Had to Laff

[von Shagmeister]

I'll take an educated guess at 109 Sqn

[wernerpruckner]

ORIGINAL: von Shagmeister

I'll take an educated guess at 109 Sqn

just because you know from the btr/bob beta forum that I read the book Beam Bombers [8D][8D][8D]

[von Shagmeister]

Actually I hadn't realised from the new books you listed but knew that 109 Sqn had some very highly decorated crews and that they flew Welliingtons earlier in the war.

[otisabuser2]

Hi,

here's an interesting story....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2962494.stm

Think what you want of this guy for which side he decided to join. However what a complete Bar Steward for ratting on the poor Belgians that looked after him.

[Hard Sarge]

more, just odds and ends

the way it was stated

first plane to fly 100 combat missions in the ETO, was a B-26 (even better, was still on the first set of engines and never had a abort, returned to the states after mission to go on warbond tour)

(a week or two earlier, a MTO plane reached 100 missions, it was also  a B-26, but the ETO got the press)

first plane to fly 200 combat missions, was a B-26 (it had 99, when the other one made 100)

first plane to fly 300 combat missions was also a B-26, ended up 336 of them !

also, when the B-26 was designed and built, there was no Prototype made, the first plane off the line was a production model !

first order for the B-26 was for 385 planes, Martin, told them, he didn't think he had the area to build that many, so only commited to 201, the other 184 planes became a order for the plane that came in 2nd place, the B-25

the B-26 had many bad nicknames, Widow-Maker being one of the nasty ones, to be fair, the B-26 had 3 crashes for ever 2 B-25s that crashed in training, but, the A-20 had 4, and the P-38 had 5, and nobody ever complained about either of those two planes being HARD to fly or dangerous, or had people trying to cancel the build orders

in the end, it was found that most of the crashes, were due to poor training (rushed) pilots training new pilots, who didn't know what to do, in case of trouble, and poor ground crews (they had to learn also)

it was a hot plane, but a good one, when used the right way, it had one of the best combat records of any Allied bomber of the war

[Gunnerchimp]

What sort fo altitudes did the B-26 typically operate at in the ETO? Whenever I play against the Allied AI, it always sends them over at 21k, but historically I think the were operating at substantially lower altitudes, around 12-15k. A major factor in the game is whether you fly under 14.5k and risk getting chewed up by light flak, which can be quite devastating at times.

[Hard Sarge]

the 26 was a med, and was suppost to be around 12-15, but it was also used at higher and lower levels (they even released them to drop to the deck after the raid was over, so they would hedge hop back to the base, firing at anything they seen)

Light AA has a lower eff max alt now, the Germens from the start of the war, seen a flak hole, and spent a lot of time and money, trying to find something to plug it, which they did and it would become one of the best med ranged AA gun systems in the world, only, for the USSR (the ZSU-57)

[sadja]

Is that the quad 20mm wirbling sp

[Hard Sarge]

(I liked that game, used to play it h2h with a old friend of mine)

no, the Germens wanted a 50mm or so, weapon, which this ended up being a weapon system, more then just a gun put into a mount and driving around, it was the whole 9 yards

just in case, the ZSU-57 is a duel 57mm SP

[Hard Sarge]

Never had to bail or never aborted a mission, was shot up so many times it was unbelievable but the old Jug always came home. It was not always flak,two ME-109's beat the hell out of me one day. The central controller called me and said "Basher-Red Leader do you have contact Bandits," I replied, "I sure do, I'll bring them over the field in 3 minutes, they're chasing me home."

[TechSgt]

HS;

There has to be a way to add this type of history(?) to the game.

These stories show up in every type of historical account.

TS

[Hard Sarge]

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quart ... usted.html

cute story

think that is based on his book (or how he named his plane ?)

something sticks out about

Happy Jacks go buggy

[Hard Sarge]

mission today
seven ships alerted and completed the mission with plenty of luck because it was one of the longest raids and deepest penetrations into Germany
Schweinfurt on one of the tributaries of the Rhine River
a ball bearing plant making 90% of the bearings for the German war machine

Forts were over enemy territory for three hours, 20 minutes
fighting their way in and out
Me-109s, FW 190s Ju-88s, Me-100s were used
and perhaps a few other types

500[-lb.] GPs were used
dropped from 22,000 ft
at 1505
average time of flight: 6:30

fighters were encountered in and out of the target
flak was moderate
two of our planes were damaged
eight enemy fighters were destroyed and one probably
and one ball turret gunner was frost bitten

success, contrary to early reports, were [sic] excellent

The Germans at this stage of the game are really hard pressed and surely must be feeling the worst of the damage that the Forts are so marvelously handing out.

three of the squadron ships landed at other bases, running out of fuel
Lt. Makowski's ship was completely dry as it hit the runway

Guess it all depends on your point of view

(or what part of the formation you were in)