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The Campaign in CFS3
Part I

As a pilot in Combat Flight Simulator 3, you fly in the historical framework of the tactical air war in northwest Europe starting in mid-1943, but there's a significant difference. The skill and perseverance you and your squadron or Staffel bring to each battle can alter the tactical situation and the timeline of the campaign. This open-ended and flexible campaign means you can influence events, alter history, and extend the timeline to add new technology to your arsenal. How you handle these tactical and technological advantages will determine the outcome.

Before you take to the sky, it helps to understand what really happened during WWII. This will not only give you something to shoot at—but also something to shoot for.

In CFS3, it's 1943, and no one knows what's going to happen, or how the war will turn out—but here's the way it was.

…and what really happened
The campaign in northwest Europe in 1943-1945 marked a dramatic high point in the events of WWII and the fortunes of the warring nations. It began with the Third Reich in firm control of "Fortress Europa," and ended with Germany—and much of Europe—in ruins.

The situation in mid-1943
In mid-1943 there were no dedicated tactical air forces operating in northwest Europe. Of course, the tactical role was always part of the Luftwaffe's mandate, but most of its tactical efforts were focused against Russia.

The Allied focus was on a strategic goal—using heavy bomber forces, escorted by fighters, to destroy Germany's ability to make war. German fighter pilots' first responsibility was to attack the bomber formations that threatened the expanding Reich by day and by night.

All this began to change as planning for the Allied invasion of Europe took shape. It became clear to the Allies that the invasion would never take place without air power. Air power techniques worked out in North Africa and Sicily during 1943 showed how effective tactical air power could be, and plans were put in motion to use this weapon to the fullest. Air power would pave the way for forces on the ground by providing close air support.

Pre-invasion activities
In 1943 the U.S. Ninth Air Force moved from Italy to England, and the RAF created the Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF). These Allied tactical air forces faced two daunting pre-invasion tasks:

• Disrupting the German army's ability to transport reinforcements and supplies by road, rail, or river.
• Reducing the Luftwaffe's ability to seriously impede the planned Allied invasion.

For its part, the Luftwaffe had to do its best to resist the mounting tide of Allied air and land forces, and to support the German army. Even in reduced circumstances, the Luftwaffe's best efforts remained formidable.

The "Mighty Eighth" looks for trouble on the ground
Even before tactical air forces were in place, fighter pilots of the strategic U.S. Eighth Air Force (the Mighty Eighth) assigned to escort the heavy bombers into Germany were increasingly freed to roam further afield from their lumbering charges in search of enemy fighters. The idea was to find trouble before trouble found the bombers. To meet this threat, more Luftwaffe fighter pilots were ordered to take on the Allied escorts instead of focusing entirely on the bombers.

By January 1944, General Jimmy Doolittle, in charge of the Mighty Eighth, made destroying the German fighter force a top priority. To encourage his fighter pilots, Doolittle offered ace status to those who destroyed five aircraft on the ground. Some pilots who had won aerial victories by outflying their opponents complained that this was the "easy" way to become an ace, but flying into a wall of flak and small-arms fire while attacking an airfield didn't seem so easy to those who tried it.

In February, the Eighth Air Force launched its "Big Week" operation with a series of heavy bomber raids against the German aircraft industry coordinated with medium bomber and fighter bomber attacks on Luftwaffe assets in France, Belgium, and Holland. Throughout the spring, German fighter losses in the air and on the ground mounted; more significantly, the Luftwaffe lost half of its irreplaceable veteran pilots before the invasion began.

The tactical air forces join the fray
The U.S. 9th Air Force and the RAF's Second Tactical Air Force soon joined these efforts and, as winter turned to spring, the pre-invasion air campaign intensified. Two Tactical Air Commands of the U.S. Ninth Air Force (IX TAC under General Ellwood "Pete" Quesada and XIX TAC under General O.P. "Opie" Weyland) combined efforts with the British Second Tactical Air Force to smash rail transport, bridges, and airfields.

Phase 1: Railways. Sixty days before D-Day (D-60), the Allies' focus fell on rail centers, with fighter-bombers (as well as medium and heavy bombers) striking marshaling yards and major rail junctions. The railway phase continued right up to and after the Allied armies fought their way onto the shores of France on June 6.

Phase 2: Bridges. At D-46, the Allies began to isolate the German troops that occupied the invasion battlefield from reinforcements and supplies by destroying bridges on the Seine below Paris and on the Loire below Orléans. Both medium bombers and fighter-bombers participated in this phase, but the nimble fighter-bombers proved to be the best tool to achieve the pinpoint accuracy this task required. Like the rail phase, this bridge-busting duty continued on after the Allied invasion had begun.

Phase 3: Airfields. At D-21, the Allies added German airfields within 130 miles of the invasion area to their target list. This phase continued until D-Day.

Between these attacks and the demands on German fighter resources resulting from the Allies' strategic bombing campaign, by June 6 the Luftwaffe simply wasn't a factor in Normandy. This situation wouldn't last for long, as the German fighter force wasn't finished yet. Within weeks the Luftwaffe increased its strength in Normandy, flying from small, improvised airstrips to avoid attack by Allied fighter-bombers.