Time for an unveiling...

[Rami]

Seagull V,

I'm aiming to stick within the realm of historical fact, and based the missions on actual raids during this period. I have no problem doing a few Channel convoy missions at the beginning of the campaign, but am not looking to do a "what if" campaign at this time.

[Rami]

Good morning,

I decided, in lieu of further opinions, that I am going to change the trajectory of this final campaign somewhat. I want to include in the bomber campaign some of the nighttime "Blitz" raids on cities like London, Birmingham, and Coventry. The Coventry raid is complete, and I should have the Birmingham raid completed this morning. I now think I'm going to end with the raid 29 December, 1940 against London. This raid became infamous by the amount of fires it started, and its aftermath became known as the "Second Great Fire of London."

I'm also probably going to create a raid on Bristol and Sheffield.

I know Captain Kurt is probably going to scream bloody murder about me doing nighttime raids, but this is something I've already done with C.A.I. / Chianti, so I'm not breaking new ground here.

[Robert John]

Raids on Bristol.
I know they caused a lot of destruction to the Centre of Bristol and a lot of very old buildings were destroyed, they went for the gasworks at Eastville Bristol, They destroyed a famous church here in bristol called by two names, the names are "The Holy Cross" and "Temple church". The word Temple here is not its real meaning as it is not a temple, its for the Nights Templar. The church is now a war memorial.

I worked on Temple Church conserving it for future generations, if the church was not bombed, a lot of history would not have been discovered. If the church survived it may have deen sold by now and developed into offices and now city centre living homes.

A few years ago they discovered a large live bomb embedded in to the railway embankment they were removing, making way for a new road layout, Trains moved along this embankment way after the war finished, they took it away safely and exploded it in a large field.

Robert John

[Rami]

Good morning,

After deciding to do a "Blitz" raid on Liverpool, I saw that there were no port facilities there, considering that it was one the most important facilities for receiving convoys from the North Atlantic. So, last night and this morning, I whipped up a little something and made it into GSL, complete with rail lines.

[Robert John]

Hi Rami,
have you looked at the searchlights and the modified fire objects.
I put some searchlights in to a mission you sent me looks ok, but like all gsl objects the pup up at about 5 miles away.
I cannot save anything in the other one, maybe the file is too large for mission builder,
RJ

[Rami]

RJ,

1) The reason why you were getting CTDs when editing these missions most likely stems from the fact that I didn't send you the airbase.dat entries for these missions. You may not have Beauvais in your scenery, or your airbase.dat file. It was originally NOT in Achim's JHS_France_North package, but I revised it in the library after Captain Kurt sent me some airbases Achim did for Captain Kurt's 354th Fighter Group campaign.

2) If the missions are over 64kb, you CAN modify them in mission builder, but you'll get a warning message to the effect that this mission will not work on pre-XP systems, and it will ask you if you want to return to editing. Clicking "no" will save the mission.

3) However, adding objects will undo a hand-edit that I will have to fix. I have configured this missions so that you do not fly as the lead plane, thus allowing the AI in your flight to release their bombs over the target. Saving the mission destroys these hand-edits, but they can easily be fixed.

When I send you tonight's batch of missions, (five in all, and I modified the Coventry raid slightly) I'll send you the GSL file for the Liverpool port facilities and city.

So far, I've done raids on Birmingham, Coventry, Sheffield, Liverpool, and Manchester.

[Rami]

Good afternoon,

Here are some descriptions for you...

"title_string"=Operation Sealion - Junkers over Birmingham
"summary_string"=Achtung, kameraden! After our successful raid on Coventry, we will attempt tonight to replicate our success over the Midlands city of Birmingham. The city is another essential industrial center for the British, manufacturing crucial parts for their war machine. Let's put another city out of commission!
"objective_string"=The attack of November 18th, 1940 saw more than 365 German bombers raid the city of Birmingham, causing damage on a similar scale to the Coventry raid of five days earlier. While these strikes were devastating for those in its path, the British were able to rebound quickly, and these raids served to steel the resolve of the British people.
"intelligence_string"=Once again, you will depart the aerodrome around sunset, and will maintain a northwest course which will send you right over London. As you approach the city, stay on alert for British night fighters, and watch out for flak over the target. Good luck!

"title_string"=Operation Sealion - Dorniers over Sheffield
"summary_string"=Achtung, Luftlotte pilots! Tonight's blitz raid will be on the important industrial city of Sheffield. Sheffield's steel works are a valuable cog for the manufacture of Merlin engines, and the industries in this city also turned out 18-inch armor piercing shells. Your task is to target these industries, and put them out of commission. Good luck!
"objective_string"=On 12 December, and again on the 15th, Sheffield became another industrial city heavily damaged by German nighttime bombing attacks, known as "The Blitz." These important manufacturing facilities at Sheffield included a Vickers plant, which utilized a drop hammer that forged camshafts required for Merlin engines.
"intelligence_string"=After leaving Caen, your course will take you onto English soil between RAF Tangmere & Portsmouth. Remaining on course should allow you to skirt the defenses at these two locations. As you approach Sheffield, remain alert for British nightfighers. Make sure to place your bombs on target, because the British are stepping up their defenses against our raids. We must sustain this pressure to stamp out enemy resistance!

