YWB - FA's Last Event

It was fun....had myself (YWB_Studios_XO) and YWB_Crimson in the game playing for GE for a while...

The end result: GE WON

SCORE: US -184,874 GE -10,430

Operation Sea Lion vs. Operation Overlord

Fighter Ace 2.5's last massive event!
This event is open to everyone who is currently or has ever flown and enjoyed Fighter Ace. Take this opportunity to fly with your old and new Fighter Ace friends or to shoot down your favorite nemesis one last time. The event is based on an alternate history of the ETO during WWII and will run for an astounding 12 hours! Even if you don't have time to fly, stop by and say hello. We will also be giving away our last Fighter Ace T-shirts.

Date: March 17th, 2002

Time: 8 am to 8 pm PST

Lobbies:

There will be two rooms run simultaneously, each with a lobby for US and GE, plus a host lobby. Here are the lobbies (all in the Special Events area):

1 Sea Lion vs Overlord US
1 Sea Lion Vs Overlord GE
2 Sea Lion Vs Overlord US
2 Sea Lion Vs Overlord GE

Entry:

Opens at 8 am for 15 minutes, then every two hours until close at 8pm. Open at the following times:

8:00 am to 8:15 am
10:00 am to 10:15 am
12:00 pm to 12:15 PM
2:00 PM to 2:15 PM
4:00 PM to 4:15 PM
6:00 PM to 6:15 PM

Registration: None required

Subscription is NOT required

Prizes: Our last few Fighter Ace T-shirts will be awarded through random drawings when the rooms open (size selection is very limited).

The Scenario: It is mid?late 1943. Hitler is preparing to invade Great Britain (Operation Sea Lion). The US and its allies are preparing to invade France (Operation Overlord). But first they must gain supremacy over the skies of Europe. The battle of Europe is about to unfold. The RAF is spent, after the unsuccessful African and Middle East campaigns and is effectively out of the game. Only the US and its 8th Air Force are here to contend with the might of the Third Reich and the Luftwaffe. The 8th Air Force has just received the new P-51D and is getting, finally, reasonable numbers of B-17Gs. The Luftwaffe has just received the new Fw 190D9 and Fw 190D12. Both are attempting the same goal: cripple the other's ability to make war through strategic bombing and to gain control of the skies over Great Britain and Continental Europe. The winner of this battle will be able to proceed with invasion. See the background section for more details.

Objectives

Allies (US): Gain control over the skies of Europe. Mastery will be demonstrated in two ways: strategic bombing of Axis targets and protection of Allied targets from Axis bombing. Success means Operation Overlord can be implemented.

Axis (GE): Gain control over the skies of England. Mastery will be demonstrated in two ways: strategic bombing of Allied targets and protection of Axis targets from Allied bombing. Success means Operation Sea Lion can be implemented.

Room Settings
Physics: Intermediate (TC settings)

Radar: Friendly only

Plane Set: All planes available for both GE and US

Lives & Reinforcements: Two (2) lives. Once those lives are spent, you can re-enter the next time the room is opened for reinforcements and play using another two lives. Rooms are re-opened for reinforcements every two hours.

Scoring: Score is determined by adding the combined score of Human vs. Human and Human vs. AI scores from the country score screen (Ctrl+L) at the end of the event. Score will be checked and recorded every two hours (when the rooms are opened for reinforcements).

Team Organization: Teams are not organized, as has been the case in formal Historical events. Squads and individuals are free to organize themselves as they desire.

What-if Scenario Background:

During the early spring of 1941, Hitler was persuaded to postpone his campaign against the Russians (Operation Barbarossa) and instead concentrate on North Africa and the Middle East. The goal of this strategic shift was to secure the southern flank of the Third Reich, add valuable oil resources, and most importantly, hamstring the Royal Navy with the closure of the Suez Canal. It also would set up a flank position of the Russians by allowing an invasion through the Caucasus Mountains, via Turkey.

