387th Bomb Group: Phase 3 Flights Posted

The activity in the 387th Bomb Group Project is so intense that I am working overtime just to keep up with the demand for additional flights   Actually, we have only tempted two pilots into giving it a try, and they have only flown the first flight. Nonetheless, we are continuing to post additional flights.  We have just posted the Phase 3 flights, which consist of the ferry flights for getting your B26 across the North Atlantic to our classified base location in England using only the single ADF receiver present on the B 26.  I am currently starting to build the briefing package for your first combat mission Phase 4, well be attacking the Luftwaffe base at St. Omer.  The Germans have been using this base, and many other, to lauch interceptors, Me109 and FW190, against our B 17s on their way into Germany.  We need to start suppressing this activity by pushing them back, away from the French coast, using our Medium bombers, the B 26s.

In spite of the initially underwhelming interest, I am staying hard at work on this project because I am having so much fun.  If you have been tempted, but were put off by the apparent enormity of the project let me offer a little help.  There are only two special things you have to do to participate.  First, you will have to install the freeware B 26.  At least four pilots have already done this, its a piece of cake.  Besides, you do this all the time.  Then, a few flights later, you will need to install the FSX weapons pack, so that you have bombs to drop.  I have provided instructions and can help anyone having trouble.  Otherwise, its just a matter of flying the aircraft on the assigned missions.  Nothing special, except that the clock is set back to 1942 and youll have to recall some rusty skills, like navigating.  On top of that, like everything here at SPA, you can do whatever you want, a la carte.  So, read ahead and see where were headed.  Who knows, maybe it will look interesting.   If you dont want to do something, skip it and do the next thing.

But rest assured, Im not stopping until I win WWII, even if I have to do it singlehandedly 

Mike

I've just started reading Stephen Ambrose's "The Wild Blue". It's about the men who flew the B-24s over Europe in WWII and follows the career of later 1972 Presidential Candidate George McGovern, who was a B-24 pilot. It has a lot of detail on the selection and training of Army Air Force air crews, an almost unimaginably enormous undertaking for the tiny U.S. Army of 1940-1942, aiming to train up to 100,000 pilots per year and all the associated air crew members. Many cadets had to wait many months between their enlistment and the beginning of their training. The training was intensive and produced a high wash out rate. Pilots, co-pilots, navigators and bombardiers were commissioned officers, but many wash outs went on to be enlisted aircrew members (radio men, gunners, etc.). There was a great deal of testing and the highest scoring cadets were selected for pilot and other officer training slots. The most interesting fact that I learned about this training is supportive of much I have written in the 387th BG Phase 3 package: the highest scoring cadets were not selected for prestigious pilot training, instead, they were trained as navigators.

Don't worry Larry. The B-26 is not hard to fly. I'll be interested to see what you think.

Mike