane	SD-D (Mauf)	Yes, Boyezee
13:11	Near Selsey	Hurricane	SD-T (Major)	Yes, Boyezee, Keroth
13:17	Near Selsey	Hurricane	SD-B (Bully)	Yes, Madigan

SD-T was a combined kill with Esri.
SD-B was a combined kill with Boyezee, Esri and Madigan.

Summary:
1st Schwarm: Atreides, Boyezee, Esree, Keroth, Madigan
2nd Schwarm: Lee, Flyby, Krass, Zalzam, Bubi
3rd Schwarm: Grey, Dub, Salsam, Stig

14 planes went up today, 13 returned. We sadly lost Keroth while in heroic combat due to enemy fire, but we avenged him by destroying I think up to 5 Hurricanes near Selsey. I'm extremely proud of my Staffel and we will be celebrating our achievements tonight of course. Luckily Keroth's twin brother will be joining us now so we won't have any empty places!

Report:
Sunshine. Strange. Nature didn't seem to concern itself with war. At least those not coming home today would not be cold in their final hours.
Theville looked like the epitome of calmness because of this weather. However as we of JG26 started the engines of our Messerschmitts, the illusion of peace was gone.

A long flight lay ahead of us today. We were to be flying towards Portsmouth today. A bombardment would also be taking place there. The distance towards the rendezvous with the Junkers 88 to the East of it, meant that we would be there exactly as they made landfall. Sadly as we approached the coastline of England we got reports that the bombers were already under attack over the sea. Poor fellows. Who would have thought that after the beating the RAF had been getting in this phase of the war they would've been so bold as to leave their coast behind.

The bomber flight was aborted and we converted our mission to a fighter sweep. Due to me diving down a bit to radically with the first Schwarm on a Junkers 88 (supposedly being followed by a Hurricane which turned out to be another Junkers 88), the Staffel was a bit disorganized and we were just in the process of rejoining. The 3rd of the English Points, Selsey, lay picturesquely beneath us as we searched the skies for enemies.

Suddenly, there! Towards the Isle of Wight, a dogfight at high altitude. Boyezee and I were flying in formation. He saw some contacts close by and I asked him to overtake the lead towards them. He went towards a furball and got on the tail of a Hurricane. The fight was on! Only the best would survive the coming minutes.

Boyezee got some shots at him, while I stuck in formation with him. We dove past another Hurricane (SD-D) who tried to get on the six of Boyezee...however I maneuvered behind him in turn before he could fire.

His head turned as if he felt the impending doom. I saw him looking towards me as I opened fire on his engine but my bullets hit the cockpit and I felt nauseated when I saw his body slumped forward. Like men like Galland I was here to fight machines, not men, and the realization of having directly killed a human never got easier.

I had to pull myself back to the present and noticed a Hurricane on my 6 firing! This was bad. I had 2 advantages though: Fuel injection and altitude. I used these to dive towards safety as Boyezee came to my help. With my tail clear and again over Selsey, we started reforming. I heard there was a dogfight beneath me, saw the planes and dove down on it.

One aircraft with relatively a lot of energy turned away from it towards the left. Again a Hurricane (SD-T). I closed on him and got hits. He then tried to dive away. After Boyezee confirmed that I was clear I followed him and hit him again. A passing 109, Esri, also got some hits into him. He was now inverted. It seemed his controls were disabled. As his plane went more and more vertical, I hoped to see his canopy being opened and a chute appearing...however it was as if the pilot was trying to get his plane under control at all costs and he crashed into the sea. Poor Brit, putting his plane before his own life. Was he brave or reckless? Maybe those 2 often go hand in hand. [Edit: We hadn't noticed that Esri had managed a pk]

Around this time we lost one of our new pilots, Keroth. A fine pilot with already some victories. A damn shame. The rest of 1st Schwarm was still over Selsey. Esri and I now rejoined as Boyezee called out that he was chasing a Hurricane (SD-B) toward us. We joined up. Boyezee had gotten some hits and after he broke away both Esri and I also dove on him and scored some hits. He seemed very badly damaged so we started heading back towards France. Madigan however didn't stop the chase and soon reported him crashed.

