All to Little Purpose - Channel Front 1941
As 1940 turned into 1941, England was collectively breathing an uneasy sigh of relief. The Battle of Britain was effectively over, the British had held against insurmountable odds and forced the Luftwaffe to switch tactics into night raids. For RAF Fighter Command however, the uneasy pause meant only one thing, cross channel operations were to begin in earnest. This change in operations was not met with much enthusiasm for the veterans who had survived the battles of the summer and fall of 1940 and the new replacements didn’t have the skills or experience to equip them during the months ahead.
Circus Number 1, took place on January 10th, 1941 when six Blenhiem bombers escorted by around 100 Spitfires and Hurricanes attacked the ammunition dump at Forêt de Guines. While the first Circus was heralded as a success with little losses, it wasn’t to last as the Luftwaffe began to exact heavy losses on the RAF as they leaned further and further into France. Losses began to mount as fighter command reported losing 462 killed or captured in 1941, Over 200 of them veterans from the Battle of Britain. Frustrated with the war of attrition Wing Commander J A ‘Johnny’ Kent, leader of the Northolt Wing wrote in 1941, ‘So, we continued to go to Lille and lose good men – all to little purpose.’
While the Luftwaffe had primarily switched to night raids, there were still regular intrusions into England by Luftwaffe bombers and fighters as well as anti-shipping operations on smaller warships and merchants of both sides up and down the English Channel. German fighter pilots began “tip and run” tactics using bomb-laden 109s to attack British freighters and smaller warships in and around the coast of England. As Spring turned to Summer in 1941, German offensive operations started to disappear as they prepared for the Invasion of Russia. This FSO represents the early months of 1941 as both sides are transitioning to new roles on the Channel Front.
PLANE SET:
22K ALT CAP FIGHTERS - ALL FIGHTERS
16K ALT CAP - ALL BOMBERS
SPECIAL RULES:
Hurricane Mk II - Drop Tanks Disabled.
B-25C - 8x50 Caliber Hard Nose and Semi-Hard Nose Options Disabled.
HOUR 2 - Bombs Disabled Bf 109E-4
AIRCRAFT SCORING:
OBJECT SCORING:
SETTINGS
- BOB40 terrain
- Icon Range – Friendly 3k, Enemy 3k.
- No Radar
- Fighter and Bomber Warning Range - 79200 (15 miles)
- Tower Range – 79,200 (for display to match the above Fighter and Bomber Warning)
- External view for bombers (F3) - On
- Friendly Collisions - Off
- Enemy Collisions - On
- Kill Shooter - Off
- Fuel - 1.0
- Ack - 0.3
- Formations - Enabled
- Bombsite calibration - Main Arena Standard
- Time:
FRAME 1 - 0900
FRAME 2 - 1200
FRAME 3 - 1500
- Object Downtime – full (200)
- Winds - MAX Downdraft 22K
- Clouds - Med5KMed15K
Designed by Nefarious