Once Greece and Balkans were secured in late April '41, Hitler released two Panzer divisions to Rommel in North Africa. As Rommel promised, he quickly ejected the British from Egypt in May '41. The capture of the Suez Canal proved to be a more difficult objective to meet, as the British put forth a heroic effort into protecting this vital link between their western and eastern empire. However, Hitler simultaneously took Malta in early June of '41, cutting off the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean from England. The Axis then invaded Turkey, while the Luftwaffe harassed the Royal Navy from above. The taking of the Suez required Germany's focus through 1941, but it finally came under Axis control in mid-December of '41.

The Turkish campaign was initially sluggish, but there was progress in early fall of '41 using the forces originally destined for the Russian campaign. German General Guderian pushed through to the frontier of Syria by early September. His armies linked up with Rommel coming from the south, capturing Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula in the process. A British counterattack from Saudi Arabia on German supply lines in Syria temporarily diverted German forces, but by the end of November Germany had a secure position all along the Mediterranean coast. The capture of the Suez Cannel and the expulsion of the British from the Middle East were assured.

With the entire Mediterranean coast under Axis control, the remaining British forces in the Mediterranean were isolated and cut off from supplies. With the capture of Malta, the RAF had been hard pressed to defend the Royal Navy and escort the occasional but essential supply ships that braved the gauntlet between Libya and Malta. With the loss of the Suez, the only option was to evacuate as many ships and men as possible. The heroic battles that ensued between mid-December and early January between the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force on the one hand and the Luftwaffe and the U-boats on the other, were tense and bloody. The “Battle of the Med,” however, proved to be a Pyrrhic victory for the British, for although the Royal Navy managed to get most of its ships and men out of the Mediterranean, it came at the cost of the decimation of the RAF squadrons. Indeed, they would never full recover for as long as the war lasted.

The only thing required for complete control of the Mediterranean was to capture Gibraltar and secure the Vichy-held countries of Western North Africa. Hitler declared that the rest of the Middle East be brought under Nazi control in time for a summer invasion of Russia. His plan was to start a two-pronged attack of Russia through Poland and the Caucasus Mountain region. During the winter and spring of '42, all of North Africa and the Middle East came under Nazi control. Gibraltar was not taken, however, providing a constant reminder of the toughness of the British spirit.

In the June of '42, a year later than originally planned, but with a far better war outlook, Operation Barbarossa was launched. The summer of '42 saw the capture of the Ukraine and the Caucasus mountains, with its industry and oil reserves and a modest expansion in the west, with Germany withdrawing to the former frontier between Poland and Russia. With the new resources, the German war machine prepared to invade the last enemy in Europe: Great Britain.

Germany faced several problems in gaining a beach head on British soil. First, the Royal Navy was still strong and now focused on protecting the British Islands and the convoys from the New World that were keeping Britain alive. The battle in the North Atlantic was not going well for Germany, with the sinking of U-boats increasing every week. But the largest problem facing the Third Reich was the entry of the United States, with its vast resources and fresh fighting forces.

The United States entered the war in Europe in '42, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The contribution of the US during '42 was minimal, but as '43 dawned, the war machine was in high gear and the British Isles were being flooded with the planes and men of the 8th Air Force. Operation Overlord was being planned in earnest. But while the Allied bombing of Axis targets was having limited success, the Luftwaffe was still clearly in control of the skies over France and Western Europe. The loss of Great Britain hampered Allied efforts to strike at the heart of Germany. Victory in the air battle over Europe was the linchpin of the Allies hope for a clear victory over the Third Reich.

Now it's your turn. Take control of either the US 8th Air Force the German Luftwaffe, and determine the course of the war!

What Actually Happened:

After Hitler invaded Greece in April of '41, he chose to take Crete instead of Malta, allowing the Royal Navy to dominate that theater. He did not send any extra reinforcements to Rommel, who was ultimately expelled from North Africa in the spring of '43. He did invade Russia in June of '41, in a head-on attack across the frontier of Eastern Europe. By '42, Germany was already losing the initiative against the onslaught of the massive Russian army. In '43, the Russians began to take back ground. While Hitler was mired in Russia, the 8th Air Force began to take control of the skies over Europe and by early '44 they had won that battle. On June 6th, 1944, Operation Overlord started with the invasion of Normandy. By May 8th of '45, Germany had surrendered.