Tempest Mk II No 3

[NARSES2]

True    It also shows just how poor some allied pilots air to air recognition skills were 

Mind you my dad once told an ex RAF pilot in his British Legion branch that whilst he was in the Med' if an aircraft came anywhere near their ship they opened fire on the basis that it was highly unlikely to be British    I took him home at that point 

[Scotaidh]

True    It also shows just how poor some allied pilots air to air recognition skills were 

Mind you my dad once told an ex RAF pilot in his British Legion branch that whilst he was in the Med' if an aircraft came anywhere near their ship they opened fire on the basis that it was highly unlikely to be British    I took him home at that point 

I used to read a lot of Penguin war stories, and in one of them the crew of a merchant ship said that any aircraft showing an interest in them was fired at.  They seldom kept up with aircraft recognition, and who's to say a captured aircraft isn't being used to attack them?  Far-fetched?  Yes, but often the only aircraft they saw were hostile - no fighter of the day had the range to escourt them much past the harbour wall ...

Shipping, and especially merchant shipping, was a highly endangered specie during the war - I don't blame them at all for aggressively protecting themselves. 

In "HMS Ulysses" Alistair MacClean said the Germans at some point switched to the strategy of taking out the convoy's escourts first to allow themselves a free hand with the convoy ... I dunno if he made that up, but it sounds plausible enough.  When I play submarine games that's how I operate - torpedo the escourts, then surface and use the deck gun on the merchants.  It works. 

[Rheged]

True    It also shows just how poor some allied pilots air to air recognition skills were 

Mind you my dad once told an ex RAF pilot in his British Legion branch that whilst he was in the Med' if an aircraft came anywhere near their ship they opened fire on the basis that it was highly unlikely to be British    I took him home at that point 

I used to read a lot of Penguin war stories, and in one of them the crew of a merchant ship said that any aircraft showing an interest in them was fired at.  They seldom kept up with aircraft recognition, and who's to say a captured aircraft isn't being used to attack them?  Far-fetched?  Yes, but often the only aircraft they saw were hostile - no fighter of the day had the range to escourt them much past the harbour wall ...

Shipping, and especially merchant shipping, was a highly endangered specie during the war - I don't blame them at all for aggressively protecting themselves. 

In "HMS Ulysses" Alistair MacClean said the Germans at some point switched to the strategy of taking out the convoy's escourts first to allow themselves a free hand with the convoy ... I dunno if he made that up, but it sounds plausible enough.  When I play submarine games that's how I operate - torpedo the escourts, then surface and use the deck gun on the merchants.  It works. 

Taking out the escorts first was the preferred way of attacking a convoy.  Roskill's works on 2WW naval history  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Roskill#:~:text=Captain%20Stephen%20Wentworth%20Roskill%2C%20CBE,Navy%20from%201949%20to%201960.  refer to this .

Come to think of it, Beaufighter equipped Coastal Command Strike Wings  are supposed to have used the same technique;  rocket armed Flakbeaus took out the AA armed  escort vessels in German convoys, allowing the Torpedo armed Torbeaus to deal with the  convoyed ships.

[Captain Canada]

Lovely bit o' work!    I can see Zac heading for a cold shower after he sees this! 

 

[Captain Canada]

Nice one ! It's got a Scottish flag vibe going on.

[NARSES2]

In "HMS Ulysses" Alistair MacClean said the Germans at some point switched to the strategy of taking out the convoy's escourts first to allow themselves a free hand with the convoy ... I dunno if he made that up, but it sounds plausible enough.  When I play submarine games that's how I operate - torpedo the escourts, then surface and use the deck gun on the merchants.  It works. 

Dad always said some of his worst memories were of being part of the escort for Atlantic Convoys early in WW II and having to sit there at night watching the U-Boats, which had probably surfaced, picking the merchantmen off one by one    They, the U-Boats were very difficult to spot. He was sent to the Med after a couple of trips across the Pond.

[Rick Lowe]

The stripes are, maybe, a bit of "over-kill" but, otherwise, very nice job, Chris!  

"There is no such thing as 'Overkill'. There is only 'Open Fire' and 'I need to reload.'"
From 'The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Efficient Mercenaries.'