As I was cruising back to Theville with Boyezee and Esri on my wings and Madigan a few minutes behind, as always the sudden calmness after combat made me reflect on what happened. I was saddened by the loss of Keroth and my 3 victims. We were after all all fighting for our homeland among the best of the best in the skies. Their heroism at least somewhat softened the tragedy of their loss, but in the end death is just that, death.

With the serene coast of France in the distance getting closer, I looked forward to our tavern near the field, the one we always visited after a successful mission, more than ever. This time for me it would not be the bar but a silent table in the corner with candlelight, a good glass of French wine and some garlic buttered bread. A quiet but welcome distraction to the misery of combat.

[Stig]

Mission Date: 12.8.1940

Name: Stig
Rank: Hptgefreiter
Unit: 5./Jg26
Aircraft: Bf109E-1
Markings: Black 7
Aerodrome: Theville
Status: Pilot ok, A/C no damage

Failed to rendevous with the bombers. No contact with enemy aircraft.

Victory Claims:

Time	Place	Aircraft	Opponent	Confirmed
-	-	-	-	-

[Reinhart]

Mission Date: 12th August 1940

Name: Reinhart
Rank: Leutnant
Unit: 4./JG26
Aircraft: BF-109/E4
Markings: White 15
Aerodrome: Cherbourg
Pilot Status:OK
Aircraft Status:OK
Victory Claims:No

Time	Place	Aircraft	Opponent	Confirmed
-	N/A	East of Isle of Wight	Hurricane	Osprey

12th of August 1940, I woke up from a horrible dream drenched in sweat. I dreamt I was on a routine flight, no enemies in sight. I was alone, separated from my squadron and more importantly, my wingman. I had an eerie feeling that something was directly behind me... I look and low and behold there was a Spitfire directly on my six, perfect attack position, guns blazing. I never saw it coming. Next thing I know my aircraft is covered flames, the cockpit instantly turned into a barbeque pit and I could swear that the flames were being sucked into my lungs with every breath... I had no time to bail out, I burned to death. Awful way to go. As soon as I had met my "end" I had awoken shaking, I have never had a more vivid or horrifying dream in my life. I awoke and had a smoke to ease my nerves, then went straight into the briefing. Today was a typical mission (save for the location and base we had been recently moved too) and all the men are ready for a damned good scrapping with the dirty Indianers. We lay idle on the field waiting for the rest of JG26 to take off and once they do we start taxing towards the runway when suddenly my #2 calls out "My aircraft won't taxi... ground crew released the chocks but the thing just won't move!". Turns out he was still drunk from the night before and was holding down the brakes... once all lined up, Schwarm 1 takes to the air, circles the field and watches as Schwarm 2 makes it's way into the wild blue yonder. What an amazing sight watching all the aircraft flying in formation towards the target. It is very impressive, very impressive indeed. Something of a mix up happens once we're mid channel, somehow the bombers had already hit the coast and received a terrible beating from a group of Hurricanes. Once we reached the rendezvous point, only 2 remained... 5th Staffel dove on the Hurricanes attacking the stragglers and we cheered them on over the radio. Once to the Isle of Wight we see a massive furball but unfortunately my wingman lost sight of me due to me flying in the sun then I spotted a Hurricane off my 2 oclock and dove on him. I must have gotten lucky because a large section of his wing came off completely. After that it was a giant slug fest, I fired upon another Hurricane but registered no hits. On my way up after the attack I spotted a Spitfire directly behind me! It was exactly what I had dreamt about... and whether it was some odd form of deja vu or maybe my subconscious trying to warn me, I didn't waste anymore time thinking about it and I dove straight down for the deck, picking up as much speed as I could. Eventually I was safe and tried to link up with the rest of the Squadron. Shortly after we all received the order to RTB so I order my men to make their way back to base. I landed back at Cherbourg without incident then, as always, hit up the local pubs. I decided to stay away from the French girls tonight... but I didn't steer clear of the bottle.

[Goat]

Mission Date: 12th August 1940

Name: Martinjas
Rank: -
Unit: 4./JG26
Aircraft: Bf 109 E-4
Markings: 11
Aerodrome: Theville
Pilot status: KIA - Chute failed to deploy
aircraft status: Destroyed

After taking off, forming up, and heading over the channel we spotted multiple contacts. We began to climb so that we can gain altitude advantage several miles east of the Isle of Wight. Several contacts were unaware of our presence. I dove on one of them and positioned myself off his 6 o'clock. I opened fire when he was within 100 yards and believe I scored at least a few hits. At this point, he broke right and I pursued retaining the energy advantage.

