No.504 Squadron R.A.F - IL2: Cliffs of Dover Roleplaying Squadron

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Ejected from the continent at the end of May, Britain stands alone, warily watching events on the continent with trepidation. It becomes increasingly clear that Britain has become a nation under siege. In the Atlantic and in European waters u-boats of the Kriegsmarine begin to wreak havoc amongst the merchant convoys supplying Britain. In the Mediterranean the prospect of facing both the French & Italian fleets causes sleepless nights at the Admiralty whilst the Italians lay siege to the strategic island of Malta. In the air over Britain the Royal Air Force licks the wounds inflicted in France and hurriedly prepares for the prospect of an aerial assault by the Luftwaffe.

The fate of this small island, seated at the North-Western corner of Europe, will soon rest upon the shoulders of the young men of the Royal Air Force, their aircraft and Britain's secret weapon, the Chain Home radar system. Can they stand against the might of the Luftwaffe? Only time will tell.

No. 504 Squadron (County of Nottingham) was a part-time unit of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF). In the late-1920s there was an idea that a several standing reservist squadrons should be raised, elite squadrons manned with a mix of regular and civilian personnel. In 1939 No.504 was mobilised with the outbreak of war. As a frontline Hurricane squadron they were dispatched to France and operated from an airfield near Lille during the early-part of 1940. During the Battle of France the squadron found themselves to be in the line of the German advance and, with their airfield about to be overrun, managed to get 12 Hurricanes into the air, although one of these, flown by Sq Ldr "Johnnie" Hill, was shot down. Returning to England the squadron began to prepare for what was to come.



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is a virtual squadron for IL2: Cliffs of Dover (patched with the TeamFusion modification). We fly as a Royal Air Force squadron with the Hawker Hurricane Mk.I as our primary aircraft. The primary role of 504 Squadron is to provide a roleplaying experience for those Taleworlders who fly in Cliffs of Dover or who would wish to join us in that game. To this end we pursue a roleplaying agenda - players will have to create a persona with a British name, choose a photograph of an RAF pilot (not a well-known ace like Bader) and conjure up a simple backstory. Each member will have a personal aircraft & skin with a unique serial code and it's identifying letter (for example aircraft "R for Robert" has the serial code L1914).

As a squadron we organise ourselves just as 504 & most RAF Fighter Squadrons would have been in the summer of 1940, along the following lines;


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Each Squadron contained up to 16 aircraft, of which 12 would be operational, and up to 20 pilots. The squadron was divided into two FLIGHTS; A FLIGHT & B FLIGHT. These are further divided into SECTIONS; RED & GOLD/YELLOW for A FLIGHT, BLUE & GREEN for B FLIGHT. Within these Sections a pilot was referred to by his SECTION colour and his number in that Section; Red Leader, Blue 2, Green 3 et cetera. In 504 we retain that structure with each pilot assigned to a SECTION and thereby a FLIGHT. New pilots to a Section will always be number '3'.

The squadron is led by Squadron Leader Jim Digby, whose Hurricane is identified by the Squadron Leader pennant painted on the fuselage and his aircrafts assigned letter; 'J'. If the Squadron Leader is absent then the squadron is commanded by the Deputy Squadron Commander. FLIGHTS or SECTIONS acting independently from the rest of the squadron will be under the command of their appropriate FLIGHT or SECTION commander - this will most likely occur when SECTIONS are sent on patrol.



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Pilot Background: When creating your avatar there are several things we want prospective members to bear in mind;

  • An Authentic name for a British pilot
  • Realistic elements for their background

For the first we will not accept comedic or alpha-numeric tags. The point of this is to spice up flying in IL2: Cliffs of Dover with some roleplay. As such we'd expect your pilot's name to reflect this. For the second, if you want to flesh out your character please do so. Consider questions such as where are they from? What social class? Where did they work? What is their marital status? This is not compulsory but it would be nice to have a small biography for each pilot.

All new pilots will start at the rank of Sergeant and may recieve promotion depending upon their capability & record. For most pilots this will be to the rank of Flight Sergeant but those deemed to show significant promise as a pilot & potential leader may be offered a Commission to the rank of Pilot Officer. If those who remain at NCO rank show sufficient promise in the future they may be offered a Field Commission and elevated to the officers mess as a Pilot Officer.

There are a total of seven ranks within the flying members of a Squadron;

  • Non-Commissioned Officers
    • Sergeant (Sgt): The lowest rank of pilot, a non-commissioned officer.
    • Flight Sergeant (Flt Sgt or FS): Non-commissioned officer.
    • Warrant Officer (WO): A senior Non-commissioned officer.
  • Commissioned Officers
    • Pilot Officer (Plt Off or P/O): Junior Commissioned officer.
    • Flying Officer (Fg Off or F/O): Commissioned officer.
    • Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt or F/L): Commissioned officer.
    • Squadron Leader (Sq Ldr or S/L): Senior Commisioned Officer.

