Most Memorable Day started on the LW side with some confusion about leadership. As no-one was anxious to take CO's responsibility, yours truly gallantly stepped forward at the last moment. Since it was my 1st experience as a CO, (and because I had all of 4 minutes before takeoff to think about what to do, and how to go about it) what follows may sound somewhat defensive...
I actually HAD read the briefing, so the general layout of the scenario was relatively clear to me. Limited time forced me to improvise. We had maybe 12-13 pilots (i'm not sure even of the numbers) in 109f to take off from a32. Load-out was given free, some took gondolas (orders said no, I know), most took DT's. Plan was simply to climb to hi alt and wait for the enemy above the front lines. Dogftr set up RW while we were climbing (Thank You kindly, Dogftr
) which helped immensely. I also dispatched Dogftr and Badger to recon/sweep ahead around a20/v50. Main force was to circle near a27 and not to go deep into hostile territory. This order was not allways followed, however. While in flight, I told pilots to concentrate on bombers and to stay alive.
Near a20/v50 Dogftr's sweep spotted the enemy and I took main force a bit closer to a16 in about 32k. Some undisciplined pilots had gone straggling on their own. Since unit cohesion was low, and we flew in a gaggle formation anyway, I told pilots to engage independently, to concentrate on bombers. 1st enemies were a large number of co-alt Spitfires w/o bombers, however, so at this point this started to go wrong. A general furball was on, but I had no exact location on bombers.
Radar showed a 2nd enemy formation near a27 and some radio reports indicated bombers might be there. Trouble was, most of LW fighters were tangled with Spits near a16. I flew towards a27, and finally spotted some Blenheims and Spits low at maybe 15k. One bomber was allready smoking, so someone had been busy. After radioing my sighting I dived on the bombers suffering severe compression in the process. I did manage to pull on one Blenheim from his 6. I shot his engine out, while he blasted my both wingtips, engine, and some other vital parts into shambles. He continued his flight, though. I chose to bail out, instead of ditching, and was captured by the enemy.
Radio traffic later indicated all enemy bombers and a sizable number of Spitfires were destroyed. The credit for this must be given to the high morale and individual skill of our pilots. I am not aware of possible bombing damage to targets inside the Reich, but suspect they must have been minor. Unfortunately casualties on the Jagdflieger were unacceptably high. I am aware of only 2 pilots RTBing safely, allthough many must have bailed/ditched succesfully.
So there.
2Cool
[This message has been edited by 2Cool (edited 09-15-2000).]