Suddenly, I saw something green fill my entire field of view. Something hit and apparently destroyed my propeller at which time I went into a spin from which I wasn't able to recover. When the object struck me, I saw my propeller stop and bend. After falling about 2000 meters, unable to recover, I decided to bail out. As I came out of the aircraft, I was unable to see any other visual damage.

I later found out that the plane I was pursuing was that of Osprey. My wingman, Hindsight, let me know that as someone dove on Opsrey's plane they shot one of his wings clean off. The object that struck me was either Osprey's wing or his damaged Hurricane.

[Hypoxia]

Mission Date: 8/3/2014
Name: Hypoxia
Rank: Untersomething
Unit: 4./JG26BF109-E3
Markings: White 12
Aerodrome: Theville
Status: Ditched in Channel
Victory Claims: 0
Aircraft Status: damaged just off Theville runwayt
Pilot Status: Survived
Time Place Aircraft Opponent Confirmed
- - - - -


Took off with Casca, and Bear as Schwarm 2. Never really saw bombers. Saw some Hurricanes attacking and followed Bear into attack. Rolled in on a Hurricane attacking the bombers and got some hits. Tried to get as much altitude as possible. Later saw Casca off of Isles of Wright being attacked by a Spitifre. Got hits on Spitifre and chased him away. In Game console gave me credit for kill later but not confirmed. Escorted Casca back who was leaking…. Got lazy closer to France and ignored 6. We were jumped by a British fighter limping home. Pilot injury for me and no engine so limped all the way to Theville and landed safely just off the runway.

[Chumleigh]

Mission Date: 12-08-1940 0000-0000

Name: Chumleigh
Rank: Feldwebel
Unit: 4./JG26
Aircraft: Bf 109 E4
Markings: White 14
Aerodrome: Théville
Status: Pilot OK / RTB

It was a pretty uneventful flight in my case. Despite all the aircraft that I saw, I was only able to get close enough to one spitfire to fire my guns before receiving the order to RTB. The good news is that the enemy never managed to fire its guns at me at all and I flew home safely and landed... It was a very nice landing, too - which is all I have to report. Better luck next time, I guess.

[Casca]

Name: Casca
Rank: Obergefreiter
Unit: 4 Staffel
Aircraft: Bf 109 E-4
Markings: White 10
Aerodrome: Theville
Status: Pilot - KIA <------ Osprey: This will depend on where you were exactly at the time of the incident.
Victory Claims: N/A


Full report to follow.

[Boyezee]

Mission Date: 12th August 1940

Name: Boyezee
Rank: Obergefreiter
Unit: 5./JG26
Aircraft: Bf109 E1
Markings: Black 14
Aerodrome: Theville
Pilot Status: OK
Aircraft Status: OK

Flew as part of the first schwarm with Esri, Keroth & Madigan led by Atriedes.

As we reached the south coast of England I noticed a Hurricane chasing bombers home, we dove on the aircraft but lost eyes on him before we could engage.

After reforming I spotted a gaggle of contacts heading to the west of us, Atreides gave me the call to take the lead with my eyes on the airfcraft, as we approached we found a large furball ahead of us, I quickly caught a glimpse of a Hurricane tumbling to earth missing a wing, I pursued another Hurricane into a left hand dive, as I caught up with him in the climb after another Hurricane popped in front of my windshield before moving behind me, Atreides was quick to react and poured heavy fire into his aircraft, I watched as the Hurricane made an odd upward move after taking hits, it would seem the pilot had been killed, poor soul.

The Hurricane's wingman latched onto Atreides seeking revenge, I in turn dove after them before the Hurricane broke off his pursuit, after clearing Atreides he was then able to score hits on another Hurricane before Esri also was able to attack him, I saw the aircraft dive down and Keroth confirmed that he had seen the aircraft crash.

