9 GIAP fielded 11
We had not received orders from the Axis CO prior to the event. This made for some difficulty at the start.
We upped in 109G6's patrolling at 25k at the northern end of the English Channel. (This was as much geography as we were able be certain of as our Euro-Brittanic members paid little attention to the subject in school apparently). We covered 3 squares, capping in a north/south line just off the coast. Some found this a little tedious - some less so. Thirty for instance found a few Spitfires sneaking up on his squaddies but lost them after "running away"?
We then discussed the weather, how dark it was - really! (Ultimately we were happy with the dark.)
Most of the first hour involved stooging around discussing disorientation, clouds what happened to the Spits etc..
As fuel got low we landed and refuelled in sections. We lost the services of one pilot when he actually ran out of fuel on the runway. Tough luck but all others came through ok.
Airborne again we followed a hunch that the Allies would probably target the Ruhr industrial region, as this was after all, the title of the TOD!
Reports of contacts with other units dribbled in and we travelled as fast as we could toward the heart of the Fatherland. About half way there I observed an order from the CO that we should in fact get moving toward the Ruhr valley to defend it! Zveno by Zveno we crunched into the Lancaster stream as it completed its bombing run and exited to the west. Lots of whirling planes and explosions.
Kisters lost his engine. Blunder took a hit and bailed. With great confidence I approached a Lanc trio and flung my drop tank at it! A borrowed joystick had the buttons mapped completely differently to my home setup. Swinging around I dodged fire (some of it was enemy - some it was my wingman) and tried to shoot at a passing Lanc. Again nothing from the cannon. I pushed every button on the thing and finally a bomber blew up. Resuming hot pursuit of the departing bomber stream I raced up to another lanc trio and made yet another dry run. No E left I climbed slowly and deliberately to his six (hear sound of tail gunner salivating at this point) fingering buttons and firing wildly. Doh! Convergence was still on 250. Finally the Lanc gunner put me out of my misery by blowing a wing off. Had plenty of time to bail but MS natural keyboard in a darkened room trapped me in the cockpit. The plane blew up. Joined Psy for the last couple of minutes as he dashed to a hangar to beat the log closure at the end of the frame.
Claims
16 enemy killed (this surely is a higher figure than that which the logs will reveal)
202 assists (approx and has a direct bearing on the above figure. Clearly you had to be there at the Lanc slaughter over the Ruhr to appreciate the situation)
2 deaths
1 bailed
and well done all.
Dantoo
