Jay =Jaegermeister= Yarbrough’s Overlord campaign came out a few months ago now and I’m slowly working my way through the campaign in order to write up a few review. It also gives me a chance to enjoy some serious P-51B flying over Normandy! Here’s the first two missions of the campaign to give you a sense of what you’re up against while flying the Overlord campaign.

Fighter-bomber Mustang

The first mission of the fifteen mission campaign is titled ‘Across the Pond’ and it has you flying a classic 9th Air Force fighter-bomber sortie. Fly from England to France, drop bombs on a tactical target, and return.

Our flight of eight P-51s took off from our base at Lashenden in the south of England and climbed up to 11,000 feet for our crossing over the channel. The formation consisted of mostly P-51B models although the leader was easily spotted in a silver P-51D.

Once at cruise altitude we settled in for a lengthy crossing. Although I’ve studied maps, read about and virtually flown over the channel many times before in this and other sims, it always strikes me as a larger body of water than I have come to assume. Crossing over from England to France certainly takes a bit of time.

This part of the mission is part of the serene and calm part of the experience. Its the “hours of boredom punctuated by sudden moments of terror” that is often written about in combat operations. In this case its the simulation of an operational reality as tactical fighter squadrons often had to fly lengthy channel crossings – at least until their bases on the continent were ready. I recommend getting some music going in the background while you wait… Michael Giacchino’s Allied Assault theme for the Medal of Honour series provided me the right kind of build up to the action that was waiting for me across the channel.

Soon the calm was over and the combat was about to begin. We moved across the conquered beaches of Normandy and inland to where the fighting was going on. Soon we were over the target area and word came in that our target zone was about to be marked by a green smoke round launched by artillery.

Sure enough, the smoke was easily visible and our flight of Mustangs bore in on the target. Flak burst around us, tracers flew back and forth beneath, and I rolled inverted briefly before stabilizing in a 70 degree dive on the target. A few moments setting up my target and waiting for it to disappear beneath my nose before dropping my pair of 500lb bombs…

Pull away and then bank hard to avoid flak and check to see if I had hit the target. A large burst on the ground indicated that I had definitely been close (and later scored as being a single AAA battery destroyed).

There were many more targets behind us but I, as it turns out wisely, decided to hold onto my ammo. The reason for doing so quickly became apparent as our flight of 4 Mustangs, separated from the other flight, were suddenly head to head with a flight of four Fw190s. A dogfight ensued and I pitched down to gather speed through the merge before climbing vertically and over to latch onto one of the Focke Wulf’s tails.

A couple of bursts went wide before I struck the target. Another sustained burst from my four .50cals and his vertical stabilizer sheared off. The Fw190 spun out of control and crashed. One down! But no time to rest as tracers lit up the sky nearby and a fellow Mustang came under fire.

Two Fw190s were ahead and my wing leader was after the one while another, seemingly unaware, bore straight in on the already under fire Mustang. I lined up on this trailing aircraft, it being the closest to me, and fired a long burst into my target. It fell away and later crashed.

Meanwhile the wingleader and gotten the remaining Fw190 off of our wingmates six but was having trouble downing the Focke Wulf. Damaged, and streaming fuel, the Fw190 continued to fight. After the leader unsuccessfully shot at the Fw190 again I decided to land the final shot and down that Fw190 went in flames. With no ammo to speak of I climbed away and looked around for my flight.

I couldn’t see them anywhere so I set course across the channel by myself. I would later link up with them at home base as we began to bring our Mustangs back in for a landing.

I did miss out on a secondary objective of attempting to intercept a V-1 but with no ammo left it made little sense to even try and risk an intercept after a long and, so far, successful mission.

In summary there were no losses, I personally shot down three fighters, one ground target destroyed and a beautiful sunset on the way back provided for positive feelings on this first mission. Total mission length? 1 hour 14 minutes. A lengthy one but a successful mission!

The Doodlebug chaser

The second mission of the campaign plays out with an entirely different scenario. This time we’re tasked with flying a patrol for V-1 pulse rocket powered bombs heading for London. The briefing describes the situation and gives three vectors that the V-1s are likely to be flying in on. This would prove both valuable and a bit of a challenge in practice.

Starting this time in the parked position, I started my engine and my wingman and I taxiied out to the runway. It was a short taxi and soon we were in the air.

The mission briefing suggested climbing to 10,000 feet for the patrol so I climbed up there and started looking around. I headed to the north east of the patrol box and got a little carried away looking around before I realized that we were slightly out of position so I promptly started south west.

This ended up being a bit of a disaster as we were now out of position. Flak and tracer fire to our west indicated that one of the V-1s had been spotted and the defenders were attempting to take it down. I went to full throttle and put the P-51 into a screaming dive. Speed built up and briefly passed 450 mph indicated…. but it wasn’t enough.

I got as close as about 3 miles to the V-1 but not in range to engage and gradually my speed bled off and the V-1 carried on unscathed. Hopefully the inner ring flak defenses would get it.

We climbed back up and re-positioned for the next one. This time I was determined to stay closer to the center of the patrol area. It paid off as flak and tracer fire once again alerted us to another V-1 crossing into our zone.

I rolled the P-51 into a high speed dive and came out slightly behind the V-1 with my wingman gunning but ultimately missing the V-1. Once he pulled off it was my turn and after a few short blasts from my .50cals the V-1 exploded in a big puff of smoke.

Again we climbed for 10,000 feet and re-positioned for the next attack. We didn’t need to wait because tracers again alerted us. This time the V-1 flew directly underneath and I took off after it in a high speed dive. I fired at it a few times with my second burst plinking off the wingtip but not doing any damage. I fired again… and this time I got it. Another big puff of smoke.

Again we climbed and again there was tracer and flak going up. With a twist this time as two V-1s were coming in at once. My wingman went after the lead and I took off after him thinking that if he missed I’d be able to shoot that one and still hopefully have enough speed to get the second one buzzing along nearby.

My wingman fired wildly missing with several shots before breaking off. I bore in! Before I could fire a flash of tracer flew between us and the V-1 one exploded. One for the AAA gunners! But a little too close for comfort!

There was still one to get and I converted my speed into a brief climb, a roll over, and dropped in onto the next V-1. I fired and it exploded. Another Doodlebug down!

At this point we were called in to land. With the V-1 threat neutralized, minus the one that we missed, it was time to bring it in. And land I did with a pretty big smile on my face. That was fun even if I did miss one!

Full review coming…eventually

It’ll take a while but I’m plotting to fly my way through the rest of the Overlord campaign and write up a review. I’m only two missions in but I’m generally impressed already. There are a lot of details to the mission design, to the parked aircraft around the airbases, and a general feeling of historical authenticity to the whole thing so far. Plus its a great chance to spend some time in the P-51B!

Overlord is available on Steam and on the IL-2 store for $9.99 USD though it is currently on sale for $7.99 USD. If it sounds like something you want you have a couple of options for purchasing it.