Merlins to Malta
Image by Nefarious
At the end of 1940 the RAF forces at the besieged island of Malta were breathing a sigh of relief. The Italian Regia Aeronautica had begun their attack on Malta in June of 1940 and it continued nearly daily until the Italian army's Invasion of Egypt floundered that September. With the Italians stretched thin the Eastern Desert, the British began offensive operations which culminated in a successful surprise attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto.
The respite was brief for the defenders of Malta. The failure of the Italians in Egypt and Malta forced the Germans to bring in reinforcements along the lines of Fleigerkorps X. One of their main goals was find and sink the HMS Illustrious which had been a major factor in that surprise attack that claimed an Italian Battleship and damaged two others at Taranto. Stukas based in Sicily found Illustrious on January 10 1941 and managed to deliver 6 hits into her but failed to sink her. Illustrious limped to Malta, well within reach of the Luftwaffe bombers. Despite constant attack from the air and several near misses, Illustrious escaped Grand Harbor for Egypt on January 23.
The Luftwaffe picked up the strikes on Malta where the Regia Aeronautica had stopped and began attacking the RAF airfields and the civilian population. In four months the Luftwaffe dropped more bombs on Malta than the Italians had since June of 1940. But the Luftwaffe would be pulled out of Sicily and into the Balkans and Greece and later into the Invasion of the Soviet Union.
Since August of 1940 the British Royal Navy had been ferrying Hurricanes into Malta to keep the islands defenses reinforced and in mid-1941, the first cannon armed Hurricane II’s began to arrive. At the end of 1941 the Luftwaffe returned and renewed its offensive on Malta. This came with several U-boat victories including the sinking of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and the battleship HMS Barnham. The Hurricanes could not compete against the much faster 109F and C.202. What the island needed was Spitfires.
Finally in March of 1942 the first Spitfires would arrive to Malta but those would quickly be destroyed in combat. On April 20, Operation Calendar would see 48 Spitfires launch from USS Wasp, but the Luftwaffe had anticipated their arrival and with 48 hours all of Calendars Spitfires were destroyed. With the fate of the island hanging in the balance the losses from Calendar made the next operation codenamed Bowery even more critical. On May 9 1942, 64 Spitfires launched from the USS Wasp and HMS Eagle in the largest Spitfire "Club Run" of the siege. HMS Eagle would launch another 76 Spitfires from May 18 to June 9 in three separate operations.
The siege would last until late into 1942 and the HMS Eagle, which carried so many of those Merlins to Malta would be sunk in August during Operation Pedestal. In October a renewed offensive was launched against Malta but it was met with stiff resistance and the offensive was cancelled after heavy losses. The Germans were facing defeat after defeat in North Africa and now were faced with another crisis on the Eastern Front.
There was no doubt the Spitfire changed the course of the siege of Malta. In this FSO we set the stage for the Club Runs to Malta to resupply the besieged island with Spitfires in 1942.
SCORING: All aircraft 3 points.
- Bf 109F-4 and Spitfire Mk V have max 48 in Frame 1.
- Spitfire Mk Vs and Bf 109F-4s will be replenished with 48 aircraft every frame.
- Landed or Unused Spitfire Mk Vs and Bf 109F-4s will carry over to the next frame.
- All Spitfire Reinforcements must launch from designated CV's.
- Spitfire Mk Vs must land at Malta to be carried over to the following frame.
- Only aircraft with minimums must be flown.
- Requirements Indicate # of Pilots.
- Formations are enabled but not required.
- Certain Aircraft will only be active from certain fields. Please refer to the Objectives and Orders.
- Objects (Guns, Radar) destroyed at Ships will score points.
- Ships sunk with torpedo double point total.
ACE MISSIONS:
Each side will have one mandatory Ace mission per frame. These frames will represent notable pilots of the time and theater. One pilot from each side will designated an "Ace" Pilot. They must fly the Aces listed aircraft. The Aces must be relayed to the Admin CM before launch. They will be scored as follows.
Ace Pilot = 20 Points
Ace Pilot Kills = 5 Points
So for example if an Ace Pilot is shot down they are worth 20 points to the other side. Likewise, every victory an Ace Pilot lands they will be rewarded 5 points.
