AAR - BrisWingsofGlory WGS Campaign 1, Mission 2 - Polish Air Force 1939-45
Mission 2 Defensive Patrol Warzawa 04-09-1939
The war was going badly for Poland. German tanks had smashed though the border defences and were now driving deeply into Polish territory from the north and the south. The Polish Air Force was being overwhelmed by the Luftwaffe, for although their pilots were fighting with skill and courage their handful of tired PZL P.11c fighters were no match for the massed formations of more modern Luftwaffe aircraft. The only good news was the declaration of war by Britain and France on Germany the day before, which surely meant they would attack the Reich from the west any day and relieve the pressure on the beleaguered Polish nation....
By 4 September 1939 the Luftwaffe had turned its attention the Polish capital Warzawa, sending wave after wave of bombers to bomb the city. Defended from the ground by almost one hundred anti-aircraft guns and in the air by squadrons of the Brygada Pościgowa, Warzawa was exacting a toll, but the Germans seemed to have a limitless supply of aircraft. So it was this morning podporucznik Władysław Gnyś and starszy sierżant Marian Futro from the 121 Eskadra Mysliwska were up in their PZL fighters defending the capital.
Flying at 5000 metres Gnyś (White 3) and Futro (White 2) gave the city itself a wide berth as the nervous anti-aircraft gunners were known to shoot at anything with wings, automatically assuming they were German.
Approaching from the west about 1000 metres below the Polish pilots picked up three Dornier Do 17Z bombers of Kampfgeschwader 2. The Dornier was nicknamed 'the flying pencil' by their crews due to the narrow fuselage profile.
For this mission I was assisted in running the Luftwaffe bombers U5+AP, U5+BP and U5+CP by Andrew (left) and forum member Dan aka Slexlaw (right)....
.... while Paul and Rod (pictured) flew as the Polish fighter pilots Władysław Gnyś and Marian Futro.
The PZLs closed on the Dorniers intending to attack the aircraft on the right of the German formation.
Even flying with a 'full load' the Dorniers were faster than the Poles expected, and they missed their chance for a head on attack from altitude.
At this point there was some confusion on the part of the Poles about the best way to attack this beast as the dorsal gunner of the Dornier blasted away at the closest PZL.
The PZL pilots moved out of range of the gunner, banking around for a line astern attack as the Dorniers passed their IP closing up for the bombing run.
It was then the flak opened up on the lead bomber (U5+AP). The gunners' aim was good but the initial salvo failed to damage the Dornier.
The Polish AA soon found their range however and the second flak burst caused critical damage to the lead Do 17Z sending a stream of white smoke trailing behind the bomber. Władysław Gnyś and Marian Futro pressed their attack on another Dornier (U5+BP) which seemed to just soak up their machine gun fire.
The 1000 kilograms of bombs dropped by the first Dornier (U5+AP) struck the target (partial hit, full load), as the next bomber (U5+CP) followed him in and released half his bombload. Meanwhile the Poles continued to batter Dornier U5+BP, but the dorsal gunner was giving as good as he got putting burst after burst into Futro's aircraft.
With bombs gone Dornier Do 17Z U5+AP opened the throttles and banked hard to starboard. U5+CP also landed 500kg of bombs on target (partial hit, half load) while the harried U5+BP having sustained significant damage was forced to jettison his load.
st.sierz marian Futro was determined to finish Dornier U5+BP and pressed his attack at close range, diving down into the Dornier's tail shadow. Unfortunately this brought him into range of Uffz. Karl-Heinz Leie manning the dorsal gun of U5+AP. His burst smashed into the fuselage of the PZL, which immediately fell away. Marian Futro cursed his luck as he released his harness, dragged himself from the cockpit and deployed his parachute. "I almost had you!!" he screamed, shaking his fist at the Dornier as it flew on.
With the Dorniers scattering ppor. Władysław Gnyś elected to go after the single aircraft (U5+CP) that had banked away to the north and dropped the rest of his bombs close to an AA battery. Gnyś was in a hurry to get clear of Warzawa as he had already been targeted twice by his own AA!
Paul opened his throttle to catch the fleeing Dornier - but soon realised the PZL was not much faster than the Do 17Z now it has dropped its load of bombs.
Meanwhile to the south Dornier U5+AP was speeding for home.
PZL P.11c White 3 managed to close the range on Dornier U5+CP but the pilot's sudden change of course caught the Polish pilot off balance.
Dornier U5+AP escapes without further incident. Paul's PZL got a few more shots off at U5+CP without any result and then turned south to try and intercept U5+BP that had been so roughly handled by Rod's pilot Marian Futro. He did manage to get one burst in before the last Dornier escaped the battle area and narrowly missed scoring his first kill.
Back at their base at Schippenbeil the pilots and ground crew Kampfgeschwader 2 examined the damage to their aircraft. U5+AP had sustained no further damage after the flak burst holed the Dornier's reserve fuel tank and U5+CP took a just few bursts of machine gun fire which damaged control lines. U5+BP however was practically a wreck. Having sustained significant structural damage (92%) and critical damage to the controls the aircraft was scrapped.
Returning to base ppor. Władysław Gnyś was gratified to find his aircraft had taken minimal damage. By the end of the day st.sierz Marian Futro had also returned to base no worse for wear and was credited with one Do 17 damaged.
Bomb damage assessment saw two partial hits (one full load, one half load) on the factory in Warzawa (although the Polish pilots swore the nasty Luftwaffe actually bombed an orphanage!)
With the end of their second campaign mission the Paul and Rod were again unlucky not to have scored a victory against the Luftwaffe. In the post mission debrief Rod and Paul agreed it was their failure to make that first head on attack that probably cost them the kill on Dornier U5+BP. With plenty of playing time left it was decided to run the third mission, AAR to follow.
Campaign mission log for this action.
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That was a most interesting Game Carl!
Originally Posted by Stumptonian
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