Dunkirk Air Tasking Order

ATO A: USCINCCHANT UNCLAS EXER/ //
MSGID/AIR TASKING ORDER #1(G.I.)//AOC//
PERID/201707240000Z/TO:2017072359Z//
AIRTASK/ATO A//
TASKUNIT/JUVAT (AIR PIRATE)//
MSNDAT/AF003/-/juvat/1XF150/AIR SUPERIORITY (OF COURSE)/15M/A1/-/31511-//
TGTLOC/FRITZTOWN CINEMA//
AMPN/A.  OBSERVE AND EVALUATE BOTH FRIENDLY AND ENEMY AIR ACTIVITY VIC DUNKIRK.  AS THIS MISSION WILL REQUIRE TIME TRAVEL, DO NOT ENGAGE ENEMY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.  OUR LAST SORTIE OF THIS TYPE (OPERATION PRAIRIE ADVENTURE) WITH CVN68, ALMOST CAUSED A TEMPORAL RIFT FOREVER ALTERING THE TIME LINE.  WE WON WWII WITHOUT ANY INTERFERENCE, DO NOT ENGAGE NO MATTER HOW EFFECTIVE AN F-15 WOULD BE AGAINST FOKKERS AND MESSERSCHMITS AND FOKKERS FLYING MESSERSCHMITS.

B. REPORT OBSERVATIONS AND EVALUATIONS TO THIS HQ NLT 201707241100Z.//

Given the above tasking from USCincChant, callsign Sarge, I entered the target area at precisely  201707221850Z (1350 local.  All right! 1:50PM Saturday! Sheesh, a guy can't wander around dreaming of his Glory Days?)

The mission, as assigned, was to evaluate the "flying sequences" for accuracy.  The short version is they were pretty good with a couple of  "nice touches" that few would have noticed had they been omitted, but that showed RJ Casey, the Aerial Safety Coordinator/Military Advisor, knew what he was about.

Before I get into the specifics of the above mission, first let me say, I went to a theater, by choice, by myself, at almost 2 O'Clock on a Saturday.

Talk about Decadence!

It was exhilarating!  I compounded the Decadence by consuming an ice cold Shiner Bock while watching the movie evaluating the tactics.

Also, let me say this, Yes, my precious snowflake, whomever you are, there are no "people of color" or women in any significant role in the movie.  There is the possibility that French Senaglese troops were there, but the French forces played little role in the movie either.  Similarly, for injured troops being rescued, the female nurses were singularly important to them personally, but again played little role in this story.

Get over it.  The solar system revolves around the Sun, not Uranus!

So, back to the tasking.

Stuka scenes.

Source

Given that there are only two intact Stukas left in the world and neither are flyable, their scenes were done with radio controlled aircraft.  That having been said, I had to google that info before I realized that the movie used radio controlled models for their scenes, they were that well done.

However, the smaller size of the R/C aircraft as well as sheer physics of cameras led to a historical error.  According to Hans Rudel in his book "Stuka Pilot" standard Stuka tactics would involve approaching the target at 15000', then push over or roll and pull into an 80^o dive.  

Source

With a dive this steep accuracy is greatly enhanced.   (If I've done the math right, you've traveled about 2350' forward from 15000' until the release point. Compared to a little over 6000' for the usual 30^o dive used back in my day.)

So, putting an actual Stuka (with a 45' wingspan) at altitude to give the picture historical accuracy would have meant filming an object only slightly bigger than the size of this period.

Another factor was the extreme stress on the aircraft in the recovery from the dive.  Because of this, the actual Stuka required a dive checklist to be completed before the attack began.  That checklist looked like this:

 Landing flaps at cruise position
 Elevator at cruise position
 Rudder trip at cruise position
 Contact altimeter ON
 Contact altimeter set to release altitude
 Supercharger set at automatic
 Throttle fully closed
 Cooler flaps closed
 Dive brakes open

All that would have been difficult to achieve in an R/C aircraft.

So, the dive angles weren't quite right.

The second quibble about the Stukas was there were 5 explosions during the attack on the beach.  True Stukas carried 5 bombs (1 x 250kg +4 x 50kg), but they would have been released in pairs from the wings.  The reason the bombs would have been released in pairs is that releasing them singly would have induced a differential in lift and drag on the two wings, inducing a lateral motion of some sort, thereby reducing accuracy.

However, even though the Stukas were in a lower angle dive than was historically accurate, and as mentioned above, the horizontal distance across the ground was increased, the string of bomb explosions was accurate in that there were a long string of separate explosions.

So, Stuka tactics in the movie were not exactly historically accurate, but aerodynamically accurate and would reflect modern air to ground tactics.

