BIG WEEK!
After the October 14, 1943 “Black Thursday”
mission, the Eighth Air Force flies missions
only within the limited range of its escort
fighters. And so the fall passes, as the Americans
build up their bomber and fighter strength, and
as British and American engineers work on
extending the range of the escorts. The
wretched flying weather of December and
January limits the number of missions that
can be flown.
And then, on February 19, 1944, the skies clear.
The Eighth Air Force flies on the next six
consecutive days. Its target is the German
aircraft industry - which the Luftwaffe knows
it must defend at all costs. Shining machines
filled with thousands of young men pierce the
frigid air over Europe, charging to a flaming
rendezvous in a battle for ownership of the
German skies.
Map: Rhine
Allies (Rooks)
C-47
B-17
B-24
P-38G
P-47D11, D25
P-51B
The Ms
Pz IV (pretend)
Axis (Knights)
C-47
Ju-88
Me-109G2, G6
Me-110G2
Fw-190A-5, A-8
The Ms
Pz IV
Settings:
Radar: Tower 158400, Sector 343200
Field Ack: low-level and puffy are both .25
Killshooter is off
Fuel burn rate is 1.0
Field capture: 5 troops (if we can figure out how to do this)
Down time: three hours
500 pounder will drop a hanger
Notes:
Although the time setting is February, 1944, and thus
before the invasion, we have picked the Rhine map
for two reasons. First, the Bigweek battles took place
over Europe, not over the Channel, as usually happens
with the Battle of Britain map. Second, we thought
we would enable, and perhaps encourage, base capture,
to see how this plane set works in a base-capture
environment.
Let us know how it works out.
Oldman and Fork
