19 Nov 2011 Dark clouds and rain

Logged in at 4am, nobody from squadron around. Checked status of map, asked on 55 for update on Lufties.

Heavy fighting around Arden, 1 or 2 ea constantly there, but 5-6 allied air dealing with them. Heavy flak reported around the FBs (was told to stay above 2k unless I wanted to get shot down). Flew one sortie in a H2C, lifted from Folkestone. I dropped both 500lbrs on the EAB at Arden, got jumped by a pair of 109s. Dragged them NW and they were shot down by a pair of Spits. I took multiple light hits on my tail but nothing serious, RTB without incident. Hit a Pz4G, but no kill.

Decided to look for something less stressful to bomb, found 3 AOs up on bridges on the southern end of the front. Lifted again in H2C from Folkestone, flew to first bridge, bracketed both ends of the bridge and dropped it. RTB'd to LeTourquet field as it was closer. Pooched the landing and ended up on my nose, but RTB result and plane was ready to fly immediately. This field has a significant slope to it, going downhill to the NNE, so its very easy to take off with bombers/etc.

Flew 4 more sorties from LeTourquet against the trio of bridges, knocked all of them down, completing the AOs. My radar grid turned yellow during the 3rd and 4th sorties, but never saw any enemy aircraft (I was looking, believe me!)

Reported the last bridge down to HC, and saw the sky turn dark grey. Weather effects were apparently enabled, as the ceiling and vis limit came down a very noticeable degree. As I started my final approach to LeTourquet, it began to rain, very hard. This was an excellent visual effect, and the neatest thing I've seen in BE since my return. Sat in the hangar and watched the rain effects for a minute, then logged off for breakfast.