The Loose Association of Wargamers

OK, the two bags arrived today - joy and disappointment in equal measure.....

Each bag had roughly the same content, which included absolutely NO Me109s whatsoever:-

German - 8 x He111, 12 x Do17, 5 x Ju88, 5 x Me110, 15 x Ju87
British - 24 x Spitfires, 24 x Hurricanes*, 4 x Blenheims, 3 x Defiants, 1 x Gladiator.

(* Annoyingly, one bag had 25 Spitfires and 23 Hurricanes, and 1 Stuka has no wheels. )

I'd quite like to get another Gladiator for a Malta (Faith/Hope/Charity) scenario; assuming RAF squadrons all had flights of 3 aircraft, regardless of type, then I've got 2 spare Blenheims and 1 odd Spitfire (for an odd Hurricane) I'm happy to swap. Given both sides seem to have used multiples of 12 for squadrons/staffel, the numbers seem to work out ok otherwise, with a few spares on the German side..

OK, next thing is flight stands and decals. Any suggestions? The UK appears to be completely sold out of clear 1" hex stands, and apparently this was a problem that was flagged up in 2018, according to TMP!

Happy to throw my contents into the mix. The shortage of Me109s is a disappointment - I will haul out the total complement later and work them out.

My working assumption is that RAF flights were three aircraft (Vic), with normally three flights being a full operational complement. Germans 2 x 2 for fighters x 3 for a staffel, with bomber formations in threes, with 3 - 4 schwarm to a staffel.. But I can't see me ever using more than a few flights in a game.

As for flight stands, I have just ordered 60 x 30mm MDF hexagons and dice holders from Warbases, and will make my own flight stands.

Shahbahraz wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 3:45 pm Happy to throw my contents into the mix. The shortage of Me109s is a disappointment - I will haul out the total complement later and work them out.

My working assumption is that RAF flights were three aircraft (Vic), with normally three flights being a full operational complement. Germans 2 x 2 for fighters x 3 for a staffel, with bomber formations in threes, with 3 - 4 schwarm to a staffel.. But I can't see me ever using more than a few flights in a game.

As for flight stands, I have just ordered 60 x 30mm MDF hexagons and dice holders from Warbases, and will make my own flight stands.

Three aircraft was a Section (Red, Blue, Yellow & Green). Two Sections per Flight and two Flights (A & B) per Squadron, so 12 aircraft per Squadron.

Later in the war they changed to German-style four-aircraft Flights, with three (sometimes four) Flights per Squadron.

Oh Bomber Squadrons did indeed have Flights of three aircraft - four Flights per Squadron, for 12 aircraft total.

Yeah, I'm still using my solid resin hex stands that originally from Raiden. I tried getting hold of some 'posh' clear stands with dials for speed & altitude, but there was nothing in the UK. Someone offered to make some for me, but he stopped answering e-mails very quickly.

ooops, sorry. mixing up my Bomber and Fighter Command there. I was led to believe it was rare to have a full 12 plane fighter squadron. Thanks for that.

They would usually have about 16 aircraft and 20 pilots, but only stick a maximum of 12 in the air and serviceability quickly whittled them down, especially when they were doing multiple sorties per day. One extreme is example was 67 Squadron in Burma, which had 23 Buffalos and about 30 pilots, but appalling serviceability rates only allowed a flight or so to get airborne.

I buy sheet perspex from B&Q then cut out the bases myself. If anyone needs some perspex bases (any size, any shape) please PM me.

Bought O Group, is the printing borked in all the copies or just mine?

Nope. All the copies

oh jeeez, that is a cockup