Wiosenny Odlot (Mid War) - report

 

Another "Odlot" tournament became history. This time we agreed to focus on mid-war period. So all pilots chose aicraft flown in 1942-1943. Each of six pilots was able to play three different scenarios chosen from the BRS rulebook: Dogfight (for the worm up), Frontlines and Targets of Opportunity (both for the first time during competitive event). I'd like to say that each of them worked quite well and I belive - with a bit of polishing - would be used during the future events.

 

Let me present the players and the strategies:

Karol chose quantity over quality with six Spitfires MkVb and Defensive tactics as a doctrine. He became our champion once again with two victories and one draw. His curse was Heavy Flak Presense card (he lost two aircrafts this way). As far as I know Defensive Tactics wasn't used intentionally as his opponents preffered to attack from Head on (which meet Karol's intention).

 

Arek took 5 aircraft Croatian Bf109G squadron. He chose High Altitude Performance as his doctrine which worked quite well during the game. His veteran pilots were free to outmaneouver their opponents. If only support them with regualar pilot he would receive an optimal effect. 

 

Reggiane Re.2002 were Łukasz T choice. He chose Low Altitude Performace as his doctrine which seems natural for his Poor Quality aircrafts. Those were second turning fighter squadron at this event. 

 

Łukasz W took his favourite Japaneese energy fighters: J2M. Those were fast and furious during the battles. Similar to Arek he chose High Altitude Performance as his doctrine. Being the fastest he could outmaneouver his opponents at hand.

 

Konrad dusted off his Mosquitos Mk II for this event. As a doctrine he chose Seasoned pilots which appeared as an extremely useful, especially under heavy fire of Japaneese Raidens. 

I decided to play Alpha strike squadron with Sustained dive as a doctrine. To give balance I chose P38J. First battle against Raidens ended up with my failure. I let my opponent to tail Flying Forks. To be honest chosen doctrine was useful only once during third scenario when I was able to find comfortable scanning area. I need to learn much more how to play energy fighters.

 

Some thoughts

I'm happy that Turning Fighters are no longer dominant way of play in Poland, even though Spitfire was a winner once more. Each player chose different aircraft, and at least half of players took energy fighters for this event.

I'm also happy for adaptation of new scenarios for the competitive game. I think Frontlines and Targets off opportunity worked quite well in our event.

And last but not least I'm very happy for new organizer of our event. Karol did great job as a host of Odlot tournament.

Here you have some photos

Aces High - Jan "Donald" Zumbach

 

Jan Zumbach known under the nickname of "Donald" was a fifth most efficient Polish fighter pilot during the WW2. He started his career in famous 111 fighter "Kościuszko" squadron before the war but ... wasn't able to join the fight in 1939 due to his injury inflicted during the training flight. Being evacuated to France he joined the Polish Air Force and was posted to the teritorial defence element within GC I/55. He made operational flights on many French fighter planes including Morane Ms-406, Bloch MB-152, Hawk H75A, Koolhoven FK58 and even Arsenal VG-33 but didn't manage to open his victory roll.

I was able to collect Jan Zumbach aircrafts due to the courthesy of good collegue: Arek Stamm who provided special decal set. The set consists of 7 planes starting from pre-war PZL11 ending with his personal Mustang Mk III.

The first plane in the collection is PZL11 number 1 from 111 fighter squadron flown by Zumbach before the break out of the WW2. The model comes from Roc-Works range. I painted them with Hataka (authentic) shades 

The second aircraft flown by Zumbach on May 1940 were Morane Ms-406 marked with GC I/55. The model comes from Planeprinter range. As usual I used Hataka range early war dedicated paints.

The third on the list is Curtiss H75A also flown by Zumbach in GC I/55. My model also comes from Planeprinter range and was marked with the same range Hataka paints.

After the fall of France Zumbach was transferred to England and joined just formed 303 "Kościuszko" squadron. The battle of Britain was the great opportunity for Zumbach to show his fighter quality. He claimed 8 victories on Hurricane Mk I. Most of his kills were Bf-109 even though German fighter exceed Hurricane with all main parameters.

My Hurricane Mk I is Planeprinter 3d printed model painted with typical early war British scheme: Dark Earth/Dark Green/Sky. RF-F flown by Zumbach was the copy marked with the final Polish score after Battle of Britain: 126 German kills

Another Plane flown By Jan Zumbach was Spiftire Mk II: "Impregnable" marked with Pluto. My model as many others come from the Planeprinter range and was painted in the early war RAF scheme (just realized that spinner in 1941 need to be in Sky not black). 

Almost entire fighter career of Jan Zumbach as within 303 squadron. In 1942 he became a squadron leader. The most iconic Jan Zumbach's aircraft was Spitfire Mk Vb marked with Donald Duck with full victory roll and squadron leader badge. In fact there were at least three Donald Duck Spitfires each with different pose of the character.

My Spitfire Mk Vb is a 3d printed model and comes from Roc-Works range. As all of my models it was painted with Hataka dedicated range paints.

Being highly talented and experienced pilot Jan Zumbach was posted to High Flying School in Eddleton. In 1944 he became a leader of 133 Polish fighter wing as an Acting Wing commander. His personal plane was Mustang Mk III marked with JZ. On tihs plane he claimed his last victory above Holland during operaton Market Garden.

My Mustang Mk III is 3d printed model and comes from Roc-Works range. It was painted with typical late war scheme (Ocean Grey/Dark Green/Medium Sea Grey) with identification markings (white stripes on wings and tail, Sky strip on fuselage and Yellow leading edges.

