posted 11-26- 06:40 PM               

But, I'm so motivated that I'm beginning to anticipate writing a campaign for the HE-111.

I've always wanted to fly that in a good sim, and now I may get to fly it in the best.

But, I'll need a little input, a little help.

SDOE limits the variety I can put into missions, and their size. So...

Daylight only, right?

I'm looking at a few basic periods or 'theaters': Early War (vs. Holland and France, not sure what terrain but I'll use Dover for a mission on Dunkerque), Battle of Britain, North Sea (vs. convoys), and Russia (Smolensk terrain). Maybe North Africa.

Mission size. I flew online for the first time Sunday... would missions of 8 aircraft total be the way to go? At 8 aircraft each mission, they should all be multiplayer compatible. That does limit fighter opposition and fighter escort some.

I have no idea, beyond a very few, which squadrons to use...

My mission editor seems to be confusing American and French squadrons in a most perplexing way, I'm going to try to solve that with a new installation...

Weather variables are pretty simple, since I doubt there were any dawn or night time missions with these. Wrong?

Well, what do y'all think?

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V/R,

posted 11-28- 08:21 AM               

I know you CAN make night missions with the latest patches...

I just want to know if the Heinkel DID fly at night, or was it only in the daytime?

My cursory reading (2 books) so far has no indication of it.

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V/R,

posted 11-28- 08:49 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Wing Chaps:
I just want to know if the Heinkel DID fly at night, or was it only in the daytime?

My cursory reading (2 books) so far has no indication of it.

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Lots of night actually, the majority of the Blitz was night bombing. The techniques started with the raids by KG100 using various radio navigation aids - "the beams" - that were accurate enough to put a line of bombs within 100m of the centerline of the bomb run. However the techniques were still experimental at the time and KG100 was only 1/3rd of a KG.

So then they started dropping flares in the pathfinder role which would then be backed up with massive raids by He 111's dropping on the flares. However they telegraphed their intensions with a couple of test-runs with no He 111's. Nevertheless this worked until Jones figured out how to kill the beams and the LF eventually gave up. Instead they just bombed London, it's hard to miss.

posted 11-28- 10:33 AM               

I'm embarassed, actually, that I didn't already know that, but the books I'm looking at didn't mention it. The Battle of Britain, and England's ability to withstand it, is one of the greatest stories of history.

It's interesting to me, too, that the histories I have, small though they are, focus on the fighters, and the daylight actions. I saw no mention of this, and from what you said, that's remarkable. Beleavable, but remarkable.

Time is a real factor for me in this project. I'm about to leave for Alabama (death in the family) tomorrow, then there's a Christmas trip to the in-laws ( ), and there are the missions I'm doing for a WWI mission pack.

Against that, the HE-111 isn't even released yet.

But, I'm looking at...

A mission or two vs the Polish fighter, the Rhineland standing in for Poland.

A mission, or two, vs Holland. There is a strike on a city I want to chronicle (maybe the Dover map again, since it was a port).

Some missions versus France, culminating in Dunkerque. Here the map shifts to Dover.

The different phases of the Battle of Britain. Variables here include: Day/Night (mainly day, some night I guess, or night after a certain point), Escorted/Non-secorted, Target, Which English A/C Encountered. I'm looking at 8 aircraft missions for online compatability, though I may waive that to do one or two missions that show a swarm of aircraft (or, as big a swarm as SDOE would accomodate, for frame rates, what would be an upper limit).

Some convoy interdictions, using Dover, or maybe the two-part Ocean at Simfiles.

The Russian front, variables similar to BoB, using Smolensk (Gosh, I'd LOVE to use Stalingrad...).

Regards to all, and thank's for any 2-cents worth...

posted 11-28- 11:35 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Wing 3 Chaps:
Thanks, Maury, that was most helpful!

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NP. If you're interested in this stuff, you really need to track down RV Jones' "Most Secret War". It's about the guy that had to defeat all of the new German weapons before even the Germans had them themselves. It's amazing, this guy was a SMART F***ER!

No one believed him when he said the Germans would be using radio aids for night bombing, because no one thought that radio signals would bend far enough over the horizon for it to work. So he just got in a plane and tried it and it worked fine. So much for that.

But then how do we counter the system? Well basically what the Germans did was put out two radio signals, one going "bip --- bip --- bip" and another close it it going "beeeeep - beeeep - beeeeep". There was a small area where they overlapped where you would hear "beeeeeeeeeee" because the dots on one signal lined up with the pauses in the other. Point your radio antennas so that the overlap is right over the target and presto. Very clever!

Not as clever as RV however. He set up another transmitter going "bip - bip - bip" out in the middle of nowhere. So no matter where you were in your bomber you would ALWAYS hear "beeeeeeee". Suckers!

He worked on "the beams" - and was even in the middle of an attack using them on London - the V-1 and V-2, and all sorts of radar related work and Window. Amazing reading!