Atreides gave the call to reform however before we could form up Esri gave a call for help with 2 aircraft attacking him low by the coast, I dived down and they both broke off however as I cleared Esri, Keroth also had ran into trouble with 3 aircraft following him low, I again dived but only managed to clear 2 of them before he was sadly shot down.

After again attempting to re-form I spotted a lone Hurricane below me, I dove on him and scored good hits along his aircraft as he attempted to turn inside me, I called his position to my Schwarm, we all then tooks shots at him before Madigan confirmed that the aircraft had crashed, the call came to RTB so we headed back one minus one of our Schwarm.



Victory Claims:

Time	Place	Aircraft	Opponent	Confirmed
1.15 PM	Selsey	Hurricane	Bully	Madigan

[Hindsight]

Mission Date: 22th August 1940

Name: Hindsight
Rank: Gefreiter
Unit: 4./JG26
Aircraft: Me109 E4
Markings: White 19
Aerodrome: Theville
Pilot Status: KIA
Aircraft Status: Deep Sixed

Victory Claims: None, but hits on multiple aircraft.

So, we have been moved to new digs. They aren’t bad but these days we know that moves like this never come about because of good news. Our patrols have grown longer by the day and our birds are being pushed to their limits. Every landing we get is a victory and we increasingly find ourselves flicking our fuel gauges hoping that those little life sustaining needles move out of the red.

On this particular day, I woke up feeling flat. The typical nerves were not there; the adrenaline wasn’t flowing; the feelings of dread and excitement were absent for the first time in a long time. This was slow to become apparent to me and when realization hit, it was disconcerting in a way that I had not experienced so far. I tried to chalk it up to experience and repetition taking the helm but somewhere in the dim recesses of my mind, I knew something was amiss.
Once through our briefing, we all headed to our aircraft and mounted up. With our engines on and warming up we sat back and watched our sister staffels taxi and take off. One particular aircraft had a lot of problems taxiing straight, performing pirouettes for us as he passed. I could only imagine the smell of alcohol and vomit in his cockpit and we all chuckled to ourselves before we realized he would be responsible for keeping one of our comrades alive.
Once in the air, we flew out over the channel to rendezvous with the 88’s we were tasked with keeping alive. Not far into our journey we began receiving radio transmissions concerning our bombers; They were dropping like flies and we were nowhere near being in position to help them out. My mind flicked back to my early morning premonitions and I swallowed the bubbling dread and focused on following my schwarm leader.

As tactical comms took reign of our radios, the drone of our engines filled our ears and our eyes began their ever shifting scan of the skies around us. We began to see contacts in the distance at or near our altitude and began to climb as a unit. In the climb one of our schwarm lost us in the sun and fell out of formation. We were in the process of guiding him back in when the chaos of battle suddenly came upon us. My wingmate spotted a contact to our 11 and moved in for a direct shot on his tail but as he was closing in for the kill, our Schwarm leader dropped down on the target and took his wing off. This all took place within the span of 3 seconds and I could only watch as the liberated wing fluttered about in the air and collided with my wingmates fuselage killing his engine instantly and causing him to drop out of the sky like a brick. I had no time to consider his fate and pushed all extraneous thought out of my mind. I climbed higher into the sky and began to dive in and out of the fray, taking pot shots at different enemy aircraft, doing my best to pick targets that were chasing friendlies hoping they would break. This went on for some time and before I realized it, the fight had taken me to the eastern shore of the Isle of Wight. At this time, we received orders to turn back and head for home. I rolled my aircraft around and began the long flight back to France but as I scanned the skies, I began seeing other contacts following, some friendly and some not. I turned back and began assisting friendlies in this small battle, weaving in and out of the fray, landing some hits on a particular aircraft. But, as I turned to look around, I noticed that the friendlies were nowhere to be seen and I had picked up a six. I dove for the water to pick up speed but couldn’t shake this particular pilot. He fired a stream of bullets into my tail and perforated my radiators. Once he saw this, he did the chivalrous thing and peeled off for home, leaving me to fight gravity long enough to hopefully limp home. Sadly, this was not to be as I lost engine power somewhere over the middle of the channel and glided as far as I could before bailing out into the freezing waters. I remembered the absence of feeling I had as I woke up that morning and felt a sense of déjà vu as I slowly drifted off into nothingness.