04jan05

04 January 2005

Greetings to all members of the squad and Salute to everyone.

This week we had a great turn out and a great squad night and we showed both the Knights and the attackers what we can do! Thanks and Salute to everyone who participated. :-)

Squad Night Report for 04-January-2005

Field of Departure:
            A24 (and later A35)

Target:
            A35 (and later A19)

Pilots in Attendance:
            Joker99
           Lees2
           Luft
           RTS
           Skeksis
           SKu

The evening started out as a bid to defend A24 from enemy attack. When I came on-line RTS was already there and assisting against what would turn out to be several waves of determined attackers. Because I have a policy against certain death...um...taking off from fields being vulched I left A25 (I think) itching to try out a Ki-81. Before I could head out an enemy 110 showed up and started attacking the field. I engaged and eventually got a prox kill after the poor bastard misjudged and slammed into a hanger but a kill is a kill. I headed on over and while in transit Luft came online. I didn't last long over A24; either the Ki is too slow or I don't know how to best use it or both but I took an oil hit very quickly and went down fighting I came back in a 51 but did not accomplish much of anything and in the break Luft was saying how he was interested in doing something with Spits so I landed and then the enemy bombers showed up so I re-upped in a Spit and saw Lees and Luft climbing to engage as well. The bomber group had a mix of cover including a P38 and a 110 and just as I was starting to close on one bomber group I went into a spin and was taken down by Nuke66 who was driving the P38. During the ride down in the silk Lees took out an enemy Spit and the assembled Knights drove off the attack. As an aside; before I was blown out of the sky, someone (and I do not know who) said on the radio “Hello big, red barn, let’s see if I can hit you.”. I like that laid-back approach. ;-)

With some breathing room the question was what to do next and Luft suggested that we take the fight to A35 which seemed to me to be a great idea. There were enough defenders at A24 and we had had enough of being on the defense so the order was given and we started to assemble our strike force. Pilots were free to take whatever they wanted and off we went and that was when the fun really got going. I took a 51 heavy as did Lees, Luft, RTS, and SKu and Joker66 took a 190 heavy looking for targets of opportunity. We started out low level but with no significant opposition most of us went up to around 4k. When we got there we found that A35 was well covered by other Knights so we all diverted to the city and went to work.

As with any melee things got a bit confusing but the final tallies were that RTS reported taking out 6 buildings and 2 town flak, Sku reported 8 buildings and the last flak, I took down 3 buildings and while RTBing for more ords Lufts reported taking out 10 buildings but in an ironic turn of events plowed into the church trying to take it down. Editor's note: There are some details that I think I have left out about the quick skirmish over A35. I am pretty sure that at one point Lees took engine damage and Luft took a pilot wound as I recall advising the damaged pilots to return to base but exactly when this happened I am not sure. If any one at the attack can clarify this please do so. Thanks. :-)

At some point Lees had ended up back at A24 and took off in a C47 with goons and I am pretty sure that I was heading back as Luft and Lees were coming back in so I think that Lees and Lees had gone down and I was outbound when the church incident happened. When I got back I found that there had been more action at A24 and the ords were down so I and Luft took 110s as the cannons would still do a nice job and demolishing the city (thanks to Fuze for that info on an earlier mission). As I was heading back, followed by Luft after he re-upped Lees was able to make his drop and took the city (and received 11 perk points).

We all congregated on A35 for fuel but the ords were down there as well so pilots were advised to re-arm at the pads before heading over to A19 where we planned to take that as well. RTS headed out first in a 110 and on the way found and put down a C47 and then put a Tiffie out of commission but lost an engine in the process (I have no idea how he did it, I can't dogifght in a 110 to save my virtual life) and headed back to 35. Luft and myself we headed out in 110s as well to find a lot more opposition than anticipated. As we were closing in RTS made a successful gears-up landing at A35 and headed off to the Officers Club for a well-deserved libation before getting some sack time.

About this time I lost track of Luft as it seemed that an entire air force was waiting for anyone foolish enough to pounce on 19. I guess they were not took happy with the Knights about losing A35 (awwwww) but we hadn't come all this way to not at least try. I picked up a lot of company on the way in and got by most of it, but the short version was that I didn't last long at all yet I still managed to take out 2 of the field guns before the enemy was able to put me down. I too headed off to the O club and some sack time and logged off knowing that The Specialists had done an outstanding job. :-)

Special notice is sent to Headquarters along with a recommendation for a commendation for Lees for taking the field.

Special Notice is sent to Headquarters for Luft, RTS, and SKu for taking down multiple buildings (although I dunno about that church thing).

Congratulations, Thanks, and Salute to all pilots for working together well and outstanding performances.

Skeksis
Remember, saying you are outnumbered is just a negative way of refering to a “Wide Target Selection”. ;-)

Click photos to enlarge