Excalibur Squadron OOC - European Tour '39 - CLOSED

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Useful stuff herein meaning ULTRA, helping MI5 play blown Germans back against the Abwehr and running a number of successful clandestine networks in Occupied Europe? Mind you, all of that would probably sound much better if the service wasn't full of Soviet moles. Win some, lose some.

And, that's not the worst idea, to be fair. the Police probably do know where the weed is. They might not tell you, and you'll probably get arrested but they do probably know.

From what I've heard, the German intelligence services in both world wars left much to be desired...though a Soviet mole as the top instructor at the German spy school is hilarious.

There's a pretty amazing book about German intelligence efforts during WW1 to make an alliance with the Muslim world and try to foment anti-British uprisings in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. It's called Like Hidden Fire. Track down a copy if you can, it's real good.

Bakra: Accepted.

Gren: Accepted on the condition that nobody eats any fish after 9PM, some of us have work in the morning

[The Two Jerseys]

Gren: Accepted on the condition that nobody eats any fish after 9PM, some of us have work in the morning

Does a Filet-o-Fish actually count as fish?

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Gren: Accepted on the condition that nobody eats any fish after 9PM, some of us have work in the morning

Does a Filet-o-Fish actually count as fish?

Good question.
...No.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Aoife is accepted.

Here's the first installments of the new Excalibur Files, just to give you guys a flavor of what they'll look like.

Any British soldier in the field, with some minor alterations, would be carrying a certain standard amount of equipment and baggage in addition to their armament. Below would be a roughly comprehensive list of stuff, carried in a variety of different possible configurations. Commando-style work would, of course, entail some catch-as-catch-can streamlining, but this would form the baseline.

Personal weapon (usually a Lee-Enfield rifle with 20 5-round clips, or later, an SMG with 7-8 30-round magazines)
Bayonet
Combat knife
Two grenades (“Mills Bombs”)
Two spare Bren magazines OR two spare mortar shells
Pattern 1937 Webbing Kit
Brodie Steel helmet, Mark I*
Two packs of emergency rations (hope you like bully beef and biscuits!)
Spare socks (no trench foot here)
Bedroll and sheet
Sewing kit (darn)
Gas mask (in the early war)
Tea, in huge amounts
Collapsible ministove with fuel blocks (needed for tea)
Water-purification pills
Mess kit (teacups)
Thermos (for keeping tea warm)
Entrenching tool (to dig hole to drink tea in)
Bren gun (for LMG crew)
Bren maintenance kit (for LMG crew)
Sidearm (for officers or LMG crew)
Six Bren magazines (for LMG crew)
Beret cap (for parachutists/commandos)
Camo face covering (for parachutists/commandos)
Gravity knife (for parachutists)
Compass (for officers)
Binoculars (for officers)
Maps (for officers)
Mosquito netting/dust masks/goggles (for tropical or desert deployments)
Phrasebooks/dictionaries (for foreign deployments)
Paybook

All military pilots during WW2 carried some form of kit into the cockpit, both for use while flying, and also for use if you had to get out of your plane in a hurry.
Described below are all the uniform and survival paraphernalia of a combat pilot.

Leather flight suit
Summer/winter pilot’s overalls
Type B flight helmet (British)
Flieger-Kopfhaube S100 flight helmet (German)
Oxygen mask
Goggles
Microphone
1932 Pattern lifejacket (British)
Schwimmveste 1076A lifejacket (German)
Seat parachute (for pilots)
Back/chest parachute (for bomber crewmen)
GQ “Parasuit” (for Defiant gunners)

Escape/evasion kit, including but not limited to:

Sauer Fliegerdoppelflinte M1935 hunting shotgun (one per German bomber crew)
Sidearm (British: Webley or Colt, German: Walther PPK)
Flare pistol and flares
Gravity knife
Matchbox
First aid kit
Compass
Signalling mirror
Distress flag
Signalling lamp
Dye markers
Smoke signals
Hand flares
Canteen
Bailout rations
Amphetamines

[Grenartia]

Gren: Accepted on the condition that nobody eats any fish after 9PM, some of us have work in the morning

You might as well ask a muslim to eat bacon, Tigger.

for Defiant gunners

Defiant gunners

Defiant

[Triggered] Or should I say "Tiggered"?

[Monfrox]

for Defiant gunners

Defiant gunners

Defiant

[Triggered] Or should I say "Tiggered"?

Settle down now

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Gren: Accepted on the condition that nobody eats any fish after 9PM, some of us have work in the morning

You might as well ask a muslim to eat bacon, Tigger.

for Defiant gunners

Defiant gunners

Defiant

[Triggered] Or should I say "Tiggered"?

Sounds like you just volunteered for the hotseat.

(Fun fact about the Defiant - there was no way to open the cockpit for the gunner, obviously, because you're in the turret. So not only could you not bail out, but you couldn't even wear a conventional parachute. They had to *specially design* a flight suit with a built-in chute, and then design the Defiant in such a way that if you rotated the turret correctly, you could access an "escape hatch" and just sort of fall out. Mind you, this was dependent entirely on the Defiant somehow still having working power and hydraulics in the middle of flaming out.)

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Daily Update:
I want to get the IC ready by Friday or Saturday. Rest assured, I will try and be a harsh editor on myself so the pacing will actually move.
We also, uh, have one spot open. Awkward.

[Len Hyet]

Daily Update:
I want to get the IC ready by Friday or Saturday. Rest assured, I will try and be a harsh editor on myself so the pacing will actually move.
We also, uh, have one spot open. Awkward.

Ooh I'm in Page's flight this go round. This'll be fun.

