Brooke, a pilot in secret squadron I/JG400, takes off in his Me 163 Komet (modelled as a Mig 15) from his base at Rhein-Main..
Brooke, a pilot in secret squadron I/JG400, takes off in his Me 163 Komet (modelled
as a Mig 15) from his base at Rhein-Main..
A map of the area at takeoff, with a grid of 12-by-12-mile sectors. The white
boxes show enemy aircraft strength in each sector. Brooke is the white "+"
in the center of the map. Brooke's base is too far from the bomber incursion
(about 65 miles away) to have much of a chance to hit the bombers. Under full
power, the Me 163 has a combat radius of only about 20-30 miles. If the bombers
are headed to Nidda, then west back toward England, he might be able to get
to them, though, as explained below.
Radio traffic at Brooke's launch. He climbs at 150-200 knots to 20k, then shuts
off his engine and glides at 150 knots down to the deck, then start his engine
and climbs again, and so on. In this way, hopping along at minimum fuel usage,
he can greatly expand his range. This approach has its problems, though: it
is slow so that he can't chase down bomber formations and must instead vector
to meet them, and he is vulnerable to enemy fighters (especially P-51's) diving
in from altitude.
The bombers have continued to head southeast and have not cooperated to meet
Brooke along the way. Brooke has vectored toward them, but the intercept is
looking even less likely. Brooke can't go to full power to catch the bombers,
and hopping along at 150 knots, he is slower than the bombers.
Brooke asks Luftwaffe command (ARTST) if he should try for the bombers if it
means he can't make it back to base. He is told to go for the bombers.
As Brooke gets closer to bomber positions, but still quite a ways out, he sees
various bogies. He must press on with the low-speed climb-and-glide technique
to extend his range. As he does so, near the bottom of one of his glides, a
bogie resolves itself into an enemy P-51D Mustang diving on him. Brooke turns
on his engine, goes to full throttle, and outruns the P-51. T-can greets Brooke
as he flies past.
The bombers have continued southeast, not turning back. With that and the large
amount of fuel used in outrunning the P-51, Brooke now has no chance of making
it to the bombers.
Brooke turns back to to do at least a gunnery pass on the P-51 and other bogies
(they turn out to be more P-51's and one Luftwaffe aircraft), but he runs out
of fuel before he can do so. Brooke glides in for a landing in a field in the
Nidda area.
Brooke took off in an Me 163, got 0 kills, 0 assists, and ditched in a field.
by Brooke P. Anderson
e-mail: brooke@electraforge.com
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