OPERATION CHASTISE AND MY PART IN IT!

When I was at Skelp! last week, we had a go at the Leuchars (Veterans) Wargamers' participation game simulating the Dambusters raid, officially known as Operation Chastise.

 

The game required a team of three to pilot a Lancaster on a bomb run against the dam.  

Each crew consisted of: a Front Gunner, whose job was to suppress the flak from the dam's towers; Bomb Aimer, whose job was to calculate the correct time to drop the bomb and the pilot, who made adjustments to speed and height suggested by the bomb aimer or necessitated by damage.  

The crew of B for Baker: Matthew (Bomb Aimer), David (Pilot) and yours truly (Front Gunner).

B-Baker makes it's run on the Mohne Dam.

Despite my total failure to suppress it, the flak is innefective.



It was only a matter of time! Two hits by flak reduce height and speed. The pilot will need to adjust speed and height to allow the bomb aimer to drop from the optimum position.

Poor dice rolling (bad luck, surely!) meant that I failed to suppress the flak on every occasion. Another two hits mean that B-Baker was shot down.

 We had another try in the afternoon. This time as P-Peter attacking the Eider Dam. I was Pilot this time (so too busy to take photos). David was Bomb Aimer and Matthew did a far superior job as Front Gunner!

As pilot, I was responsible for compensating for the effects of any flak hits. These reduced speed or height which meant losing height to speed up or slowing down to climb. David, as bomb aimer, had to work out when to release the bomb. There was a formula to work out the distance covered by each bounce, depending on height and speed when dropped.    

We only took two hits, thanks to Matthew rolling lots of 6s to suppress flak. With adjustments made, David dropped the bomb at the first line of torpedo nets.

P-Peter gets a partial hit.

The roll of honour for all the bomb runs. The Mohne and Eider dams were destroyed, which was also the historical result.


 

This was an enjoyable and memorable game. It is well worth looking out for it if you are going to Targe at Kirriemuir in November. A big well done to Jed and all the other Veterans.