B-17 Queen of the Skies was a game made by the now gone Avalon Hill game
company. It was a solitaire game which pitted you, your crew, and your B-17 against the
German Luftwaffe during World War II. It was and still is an elegant game that has tons of
replayability. The basic premise is you crew your aircraft to targets in occupied Europe
against a sometimes determined Luftwaffe. You could get a 'milk run' mission this turn where you see no
enemy and then get that 'Schweinfurt raid' mission the
next. You kept track of every crewman in his position as you fended off the German attacks
and dropped your ordnance on the target. Then you tried to get home again.
A single mission could be done
in less than an hour and a big mission in less than an hour and a half. The neat part was
that with a couple of die rolls everything was set and off you went into the Wild Blue
Yonder. You learned to love your crew and learned to hate the enemy fighters. You sweated
every roll. All you wanted was your 25 missions and go home. Sometimes it did not
happen.... and those that made it safely to the ground go to our
Stalag Luft
camp until the war's end.
This site will hopefully support
the missions of the 200th Heavy Bombardment Group. We will try to be at least 3 squadrons
and will run the B-24 model D,E, H, and J heavy bombers.
I am also part of the
on-going campaign game with the
400th Heavy Bombardment Group
stationed in Deopham Green, Station 142 in England. We are fielding 4 complete squadrons
of B-17s. And just to keep me busy, I am also flying with the 88th Heavy Bombardment Group out of Italy.
Transmit your intentions
to enlist in the 200th and for the B-24 by contacting the 8th Air Force HQ personnel office.
Click to join 200th
|