14jun05

14 June 2005

"My god...it's full of B-24s!"*
* - With apologies to Arthur C Clarke

Mission 1:

Bomber raid from A21 to A153 and A146

Mission 2:

Base Defense (I am not sure where)

Pilots in Attendance:

68 trip
Badger8
Fuzeman
Jedi
Joker66
Lees2
Luft
Plus
RTS
Skeksis

I apologize for the sparseness of this report, I am missing names and details owing from starting out with technical problems yet again which were fixed in time for a sort of "Wait, we're doing what from where?" kind of evening.

The week of 14-June was the week for our much anticipated big bomber raid and we were looking forward to it. Changing how we do things just a bit, after planning thing, Lees posted it as an open mission to the MA which I think was a great idea. We got additional pilots to go along with us on our raid this way.

We started out from A21, using the 10,000 foot base altitude to get the Liberators to a good bombing height without much effort and very early on made the turn towards A153. Lees set us up in two or three groups of 4 planes each but the plan was quickly set akilter when Fuze, our flight leader, was knocked off-line. Some of the rest of us had some frame rate problems so I suspect that there was a lot of traffic on the Net giving us grief. When he realized that Fuze was off-line, Lees assigned Luft to lead our group and then started handing out the targets. Adding to the challenge Lees instructed us to set salvo for 1 as we were going to continue our raid to A146. If I recall correctly there were three or four enemy planes in the air as we started our attack. Between us all, even though I missed completely, we dealt a major smack-down on the field, taking out all of the hangers.

We had been spotting enemy planes as we closed the distance with A153 but I do not recall there being more than four or five at any one time, a number that were pretty well handled by the escorts although Lees' bombers suffered the first significant damage. A 109 got close enough to me to take out the left gear on my lead ship but a determined attack by Joker drove him off before he could do any more damage. Despite the damage to his craft Lees kept his cool and kept us all focused on the mission at hand. We all made the course adjustment for A146, losing much of our escort on the way to fuel constraints. It was about this time that we started to see the enemy waiting for us ahead. The escorts we still had with us really did a great job of helping out as much as they could before they too had to RTB. Before they headed off leaving us to head home as best we could they gave us enough clear time to put another great deal of hurt on our second target (I even got a small piece of the action by taking something - don't remember what though - out).

We had reached the point where it was time to head back for home, A21, and as we made the course change we could start to see more of the enemy coming up. I recall a 109, 2 190's, a 51, and a 262 closing with us, but since we had already done all the damage we could their response was a bit...tardy. We were getting spread out by this time which in some ways made their job easier since we couldn't cover each other with our guns but it did not seem to matter much as their attacks didn't seem too determined.

It was about this time that someone took Plus down but I recall him stating he had killed a 262 yet I also recall seeing a 262 trying to RTB trailing a long greasy plume of dark smoke so I dunno. I know I wasn't sipping the local shine in the cockpit but after that I make no claims bout the veracity of my recollections. I also recall the radio chatter at the time in which I think it was Lees and Luft were saying that they did not blame the guy for trying to get the damaged 262 back to base since they cost so many points.

I think that most of us made it back to the base, except of course Plus who met us about halfway to the field, and maybe that was where he got the 262 kill. It wasn't completely smooth sailing though as someone showed up at the last moment and very ungallantly vulched Lees while he was landing. Since I was missing my left gear I elected for a belly landing which went without a hitch. After that I will claim the "any landing" defense. Lees had speculated on trying to take 153 since we had done so much damage to it but the enemy had decided to attack so we spent the rest of the evening defending our field, and we defended it very well.

Again I have to apologize for the lack of detail but I do not recall much about this part of the evening. I do know that we were upping and fighting off the enemy as best as we could. I also recall very clearly trying to use a Hurricane IIc since someone in the squad said that they were good for base defense but I never got close enough to be a threat. That works both ways, too. Since I never got close enough they enemy never got close enough and no one got hurt. See, people can play nicely. ;-)

I got tired of putting around and took my stand by, the Spit IX just in time for an enemy in a 190 to show up. I am starting to get spooked by this, it seems that 60% of the time when I up in a Spit a 190 shows up. While I can't keep up with the 190, I can often turn tight enough to bring my guns to bear on them as they go by. This one had already taken some fire and had a fuel tank leak but after one of my bursts there was a oil leak as well and I think I may have put some cannon rounds into the cockpit at the same time. I know I saw some flashed from around the cockpit but I will not swear that they had much effect. I do recall Luft saying that it was a good shot though. After that the 190 headed out pretty much S&L and I was unable to close the range below 800 and was about to give up the chase as I did not want to get pulled away from the other Knights when the 190 went down and I got the kill. After that I headed back and set the Spit down with only a couple of bounces and no damage on landing. ;-)

As usual I report the kills I am aware of.

The Kill Board:

Fuzeman        2 Kills
Joker66       1 Building, 2 Kills
Lees2            3 Buildings, 3 Kills
Luft            2 Buildings
Plus            1 Assist, 4 Buildings, 3 Kills
RTS            1 Assist, 4 Buildings
Skeksis        1 Building, 1 Kill

This was a great night and a lot of fun.   :-) Once again I think that the idea of making at least part of the squad night open to all by setting up as a mission is good as three additional pilots joined in. Salute to everyone who flew and special Salute to Lees for putting together a great mission.

Skeksis

A few of us did not make it home

Making it home

Unofficial Preliminary Squad night Mini De-Brief

Lees Big Buff Run

A Rook Knight at the Roxy

The 14 June 2005 squad night evolved into one of the Specialist's largest buff run's in recent memory. With the help of a few walk-on's that provided additional buffs and fighter cover, the mission was very successful. The takeoff itself was quite a thrill. Dozens of B24 bombers vied for runway space as we all automatically launched at 11:29 (game-mission time). This auto launch packed us in like sardines. Visibility was poor up to a few minutes after climb out due to the sheer numbers of overlapping aircraft on the runway.

This mission, commanded by Lees, successfully knocked out 3 enemy airfields. Many of the bombers made it home but we did lose a few. Our strikes were precise and as soon as the eggs dropped, enemies started launching to intercept us. The anti-aircraft fire over the field was very heavy and intense. This was mainly due to the vast numbers of our aircraft that had invaded their airspace, triggering the guns that were firing deadly exploding fireballs around us. We held our course and landed our eggs on target.

Shortly after takeoff we were met by a few bad guys that took aim at our big planes. They managed to break us up slightly as we had to take the time to man our tail guns to defend ourselves

During our return flight we managed to down an ME262. It takes a lot of perk points to up in a 262 but with that many buffs in the air, one rook couldn't resist and paid the price. Replayed video of the mission shows the 262 was smoking and never made it home.

Good Hunting!

Luft