Official Me 410 Hornisse Historical Campaign "Hornet's Nest"

[Jaegermeister]

"Hornet’s Nest" a Scripted Campaign for the Me 410 A-1 "Hornisse"

 

 

About The Campaign

The Messerschmitt 410 A-1 “Hornisse” was developed by the German Luftwaffe after the beginning of World War II as a replacement for the aging Bf 110 twin-engine heavy fighter, night fighter, and light bomber. There were considerable delays during development, but the Me 410 A-1 was finally available for operational service in 1943. The Hornisse was faster than almost all Allied fighters of the time and relied on its speed and rear-facing defensive turrets to survive enemy attacks. The heavy firepower it carried made it a devastating bomber destroyer, but the lack of maneuverability was always a concern for the Hornisse pilots.

You will begin the “Hornet’s Nest” campaign as a new lieutenant, starting your career on the western front. You have been assigned to Kampfgeschwader 2, where you are tasked with delivering one of the first Me 410s to your unit on the front line in Normandy. You will fly each mission with a radio operator in the rear cockpit, who is responsible for communicating with ground stations, operating the radio guidance systems in the aircraft, and manning the rear gun turrets in the event of enemy contact.

During this campaign, you will fly night fighter and bomber missions during the “Baby Blitz” of England. You will serve temporary duty as a test pilot with Erprobungskommando 25 to experiment with new weapons systems during daylight bomber raids over Holland, and you will return to your original unit before the Allied Invasion of France in 1944. During the invasion, you will oppose the Allied forces for as long as your unit is able.

This is a historically based campaign, with most mission events based on operational records. Some creative interpretation has been applied for improved gameplay and to fit the missions within existing map parameters.

 

Timeframe: June 6^th, 1943 – July 5^th, 1944

Units: V. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 2 - Erprobungskommando 25 – II. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 51

Aircraft: Messerschmitt 410 A-1, Messerschmitt 410 A-1 U-2

Duration: 13 Missions

Average Playtime: 9 Hours

Languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Russian

Author: Jay =Jaegermeister= Yarbrough

 

This Campaign requires IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Normandy and Battle of Bodenplatte to play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please post any comments, observations, or error reports in the thread below.

Enjoy! 

[LukeFF]

That last mission is a tough one! But, I think it's reasonable. Great job on this campaign!
 

Spoiler

I chopped throttle, lowered gear, and flaps as quickly as I could on approach, but there was still one Spitfire lurking around that latched onto our tail. He was shooting us up pretty good, so I punched out. As we went to the external camera view, I saw that one of our wheels had been shot off. Ouch. 😄 I thought I had been slick in hugging the ground all the way there, but I just knew you'd have enemy planes lurking around there. 😄 

Not to mention, that rear gunner of mine is pretty lazy with returning fire. 🤔

 

[Jaegermeister]

17 hours ago, LukeFF said:

That last mission is a tough one! But, I think it's reasonable. Great job on this campaign!
 

  Hide contents

I chopped throttle, lowered gear, and flaps as quickly as I could on approach, but there was still one Spitfire lurking around that latched onto our tail. He was shooting us up pretty good, so I punched out. As we went to the external camera view, I saw that one of our wheels had been shot off. Ouch. 😄 I thought I had been slick in hugging the ground all the way there, but I just knew you'd have enemy planes lurking around there. 😄 

Not to mention, that rear gunner of mine is pretty lazy with returning fire. 🤔

 

Haha, You were supposed to land, refuel and then take off again. You only finished half the mission! Get back out there and try again son!

[HamilcarBarcas]

Great campaign, thanks Jägermeister!

In Mission 4, there were two things I noticed: my flight lead stayed down low for all the way to the coast although we were supposed to climb to 5000 m to intercept the bombers. And then the bombers did not shoot back. So I was able to down an unreasonable amount of bombers. 

[Jaegermeister]

On 12/14/2025 at 11:04 AM, HamilcarBarcas said:

Great campaign, thanks Jägermeister!

In Mission 4, there were two things I noticed: my flight lead stayed down low for all the way to the coast although we were supposed to climb to 5000 m to intercept the bombers. And then the bombers did not shoot back. So I was able to down an unreasonable amount of bombers. 

I have found the issue with the bombers not providing defensive fire and corrected it in all missions with bombers. Some of the waypoints were set to high instead of medium, preventing them from firing.

The issues with flights not climbing to altitude is an AI problem and not something I can correct.