How to play

The table and the board

Red-bordered blocks are hostile raids, with an estimated strength and height. Estimates are rough: radar sees raids over the sea, the Observer Corps over land, and a very low raid is invisible until it crosses the coast. Coloured arrows show past plots; their colour matches the five-minute segment of the sector clock when they were laid, so you can tell fresh plots from stale ones. Blue blocks are your squadrons in the air. The tote board on the wall lights each squadron’s state.

Giving orders

• Tap a raid to see the squadrons that can reach it soonest, then press Send. Set the height (Angels, thousands of feet) before you send.
• Or select a squadron, choose “Scramble to a raid” and tap the raid on the table.
• Squadrons at readiness take off in about 3 minutes; at available, about 15. Released squadrons must be called in first.
• Being above the enemy matters. Arrive below the escort and the Bf 109s will bounce you. Arrive more than 6,000 to 7,000 feet off the raid’s height and you won’t engage at all.
• After combat a squadron must land, refuel and rearm. A squadron caught on the ground at a bombed airfield can be destroyed there.

Watching a fight

When a squadron engages, press Watch in the teleprinter or the raid card. The fight plays out from the same numbers the plotting table uses.

Controls

Drag to pan, pinch or scroll to zoom, right-drag or Shift-drag to tilt. Space pauses, keys 1 to 4 set the speed, Esc cancels.

Raid sizes, times, aircraft performance and squadron allocations are simplified for play. They are not a historical record.