10mar09

Hello Gentlemen,

As I said a final and more thourough AAR will follow the intial one and this is it. It will also be a dual report consisting of an ATR, after training report, and an AAR, after action report, of our action in TT after training was finished. IT would hve been out sooner but I got sidetracked looking up some Blue Oyster Cult lyrics.

ATR- We tried to go over some gun defense in B-17s. We had a target park itself off our dead 6, high 12, low 12 and 3 and 9 oclocks using the Lead Computed Gunsight to get familiar with the lead needed to place rounds on target at those locations. We paired off so each could take a turn at the bomber and target roles.

Some points to remember and work on for good bomber gunnery. [1] Setup and learn to use fire position only, the fire primary comand, to prevent massive waste of ammo when firing at targets at D800 and farther. [2] Be able to switch guns positions fast to keep the guns on targets that maneuver through those gun position views. [3] Be able to switch planes in formation using the Ctrl (plane #) command. You may be able to find and gain access to a gun that still has some ammo or isnt damaged if that position is unsable in the lead bomber. [4] While we didn't work on it too much during training, tight formation flying also helps the ability to defend the bomber force. The formation bombers should be able to adjust course and stay tight without the lead bomber having to shepard them together, he is usually busy enough giving course and target information, not to mention calling out enemies attacking the group.

AAR- We were going to attempt a deep penetration raid to hit the Bishops Head Quarters and destroy their radar. We stocked our B-17Gs with 75% fuel and 6x1000lb bombs at Knights A142 airfield. When ready we assembled on the runway for a NorthEast takeoff. The HQ was approximately 9 sectors away and our course would be over enemy territory most of the time. While this may not have insured mission success it sure would give us a workout and let us test the training we had just gone through. After takeoff when our drones had formed up we adjusted course left to approximately 030 and went into a maximum climb. Lead Bomber did have a reduded manifold pressure to assist the forming up of others. Shortly after passing over enemy bases we encounterd sporadic enemy fighters which increased in numbers and determination along the way. The various fighters encountered included 190s, Typhoons, P47s, La7s, F4Us, P-51s, and closer to HQ we encountered a single Me163. I think we gave out as much punishment and damage as we received but eventually our strength diminished and their attacks persisted. We did manage to get within 15 miles of HQ but unfortunately not a single bomber actually dropped bombs on it.

The B-17s were led by fuzeman with Sku, swoose, Engr, Joker, Luft, so we had 18 B-17s in total.

Hope you enjoyed it, <S> the effort.

fuzeman