After Action Report

November 16, 2010

 

Commanding Officer: Joker

 

Mission Debrief 2-16-10


We logged on to find a medium Bish airfield, A124 under heavy Knight attack from our CV group stationed about one half sector north of the enemy base.
The Specs gathered farther north in friendly territory at A110 where we assembled 5 formations of B-17's and three P-51D escorts led by Swoose.
The group rolled NE and made a sweeping turn to the east and then south and southwest toward A124, our primary target.
We climbed to cruise alt of 12.5 k and approached A124, but as we got closer we found that A124 had already been shut down by the Knights.
We then turned south towards A143, the secondary target for the mission. As we proceeded to A143 we were harassed by an Me262 and a Typhoon,
but they were taken out by our capable escorts and damage to the buffs was minimal.
Nearing A143 on the bomb run there were many fighters launching and climbing to intercept us. I counted 8 fighters just from my bombsight.

Targets had been assigned on the way to A143 and after the first pass only one FH remained up. Our group egressed to the SW and then turned
back to hit the field again. The remaining FH was taken out along with a number of other structures.
By this time the air was literally full of Bish fighters all looking for a fight. Our bombers tried to close up the formation but we did wind up scattered
which made the escort job more difficult. Despite this we got excellent cover from our escorts and we also managed to get several buff gunner
kills as well.
Those of us who were shot down joined up as gunners or came back in fighters.
A large group of enemy fighters followed us north and we headed back up toward A124 towards the large group of Knights still attacking that area.
As we passed through that area we did get additional cover and the enemy fighters backed off.
Finally Seal and Luft safely landed their B-17's at P109.

This was a difficult mission but the objective of closing the field was met. <<S>>
Unfortunately A124 was still being contested, so the Knights were not ready to advance south and take advantage of the situation.

Our next run was a heavy FOC mission from P109 south to assist with the ongoing attack on A124. There was still a huge furball just north of
the base...in fact, as Ditto remarked...it was the kind of place where 6 packs were made.
It was here that I saw Ditto make a great shot from his 152....a very high angle deflection cannon shot that removed the tail-feathers of
the enemy plane. <S>
I saw several other Specialist kills made before I had to log, but when I did A124 was still in Bish hands due to their persistent defense.

All in all it was a great night. The bombing mission was difficult but was carried out well despite our losses.

As always, a big <S> to the pilots who flew the mission.


Joker <S>