1st Squadron South African Air Force Operation Crusader Skinpack
by cheruskerarmin

These skins are my very first works made and uploaded for the IL-2 community, they
are especially a thanks to all of you who gave me advice and assistance in different matters over
the years.   

The 1st Squadron SAAF was one of the permanent opponent units of the axis forces in 
the western desert campaign from 1941 to 1943. 
First equipped with Hurricanes MkI they received MkIIa's in early november 1941, right before
operation crusader was launched (november 18th 1941 - january 15th 1942) to relieve the
besieged Tobruk garrison. 
The pilots of the 1st SAAF were fierce and proud fighters and most confronted by the 
three groups of Jagdgeschwader 27. In the countless dogfights they suffered much
losses, mainly because of the supreme performance of the Bf109 Friedrichs and pilots
like Jochen Marseille and other JG27 aces. 
But the 1st SAAF of course scored their kills amongst germans and italians too and had some aces in their rows.
The 1st SAAF carried out all sort of fighter missions, mainly fighter sweeps, bomber escort, convoy cover,
armed reconnaisance and ground attack (with guns only). 
On february 15th of 1942 the battle worn unit was drawn out of frontline for refreshing when only six servicable 
ac were left. From early march 1942 the squadron was tasked with non spectacular aerial cover for convoys in the nile delta and around alexandria/egypt.
They returned to frontline again on june 23rd, then mostly equipped with the MKIIB variant (see my other skinpack).
Around mid(?) september 1942 the 1st SAAF received Hurricane IIc's and on november 4th the unit finally 
converted to Spitfires.           

This skinpack was made for the stock game MkI, because of the non-presence of the MKIIa (stock 
game) and the equivalent armament. 1 (historical) skin included was really one of the last MkIs, it was photographed when
crash landed on july 3rd of 1942!  
You can use these skins as well on the MkIIb but there are differences mainly in (missing) 
gunports/shell ejector holes.
 
It is a semihistorical skinpack, including 4 'historicals' and brought up to full squadron strength
of 12 aircraft (most missions were flown with lesser numbers).  It represents aircraft mainly
of the 'crusader' period.
I spent a long time with research, there are very few well photographs and a lots showing parts of aircraft only, but i think these
hurricane paintschemes overall look fairly historical now. The 'historical' birds are recognizable
by a pilot's name or 'UNKNOWN' in the file description.

If you have useful informations
like good photographs of 1st SAAF hurricanes in the western desert i would be very interested
to see them. The depicted aircraft could be included in an updated skinpack.  
All serials of the semihistorical aircraft are from the approbiate MkIIa production batches and 
a lot of weathering was applied as i like this very much. 
The 1st SAAF flew their hurricanes at the time of operation crusader (and much later still) 
with (partly very rough) handpainted codes (some ac didn't have codes at all or just squadron code).  The camo pattern was RAF desert scheme
A and B, (mirrored and colours viceversa as well) with some variations. Most spinners were red but individual spinners were still in use. The roundels had the 
orange inner of the SAAF instead of the red used by the RAF, RAAF and RNZAF. 

Last but not least these skins couldn't be made without the excellent provided work of the 
template makers, mainly  Friendly Flyer and FBS. They had much work with these skins than i had. 
I have used additonal bits and pieces of other skinners
and their are all credited on the skins.
THX a lot to all those guys!!

I'm aware these skins may still have some flaws but they are made as best as i am
able to do so far. There are optimized to blend well with the 4.09 MTO map in perfect mode.

The archive contains a mission file '1st Sqn SAAF Lybia Operation Crusader' to quickly watch the full squadron flying in historical formation on the
4.09 desert map.    

Anyway have fun with these hurricanes and please give me a note if you wish to include them in your own
publically uploaded works. These skins are free for non-commercial use only. Please don't reupload them on any website without
my permission. 

I would appreciate very much if you leave any comments, those are encouraging me like most
skinners or mission builders for eventually making more works for the public. Even a bad review
is better than none.
       

cheruskerarmin@freenet.de


References:

Kagero publications
1st SAAF (Ray Connell)webpage admin
SAAF forums community
SAAF museum/SANDF archives Pretoria
Fighters over the Desert (Ring/Shores)
History of JG27 Africa (Ring)
Squadrons of the SAAF and their Aircraft(Mclean)
85 Years of SAAF(Brent)
and many others... 



 

  
    

      
