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Gentlemen,
We assembled as usual at 9 pm eastern and
decided to assist
with the ongoing assault on Bishop base A25. Recon showed
that a significant amount of damage had already been done
there by the Knight forces, so we planned an attack and
capture on the town. RTS and Sk took tanks from the handy
vehicle spawn point just north of the A25 town, and I followed
them in an M3 with troops for the base capture. Seal, Fuze
and Luft took heavy fighters to assist in dropping the
remaining town buildings and then providing air cover and
recon for our gv's.
As we approached and entered the town we saw that about half
the buildings were still up. I followed RTS in and we made
our way directly to the map room. I noticed a well placed shade
tree just next to the map room and pulled up my jeep under the
tree for cover from the occasional enemy plane over the town.
Meanwhile the other Specs went right to work taking down all the
remaining buildings. There was a group of Knights over the
airfield who were answering the call of the Vulching Light.
Despite this a few Bish fighters came over the town and were
engaged and killed by our fighters. At one point the VH popped
and the Bish immediately sent out an M3 to look for me since
they apparently had heard about an enemy M3 in their town.
This M3 came screeching to a stop right on the other side
of my tree and was guarding the map room and looking for me.
I could just make him out through the branches. All of the
sudden either RTS or Sk spotted him and there was a loud
bang as he was reduced to smoking scrap metal. Right at that
point I lost UDP while we were finishing off the town. I was
sweating it out, wondering if I would get disco'd at the
worst possible moment. Fortunately the last building was taken
out in a minute or two by Fuze, and the troops were let out.
A25 was ours in just a few seconds! WTG Specs! Beers all around.
One of the sweet things about capturing a base is when you
finally get it and the ack suddenly starts hosing down all the
previous base owners who are out there trying to hunt you
down. Of course it is only sweet if you are not the previous
base owner.
After this capture we decided to launch an attack with heavy
fighters from A37 down to the Bish base A38. Without checking
out the actual terrain around the base ( mistake #1 ) I called
for an east runway takeoff. We got on the runway and rolled
out towards the mountain at the very end of it. I figured
we could get enough speed and alt to bank left around the
mountain despite being in a heavy P-47 overloaded with bombs,
rockets, fuel, and beer ( mistake #2 ). Everyone made great
takeoffs except RTS and myself. We managed to belly in with
our heavy jugs. We had so much fun doing it we even came right
back and tried it a second time with the same results, MUCH
to the amusement of our squaddies. Finally I got the right
idea and took off on the unobstructed NE runway. This segment
of the mission film is funny to watch, and I cut out a short
4 minute segment of it that I'll send to Luft. I call it
"The Trouble With Heavy Jugs".
The main group made it down to the target area following the
strange start but on the way down there I developed a severe
case of Disco Fever. I had 4 discos in a row and was only able
to stay connected for a few minutes after logging back on each
time. By the time I finally got a stable connection everyone
but Fuze and Sk had logged, so we flew a few sorties over to
A38 from A30. The Bish defenders now were ready for us in
large numbers and high alt. We managed to get a few kills and
headed back to A30. On the way back I ran out of gas and had
to ditch in the water, so I tossed the CO keys over to Sk
as he flew past.
Excellent job guys, great teamwork this evening. <<S>>
Joker
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