Appointments
A player's rank does not dictate their appointment in the Squadron, apart from the Squadron Leader who will always be the Squadron Commander. Pilot Officers, Flying Officers & Flight Lieutenants may be appointed to command a Section or Flight. The Squadron Commander will appoint his Flight & Section Commanders from the pool of those with the rank of a Commissioned Officer. Being a Section/Flight Commander isn't just some glossy title, there is work & responsibility involved. Aside from leading their Section/Flight in battle a good Commander must be able to navigate to & from the target and know their location at all times. They must be able to assess situations & be able to quickly respond appropriately. They should have good awareness of what is going on around them at all times - the appointment is not a means of lording it over others but of being responsible for our other players in the game and ensuring that your Section works as a team.

Training & Going Solo
To ensure our pilots know their business Section & Flight Commanders, as well as the Squadron Commander, will train pilots posted to their Section or Flight. Initial training will be undertaken in the De Havilland Tiger Moth and will cover basic elements; Pre-flight checks/engine start-up, taking off, circuits, landing.

Once a Section Commander/Training Officer is happy a pilot can perform basic elements then they will 'Go Solo' in the Hurricane and move on to formation flying and gunnery, primarily flying Hurricanes from Watchfield to supply No.504 at Hendon. They may join their Section on Patrols at the Section Commanders discretion but the emphasis will still be on training. When the Section Commander believes the pilot's performance is satisfactory they will be declared as Ready for Duty.

If you have to face the enemy without having completed your training, don't worry - if this happens to you remember what you have been taught and stick to your leader like glue! Listen to them, trust them and they will get you home in one piece.

We encourage players to learn their way around the Hawker Hurricane and to get as comfortable flying it as they can. It may not have the speed or manouverability of a Spitfire but it's a tough aircraft and with care it can get you home despite taking heavy damage; learn to fly your Hurricane & it will look after you. If you find yourself with some time free do familiarise yourself further with the aircraft - practice & training will make you a better pilot.



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Whilst Sunday evenings will be the most likely time that No.504 will fly out as a squadron, the Sections are encouraged to go out on patrol and to intercept enemy formations at other times during the week. If one or two pilots are on leave or resting (re: offline) then their place in a patrolling Section may be taken by other members. The patrolling Section is decided by whichever Section commander is available. There is a lot of exlbility in who will fly with whom.

When enough pilot's are available to take off as a complete Flight of two Sections or as a Squadron, then 504 will primarily focus on engaging bomber formations or, if pushed to do so, will engage Luftwaffe fighters.

We encourage pilots to write After Action Reports and to submit these to either Sq Ldr Jim Digby or Flt Lt Richard Flockton. These can be as long or short as you wish but the best AARs will be featured in this thread in the third post so we can keep a record of No.504's sorties.



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To enroll simply contact Squadron Leader Jim Digby of 504 Squadron or Flight Lieutenant Richard Flockton at Sector Control. We will go through the enrollment process with you. What you need to have are;

  • IL2: Cliffs of Dover - with the latest TeamFusion patch
  • TeamSpeak 3
  • Joystick
  • A want to fly as part of an RAF Squadron
  • Whilst not essential we do recommend face tracking whether with official TrackIR kit or with a webcam such as a PS3 Eye & software like FaceTrackNoir - it makes your life as a pilot a lot easier! We will help you with getting it up and running if needs be.



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Our squadron revolves around the shared experience of its pilots. We will always attempt to fairly distribute the more veteran members with those whom are a little more 'green' about the face. That said, it was typical of the time for 'Red' and 'Blue' sections to be weighted with experienced pilots for the younger to observe and then follow in afterwards. It is expected of each Section Leader to be able to successfully navigate from home airfield, to patrol or intercept height, and then return to base with their member pilots intact or accounted for.

The 'Operations Board' maintains the current strength of No. 504 Squadron as we participate in the fight over England's green fields. Currently 'Red' and 'Gold' sections have been filled with a regular attendance of our established pilots to fill out 'A Flight'. 'Gold' section is currently being led by Pilot Officer Sorensen, our resident Danish evacuee whom is taking the battle back to the Germans for his occupied homeland. 'Blue' and 'Green' are in need of extra pilots to complete 'B Flight', new staff subject to flight review of the Squadron Leader and Section Leaders.

For all future sorties whereby the mission (or campaign) is handled in an authentic manner by RAF Fighter Command, No. 504 Squadron will answer to the callsign of 'Longbow'. This handshake will tend to make itself known in events held by the Storm of War group.

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is the first stop for all new pilots to No.504 Squadron. The training course itself is short, sharp and to the point. Through it we will familiarise trainee's with the proceedures for getting the plane ready for flight, taxiing, take-off, circuits, landing and basic navigation - after all, what use is a fighter pilot who can not find their way to the enemy? The instruction will primarily be undertaken by Flight Lieutenant Flockton and will be performed in that stalwart RAF trainer, the de Havilland Tiger Moth.

