I’ve decided that pretty much any campaign created by Reflected is most assuredly worth the investment in time and money. The Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney for the Mustang is no exception, even if it is not one of his more recent offerings. To that point, it is built on the Normandy map as compared to his Wolfpack campaign, which has the benefit of being created on the Channel Map. The latter’s more developed airfields fit the WW2 narrative a bit better, as they have higher quality objects and more atmosphere. Reflected recently added a bonus mission to Blue Nosed Bastards for those owning the Channel map. If you own The Big Show campaign (and why not?) he has converted roughly half of them.
Even though this is a single player campaign, Reflected has included co-cop versions of missions 4 and 5, a nice addition that you might not be aware of unless you dig around in the campaign’s folder a bit \Eagle Dynamics\DCS World\Mods\campaigns\P-51D The Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney.
Regardless, BNB has tons of atmosphere of its own, including detailed maps, briefing sheets, authentic voice coms, and commercial radio broadcasts to listen to as you head across the channel escorting massive (72 ship) formations of B-17Gs on the the way to strike various targets for the day.
As a 352nd FG P-51D fighter pilot, flight and sometimes squadron leader, you are required to cold start, chose the correct radio channels during different stages of missions, and be on time at RV points in order to get the most out of the campaign. But by the time you complete missions 1 and 2, what were once seemingly impossible tasks (making takeoff times, engine and fuel management, and climbing to altitude with AI), become more or less routine.
I’m through mission 4 and have somehow survived unscathed, with 3 EA in the bag. Though the missions are far from easy, I can’t help but think that Reflected slowly ramps up the difficulty, letting you get through some confidence builders before feeding you to the wolves. So far, the Antons are no big deal. But the K4s are a hand full in an even fight. As our flight rode heard on a box of tail-end-Charlies coming off of the target, we got bounced by a flight of 109s. They wisely waited until most of the bombers and escorts had moved on before executing their attack. We saved the bombers, but sadly lost number 4 from our flight. I saw his Mustang heading straight down trailing black smoke, but no chute.
Since I’m flying the campaign in VR, the screens are unfortunately dreadful. But you get the idea.
As mentioned in many encounter reports, after a huge furball, one can find themselves suddenly all alone. In the distance, I could see the main bomber formation heading for home, but none of my flight or the 109s. I set a course for England, but not long after going feet wet, approached a badly beat up Fort whom had fallen behind and below the main formation. Even though she had 4 turning and none burning, the bomber looked as if it had taken multiple hits from grape shot. Deciding not to leave her unguarded, I lowered my flaps a wee bit so that I could slow to match her airspeed and do a battle damage check. A couple of flak bursts must have exploded right on top of. A little while later, I was happy to see my wingman nuzzle up in a port echelon. In the canopy I could see a big grin and two fingers held in victory.
As bad as the Fort looked, the crew were all at their stations and waved back a few times. Brave lads indeed. No. 2 and I remained with him until he was feet dry.
Back at Bodney, No 2 taxis in. 3 was already in his spot, but sadly I walked over to no 4’s ground grew to give them the bad news. I knew that they would wait a few more hours, regardless of what I reported.
This and all of the Reflected WW2 campaigns are highly recommended for DCS warbird pilots.
Addendum: There is a bug in the Mustang added with DCS v2.7 which affects performance above critical altitude. I tried the fix below and it works well. I’ve also bound an axis to Carburetor Cold Air Control, but the LUA edit makes the cockpit levers work regardless. Plus they are also in the correct positions for startup.
