For all you hot rod drivers, 68KO came up with an interesting setup. Some good possibilities here for escorted medium- or high-altitude missions (for both sides!).
THE BIG SHOW
Oct-44 to May-45
Background: After a brief period protecting the Normandy coasts and a summer given over to the V-1 hunt, at the end of September 1944, RAF No. 3, 56, 80, 274 and 486 Squadrons left Great Britain for Volkel in the Netherlands to constitute Wing No. 122. Volkel would become the home base for this Wing during during long months. Their mission was to procure and maintain air superiority over Germany, the Tempest proving to be the only British fighter to have the performance and range for this mission. This would be the period of glory for the Hawker fighter, which would accumulate success and victory at the price of high losses, due in great part to an often murderous and always dreaded flak.
122 Wing was later supported by 135 Wing (composed of No. 33 and 222 Squadrons, flying Tempests) at the end of February 1945. No. 274 was added later. No.122 Wing deployed in Germany from April, 1945, where it would fight until the agony of the Third Reich.
A young Free French pilot joined at the end of February for his third turn of operations with the 122 Wing in the 274 Squadron, then after the 56 and 3 Squadrons, and by the end of April, commanded the whole Wing. He became famous by giving us an epic of a remarkable literary quality. This mission generator allows you to reconstitute missions keeping close to the gasping and murderous mood of The Big Show, and to engage your Tempests in unforgettable sorties.
Map- Rhine
Planes
Allied (Rooks)
P47D
P47N
P51D
Spit14
Tempest
B26
B24
Lancaster
Axis (Knights)
109G6
109G10
TA152
190A8
190D9
Ta152
Me262
Arado234
JU87
JU88
Radar
Combat Theater standard for that era
1945 || Tower 158400 | Sector 237600
Field ack (the low-level stuff): .5 (half MA)
Puffy ack: .25 (we hates it)
Kill shooter off
Fuel burn 1.5
Base capture is normal, but may be suspended if
abused.
Historical Clarifications
The Bf 109K-4 and the FW 190D-9 entered in service only at the end of December 1944.
The Tempest used bombs only the last day of the operations and never the rockets.
The famous operation "BODENPLATTE" (the Luftwaffe raid on the Allied airfields 1-Jan-45) didn't attack the Wing 122 airfield.
In early March, the ground strikes were suspended because of high losses, but they resumed from the end of this month.
17-Mar-45, No. 274 Squadron left the 122 Wing to join the 135 Wing (No. 33 and 222 Squadrons, operational on Tempest since the 24 February).
Beginning April 1945, the 122 Wing set up in Germany on the Rheine-Hopsten (the ancient Me 262 base).
From 1 to 16 April, No. 3 Squadron went to England for gunnery training and is absent during this period.
20-Apr-45, No. 80 Squadron retired from the operation.
26-Apr-45, the 122 Wing set up on Fassberg.
4-May-45 was the last day of combat; only the 33 Squadron (belonging to the 135 Wing) had the occasion this day to use for the first and the last time the bombs in operations on Tempest during the war.
Setup by 68KO, implemented by Oldman
