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The Story
In 1931, at the age of 21, Douglas Bader was the golden boy of the RAF. Excelling in everything he did he represented the Royal Air Force in aerobatics displays, played rugby for Harlequins, and was tipped to be the next England fly half. But one afternoon in December all his ambitions came to an abrupt end when he crashed his plane after being goaded into doing a particularly difficult and illegal aerobatic trick. His injuries were so bad that surgeons were forced to amputate both his legs to have a slim chance to save his life. Despite everything Douglas recovered to walk unaided on his artificial legs, but had to leave his beloved RAF. Douglas Bader did not fly again until the outbreak of the Second World War, when his undoubted skill in the air was enough to convince a desperate air force to give him another chance. The rest of his story is the stuff of legend. He became a flight leader leading Spitfires over Dunkirk, he was soon a squadron leader flying Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain, he led his squadron to kill after kill, keeping them all going with his unstoppable banter. He introduced the still controversial 'Big Wing' tactic of massing fighter squadrons together for one huge attack. In August 1941, leading his famous Tangmere Wing he was forced to bail out in occupied France, his German captors had to confiscate his tin legs in order to stop him trying to escape. Bader faced it all, disability, leadership and capture, with the same charm, charisma and determination that was an inspiration to all around him.
The Campaign
I Hope you enjoy this, my second campaign for IL2 Sturmovik 1946, I decided to make this campaign after re-reading all the old classic war stories while on holiday last year –
Reach For The Sky, The Great Escape, Stuka Pilot, Enemy Coast Ahead, I Flew For The Fuhrur, The Forgotten Soldier….if you have not read some or any of these books make sure you do NOW !!
I had forgotten what amazing and incredible, and heart breaking stories these were, and couldn’t understand why not many of these had been made into IL2 missions,so while we all wait the long wait for Storm Of War: Battle Of Britain to be released one day, I thought that this campaign would get people in the mood for the period !
I make no apologies for the Patriotism of the people of Great Britain and hatred of the Nazi Germans they showed, which may come through in the mission orders, it was war, and they faced the threat of invasion for many months, so I’ve tried to write through Douglas Bader’s eyes and capture the feel of the times !
One of the big problems for any Battle Of Britain missions in IL2 is the absence of a Spitfire Mk1, using the cannon armed Spitfire MkVb can give the RAF a big advantage, I’ve got around this by adjusting pilot skills and fuel levels to get the required feel in each mission, of course this is all very ironic as one of Bader’s few errors was in his attitude against cannon armaments!
A modded version of the campaign is also now available - using the Spitfire Mk1 for added realism, you will need to visit - All Aircraft Arcade and download the mods, these mods do not effect the stock aircraft.
Special thanks to EMEL for his custom 242 Squadron Hurricane Skins made for this campaign.
Other Information
Douglas Bader’s thoughts on the Hurricane and Spitfire-
“At the end of June 1940, I was made a Squadron Leader and given command of 242 (Canadian) Fighter Squadron. It was equipped with the Hurricane Mark I. The only time I had flown a Hurricane, and then just for a short time, was at Upavon five months previously. That model had had a two-bladed, fixed-pitch airscrew. Now I got to know three-bladed constant speed propellors. They were better, providing shorter take-off, faster climb.
The Hurricane was slower than the Spitfire, with a maximum speed of 335 m.p.h. against 367 m.p.h. The Hurricane was also less elegant to the eye, but then there has never been such a beautiful aeroplane as the Spitfire. For all that, like other fighters from the Hawker stable, and the the result of the design genius of Sydney Camm, the Hurricane was a thoroughbred and looked it. Like the Spitfire it was immensly strong: a pilot had no need to fear the danger of pulling the wings off, no matter how desperate the situation became.
When I first flew the Hurricane in June 1940, I was agreeably surprised at the compact feel of the aeroplane. It had seemed big on the ground in comparison with the Spitfire; in the air it felt nothing of the sort. You could see out of it better and the controls were perfectly harmonized. It climbed steeply and at a lower speed but required a good deal of right rudder in the climb to counteract the engine torque. I found this a considerable nuisance on a long climb. The Spitfire had the same left-hand pull in a climb but it also had a manually operated bias in the cockpit so that the pilot could trim it out on the rudder.
As I was continually leading formations on long climbs from take-off to 20,000 feet, the maximum height at which the Hurricane I could successfully fight, I got fed-up with this. The Hawker test-pilot, Philip Lucas, was a chum, so I rang him up and complained. There were instant results (as was always the case in those days). I flew my Hurricane over to Langley were they fitted a rudder bias in hours.
Like all pilots who flew and fought in the Hurricane I, I grew to love it. It was strong, highly manoeuvrable, could turn inside the Spitfire and of course the Me 109. Best of all, it was a marvellous gun platform. The sloping nose gave you a splendid forward view, while the eight guns were set in blocks of four in each wing, close to the fuselage. The aeroplane remained rock steady when you fired. Unlike the Spitfire with its lovely elliptical wing which sloped upwards to the tip, the Hurricane wing was thicker and straight. The Spitfire was less steady when the guns were firing because, I have always thought, they were spread further along the wing, and the recoil effect was noticeable."
Thoughts on Bader…
You knew you were flying with an ace in every sense of the word, a bloke who knew exactly what he was doing, who was on the ball, was afraid of nothing, and a great leader.
flight lieutenant
He was a bully. But we’d got a war to win. We just got on with it and ignored him.
ground crew
He made me sick. I’ve never met such a self-opinionated fool in all my life.
wing commander
He was awesome, marvellous. I never met anyone with such charisma.
ground crew
and the final word from Douglas…
Bigwing.net and IL2 historical campaigns - by Stiboo - no affiliation with Ubisoft, Maddox Games, or 1C - this page last updated 09 10 2008