On April 1945 Jan Zumbach became Prisoner of War in the very hilarious way. Visiting one of the front airbases he was asked he was hosted in the local bar. In the evening Jan Zumbach offered to pick up his collegue to his headquaters ... using plane. As he was screwed he missed directions and landed ... at the wrong side of the frontline. Germans didn't miss the opportunity to publish news about capturing of AWC Jan Zumbach. 

After the war he tried to settle down but didn't manage. He was involved with smuggling watches, cigarettes and gold. He was also engaged in few conflicts in Africa. Those days Jan Zumbach was known as Mr Brown always appearing as pilot.

Most of the Jan Zumbach victories were achieved with the planes slower, less agile than opponent. Designing his ace profile in the Blood Red Skies game I've decided to give him as a first ace skill Lighting Reaction which reflects taking over initiative even against superior aircrafts. Zumbach was talented leader. as a squadron leader and wing commander. That's why I decided to give him as a second ace skill: Tactical Wizard to reflect his high leading abilities. He was efficient fighter pilot so I decided to add 1FP for him. 

 

 

 

 

 

Aces High - Bolesław Gładych

 

Bolesław Gładych was fifth (or second according to  US methodology) Polish ace pilots of the WW2. As a restless spirit he was a person with an interesting history, worth to share.

At the outbreak of World War II Bolesław Gładych was still trained in the famous Eaglet School in Poland but he didn’t magage to join the fight during September 1939. He was evacuated to France where he became a part of I/145 Warsaw fighter squadron equipped with unsuccessfull Caudron CR-714. His victory roll started in June 1941 during service in 303 fighter squadron. 

 

Being a restless spirit as many fighter pilots he was suspended for the fighter duties. The help came to him uexpectedly while Frank Gabreski - squadron leader of 61FS invited Polish airmen to his unit as a guest pilots. They can get acquainted with the P47 Thunderbolt plane. One of them was Bolesław Gładych

 

Gładych was able to exploit all advantages of "Jug" as the most of his personal victories were claimed in 1944 during his service in 61FS.

Gładych was also known as a Fw190 supressor. He shot down the greatest number of those planes among all of Polish pilots. 

The most of his personal planes were marked with "penguin" (numbered continuously from 1 to 5). The first "Pengie" was painted on Spitfire Mk Vb from 302 Polish RAF squadron while the last: on P47M from 61FS.

He remained in 61FS till the end of the war in Europe. He refused to go back to Poland (controlled by Soviets) and settled down in US.

The collection of personal planes flown by Bolesław Gładych contain of: French CR714, British Spitfire Mk II, Spitfire Mk V, P47 Razorback (version D11-22) and P47 Bubbletop (versions D28 and M). The decals range fo the Gładych collection was designed - as usual = by Arek Stamm.

The very first plane flown operational by Bolesław Gładych was Caudron CR-714 number 13 from I/145 Varsovie squadron. Unfortunately he didn't manage to gain any successes on that plane. 

In our game CR714 is Underpowered plane (with bonus to be Outmaneouvered). Playing C714 in Blood Red Skies you can be sure to outnumber the opponent (as a C714 is rather low cost aircraft). The model is available in Planeprinter range as a STL file.

Another plane flown by Bolesław Gładych was Spitfire Mk IIb in 303 Polish RAF squadron. His second Spitfire was also the first Pengie in Gładych's collection: Spitfire Mk Vb from 302 Polish RAF squadron

Spitfire Mk V is a good option for the 1941: it is well armed fighter with acceptable agility and still Tight Turning. Model of Spitfire Mk V is available in Roc-Works range.

The very first Thunderbolt and the Pengie II was P47 Razorback D-11. In our game Thunderbolt is a extremely well armed and Robust plane. Its weaknesses are low maneouverability and high cost. The first implies vulnerability while tailed, second means that the opponent will probably have more senior pilots.

My Razorbacks came from Planeprinter range, there is also resin Warlordgames model available on the market.

Pengie III was also Razorback flown in July 1944, overall metal with invasion stripes on lower surfaces.

 

The replacement of Razorbacks into Bubbletops took place during summer 1944. The Pengie IV is P47D28 painted in grey on grey with Sky under surfaces. This plane was also marked with invasion stripes on the lower surfaces.This Jug was one of the first with victory roll painted on the fuselage. You can see the Yellowman among the others. This is reminder of one funny situation:. Once upon a time Gładych attack the enemy fighter. After the very first series towards the german fighter, enemy pilot became so frightened that he decided to bailout (not even trying to dodge). Since then one of Gładych's victory is marked with yellowman.

My Bubbletops came - as the others - from Planeprinter range and are 3d printed models. For the Pengie IV I'd chosen Light Grey on Dark Grey on upper surfaces and Sky type S on the lower surfaces.

The very last in the collection is Pengie V. It was P47M. The model was painted with Dark Prussian Blue and Alluminium underside.

 

 

Most of the Gładych's Thunderbolts were marked with the letter M. Probably it could refer to the Gładych nickname: "Mike Killer"

Mike Killer Gładych was a Thiunderbolt expert. He was able to manage with all advantages of this monster. According to this I've chosen Tail Snapper ace skill for him that doubles firepower of the plane during tailing. The second skill is True Grit which gives an additional opportunity to survive the accident. During one of his missions against german airfield Gładych's plane was strongly damaged. Above the channel the engine stoppped but pilot was able to glide his plane to the land area.

Thunderbolt being so heavy fighter need an Agility expert, that's why I gave Gładych +1AG. The cost of this named pilot would be 130pts which is comparable to other pilots equipped with such skills.