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26
April 2005
"..and I saw Specialists riding on
pale 190's..."
Field of Departure:
105
Target:
89
Pilots in Attendance:
Fuzeman - 190
Lees2 - 190, 109
Luft - 190
Joker66 - 190, P47D
RTS - 190 D9
Skeksis - 190 D9
SKu - 190 A8, Mosquito
This week started out as a
training session in Wingman Ops in
the Training Arena. Once everyone
was there we started out in the
venerable P40E and broke into
two-man teams. The P40 is not the
easiest beast to master due to
that huge slab-like rudder. At
low speeds it seems that all but
the smallest amount of rudder use
will dump you into uncontrolled
flight and trying to use opposite
rudder only worsens the problem.
I saw one Specialist having the
same problems I am so very
familiar with just before they hit
the ground. At the same time
doing Wingman Ops can be a
problem. It was a problem when I
flew with the hickweeds and it is
still a problem that can
really only be addressed by the
two members of the group being in
constant radio communication about
what they are doing but until
there is an easier way to tune the
voice com to private channels in a
hurry so we don't crowd the
regular channels it might not be
easily solved. While the flying
and mock dogfights were fun we
left for the MA and some real
action after only a short time.
We got into the MA and Fuze
quickly selected 105 as it is was
in good shape and there was a very
large dar-bar just south of us in
a sector with a friendly vehicle
base. It was going to be a 190
raid with individual pilots taking
the 190 of their choice with 50%
fuel and DTs. We all left the
same runway at more or less the
same time and started out to find
that there was a stranger in our
midst. For some reason the flight
crew decided to prank Luft and
assigned him to a Spit so we all
augered and took off again. Same
setup, same massed take off, this
time no funny business from the
hanger chief. We went to around
12,000 and started looking around.
We knew something wasn't right
because the dar-bar did not change
and the vehicle base wasn't
flashing but we pressed on just in
case as there were two narrow
corridors where there was no radar
coverage. If there was an enemy
force on it's way they were doing
a masterful job of staying in
those radar blind areas. At
the same time Lees reported seeing
what looked like aircraft suddenly
appear and disappear under my
plane. Luft also reported seeing
what looked like con dots zipping
around and later we all saw those
so there must have been some
disturbance on the server. Once
we got to the vehicle base there
was no change and I dropped down
to check for GVs. Once again we
couldn't find anything so the dar-bar
was chalked up to another map
glitch and we all augered rather
than fly back.
So far the evening wasn't working
out as well as hoped but we
weren't about to give up this
early. It was back in the 190's
and off to 89. When we got there
the enemy did not have much to
stop us so we rolled in to try and
take out the field and town acks
as fast as possible. I think that
was when we found one of the enemy
was manning a M16 hidden in the
trees. I am going to take a
moment to comment on these trees
for the Specialists who haven't
seen them yet. There are several
screen shots of the new trees in
the SNR section for 12-April.
Sometimes I don't think they look
quite right and I still think they
are the source of some of the
frame rate loss but they now offer
thetankers more coverage and in
turn that has made things more
challenging. Anyway we rolled in
and this guy started causing us
grief right away and he shot Fuze
down very early on. While this
guy is harassing us some one
brought up a Hurricane.
At first I felt kind of sorry for
this guy as I would not think of
bringing up a Hurricane in a sky
filled with 190s. Heck I wouldn't
be upping from that field at all,
I would go some where else and fly
over. All feelings of 'sorry' for
this pilot quickly were replaced
as whoever this was, they were
good. RTS made a pass at him,
then I did (and I scored several
hits) and then finally Luft was
able to put him down. While
this pilot was keeping us busy a
Spit and an IL2 got off the ground
and quickly got into the fight. I
latched on to the Spit while he
was trying to take out Lees and
while I scored a few hits I wasn't
able to keep him in front of me
and as I roared by him the ground
flak started scoring light hits
eventually taking out the left
gear and tailwheel. By then the
IL2 had me and while Lees tried to
come to the rescue it was not to
be. Between the IL2 and the flak
I went down but I had a lot of fun
before that. As I was flying back
to 86 RTS landed 4 kills to much
acclaim and logged off for the
night.
Somewhere along the way Joker had
been shot down as I was trying to
catch up to him before I got back
to 89 as I believe in saftey in
numbers. Any way, I have no idea
what happened while I was heading
back but by the time I got there
the enemy had no one in the air
and only the die-hard in the M16
was left, still lurking in the
trees. Don't get me wrong when I
say lurking; it is a good tactic
as those new trees can make it
very hard to find a GV that is
hiding. The guy was using the
terrain to his advantage, and he
was keeping us from just taking
the base. I made a few passes to
little effect while he scored a
few of those 'non-damaging' hits
and soon was joined by SKu in a
Mossie. I don't know when he
RTBed or was shot down but I was
surprised when the Mossie showed
up. Now there are two of us
working on this guy and we still
can't get him.
If I remember correctly what SK
and I wound up doing was making a
pass on the town and then flying
over and seeing what the M16 is
doing (lather, rinse, repeat) and
if we could take another shot at
him. At some point in this the
guy snuck over to another set of
trees further away from the town
so I have no idea what he was
thinking. Maybe he was waiting
for help to arrive. Help did
arrive, but for us. Lees flew in
piloting a 109 with the extra
cannon gondolas and he started to
hunt the M16 as well. Once I was
able to spot him at his new
location Lees attacked while so I
decide to just give up and start
working on the town. I was
thinking if we can take the town
our problem with this GV is going
to be solved pretty quickly.
Also I was thinking that we could
be doing some damage out of range
of the M16 and if he wants to get
us he is going to have to come out
into the open.
Lees was able to put this guy out
of our misery but took an oil hit
in the process. Rather than fly
back he joined SK and myself
working over the town and put
those extra cannons to good use.
Personally I prefer to attack
buildings with something a bit
more beefy like the P38 or the P47
but I worked with what I had at
hand and all three of us were
starting to do enough damage that
we began to think about trying to
get a goon in here. Lees engine
finally siezed up and he went down
right about this point and he
logged off leaving Joker, SKu, and
myself. It was also right then
that I noticed I had 5 minutes of
fuel left even stretching it and
the numbers were saying that I
wasn't going to make it back.
Rather than bail I decided to try
and SKu gave me cover on the way
but even runnig the engine below
max cruise I just couldn't get
back, ditching as the field came
into sight, possibly a mile or so
away. This was one of my better
ditches as I brought the plane to
a stop intact which I think just
shows how much practice I get at
this...
I decided to up once again as
Joker was now attacking the town
in a P47 and he had done a lot
more damage but that M16 driver
had apparently had enough as
someone there upped in an IL2 and
brought Joker down before I had
traveled more than a mile. SK had
just logged and Joker had said he
had enough for the night so I
RTBed and left the MA as well
after what I felt was a great
squad night.
As always I report the kills I am
aware of:
Fuze - 2 town ack, 1 field ack
Joker - 10 buildings
Lees - 1 unknown, 1 fleid ack, 1
M16, P38 assist, 3
town buildings
Luft - 1 Hurricane, 2 Spits
RTS - 4 unknown kills
Skeksis - 1 hurri assist, 1 spit
assist, 3 town
buildings
SKu - 1 unknown, 7 buildings
What can I say other than this was
another outstanding
evening. It was a lot of fun
which was something
lacking in the DHBG and The
Specialists are a great
squad. Salute to everyone who
flew!
Skeksis
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