Despite being unable to play any games over the last couple of days, I have continued my reading for the Bag the Hun scenario project, primarily using the Osprey P-36 Hawk Aces of World War 2 (Aircraft of the Aces Book 86) as a source of potential scenarios.
I have found about half a dozen historical actions that could make interesting scenarios, including this one which I think would make a good game for new players but still have aspects that would challenge experienced ones:
"On 3 April 1942 eight Hawks from Capt Lahtela’s 1/LLv 32 flew a reconnaissance mission over the Gulf of Finland. The aircraft were attacked by eight Chaikas in the Seiskari area, and five of the latter were claimed destroyed by the Finns.
One of these was credited to Lahtela himself, giving him his fifth victory and making him the third all-Hawk 75 ace. The Russians in turn shot down CU-572. This action was also described, rather fancifully, in the Baltic Fleet journal;
‘At 1824 hrs a 15-minute combat commenced at a height of just 500 metres between 1Lt Baturin’s eight I-153s from 71 IAP and twelve Fokkers (actually Hawk 75"s).
After the attack by the Soviets, the enemy tried to escape into nearby cloud cover. Those that got separated – obviously less experienced pilots – from the main formation aimed to form up into pairs and schwarms, after which they returned to the battle just under the clouds. The more experienced pilots attacked straight out of the clouds.
The Soviets avoided the surprise attacks and manoeuvred 200-250 metres below the clouds. Three enemy aircraft were shot down in the vicinity of Seiskari and one broke off towards Koivisto. After the combat the enemy fighters broke off to the north. There were no Soviet losses.’
On the surface, this looks like a pretty ordinary skirmish but if you factor in the ultra low altitude, cloud cover, pilot experience, relative firepower and manoeuvrability of the aircraft, I think it could be really good fun.
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