The 387th Bomb Group Project

Phase 4

Initial Operations from Station 162

The overall war situation in the summer of 1943. During the 1930s, the U.S. Army Air Service was a tiny operation whose senior staff was populated by a small group of disciples of General William ("Billy") Mitchell. It was Mitchell, who, along with Italian General Giulio Douhet, propounded the theory that wars could be won by air power alone, without the need for a clash between land armies and naval fleets. They believed that large, fast bomber aircraft could attack the enemy’s cities, destroying his means of industrial production and killing and demoralizing his industrial workers. Not surprisingly, this theory did not find favor with the top brass of either the Army or the Navy, and Mitchell was eventually court martialed and left the Army. But his followers, led by the energetic and diplomatic General Henry ("Hap") Arnold carried on his cause and, as it became apparent in 1939 that war was all but inevitable, the Army laid plans to build an enormous bomber fleet, built (initially) around the four engine Boeing B-17, the "Flying Fortress".

During the pre-war period, General Arnold built a small staff of devotees, including three very capable officers who would later play crucial roles in the Army Air Forces operating in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). They were Ira Eaker, Carl (“Tooey”) Spaatz, and James (“Jimmy”) Doolittle.

During the Summer of 1942 General Spaatz was sent to England to prepare for the arrival and build-up of the Eighth Air Force. The Eighth Air Force was organized into four commands, the Air Service Command, The Ground-Air Support Command, Fighter Command (Spitfires and P-38 Lightnings) under General Frank (“Monk”) Hunter and Bomber Command under General Tooey Spaatz.

As originally envisioned by General Marshall, the role of the Eighth Air Force was to prepare for a cross channel invasion of France as early as late 1942 or early 1943. As it became apparent that this was too optimistic (and at the near frantic urging of Winston Churchill) the British and Americans shifted first to invasion of Europe from the south via North Africa and, then, Italy. Only in the summer of 1944 did they develop the strength to attempt an invasion across the English Channel.

The first year (1942-1943) of the, still small, Eighth Air Force’s history in England was complex and not notably successful. After the first few “milk runs” into nearby parts of occupied France, they began to encounter very heavy losses due to both German interceptor aircraft and antiaircraft fire (“Flak”). To add insult to injury, General Eisenhower, the overall American commander in Europe, transferred much of the Eighth’s strength south in the Fall of 1942 to support operation “Torch”, the American invasion of North Africa.

In fact, Eighth Air Force operational losses in late 1942 and throughout much of 1943 were simply horrendous and led to fatality rates for air crews which were only exceeded by those of submarine crews.

This is all fascinating history. I highly recommend reading Masters of the Air, by Donald Miller, to understand the profound difficulties of the overall air campaign in Europe. You might also enjoy the much shorter The Bomber Mafia by the ubiquitous Malcolm Gladwell.

Fortunately, you will be flying B-26s operating closer to your home bases than the B-17s and B-24s and largely within range of allied fighter support from British spitfires and American P-38 Lightnings and P-47 Thunderbolts, aka “Jugs”. It won’t be until much later in the war that the Eighth will have support from P-51 “Mustangs” which had the range to accompany them deep into Germany and back.

So, now we will turn to the task at hand. The provision of tactical air support to allied efforts in occupied France, Belgium and Holland, and only later to raids within Germany itself.

Initially four B-26 Bomb Groups were deployed to England in the spring and summer of 1943: the 322nd, 323rd, 386th and 387th. So, ours (the 387th) is the last of the initial deployment. Later in the war, there will be four more B-26 Groups operating in the ETO.

The 831st Engineer Battalion had been working on our base Willingale’s (Station 162) runways since mid-August 1942, using rubble from the bombed-out buildings in London as the principal construction material. In spite of having nine months to get the job done, the engineers still had to work overnight the last two nights before the Group’s arrival to get the runways ready.