You want me to see if Norv is up for it?

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Daily Update:
I want to get the IC ready by Friday or Saturday. Rest assured, I will try and be a harsh editor on myself so the pacing will actually move.
We also, uh, have one spot open. Awkward.

Ooh I'm in Page's flight this go round. This'll be fun.

You want me to see if Norv is up for it?

Let's just say that I've already put the call out to two very capable fellows and we'll see if they bite

[Len Hyet]

Ooh I'm in Page's flight this go round. This'll be fun.

You want me to see if Norv is up for it?

Let's just say that I've already put the call out to two very capable fellows and we'll see if they bite

Mysterious, I dig it.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Let's just say that I've already put the call out to two very capable fellows and we'll see if they bite

Mysterious, I dig it.

If I've learned one thing from my recent-but-obsessive wrestling fandom, it's that everyone loves a mystery-partner reveal

[Len Hyet]

Mysterious, I dig it.

If I've learned one thing from my recent-but-obsessive wrestling fandom, it's that everyone loves a mystery-partner reveal

Page is gonna flying side tackle some poor schmuck with a chair isn't he.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

If I've learned one thing from my recent-but-obsessive wrestling fandom, it's that everyone loves a mystery-partner reveal

Page is gonna flying side tackle some poor schmuck with a chair isn't he.

Excalibur Squadron arriving at Tempsford after another successful mission

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Name: Henri Vodat (real name Marat Korenov)
Date of Birth: 39
Rank:Lieutenant (Flying Officer)
Physical Description/Picture:

Place of Origin:born and raised in Russia, moved to France in 1925
Flight/Flight Combat Experience: Armee de Air, 1938-39
Ground Combat Experience: Red Army: 1917-21, FFL: 1925-36, International Brigades 1936-38.
Intelligence and Espionage Experience: N/A
Combat Specialties and Skills: Demolition/sabotage, irregular warfare, Language (Russian, French, English)
Weapons of Choice: MAS-36 rifle, Nagant 1895 revolver
RP Experience:do I really have to say anything...
Personal History: The son of a prominent Tsarist officer turned communist, Marat followed him into the service of the red army in 1917. Unlike his father, who joined the regular military at his current rank, Marat had to work his way up the ranks as he fought under the command of Joseph Stalin in the Caucasus's, Ukraine, and Poland, eventually making it to the rank of Lieutenant by 1921. While originally a firm believer in Lenin and Trotsky's vision for Russia, Marat became embittered by his time spent under "Lenin's attack dog", as Stalin was privately called amongst the ranks. When Lenin died and Stalin took power, Marat saw the writing on the wall. He opted to leave the country, joining The Legion like all young men without a country.

Changing his name as per legion tradition Marat, now Henri Vodat, served in Morocco and North Africa for 11 years. When the Spanish civil war started up Henri resigned from the legion and went to Spain. Using lessons learned in both Russia and Morocco, Henri worked with various groups battling nationalist forces in the southwest of Spain. It was here that he gained an appreciation of aerial warfare, both from talking to downed pilots his group had rescued and from seeing the effects Nationalist bombers had on republican positions. With defeat looming in 1938, Henri made his way back to France where he joined Armee de Air in July, having a rather ordinary career until being seconded to the RAF for some sort of special assignment.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

UKP: Accepted, I was hoping we'd get at least one Frenchie
(Okay, I think now we'll be closed, unless any of the people I got in touch with via TG decide to show up)

[Gibberan]

For those not on the discord: https://discord.gg/ndEVB

[United Kingdom of Poland]

UKP: Accepted, I was hoping we'd get at least one Frenchie
(Okay, I think now we'll be closed, unless any of the people I got in touch with via TG decide to show up)

technically not a frenchy

[Morrdh]

In honour of the thread title (and totes not because I'm bored/ill/tired/delirious) I propose Eurovision '39.

Opening song; Sturming for a Beer.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Going to try and get the IC up this weekend, because my workload seems pretty light still.
Also - I am going to massage the first few posts in such a way that you won't be able to recycle old IC posts. Sorry!

[Monfrox]

Going to try and get the IC up this weekend, because my workload seems pretty light still.
Also - I am going to massage the first few posts in such a way that you won't be able to recycle old IC posts. Sorry!

All that hard work...

[Grenartia]

To be fair, I was planning on doing original work for the IC post.

Though, I might not be able to get a post up until Tuesday, between work, taxes, and a funeral.

[Gibberan]

Also - I am going to massage the first few posts in such a way that you won't be able to recycle old IC posts. Sorry!

challenge accepted

[Kouralia]

I don’t mind either way, but if we’re keeping most of the same story/premise that would probably be easiest.

But how would we account for all the missing people?

Edit: looks like everyone who hasn't checked in save Kour is still alive, maybe Tigger might want to drop some telegrams to see if they're still interested.

Translation:

"This year I lost my dear enlisted Serviceperson, Kouralia..."

"QUIT TELLING EVERYONE I'M DEAD."

"Sometimes I can still hear his voice..."

RIP me, getting back to NS too late to rejoin

[The Tiger Kingdom]

But how would we account for all the missing people?

Edit: looks like everyone who hasn't checked in save Kour is still alive, maybe Tigger might want to drop some telegrams to see if they're still interested.

Translation:

"This year I lost my dear enlisted Serviceperson, Kouralia..."

"QUIT TELLING EVERYONE I'M DEAD."

"Sometimes I can still hear his voice..."

RIP me, getting back to NS too late to rejoin

SOMETIMES IT'S LIKE I CAN EVEN HEAR HIS VOICE

*sob*