RAF 46 Sqn was equipped with Hurricane Mk I and was deployed by carrier to Norway. Its mission was to provide air cover to the BEF and the fleet.



There were some doubts if a Hurricane would be able to take off from a carrier, but all the pilots took off thanks to the carrier crew that managed to increase its speed a few knots over its designed maximun speed



The planes landed at Bardufoss, where they shared the base with Gladiators from RAF 263 Sqn



Within a few days on Norway, and after a couple of patrols, the Luftwaffe decided to pay a visit to the expeditionary RAF base



Despite the Hurricanes interception, Bardufoss was heavily bombed...



However, this didn't prevented the Hurricanes and Gladiators to keep providing cover...



...for the different landings along the Norwegian coast...



... which was in need, given the large number of raids on the expedionary fleet...






The attacks were heavy and the toll in ships, material, men and planes was too high. Despite the succesfull landings in Narvik, the order was given to retreat. The ships become even more important, as they were the only way out of Norway.
The first steep was to move the ships deep inside the fjords, were torpedo-laden He-111 would not be able to hit them.
However, a new menace was added to the British Expedionary Force:







The Stukas were easy prey for the Hurricanes, even more because the Bf-109 fighter were deployed too far south, beyond their range to reach the Theater of Operations. However, by the overwhelming difference on the numbers, the Stukas were able to hit several ships and force large groups of troops to move by land to where the ships were re-deployed, beyond the stukas range...




But they were still within range of Bf-110, based in Herdla airbase



which created havoc among the retreting troops



... until the RAF 46 Hurricanes showed up over the fjord



Dogfights erupted over the troop columns...




The leader is under attack!!!


Its dependable wingman is fast to intercept...



...and scores some hit to force the Bf-110 to break.



Despite the efforts of the troops, the fleet and the expeditionary RAF detachment, the evacuation order was given. The order was to burn the planes and evacuate the personal by boat. But the pilots, knowing that Norway was lost, that France would be lost soon, knew that every single plane would be needed to defend the next target: The United Kingdom.

Without having an arrestor hook, without having carrier training, but having proved that they were capable to beat the most overwhelming odds, they flew their Hurricanes towards the carrier and attempted a landing.




Would YOU have what it takes to be a RAF 46 Sqn Pilot?
Would YOU be able to fly desperate missions under desperate circumstances?
Would YOU be able to evacuate your plane to the carrier, even without an arrestor hook?

You'll be able to find it out, by flying 'Hurricanes Over Norway'. An Historical Campaign by Mariskal

Coming Soon.

Hurricane Skin credit: Serval_1Java

Looksing good!

Looking forward to it. Thanks.

Another realistic marvel from M.....gonna be great. He's a master of research and converting it to this sim.

Looking good, thx for the update.

BF

Can't wait to try it.

Looks tasty Particularly the shots over mountains

Glad to see my campaign is getting the interest of you, my fellow campaign/missions builders.

The weekend is here and I'll be working on the briefings and the tracks. I need 4 to 6 tracks for a proper history line. I contacted a skinner that might provide custom skins for the campaign, so think of the screenies as 'preliminary'.

I hope to send this to the beta testers by the end of the month.

Great looking campaign, Great story, Great screenies.

skins would improve the look as you have mentioned. A Herdla 110 Skin, and a skin for your Hurri MkI's that have been defiled by the bug in the MAT Manger that treats the MkI as an axis aircraft thus placing the same roundel all over the aircraft.

This would be first on my list to get for Hurri Campaign. As in alot of the Pacific campaigns, the Hurri doesn't quite compare with it's adversaries the way it does to the 110 and the Stuka. Looks like fun.

B50

B50,

A Herdla Bf110 is among the things I added over the weekend. Java_Serval has offered to produce a RAF 46 Sqn skin pack, so each Hurri will have its own skin , based on a couple of historical pictures plus profiles I've found in the web. There is a Blenheim one and a Fw-200 as well. I might add a He-111, if I find one that I like.

Also, the campaign has 5 tracks (I still might add another one) and currently stands at 14 missions. All the briefings (V1.0) are done. Dunkelgrun will check the spelling when I do the final beta tester release.

I'm playing with the idea of adding two more missions, that I've found no historical records of them, but that are plausible. Besides, one of them would be perfect to implement a special mission that will 'confuse' the player

I like discovering FMB new tricks

Hi Pablo,
I'm always enjoying your work.
The RAF pilots I made you for the Murmansk Campaign will do fine in this one as well...

Hi Elephant,

Good idea. I can add the RAF skin pilots as well

Fantastic effort!!!! You are to be commended for making this highly interesting campaign!!!

I am sure your skinner will know how the aircraft were painted (standard RAF scheme with black/white undersides), but here's a link to a site showing their camo scheme:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._46_Squadron_RAF

Quite recently a two-part article was published in a Norwegian aviation magazine detailing the Hurricanes of 46 Sqd. in Norway and their camouflage and technical configuration (both fabric wing and metal wing aircraft were present), but unfortunately it is not available in English, nor online. A lot of profiles were included.

If you have specific questions regarding camo or markings of aircraft of this campaign feel free to ask.

I guess it is too late, but there is actually a map that reflects the landscape and conditions around Bardufoss better than the West Norway map and that is the online dogfight map with the huge mountains (forgot its name). It looks quite a lot like Bardufoss, actually. A few screenshots I made a long time ago:




VPB_Kjetilman

Hi Kjetilman,

thanks for your comments on the map. That map was used in my first release of the campaign, about 3 yr ago (It was FB 1.22 compatible!). This time I wanted to use the Norway map, even if the operations area is not represented, mainly because I can include the carrier take-off and carrier landings.

By the way, you don't happen to have that magazine, right? If so, could you scan the profiles and send them to me? I have some information on the RAF 46 profiles, but just on two planes. The rest are based on those two.

Finally, small update: work on the campaign has slowed down in the last week and will stop next week, as I have a bussisness trip beggining in a few hours. I expect next weekend I should be able to finalize the campaign and send it to the beta testers... (It always takes longer than expected)

Hi Mariskal.

I certainly understand why you chose the Norway map. Everything can be included there! Would have made the same choice myself.

I'll see if I can get those article scanned and sent to you. get back to you as soon as that is done! Do you need info on camo and markings of the Bf 110s or other German aircraft?

Again, very good work which is so nice for us Norwegians to see!

Regards,

VPB_Kjetilman

Hi Guys,

Small update: Two new missions (and really fun ones) were added to the campaign. Special skin pack was delivered, pilot skin pack was added, all the tracks are ready and most of the briefings (beta level) are done.

This should be ready to go to the beta testers after the weekend

This is really good news, I'm looking very much forward to a Norwegian campaign!!

Great work

This looks and sounds excellent!
I'll be looking for it.
(I'll start practicing carrier landings with a MK I now )
Thanks in advance to you, the skinner, history researchers and beta testers.

Hi Guys,

This project is still well and alive. My work schedule went nuts about 3 weeks ago and I have not been able to keep up with everything I wanted to, but right now I am doing my own beta test, before sending it out the beta test team.

Don't worry for the lack of updates, this campaign will not fade away