Online Adventures Over Blighty - Mission 3

[Badgerton Smedly]

Dear All

The below account of Sortie #3 includes a summary of the first flight, which didn't get far.   

Sortie #3: Flight 1
Eastchurch airfield looked fantastic on this gorgeous August morning I trotted out of the dispersal hut and made my way to the hangar where Jenkins strapped me in to my Spitfire MkIIa.  Right;canopy open, set gun-sight, TeamSpeak is on with correct volume settings, mags on, 0.5 inches on the trottle, fuel on,radiator open and - ignition! The Merlin XII leaps to life....

Rad temp moving past 60 degrees, so power up, wrong direction, finger on brake over the lip of the concrete and then I gently nose over, breaking my propeller.... Orf I go again to the CO....

Sortie 3: Flight 2
Preflight checks are all agreeable, I saunter the right way at a reasonable pace out of the hanger and power up at an angle to get on the runway and I am aloft in a semi-professional fashion!

Pitch to 85%, RPM's back to 2100 and saunter around and let my engine cool for a bit.  Hmmm, there are several things on fire out here, check gun-sight range setting - set for a 109 at 200 yards, all ok.  FLAK!  More bursts!!  Cripes - those hurricanes are on fire! What's that? Contact diving - pursue, pursue!!  It's a lone 110 and he's more intent on letting his rear gun deal with me than getting away.  He's getting as many targets as possible!! The total swastinker!!

He pulls up through the smoke of his quarry and banks left in a shallow climb relying on his speed, but I've got a fair whack of speed behind me too.  My sight settings are still on the 109 wingspan so I move closer heating my already hot engine further, lead by a length and then let him have it! Hits, hits.  I see a stream of oil and fuel start streaming from his port engine area.  He noses down and I perform a long low turn to put a bit of distance between me and his gunner and then I'm on his tail again 6 o'clock and slightly low.  I get to the best possbile range I dare and then pop off a 4 second burst achieving multiple hits. More fuel streams out.

I flat 'S' and then follow round inside his flat left hand turn and rake fusalage from nose to tail with a one second burst at just the right range. His engines look like the are powering right back as he peels away to the left and I see him go in for a belly landing, engines off in a field about a half a mile from Eastchurch airfield.

A good result.  I'm back on the ground and parked up in about 5 minutes, still with about 4 seconds of ammunition left.  I claim one Bf110 destroyed. 

Totals thus far: 1 x Bf110 destroyed, 1 x 109 probably destroyed and 1 x 109 damaged.

Status:Still alive (with 2 broken planes).

Off to pick up the Blue pilot and get in him to the bar!

Regards

Badger