Four Squadrons comprised the 387th Group, the 556th, 557th, 558th, and 559th. Bomb Squadrons. Together, about 59 brand new B-26s arrived at Station 162 on June 25th,1943 having made a rapid and largely uneventful transit of the north Atlantic in record time. Each group painted their B-26s in a distinctive livery. The 387th chose diagonal black and yellow stripes on the top of the vertical stabilizer. This gave them the nickname the “Tiger Striped Marauders”. Of the 17 liveries available in the Schupe B-26s, three of them have this livery, they are “Heavenly Body”, 558th Squadron,” Keller’s Killers”, 557th Squadron, and, my choice, “Wham Bam”, 558th Squadron, so you may want to choose one of those.

The first of the Medium Bomb Groups to fly an operational mission from England was the 322nd, which flew a largely uneventful mission on May 14, 1943. Three days later, the 322nd sent eleven B-26s on a low-level mission against targets in Ijmuiden, Holland. They crossed the channel at very low level to avoid German radar. Before reaching Holland, one aircraft had to abort, and turned around, gaining altitude on the way back to England. Apparently, this tipped off the Germans, who were waiting for the remaining 10 aircraft as they crossed the Dutch coast. At the last minute they had to divert from their attack plan to avoid unexpected ship born antiaircraft fire (“Flak”), which sent them directly over coastal German antiaircraft batteries. In the ensuing confusion, five B-26s were lost to Flak, three due to mid-air collisions, and two to enemy fighters. Not a single B-26 returned.

Understandably, this set off panic in the Eight Air Force command structure. These terrible results were consistent with the results of low-level missions flown earlier by Douglas A-20 light bombers and reinforced the view that low level raids against defended targets were prohibitively dangerous. So, the B-26s were grounded as the command considered what to do next. Once again, thought was given to grounding the B-26s permanently. Eventually, it was decided to abandon low level attacks and the B-26s were consigned to “medium altitude” attacks, generally bombing from 10,000’ to 15,000’. As you have already learned, it’s a lot harder to hit a target from this altitude, but it’s also harder for the German Flak batteries to hit the aircraft. So, by the time the 387th had six weeks or so of training in England and began operational missions in the middle of August 1942, really low-level missions were off the table. So, sorry you won’t be able to get the satisfaction of shooting fish in a barrel from 500’ or 1000’. If you want that kind of action, you could retrain to B-24s, join the 15th Air Force in Italy and participate in the numerous raids against the oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania – if you don’t mind up to 30% aircraft losses per mission.

The good news was that early results showed that a fast, tight formation of heavily armed B-26s constituted a challenging target for Luftwaffe fighter pilots, who usually were satisfied with picking off lone stragglers. Subsequent action demonstrated that flak batteries, not fighters, were the principal threat to B-26 raids.

So, now that you are settled in at Station 162 you will do some initial training to familiarize yourself with the immediate vicinity of your base. You will be pleased to learn (if you have installed the Phase 4 scenery package – see below) that we have improved the base and you now have a control tower, a hangar for repair work, Quonset huts for sleeping and eating and modest defensive fire installations. Since Willingale (really, EGSX) has no nav aids, you will want to learn to learn to use the NDB (SSD – 429 kHz) at nearby Stansted, EGSS. The terrain around these strips is relatively flat and featureless, except for the road network, which can be confusing from the air. So, you will want to learn to approach the NDB and navigate to it in such a way that you are set up to fly the pattern into EGSX. Once this is second nature, then we’ll have you try it at night. Remember you may have to pull off this landing at night, or in iffy weather, with a damaged aircraft, maybe on one engine, possibly with injured air crew aboard. You want to have this approach nailed. This is the sort of thing that WWII USAAF pilots did almost routinely to save their aircraft and their crews. By comparison, civilian flying is a cake walk.

Scenery Packages. If you have been following along with the 387th BG project closely so far, you will have already downloaded the Schupe B-26 and spent the time required to learn how to fly it (Phase 1). You will also have downloaded the fsx-weaponspack-4 (Phase 2), loaded your B-26 with eight M-117-pound bombs, and developed some proficiency in hitting a target with these bombs. Now you will want to do several more things. None of these are strictly speaking necessary for you to complete these missions, but they will enhance the experience and you may have difficulty finding and identifying your targets without some of them.