ALLIED ACES
FRAME 1 - Spitfire Mk V - George Beurling - Beurling, a Canadian joined the RAF in 1940 and saw some service and his first kill on the Channel front in 1941. He then volunteered for service outside of Britain and was sent to Malta. Beurling arrived at Malta on June 9 1942 from the HMS Eagle during Operation Salient and would go onto shoot down 27 aircraft there, the most successful Allied pilot at Malta. He would end the war with 31 kills, but was killed ferrying aircraft to Israel in 1948.
FRAME 2 - Hurricane Mk II - Oliver Sonny Omrod - Omrod arrived in Malta in November of 1941 from HMS Argus. He claimed his first shared kill against a Ju 88 on February 12 1942 and another “solo†kill on February 25. Omrod would become an Ace shooting down a Bf 110 that was attacking Takali in early March. On the 22 of April Omrod was killed after he bailed from his Hurricane after attacking a Ju 88. He was the last Hurricane ace to be killed over Malta. His final score stood at 6 kills.
FRAME 3 - Spitfire Mk V - Ioannis Agorastos "Johnny" Plagis - Plagis was the son of Greek Immigrants, born in Southern Rhodesia. He served in England for a half a year before being sent to Malta on HMS Eagle in March of 1942 during operation Spotter. Plagis shot down his first enemy aircraft on March 25 1942 and 4 more on April 1 becoming the first Malta Spitfire Ace. Scoring 11 victories over Malta he claimed 3 more in Western Europe to bring his total to 15. Plagis reportedly took his own life in 1974.
AXIS ACES
FRAME 1 - Bf 109F-4 - Gerhard Michalski - Michalskis first victory was a French fighter on March 31st 1940. He would score 8 victories in the Battle of Britain before the Invasion of Russia where he brought his total number of kills to 22. Michalski would move to Sicily where he would become the most successful Luftwaffe pilot over Malta adding 26 victories to his total. Michalski also saw action over Austria. Michalski would survive the war with 73 victories. He was killed in a car crash in 1946.
FRAME 2 - C.202 - Furio Niclot Doglio - Niclot was already a well accomplished test pilot before Italy declared war. Capitano Niclot saw service in Belgium and the Channel front but never really had a chance to engage the enemy and his unit was shipped to North Africa in early 1941. Niclot would claim one enemy Hurricane here before returning to Italy. He would claim Spitfires 6 over Malta before being shot down by ace George Beurling. Niclot would claim 7 victories before his death July 27th 1942.
FRAME 3 - Bf 109F-4 - Seigfried Freytag - Freytag began his aerial scoring on October 31 1940, shooting down a Coastal Command Lockheed Hudson. By June of 1942 Freytag had 57 kills and the Knights Cross. Freytag claimed 21 victories over Malta bringing his total to 78 total kills. Freytag would see action on every German front in WW2. Freytag would survive the war with 102 aerial victories. He also served in the French Foreign Legion. He passed away in 2003.
SUGGESTED OR HISTORICAL AIRCRAFT SKINS - This is a list of suggested or historical skins, while some might not be historical to the time or theater, they were also considered to be the most appropriate.
HURRICANE II -
73 Squadron by Greebo
135 Squadron by Greebo
SPITFIRE MK V -
185 Squadron by BH3841
249 Squadron by Croduh
603 Squadron by Kev367th
249 Squadron by Croduh
603 Squadron by Kev367th
F4F-4 -
VMF-211 by Greebo
VF-41 by Greebo
VF-41 by Greebo
SEA HURRICANE -
Default
SEAFIRE -
807 Squadron FAA by Greebo (default)
809 Squadron FAA by Kev367th
880 Squadron FAA by Kev367th
880 Squadron FAA by Kev367th
BF 109F-4 -
2./Jg 77 by Devil 505
7./Jg 53 by Devil 505
6./Jg 53 by Devil 505
C.202 -
All Skins available
JU87 -
207S/RA by Greebo
3./St.G. 3 by Greebo
6./St.G. 2 by Greebo
JU88 -
2/LG1 by Greebo
3/KG54 by Greebo
SETTINGS:
- Italy Terrain
- No Radar
- Fighter and Bomber Warning Range - 63360 (12 miles)
- Tower Range - 63,360 (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
- Stall Limiter - Enabled
- Visibility - 17 miles
- Object Downtime - full (200)
- Winds - None
- Game Clock:
Frame 1: 08:00
Frame 2: 12:00
Frame 3: 16:00
Design by Will "Nefarious" Hyman