Training starts with the pupil's first flight in the Tiger Moth, where it will be flown by the instructor. This first flight will cover the elements of starting the engine, taxiing, take-off and circuits, finishing with a landing. It will then be the turn of the pupil to fly and through instruction will prepare the plane, take-off, circle and land. This will be the pupil's first flight of several until, when satisfied with their performance, the instructor will send the pupil up alone, their first time "going solo". Should the pupil be successful with this first solo flight then the instructor will sign them off and post them for further training in the Hawker Hurricane, under the eyes of their future Section leader or the Squadron commander himself.

The de Havilland Tiger Moth is a lovely aircraft to fly. Whilst some might scoff at it's aged biplane construction and slow speed, it's a very friendly aircraft to learn to fly on. Difficult to stall, hard to spin, it almost flies itself and it could probably land by itself. As a two-seater aircraft the instructor takes the rear seat whilst the pupil sits up front. The instructor has primary control of the aircraft and can pass control over to the pupil and take it back should they need to.

The Navigation course will give pilot's the tools they need to plot courses, find their location & to use tools such as the Course Setter. It is open to both new pilots and to more experienced ones who wish to improve their navigational skills.



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Sector Control covers the few members of the Squadron who act as ground staff for the missions/campaigns of the various Cliffs of Dover groups; namely the Air Tactical Assault Group (ATAG) & Storm of War (SoW). Our role is to marshall and direct the RAF forces during organised/structured events to maximise the impact of 11 Group. There are different ways in which the different groups approach RDF work, whether based on in-game radio reports, verbal (TeamSpeak) reports or a read-out from a website. This is an intense and hectic job at times, requiring concentration & an ability to comprehend a situation based on a map and a few tokens to suggest where forces may be deployed or where threats are coming from.

We do not recruit for Ground Control, this is an additional role upon which one of our members, Flight Lieutenant "Dickie" Flockton, has taken up and has been accepted for by both ATAG & SoW.
 
Horrah!
It's worth noting that, unlike the currently frozen JG3 group*, we have been active in Cliffs of Dover for many long months now - some of us since release. We are in a position to offer members of this forum a functional environment designed to replicate the Royal Air Force during the spring, summer and autumn of 1940. There are some here whom we have 'snagged' in recent months that I am sure would provide a somewhat glowing report of our activity both as a social group and a combat group. Cliffs of Dover is an absolute steal right now, it's somewhere around the price of $10 - all you need beyond that is a joystick, a microphone and some practical learning.

As we stand right now, our established group sits around nine active flight personnel and one non-flying officer. I'll get to posting the 'Ops Board' later on tonight, or tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Any questions, send them our way!

* Stalingrad has taken a deep spiral for the worse in recent weeks. We were unfortunate in making public our JG3 thread on the week when things went south and so, for the foreseeable future, it shall be kept frozen until a time deemed necessary.
 
Yay, that's my skin in the picture Richard used in the OP there.
Or a WIP version of it in any case.

A non-comical authentic name, huh?
Poor Dennis, he'll have to come up wirth them by the dozen if his bad luck keeps up :razz:


Quick question, I assume we'll play this on SoW for a good part, correct?
If so, are there plans to hijack their stat-keeping for this in some way? Or will this be kept completely separate, exclusively with sortie AARs and everything like the JG3 thing?
 
Wellenbrecher said:
Quick question, I assume we'll play this on SoW for a good part, correct?
If so, are there plans to hijack their stat-keeping for this in some way? Or will this be kept completely separate, exclusively with sortie AARs and everything like the JG3 thing?
We will use the SoW stats for this - the emphasis with 504, for now, will be on the actual RP of flying together as an RAF squadron. Whilst this is a more laidback approach, in terms of being 'hardcore', it means we can focus more on the RP generated from flying as Sections, Flights or as a Squadron.

Wellenbrecher said:
Yay, that's my skin in the picture Richard used in the OP there.
Or a WIP version of it in any case.
I was linked the picture before I made the thread, so I could see the new art on your aircraft - the screenshot was so good that I decided to put it into the thread to add a dash more colour and something from CloD.
 
He has done it again. This little thread here, gentlemen, is a marvellous feast for they eyes indeed, as well as for the mind.
 
Yet another reason I need to get a new computer so I can run Cliffs of Dover.
Can I be ground crew?  :lol:
 
König said:
Can I be ground crew?  :lol:
Now whilst you put a ":lol:" there, there is actually the serious chance you can be ground crew. It isn't for everyone but I'm making progress in getting involved in RDF (Radar Direction Finder) Control for both Storm of War & ATAG. This involves vectoring squadrons onto raids, giving squadrons the information they need (height, size, heading) and rotating the squadrons in and out of combat so they can rearm and refuel. As said I'm getting involved in this (which is why I'm referred to as part of Sector Control in the opening post) - if you're serious about possibly wanting to get involved that way then let me know and I'll let you know who to contact about it. Apparently it is hard work & hectic but great fun.
 
Well, I was indeed just joking. However that actually sounds very intriguing. At the very least I'd like to hear more about it.
 
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