Sunday 11 August 2024

Bag the Hun Scenario - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing


I aim to have half a dozen or so scenarios for a Lard Mag article, as well as a bonus scenario that's a bit different. With this in mind, I have been looking at a scenario for LeLv32 that would be a good bonus one. The Finns captured a small number of LaGG-3 fighters which were assigned to 2/LeLv32 and used them to attack Pe-2 light bombers, which were usually too fast for other Finnish fighters to shoot down, unless they had the advantage of height or surprise.

This engagement is the only time a captured LaGG-3 managed to shoot anything down, however, which in itself would make a challenging scenario with the additional twists that could be added in terms of bogeys and bouncing the Soviet flight (from LaGG and Lavochkin Aces of World War Two - Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 56) :

A Soviet LaGG-3 fell to LG-1 on 16 February 1944. Its pilot on this occasion was ace Lentomestari (Wt Off) Eino Koskinen, who already had 11 and one shared kills to his credit flying the H-75. He was scrambled at 1045 hrs and told to intercept a Pe-2, escorted by two LaGG-3s. His combat report for the mission read as follows;

"I met the Pe-2 and its LaGG-3 escorts north-west of Kinkiyeva. I was some 200 metres below the formation, and I had just set about attacking the Pe-2 when the LaGG-3's noticed me and the leader turned in my direction. We drove at each other, but when the second LaGG got behind my tail, I was forced to evade. The leading LaGG again came straight back at me, and I fired again. My target went into a dive and disappeared from the fight.

The second LaGG was by now behind me once again, and after dodging his first burst we commenced a turning battle, during which I managed to hit the Russian fighter, causing its starboard landing gear to drop down. The Russian tried his hardest to turn inside me until he eventually gave up and dived for the ground.

I chased after him and caught up with the LaGG just as it overflew the Svir monastery. My single burst of fire caused the fighter to emit a cloud of black smoke, but it continued to flee at tree-top height across the countryside. In the end the pilot climbed to a height of roughly 50 metres, before crashing into the forest."

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