Miss Delight Mission #1 AAR

[Compass Rose]

About 7 years ago I come up with the idea of using Vassal to fly some B-17 QOTS missions and post an AAR of the mission.

http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:..._the_Skies


As some of you may remember, my 1st mission did not go well and all crew members were KIA.

https://www.theblitz.club/message_boards...?tid=62084


So here I will attempt to try again.


A new plane, and new crew, and hopefully with a little better luck, we will try it all over again.

My goal is to create a fictional B-17F Bomber crew and record their missions, with the goal of trying to complete 25 missions, which will send them home, for a War Bonds Drive.


August 17, 1942

Bomber: B-17F Miss Delight

Target: Lille, France (Zone 3)

Target Type: Industry


Took off and formed up with rest of squadron.

We flew through Zone 1—No German Fighters (per game rules)

Upon entering Zone 2, we had good fighter cover however, 1 wave of 3 FW190’s; 12 O’Clock High, 3 O’Clock Level, 3 O’Clock High. Approached us.


Friendly Fighter Cover drove of 12 O’Clock High and 3 O’Clock High fighters away however, 3 O'Clock FW190 had his sights set on us.

Starboard Waist gun, Top Turret gun, and Ball Turret guns all miss.

The 3 O'Clock FW190 scores 3 Starboard Wing Hits: 1) Wing Root Hit, and 2) superficial damage hit, 3) superficial damage hit.


The enemy FW190 circles around and comes in for his second attack, licking his chops, trying to inflict more damage, at 9 O’clock High.


Top Turret gun misses…..Port Waist gun gets a hit—FCA Fighter damaged but continues attack at -1.


FW190 fires, misses, and flies away.


Zone 3 Target Zone


Weather in target Zone—Good


1 wave of two FW190 fighters approaching at 12 Level & 1:30 Low, both are driven away from Good Fighter Cover.


Flak Over Target—Heavy—1 Hit—3 Shell Hits—Port wing hit-- superficial damage


Bomb Run—On Target- 75%


Turned around in Zone 3 to head back home.  Out of no where 2 fighter waves attempt to bounce us. 

First wave driven off by other B-17s.

Second Wave=5 FW190’s—12 High, 1:30 High 3 High, 6 High, 9 High (Green)


Only the 1:30 High fighter is driven off by fighter cover.

Hold your breath, boys...here they come!!!!

Top Turret gun, Nose Gun, and Starboard Waist gun all miss.

Luckily, the 9 O’Clock FW190 was shot down by Ball Turret making it his first confirmed Kill for him and the ship.

The Fw190's come in: the 12 High one Misses, the 3 High one Misses, however, the 6 High one scores two hits. (3 hits due to being FW190). 2 hits x 1.5=3


The FW190's 1st Hit—Pilot Compartment; 2nd Hit--Bomb Bay, 3rd Hit—Tail Section

Pilot and Co-pilot both get lights wounds which luckily do not impair their duties.



The second hit for the FW190 hits the bomb bay area and since the Bombs were already dropped, there is no effect.


Third hit lands in the Tail Section hitting the Control Cables, causing no effect.


The FW190 circles around attempting to score some more hits on his second pass at 12 O'Clock High however, he is driven off by Fighter Cover.


Our ship moves into zone 2---No Fighters


The Miss Delight, who has a few more holes in her, than when she departed, moves into zone 1 with the weather over Base being good, lands without incident.


The boys will have alot to talk about tonight while the ground crew will try to get the ship fixed up and ready to go for the next mission.

Both Pilot and Co-pilot earn a Purple Heart and should be healed quick enough to fly their next mission.

[Wolfgang]

Wait, this sounds awesome...

I've been curious about the Vassal system and how it works and how to go about finding people into that type of game play. I have a huge box at home of old wargames from the late 70s AH (I have most of the ASL system I believe) to the early 2000's (Mostly GMT and The Gamers(?) and some GDW titles).

[MikeC]

I love this old game, going back to its pre-Avalon Hill days. A gaming buddy of mine brought it into a club, and it almost looked like a player-assembled game. What was the term for that kind of game, where you had a paper map and counter sheet, and mounted them yourself on cardboard? You cut out the counters yourself, the whole works.

But I diverge...The old version of QotS had very crude components, but worked the same as the AH version. Bought the AH at Toys 'R Us, of all places, and played the heck out of it. Interesting narratives for the crew members; the coward who redeemed himself and was lost at sea on his 25th trip. Great stuff!

A little more on the coward...he was a navigator (bombardier?) Both pilot and co-pilot were seriously wounded. Flight engineer KIA (I think). The rest of the crew bailed out over the air base, and the navigator joined them instead of attempting to land the plane. He never got a scratch for the rest of his combat tour, but was lost at sea on his 25th. Does that sound like an episode of 12 O'clock High or not?

Does anyone have experience Storm over the Reich? That is GMT's solitaire game where the player commands a staffel of ME-109s, and flies against a B17 combat box. I don't have it, but have pre-ordered the sequel, where the player has a staffel of FW 190s against the B24 box.

[MikeC]

Slightly off topic, but I'm proud of my uncle...


Kohr crew, 487th Bombardment Group (H), Station 137, Lavenham, Suffolk, UK. My Uncle Bill is front row, second from left. They were shot down over Ruhland, Germany 17 March, 1945. All survived, but were PoWs for the last couple of months of the war. To all WWII veterans...  

Photo is from the 487th BG web site, highly recommended! http://www.487thbg.org/

Maybe not so off topic. Anyone interested in QotS will probably be interested in the fine 487th web site.

[Compass Rose]

Slightly off topic, but I'm proud of my uncle...

Thanks for sharing.

My uncle was in the 401st BG.  He was a co-pilot on a B-17G and was lucky to survive 30 missions out of Deenethorpe, England.

[MikeC]

Slightly off topic, but I'm proud of my uncle...

Thanks for sharing.

My uncle was in the 401st BG.  He was a co-pilot on a B-17G and was lucky to survive 30 missions out of Deenethorpe, England.

You're welcome CR! I was afraid I had hijacked the thread for a while.

Uncle Bill was a navigator on a B17G. 

I'm not much of a model builder, but this 1/72 B17G is based on his, 838 squadron (2-charlie), 487th bomb group (block P), and the tail number is the one on his ship. Group colors are true to March 1945. I'm not sure of the letter identifier of the plane though.

If I ever find out the letter identifier, it will go on the fuselage ahead of the national insignia.

Interesting tidbit about the 487th BG, in the spring and summer of 1944, it was commanded by Lt. Col. Beirne Lay Jr. Col. Lay later was co-author of the novel 12 O'clock High.

[MikeC]

Slightly off topic, but I'm proud of my uncle...

Thanks for sharing.

My uncle was in the 401st BG.  He was a co-pilot on a B-17G and was lucky to survive 30 missions out of Deenethorpe, England.

Added 401st BG web site to my favorites list, great site!