Online Adventures Over Blighty - Mission 2

[Badgerton Smedly]

Dear All

The below account of Sortie #3 on the ATAG server should be a warning to all around sloppy preparation and inadequate preflight checking!

Sortie #3: Flight 1
All was well at Lympe airfield as I stepped out of the dispersal hut and sauntered up to my Spitfire Mk1.  Jenkins was there ready to strap me in, but "No" I said, "I can do it myself". So in I got...  'This is nice' I thought as I panned around and chuckled as I saw Wilkins running after some Orderly or other.  Right, to business; canopy open, TeamSpeak is on, mags on, 0.5 inches on the trottle, fuel on, this is a Spit Mk1 so radiator open and - ignition! Ahhh the sound of the Merlin....

Right, temperatures rising, rad temp moving past 60 degrees, so off we go out of the hangar, right rudder....  temperatures at 90!!  no time to line up - off I go!  Speed increase to 60 so forward on the stick, hmm that's sluggish, tail up, 90mph, pull back on the stick..

I then violently nose over, breaking my plane....  I try to open my canopy using my joystick control - no response, I try again, hey I can hear the chaps on my channel now, I must sort out the sound controls.  I try the canopy again.  No luck.  I check my main control stick and notice that the power plug has come out.... The lights aren't even on...  Of I go to explain why I didn't perform adequate prefilght checks before the off, to the CO....

Sortie 3: Flight 2
This time I am strapped in, I check all controls - canopy open, TeamSpeak is on, mags on, 0.5 inches on the trottle, fuel on , this is a Spit Mk1 so radiator open, check control surface function and - ignition!  I've spawned in a different hanger where the exit is not so wide so there's lots of right rudder pulling out and some jiggery-pokery on the throttle and brakes as I line up off-piste for a quick take-off.  Good lord, the rad temperature is as 95 degrees already, I can hear another spitfire in the adjacent hangar - "out of the way!!".  I power up and this time get aloft in one peice!  Huzzar!

Temperatures nearing 110 degrees!!!  Power back and pootle at 2200 RPM for a while.  There's another chap taking off so I wait for him to get aloft so I can impress him with some formation stuff.  Hmmmm, I can hear something...  Bother!!   I didn't reconfigure my TS!!  The engine noise is drowning out the gen on any action action!  Another school boy error!  Whilst I'm messing around with the settings I lose the disembarking Spitfire and then see him in the distance....

Right, well I'm on my own, so to buisness;  I patrol from Ramsgate to just past Dover for 15 minutes, noticing bursts of AAA which I race over to, but to no avail.  15 more minutes I'm done and start my approach back to Lympe.  Revs down to 2000 RPM and after 5 minutes at this pace temps settle to a healthy 90 degrees.

A slow pass over the airfield to find the active run way, luckily on the down wind leg already, approach is clear, so 140mph on the clock, gear down, flaps down,canopy open.  Turn in a sloppy manner to wards finals, line up, loose height on the throttle - too much - power up, over the thresh hold and touch down with a little bump. Flaps up, roll out out - easy on the brake.  Clear the runway to the right, park up.  Fuel off, mags off.  Hey I can hear everyone on TeamSpeak again....

A very poor evening of flying due to my shoddy airmanship I'm afraid.  One scrapped crate and a waste of fuel with not a shot fired.  Oh well better luck next time.

Off to the bar for hard stares and a tankard of Wilkins's homebrew.

Regards

Badger