Dawn takeoff of RAF Flight F at Malta, consisting of me (Brooke), BGgetmo, GaB,
HB555, 715B, and Taiaha. I am visible in the middle of the image, taking off
in a Hurricane Mk. IIC. BGgetmo is also in a Hurri IIC just ahead of me. GaB
and HB555 are in Spitfire Mk. V's in the upper right. (t=0)
Flight F and I are coming upon six bogies (black dots i nthe upper right of
image) that we are pretty sure are enemy aircraft. I drop my drop tanks (extra
fuel tanks) on my Hurricane IIC. We are above 30,000 ft. altitude.
The bogies did indeed end up being enemies -- specifically, Bf 109F-4's, which
are much faster and can climb faster than my Hurri IIC. Flight F engages the
109's, and I get on the tail of one. 600 yards back (long range), I give him
a few bursts of fire from two of my 20 mm cannons but miss. Spent shells stream
back from my aircraft. Two other 109's turn right to get out of my way.
As Flight F tangles with the Bf 109F-4's, more high enemies show up -- at least
four C.202's, which are also much faster than my Hurricane IIC. GaB can be seen,
too, in this image, mixing it up with the 109's.
A view below me. As the fight evolves, more and more enemies are showing up.
Below me, 715B, HB555, Taiaha, and GaB are fighting a Bf 109F-4. I am trying
to stay up higher to lend support up top and also because they don't need any
more help down there. However . . .
A view above me. I am the small black aircraft shape in the middle. BGgetmo
is up here with me, but there are 15-20 enemy aircraft (denoted by red icons)
up here with us. Worse yet, many of them have a big altitude advantage on us.
At this point, I am trying to type warnings on the radio and to stay alive --
I'm not much of an offensive threat.
Two enemies dive out of the sea of enemy aircraft above me and make an attack
run. I evade. I am the Hurricane IIC at the top of the image. The left aircraft
is a C.202, and the middle one is a Bf 109F-4. We are over the north shore of
Malta. Such evasion is what I'm mostly spending my time doing as enemies 1,
2, and 3 at a time make diving attack runs on me. Probably I should dive out
toward a Malta airfield. But I don't see any RAF other than Flight F here and
worry that the 20 or more enemies will move inland to CAP our airfields and
greatly trouble any inbound Spitfires that are low on fuel and wanting to land.
I figure I can tie up some of the cloud of enemies by evading for a while and
get them to waste a bunch of their altitude. Then, when more RAF show up, the
enemies won't all be above the RAF. (t=0:33:49)
Finally, one of the enemies (Jarski) in his Bf 109F-4 lands a snapshot on me
as I am evading, putting a cannon round into my left wing as I dart briefly
through his sights. My Hurri IIC is to the left in the image, shedding much
of its left wing as debris. (t=00:34:06)
A view left out of my Hurricane. I hear the hit and feel my plane roll out of
control. I look left to see if I have lost my whole left wing but see that I
do have a small amount of it left. Note that anti-aircraft artillery is starting
up, as enemies chasing me are low enough to be in range.
A view behind me as I steepen to a vertical dive. The 109 that hit me breaks
off rather than overshoot me or follow me down right now. He might think I'm
done for. I'm not sure if I'm done for. I've got roll back under control, but
I don't know if I'll be able to pull out. As it turns out, while it's a struggle
to pull out of the dive (if I pull more than slight g's, my plane rolls uncontrollably
to the left), at 2000 ft, I finally manage to level out. With full throttle,
full right aileron, and full left rudder, I can just manage to fly level in
a continuous slow skid to the right. I can't land (as my Hurricane won't go
straight), but I can stay in the air. I decide to do my slow circle around the
central Malta airfield, back under the cloud of enemies, to see if I can tempt
any to blow all their altitude going after a crippled aircraft.
My plan succeeds. Two Bf 109F-4's dive in to make a high-speed run at me, and
BGgetmo (visible by the green icon) warns me. As they get close, I pull lots
of g's, which whips me also into a rapid roll. One of them (it's Jarski, back
for the kill) lands hits on me, and one of my elevators is shot off (the debris
above my Hurri in the picture). I worry if I'll be able to level back out before
I hit the ground. (t=00:36:49)
But I live! They zoom past and back up, perhaps not wanting to tangle with BGgetmo
down here or with any other RAF low right near RAF airfields. I am able to level
out (at about 1000 ft). My poor Hurricane IIC is now missing a lot of its left
wing and all of its right elevator.
GaB shows up to seek revenge on the two 109F's. I continue my slow circle to
the left. After this, I do not see any enemies around, and I work to get my
altitude up to 1500-2000 ft. so that I can bail out.
I bail out of my striken Hurricane Mk. IIC. (t=00:38:28)
As I took off in a fresh Hurricane IIC, the airfield came under attack by Ju
88's with some escort. One Ju 88 dove after the bomb run, and I chased him,
but couldn't catch him. I chased him almost all the way to Sicily, then turned
back. Climbing back toward Malta, I came across Newman's RAF Squadron 249and
crew (including zeeh and ozrocker) who were tangling with some enemies. Here
I go after an enemy and open up with two of my four 20 mm cannons.
I'm firing away at 400 yards, shell casings streaming back from the mighty Hispano
20 mm's. I score a hit on the Bf 109E-4's right wingtip. I've got my gun convergence
set to 400 yards for the first two cannons and 250 yards for the next 2 cannons,
so I'm opening up with only two of my four. Unfortunately for me, the 109 maneuvers
around and opens up the range. I am not able to score more hits or to chase
him down -- the 109E-4 is faster than I am. I go to help Newman and the lads
with more enemies who show up (2-3 109's as I recall), but then a call comes
in of Ju 88's hitting Malta, and I race to Malta. (t=01:15:50)
The Ju 88 raid I raced to Malta for was wiped out before I got there. I went
to land for refueling and rearming when another raid of Ju 88's was announced.
I aborted my landing and climbed to intercept, but I was too low. Here is that
second raid. There are six Ju 88's visible and one C.202 escort, with lots of
AAA and tracers from bomber gunners firing. Attacking from left to right are
1ijac, doobs, 68Falcon, and zeeh. One or two of the Ju 88's appear to be trailing
flame. (t=1:26:29)
During the Ju 88 raid, a Bf 109E-4 dives down to cause trouble. Shatzi and I
in Hurricane Mk. IIC's get on him. Also, he is flying into a thicket of anti-aircraft
fire. He is starting to trail smoke, and it looks like his left elevator is
shot off.
As I closed for a close-in shot, the 109's left wing was blown off. I don't
know if it was Schatzi or the AA. The 109 goes down trailing smoke and ends
up crashing in the middle of the runway.
I was able to rejoin the rest of Flight F and scout around some more, but we
didn't find any enemies to fight for the rest of the frame. I land back at Malta,
along with BGgetmo.
I got no kills or assists and had to bail out of my first Hurricane.
by Brooke P. Anderson
e-mail: brooke@electraforge.com
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