The first of these is to download and add Paul Strogen’s (Gypsy Baron) FLAK package to your add-on scenery. I ran into Paul and did a little flying with him during a brief stint with the 91st Bomb Group (VA), but the A2A simulations B-17 they use is just too hard for me. Anyway, It’s available from Sim Outhouse at http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=118&id=4682. Installation instructions are included. Don’t worry, these flak bursts won’t shoot you down, but they will add to the realism of your missions.

The second is to download Ian P’s FSX Scenery Library. This is an object library, not a scenery file. An object library is a collection of scenery objects which can be placed in a particular scenery file to populate it with particular things - objects (buildings, aircraft, guns, bunkers, etc.). Ian is a specialist in WWII RAF scenery and objects and these are useful for our purposes. You can find his work at: https://www.ianpsdarkcorner.co.uk/. Go to that site, and click on “Flight Simulator” in the menu on the top, then select “Scenery Object Libraries”, and under that “IJP FSX Scenery Library”. This is a very large file, but it contains a number of useful objects. Ian does not provide installation instructions, but I will. Download the file, it’s compressed, so extract it and then copy it into your FSX Addon Scenery folder.

Third, go to the Download section of our website under Bomber Group and download the Phase 4 Scenery File. Unzip the file and store the resulting files: (1) GermanAircraftLib., (2) Station 164, and (3) IJP LFQO in your FSX Addon Scenery file.

Finally, start FSX and go to Scenery Library and add each of these five files to the active scenery files (“add area”). When you’re finished, the top five priorities in your scenery library (in no particular order) should be:



These will be sufficient to take you through the first five of the Phase 4 Missions (902117 – 902121). There will be two more missions in Phase 4, and scenery for these missions will be provided once those missions are fully developed.

OK, you’re ready. Here are your missions:

902117: EGSX – EGSX

Make several circuits of the pattern (left and right traffic) for both runways 2 and 20, in both daylight and at nighttime. Extend both the upwind and the downwind far enough to become familiar with the landmarks for your turns to base and final. There is no radio navaid for EGSX (i.e., Station 162), so approaches will have to be visual, regardless of time of day or weather conditions. The cross runway is not long enough for B-26 operations.

902118: EGSX – EGSS

There is an NDB (SSD: 429KHz) at neighboring Stansted EGSS. This is the nearest available radio navaid (of 1940s vintage) to Station 162. It can be used to cobble together an NDB approach to either EGSS or to EGSX. There is no published NDB approach, but you can figure one out. There are ILS approaches to EGSS, but these are not permitted. So, work out an NDB approach to EGSS using the flight plan:

EGSX.. NF(311 KHz)..SSD(429 KHz)..EGSS.

Fly it once in the daylight, and once at night, both in fair weather.

902119: EGSX – EGSX

Repeat both versions of mission 902119 (day and night), but treat your NDB approach as a “circle to land” approach to either runway 2 or 20 at EGSX.

902120: EGSX – EGSX (St. Omer/387003)

Congratulations, his will be your first combat mission with the 387th Bomb Group. This will be your qualification mission for 387th BG operations. This was the third operational mission for the 387th, flown on Aug. 15, 1943, and hence referred to as mission 003. The target is a Luftwaffe fighter base, scarcely a half an hour’s flying time from our base. It is at a small field just southwest of the French town of Saint Omer, the current site of LFQN. Although you may need to deal with FLAK crossing the French coast, we do not expect antiaircraft defenses at Saint Omer. However, since it has cost Uncle Sam a lot of money to train you, and since this will be your first combat mission, we are going to send you in at 10,000 ft. to maximize the chances of your return. We are also going to wait for clear weather, so that you don’t have to contend with clouds obscuring the terrain.