ME-109 Tactics

Again, a certain amount of tactical accuracy had to be sacrificed simply to film the movie.  Air to Air action, even in WWII (heck, even in WWI) involves a lot of space, both horizontally and vertically.  So getting all the players into one camera scene means the formations and the maneuvering has to be tighter and smaller than would be the case in reality.

That having been said, the escort formation on the Heinkel was correct.  The Messerschmits (with their Fokkers in them) were above and behind the bomber positioning themselves in between the bomber and the most probable avenue of attack.

Wider spread, Excellent post describing the how and why of the formation at the source.

There formation was accurate for Luftwaffe formations at the time.  The wingman was positioned far enough away  from his lead to protect his six as well as to keep a lookout.

The defensive jinking of the ME-109s was far more accurately portrayed than that of the Spitfires.  He was changing all three planes as he jinked, vastly improving his chances of survival.  But, let's be honest.  If someone shows up at your six and the first time you see him is when he opens fire, your chances of survival, or at least returning the aircraft to maintenance undamaged are next to non-existent. So any improvement to those chances is a vast one.

So, the realism of the ME-109 scenes was accurate within the confines of camera physics.

Spitfire Tactics

Initially, I thought the Spitfire scenes were the least accurate in the film.  Then I realized that, in fact, they were the MOST accurate.  The Luftwaffe had cut their teeth in the Spanish Civil War and learned what formations and tactics had worked and, more importantly, what had not.

The RAF however had not had that advantage, and entered WWII with only lessons learned from the First War.  They would learn fast, and indeed, according to this post, shot down 326 Luftwaffe aircraft to the loss of 121 of their own during the extraction.

One of those lessons was shown in the first scene of the Spitfires.  They're flying in what was referred to as the VIC  formation, and the intent was to concentrate all three aircraft's weapons on a single target.  The two wingman fly fingertip formation on each wing of the leaders apparently having no other responsibilities other than to be gun bearers.  That's about all they CAN do since, having flown fingertip a time or two in my day, I'm here to tell you that the wingman's attention is 98% consumed with flying formation.  He can only spare a quick glance at a fuel gauge or a radio channel change.

Vic Formation
Source

Visual lookout is non-existent in this formation.

Yet, it was the standard combat formation for the RAF up til someone recognized the error of their ways during the Battle of Britain and the RAF adapted a version of the Luftwaffe spread formation for the rest of the war.

Similarly, at no point in the movie, except when they were actually under fire, did I see a Spitfire pilot actively "Checking Six".

I think I actually said "Move the aircraft and check six" out loud as, during one scene, a Spitfire watched his target slowly crash into the sea.  Sure enough, everyone else in the audience jumped in their seat as the bullets started flying around him.  I think I mumbled something along the lines of "Tolja, ya dumb SOB"

But, that is an entirely accurate situation. At that moment in time, the Spit pilot was master of the universe and invincible.  I understand the feeling but it was hammered into me, in F-15 school, that the second most dangerous place to be in an Air to Air engagement is in the general vicinity of your victim.  The first being, of course, in the cockpit of your victim.

Move the aircraft, and check six.  "Bastards have brothers!"

One of the things that I did find very accurate was the gun shots.  Neither Spitfire pilot pulled the trigger (yes, the Spit didn't have a trigger, it had a firing button, I know) when he had enough lead.  Just like any shot taken on a moving target, you don't aim where he is, you aim where he will be when the bullets arrive.

The pilots pushed the button (OK?) when the pipper was on the target.  That is correct nowadays with lead computing sights that account for time of flight, but that wasn't the case back then.  However....the movie correctly portrayed the shots taken with that aimpoint as misses.

I did notice that during those engagements, my legs tensed up, my breath started coming in little gasps, my head would lean in the direction of the turn and my right arm would be moving also.  It was a good thing it was a matinee, dark, and there wasn't anybody within about 10 feet of me.

I also noticed one of those little "bon mots" I spoke of earlier.  In the first fight scene, as the leader spots the ME-109s.  He calls them out and then says "Feet up on the bar, boys".  That is a little known and totally accurate thing about the Spitfire.  It's rudder pedals had an upper level to them.  When about to engage in high G maneuvering combat, Spit pilots would put their feet on the upper level, to reduce the amount of blood pooling in their legs which improved G tolerance by keeping more blood (AKA Oxygen) in the brain.

Source

Since that was in one of the initial scenes, it was one of my first indications that this was going to be a good movie.  I was not disappointed, and I highly recommend it.

To be honest, the credits hadn't even started rolling when I texted Sarge "Great Fricking Movie!"