"title_string"=Operation Sealion - Solstice over Liverpool
"summary_string"=Achtung, Luftlotte pilots! Tonight, our target will be the city of Liverpool. This city is crucial to the British war effort, because many vessels from the North Atlantic dock there or continue on toward Manchester. It is our task to damage the port, and render these docks useless! This city has already been targeted, so their defenses may be stronger than some of our other raids. Good luck!
"objective_string"=The Port of Liverpool was a criticial link between the British Isles and North America, and thus was a primary destination for Allied convoys crossing the Atlantic. The city was struck often during the Battle of Britain, then struck again on the night of 20/21 December & continued to be heavily bombed for a few days just before Christmas, 1940. These attacks inflicted very heavy damage on the city's infrastructure, and these strikes also caused many civilian deaths.
"intelligence_string"=After taking off, your course should allow you to just skirt the heavily defended ports of Gosport & Portsmouth. Your navigation needs to be accurate; you will have little room for error. Liverpool will be heavily defended. Your targets on this raid are the docks & the vessels at anchor. This effort will be supported by other bomber flights, we must put maximum effort into striking this target hard!

"title_string"=Operation Sealion - Christmas over Manchester
"summary_string"=Achtung, kameraden! Tonight's bombing strike will be another long one, we will be attacking the city of Manchester. Manchester and the nearby towns are vital to the production of Merlin engines, and the Avro aircraft works are also nearby. We must strike these targets hard and render them useless to the British!
"objective_string"=Manchester was yet another British industrial city which was targeted by Luftwaffe bombers during "The Blitz." Like other cities in the Midlands area and northwest England, its industries were vital to the manufacture of steel armor, munitions, & metal forging for many types of war matériel, including aircraft components. The nights that the city was targeted were the nights of 22/23 December and 23/24 December, and these attacks became known thereafter as "The Christmas Blitz."
"intelligence_string"=After getting airborne, your due northwest course should place you far enough away from London to minimize the chances of interception. As you near the city, prepare for intense anti-aircraft fire, & the ever-marauding British nightfighters. You must make sure to place all of your bombs on target, we do not want to have to revisit!

[Rami]

Good evening,

Here is a revision I did to the port of Bristol, building that bridge was an experience I'd care to forget.

[Rich]

Rami this is just for interest, have'nt done CFS for many moons, where is that bridge ? that looks a wide stretch of water it crosses. Prior to the 60's there was only a ferry across the Severn at Beachly.

Just a nosy ex nearly local that crossed the Severn suspension bridge many times

[Rami]

Rich,

Actually, it is the Severn River Bridge. I wasn't aware that it didn't exist prior to the 1960s, I guess I failed to look it up!

[Rich]

Rami, Ms has a bridge there in other versions of Fs what is there is the Severn Tunnel which as you know is below ground/water while the tunnel is marked on ordnance survey maps it is not marked as a bridge, the tunnel is well over 100 years old and takes railway lines.

Prior to the bridge built in late 50's/ early 60's there was a ferry very close to the bridge site which has long since gone, the next crossing up river was at Gloucester.

[Robert John]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Railway_Bridge

The Old Railway bridge that existed during the 2ww.

Links to the docks around bristol.

http://www.bristolblitzed.org/?page_id=59

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avonmouth_Docks

We had two Bristol Docks during the second world war one at Avonmouth and one in Bristol also called the floating harbour, both docks were targets.

Avonmouth was built because ships got to large to navagate around horseshoe bend.
Portbury was built for even larger ships in the 1970s.

RJ

[Robert John]

Hi Rami Bombers view over Coventry. Fires by earlier raids.
As you can see opened the file. Thanks.

[Rami]

Robert John,

That's fantastic! I should have the two London "Blitz" missions (14 October and 29 December) done today, tomorrow at the latest. While I'm thinking of it, inserting a few damaged infrastructure buildings here and there by TheB24Guy may not be a bad idea.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...tid=45&id=5998

When I revised the Port of Bristol, I moved its location toward the city itself, about where Avonmouth is, rather than in its older location, near Weston-super-mare.

[Rami]

Good morning,

I am happy to report that all of the "Blitz" missions have now been completed. They will compose the final eight missions of the campaign. (18-25) The attacks consist of two raids on London, (one in October and one in December) and single raids on Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry, Liverpool, Manchester, and Sheffield.

The task that remains is to select and create seventeen missions from 10 July to 15 September that haven't been covered by the other campaigns in the package...