Bomber: A Night Raid (31-Jun-43)

Background: The scenario is taken from Len Deighton's Bomber, a novel written about a fictional night raid by Bomber Command. The book concentrates on the opposing personnel and actions of the leading bomber squadron of Lancasters and the radar and night fighters that oppose them, and their target.

The full raid includes 650 heavy bombers (Lancasters and some Stirlings) and 100 two-engine mediums (mostly Wellesleys). The target is Krefeld, but the targeting goes awry when the Pathfinder aircraft are hit and drop their indicator bombs a minute or two late on a small town with no military value. The Supporting marker force (our heroes) bomb on the markers per their training - and the rest of the bomber stream bombs on the bright fires as ordered. It's a lovely read if you have not read it yet.

But the larger raid is not our issue. We will concentrate on half of one squadron (7 Lancasters) and their opposition, a Gruppe of Nightfighters (5 put up over the course of the evening), and their radar control station.

Mission Orders:

The Squadron is to fly across the North Sea to Holland at night, then turn south to Krefeld. As Pathfinders, they are to find the red markers left by the mission Pathfinders, and drop their HE and yellow marker bombs.

The follow-on squadrons of the first wave will then bomb on the yellow flames. The second wave squadrons will bomb on the fires caused by the first wave.

Map

The route of the squadron is laid out on a map with each hex equal to a dot position. The mission path (track laid on the map) is the thick grey line.

Mission Track

Special Rules:

1. The convoy (see Mission track) is accompanied by the Held, an old Dutch cruiser outfitted as a flak ship. It counts as a heavy battery. The convoy moves slowly - 1 dot position every seven Op turns. Its initial position is not known to the bombers.
2. Up to 3 interceptor Nightfighters may be operational at one time, controlled by Noordwijk. Additional (random events) Nightfighters from encounters are assumed to be controlled by other stations, and do not count against this limit.
3. The Bf109G-6 is encountered within 1 dot location of a city (target area) only; if encountered elsewhere, reroll the D10. The Bf109G-6 is operating using Wilde Sahme tactics:
   • It has been pointed to the general area of the bomber by ground controllers.
   • It has no lights or radar, and can only spot the bomber by ambient light or against a backdrop.
4. Bombing altitude will be 10,000 ft (10.0).
5. The final 500 lb bomb is a Photoflash, and must be dropped on a separate turn after all other bombs have been dropped.
6. O Orange (Creaking Door) can raise its ceiling 2,000 ft per Bomber. Sgt Lambert has a special technique (raise speed, slam open flaps for extra lift).

Additional Rules:

1. The Bombers are armed with 1x 2000-lb, 3x 1000lb, and 3x500 lb bombs apiece. They are Loaded. They have 500 End.
2. Per the ADC, the Lancaster BT is not used at night.
3. All defensive gunners are Regular regardless of pilot status, except for Z Zebra (Volkswagen), which are Green.
4. All other pilot training levels are given.
5. JD's Night Rules are in effect. All Mission A/C are separated, not in formation, in TOGs of one. There will be no join ups.
6. Mission Weather: Weather starts as Cloudless. Moon is Full.
   

Aircraft Encounters

ADC Availablility:

• The Lancaster and Beaufighter VI were published in Air Power #53.
• The Bf109G-6 and Bf110G-4 were published in Over the Reich. The Mosquito B.IV, Wellesley, and Ju88A were published in Achtung! Spitfire.
• The Ju88R-1 is the same as the Ju88C-8 powered by air-cooled engines.
• The Do127M, Do217N, Ju88D, Ju188D, and Stirling Mk III are available from Uncle Ted's.

Sources:

Bomber, Len Deighton.