Now, before you go further, you need to go to the 387th Bomb Group section of the SPA Forum. This is where I put helpful instructions about how to accomplish these flights. You should read all of these. In particular, in the Officer’s Club section of this Forum, read the entry titled “387th Bomb Group, Mission 003, Dealing with the Real World”. Read this carefully. In this entry, I have ranked all of the ways I have found to make these missions easier, from the easiest (Level V), to the most realistic (Level I). You will probably need to fly this mission several times before achieving a level of success to warrant your approval for the succeeding combat missions. I suggest you start at Level IV (GPS Allowed, Clear All Weather), then repeat at Level III (dead reckoning, no GPS, Fair Weather) and then at Level II (dead reckoning, real world weather for 8/15/2021). If you can fly the entire mission under Level II conditions, get at least one of your bombs within 1000 yds of the target (the runway intersection at LFQO) on your first (only) bombing run of that sortie and return safely to Station 162, you have graduated and can proceed to the next mission).

The FSX/P3D flight plan for Mission 387003 is in the downloads section of our website. But here is a print-out of the flight plan and maps of sections of the route, as well as reconnaissance photos of key waypoints.





The FSX/P3D flight plan for Mission 387003 is in the downloads section of our website. But here is a print-out of the flight plan and maps of sections of the route, as well as reconnaissance photos of key waypoints.

Here is a reconnaissance photo of your target, the Saint Omer Luftwaffe fighter base. North is up in this photo.



Reconnaissance photos indicate that there is a control tower, a hangar and at least one flight of Me 109s usually resident at this base. Check the 387th BG section of the SPA Forum for intelligence/reconnaissance updates before flying this mission.

And, here is a map of the overall flight from Station 162, back to Station 162.



So, following along:

  1. Initially, set weather to “Clear All Weather”. Load your B-26 with eight M-117 bombs. Take off Station 162 at 1000 hrs., turn to bearing 115 M. Tune you ADF receiver to NF (311 KHz) and navigate direct to NF. Enroute, climb to 10000’ MSL and accelerate to a true airspeed of 245 kts. [ At 10,000’, 245 KTAS equates to about 210 KIAS, depending on the OAT. Use your E-6B flight computer to determine the required indicated airspeed.] Hold your altitude and airspeed as tightly as you can. This is essential to good bombing accuracy.

  2. At NF, turn to bearing 175 M and head for waypoint CAPGN (Cap Gris-Nez, Cape Grey Nose en anglaise). This should be obvious as it is a very prominent cape on the French coast, just 30 nm south of NF. This is a good opportunity to check your dead reckoning. At 245 KTAS and 173 M (both wind-corrected, if required) this should take close to seven minutes.

  3. At CAPGN, turn right to 180 M and head direct to wpt01, which is a pier jutting from the beach at Point de la Creche, just north of Boulonge sur Mer. Here is a chart of the coast at Point de la Creche.
    After this point, expect German Flak at any point in the mission until you leave the French coast on your return. If we have maintained operational security, the Germans don’t know where you’re headed, so they tend to defend the coast, rather than trying to guess your route or target.

