I died in your campaign, and it was humbling.

[algherghezghez]

I just finished today Beware! Beware! Since it was a great experience I'd like to give you a sum up (for anyone who hasn't finished it this will contain spoilers )

Also english is not my first language so I hope everyone will forgive me if the tale won't flow as I'd like.

I've had the spitfire for quite some time but never really digged into it, some instant actions, a few missions of the epsom campaign but nothing more.

Then I saw your video about the 3 spitfire campaigns played in progression, and you really got me into trying; watched your tutorials (among  the best I've ever seen), flew a few cold start flights to feel somewhat confident in the machine, read the documentation and finally started.

I'm a pilot myself, nothing as fancy as a fast high performance fighter, just a crwoded bus with a big autopilot button, but still I thought I knew how to handle this the right way, cautiosly, studying and not rushing it, and as with some helpful background.

The first mission went like a breeze, once you understand how to handle the spit (again thanks to your tutorials), takeoffs and landings are quite easy.

Now the first sortie was another thing; staying in formation while managing the engine and looking around is an extremely exhausting task, the engine is what worried me the most, having experienced engine breakdowns before in the spit, squeezing the engine was quite scary at the start for me,  I think I gave full throttle for the first time after at least 6 sorties.

The first fight was a disaster, I tried to cover my lead and doing so I never checked my six, result? lots of angry german bullets opened a hole in my wing and shredded my tail, a few tight turns and straight for the sea, lets live to fight another day, the damaged tail jammed the elevator preventing smooth movement, the flight back was a nightmare but eventually crossed the coast, I miracously landed at Lympne, repair, refuel and came back home. Lesson learned, watch your six, always.

The first seven sorties were quite  straightforward, I lerned to watch more my six than my 12, even if it means to lose your leader sometimes (of course you're not supposed to, but better to lose him than die), I started getting my first kills (aiming in a turn with that bulky nose is very hard so most of my ammo was wasted) and on sortie 3 I got my wing peppered by another spitfire.

The photoshoot and the christmas mission were great, even though I can't understand I only got 80% score in the photoshoot.

And now to the inteesting part: the second half has more diversity, and you are not a wingman anymore!

I started feeling really confident, not being afraid of the engine, using every drop of power when needed, arriving fast, striking with short but deadly bursts and running away. By now I was bagging 1/2 kills per sortie, without exposing myself to danger and never getting hit or even attacked.

The intercept mission was briliant, just one suggestion if I may: for non native speaker, or at least for me, following the dialogue of the interview with no subtitles was quite hard.

Sortie 11 brought me a bit back to earth again, those huns not only killed my leader without me spotting them, but put a good deal of holes in my fuselage as well, eventually we sent them in the drink and managed to go back home.

Sortie 13: here the disappointment comes.

Usual sortie, climbing to 34k is not a big deal now that I can use the engine, formation flying it's a breeze, takes attention but surely not sweating anymore. Bandits again, a good chance to take home the last kills before the campaign is over, lets dive on them! Perfect a 190 is right in front, slow, I am gaining fast, this is gonna be easy, just pull some more, and some more, the vision is greying out, I could release the pressure and try another pass, but I'm greedy, I want this kill now, ... and it goes to black, I am powerless now, and feel like an idiot. 

The unfortunate pilot will never wake up, the plane was too fast and the ground too close.

Of course this is just a game, but still it managed to upset me, I was trying my hardest too survive this campaign until arrogance got the best of me, and I think this might unfortunately have tricked quite some real aviators too, it surely did in the civilian world at least.

The real journey ends here.

Two famouse sayings come to mind now:

Remember, in a plane you're always a student. And by now I definetely wasn't on this mood anymore

Learn from the mistakes of others, brcause you're not gonna be lucky enough to do all those yourself. And luck did surely run out.

I flew the mission again after a few days, survived the dogfight, got hit by flak on the way back, became a glider in the middle of the channel and got picked up by a walrus. Fate wasn't with me on this sortie I guess, it's no.13 after all.

Finished the 14 sorties in the end and anjoyed every bit of it, so thank you for this amazing experience, now I need to decide If to fly V for Victory or Jagdflieger first, but I think the 109 will win.

[algherghezghez]

Final statistics:

kills:12

deaths:1

bailouts:1

damaged:3

[Reflected]

Thank you so much for such a detailed and elaborate feedback. I loved reading every word because they matched exactly the experience and thoughts of real life WW2 pilots that I've read in memoires - this means that my mission is complete, I achieved what I wanted.

It's amazing how many things can kill you, isn't it? And once you get the hang of it and start getting kills, it's even more difficult to consciously pay attention to everything - instead of getting a little 'John Wayne' - and that's when it happens, when you least expect it. 

All real life pilots have a story where they should have died but they didn't because of an incredible stroke of luck, and then they learned, and lived to tell the tale.

[algherghezghez]

I really think this is the closest we can get to an authentic ww2 experience.

I would like to add two advices for those who are gonna play this campaign that I feel enhanced my experience by a lot.

let this be the only campaign you fly for now, don’t jump from plane to plane, era to era, enjoy the spit for the duration of the campaign, let yourself be absorbed by it, learn everything there is to know. This is your plane now.

And don’t use tacview, the action was confused and you didn’t understand what happened? Great, they probably were confused and didn’t understand what happened as well.

[Rudel_chw]

11 minutes ago, algherghezghez said:

don’t jump from plane to plane, era to era

this … I agree completely 

[Reflected]

I fully agree, great advice!

[Dragon1-1]

That's how I fly all campaigns.  I really loved the first sortie, really felt like I was there. Recovered at High Halden because I haven't learned to fly with AI yet, and nearly ran out of petrol. I'm pretty experienced with jets, but this is my first serious warbird campaign, so I really felt like I belong in that #4 position.  

Edited May 14, 2023 by Dragon1-1

[Mermoz]

I agree with it, using modern tools or things to see how it went in the fight kinda kills the spontanous feeling of the campaign especially in a WW2 settings.

Pilots back then didn't have all the guizmos and tools we have now. Using tacview in a modern setting could be like reviewing the blackbox of your flight. but there wasn't recordings back then. 

So far I fly Beware beware without using the F10 map exterior views etc. I'm trying hard to survive. If I can kill one or two enemy great. If I can protect a wingman in the process.. better!

But if I take a hit, I try to break the engagement, assess if I leak fluid, if all controls responds if engine temps are good. I may reengage  if I don't see anything worse than a hole in the wing, but even then I'm careful... damages means the plane may not support as many gs...

in the end, except when one of my wingman decided I'd look better as a swiss cheese I always brought the plane back home. sometimes with holes... sometimes not... 

The swiss cheese incident ended up with me bailing and calling air rescue. without rudder, the plane is much much harder to fly so I went as far as I could till I got the rescue telling me it was ok, and I bailed.

I still got 3 or 4 missions to go... and the next one will be with me as a 4 plane group leader... bad weather if I understand... the return home might be interesting.

Sortie 11 was already hard on the navigation to get back home... I didn't run out of fuel on the runway like on sortie 1 but if I had 5gals left it was a lot