Battle Of Britain - Scenario 1 - May 10th 1940 – The End of the Phoney War

This is the first scenario in a Battle of Britain campaign that follows the exploits of The Country of Dampshire 369 Squadron Auxiliary Air Force, a fictitious squadron that didn't exist during the Battle of Britain. We use the Wings of Glory WW2 rules, slightly modified to give faster play, together with our own set of campaign rules. We use the Wings of Glory planes from Ares where the right model is available, other manufactures are used to fill in the gaps.

The Background

May 10th 1940 was the day the real war started and the Phoney War ended. It was today that Hitler’s armoured divisions launched their Blitzkrieg attack in the West. The same day, in the United Kingdom, Neville Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister and was succeeded by Winston Churchill and a new Coalition Government.

The Action

One Hurricane Mk I (Pilot Officer Cholmondeley Featherstonehaugh) and one Dewoitine D.520 (Sous-lieutenant Napoleon Schickelgrüber) were sent up to patrol just behind the front lines. The Hurricane belonged to the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Dewoitine to the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) so there was no possibility for cooperation or communication between them. Two Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3s (Oberleutnant Sepp Schlangenaugen & Leutnant Adolf Halland) flying westwards spotted the Allied planes and dived to attack.

A dogfight occurred where the Germans had an advantage because they were flying in their Rotte as a pair, while the two allied pilots were flying uncoordinated.

Seeing the Dewoitine diving in flames, Schlangenaugen claimed a kill, but unbeknownst to him Schickelgrüber managed to coax his still smoking Dewoitine back to the nearest airfield.

The Result

German Victory - both opponents fled.

• Oberleutnant Sepp Schlangenaugen: 1 kill