  4. At wpt01, turn sharply left to 096 M. You are headed for the initial point (IP) for your bomb run (IP3). This is the point at which you will make a turn onto a direct heading to your target and the bombardier will take over control of the aircraft to take you directly over the target. This is your period of maximum vulnerability, as you cannot change heading, airspeed or altitude without spoiling the bombardier’s target “solution” and it’s easy for the fighters or gunners to predict your course, lead your aircraft and shoot you down. Since this is your first combat mission, we have planned a very short bomb run, about 2.6 miles which will only last a minute or so. This is good for safety, but poor for bomb accuracy, as the bombardier (this will be you) has only a very short period of time to get onto the proper course. IP3 is an overpass bridge at the intersection of Route Nacionale No. 42 (N42) and the main highway coming south from Calais (today A26). A good navigator will be able to pick up N42 heading east out of Boulonge sur Mer, starting south of your track, then crossing to the north, crossing again to the south, before coming north again to pass over A26. It is important to pick-up the IP visually as far away as possible, since that will allow you to get established on your bomb run before you pass the IP.
    To
    The photo above was taken at 10,000’ from the front of the bombardier’s compartment approaching IP3 in good, but not totally clear, weather. If you look carefully, you will be able to see N42 on the right paralleling our course, before turning left (north) to cross A26 coming in from the left. The target is the small inverted ‘V” just left of the red arrow. The arms of that V are the two runways. These features are not easy to see, even in good weather at a range of only a few (5.4) miles. You will have only a minute of so to adjust the track of your B-26 to lay your “stick” of eight M-117s right on top of the airstrip and you will have to determine the release point accurately to get the range right. I told you this wasn’t going to be easy. Do your best on the first pass, because coming back for a second try is against orders and usually suicidal. You can fly (and log) this mission as many times as you want until you have gotten your best results. After releasing your last bomb, turn left to 353 M and head for the rally point (003RP) on the French coast. Don’t forget to take some BDA (bomb damage assessment) photos on the way out from the target (see the Forum for how to do this). Continue to NF, SSD and EGSX and land.

    You will be back in time for an early lunch. Enjoy it, the later missions won’t be this easy. Post your mission 003 results in the 387th BG section of the Forum.



I have learned some additional things about how to identify and hit your target from the bombardier’s station in the nose of the B-26. Since these techniques apply to all of our bombing missions, I have posted them in the technical issues section of the 387th BG Forum, rather than attach them to a particular mission. I will also post a few photos of a successful bomb run on Saint Omer in the Forum.

902121: EGSX – EGSX (Lille-Nord/ 387010)

OK, now that you have demonstrated an ability to get bombs into the general vicinity of your target under close to realistic conditions, we are going to send you against a lucrative target a little bit deeper into Northern France. While St. Omer was a small Luftwaffe fighter base, Lille-Nord is a much larger Luftwaffe base which hosts a number of He-111 medium bombers and both Me-109 and FW-190 fighters. These bombers continue to pose a threat to our bases in England and need to be eliminated, or driven out of range. On top of that there is an important Luftwaffe command center here and most of the aircraft are usually parked in bomb resistant shelters called revetments. This is the real deal, a hard target. You’ll probably be sent against this target multiple times before we can eliminate the threat it poses to our operations. The base is a large grass area, bounded by a taxiway, with revetments scattered around the periphery, making them very difficult targets. The headquarters area is on the west side and consists of a service area with numerous vehicles, and a hardened command bunker, as well as a number of AA batteries – we’re expected. We will approach from the NW to maximize time over the target. To reach the IP, we will cross the coast at Dunkirk (remember that soldier?) and then cross into Belgium and fly SE until we reenter France. Lille sits in a narrow beak of France protruding into Belgium. This area is the site of many of the horrendous battles of WWI, but we won’t have time for sightseeing.

Here is the flight plan for 387/010:




And here is a high-altitude recce photo of the base, but be sure to check the “O” club in the 387th Forum for the latest reconnaissance photo. We hope to send in a fast P-47D at low level to see what’s there, close-up.
Here’s a chart of our course. Very similar to 387003, same altitude and airspeed, but a little farther into France. You still should easily make lunch, as we will be departing earlier at 0730 hrs., so the sun glint off our waypoints (which are all bodies of water) should be easy to see. If you’re not back for lunch, either you won’t be eating, or you’ll be having sauerkraut, so be careful.




OK, let me walk you through this one:

Here is 010WP1, Dunkirk Harbor from 10,000’




Followed by 010WP2, Twin Lakes




And then 010IP, Three lakes (in the distance, slightly right of course)




On the bomb run, heading 146 Mag. That’s the Lys River making its bend first to the west:




And then bending back east and pointing to the target in the distance:




Final adjustments to the bomb run heading:




Target in the sighting window, start stopwatch countdown to bombs away”




As soon as your bombs are away, get to F11 and look down from the front of your aircraft to catch the first burst for your BDA photos.




See you back at base for the debrief.