Why the Buff formation is the most unbalancing item in the game.

[Krusty]

Chalenge, do you know about the 'battle' the RAF had during the 'phoney war'?  I can't for the life of me remember what the name they gave it was to look it up.

Basically, in the early days of the CH radar, it would detect aircraft along beams away from the radar masts.  Unbeknownst to the radar operators, the radar would show a target along a straight line looking towards the channel, or back into Britain.

IIRC it went like this: One morning a squadron of Spitfires were upping for a patrol, this was detected on the radar screens due to the above flaw, and seen as an incoming German raid.  So more aircraft were scrambled.  The radar operators and control rooms thought the Germans were forming for a huge raid, so more RAF aircraft were scrambled.  This process repeated itself until nearly every available fighter the RAF had were up in the sky looking for a huge 'German' formation, when really the only aircraft in the sky were themselves!

The flaw was immediately fixed in time for the real battle.  I have it in a book somewhere, i will try and find it later.

Also, experienced AI radar operators of the intruder squadrons could tell a German nightfighter from the bombers in the bomber streams by looking at the 'blip'.  Mossies or Beaufighters would accompany the bomber stream and try to intercept the fighters as they went in for the attack.

I haven't been following this thread, but I have read an account of this. The radar was on the shoreline aimed across the channel, but the radar worked in 2 directions (front and back) so it would report what was "behind" it as "in front" of it, so the more squadrons that were scrambled "behind" it and were heading to the giant raid, started showing up "in front" of it as part of the raid.

After the planes ran low on fuel and started landing the signal diminished until it was nothing. They discovered the problem and put the now-everpresent screens behind the radar, so that it only reads the signal in one direction ("in front") now. I think there were a couple of friendly fire incidents during this "raid" as well.

[Furball]

Are you sure about the terminology here Furball?  Being able to ascertain the type of aircraft from the "blip" itself is different from being able to ascertain the type of aircraft from watching what the "blip" does over time, and identifying the "blip" as something that conforms to the profile of a night fighter.

I've watched hours of primary radar returns behind some of the best gear the U.S. Navy has during combat operations, and I'll tell you that the whole process of classifying radar returns is still daunting and susceptible to errors.  Especially if the track isn't giving you hints from secondary sources.

Karnak has a link to some good WWII radar information we used to discuss how "stealthy" the Mosquito wasn't.  Is that the same link as you posted Furball?

I was reading a first hand account from a pilot of a Beaufighter who was on an intruder op amongst the bomber stream.  The terminology may well have been off as he was not the one using the AI radar.  They were using it in conjunction with a device which (IIRC) is called 'Serrate' which detected the radar of the German night fighters.  The AI operator was calling out the headings and using both systems to determine the contact - the AI op was calling out the target headings using 'Serrate' then confirming that the target 'blip' matched with a night fighter.  But again, it could be a bit misleading as it was coming from the pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serrate_radar_detector

[Chalenge]

Chalenge, do you know about the 'battle' the RAF had during the 'phoney war'?  I can't for the life of me remember what the name they gave it was to look it up.

No but I know there was more then one incident during the 'twilight war' though. Sixty years after the BOB regular citzens began to have their stories told in the newspapers and online and one of them told of being a small boy and living near swingate (a CH site) and watching a flight of Hurricanes attack a group of Hampdens and actually shoot one down (which I had read actually did happen I just didnt know there were eye witnesses). I remember his story very well because he later moved further inland (the beaches were strictly off limits by then because of concerns of commandos coming ashore) and told of watching dogfights and then picking up the shell casings from the field afterwards AND having a 109 strafe down his neighborhood lane and seeing the pilots face just before jumping in the ditch for cover. His story was told in such a way similar to the bragging of Spitfire pilots you read about as if he was proud of having been attacked! At age seventy something he still had the shell casings from both occasions.

[Furball]

Friendly fire happened a fair bit, i can understand the mistake of shooting down Hampdens though, they look very similar to Do-17Z's.

The Battle of Barking Creek is another: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Barking_Creek

There are so many stories like that, you will probably be interested in this: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/categories/