30oct07

30 October 2007

Ravine Running Alt Monkeys

The 30th of October 2007 was an interesting night. Turnout was expected to be low. No mission had been posted by anyone by 20:30 and at 21:00 only Joker, RTS, and Luft were warming up. Absence alerts had already been received from a few *Specialists* via our email list so, I figured it would be a light turnout night.

	Fuze did over 2 hours in the dentists chair (he was in the chair so long the dentist needed to take a break because his fingers were going numb).
	Skeksis was running on 3.5 hours sleep in the last 36 hours and that night was also his anniversary.
	Seal hadn't been heard from all week. Maybe even longer. No telling where he might be or if he'd show.

Swoose has been flying regularly and Ditto has flown the past 3 or 4 weeks so I expected them to show and just a few minutes after 21:00 there they were. Milt and Skunk then joined a 5 or ten minutes later. With seven *Specialists* present it was clear we could inflict a deep wound into the enemy. That is, after we stirred up the hive first.

Present and accounted for were:

RTS - Joker - Skunk - Ditto - Swoose - Milt - Luft

While logging into Aces High I was thinking I might propose a couple of missions if nobody else wanted to run one. The map was one of the ravine variants. I don't know they exact name of the map and will try to update that later with the help of a Spec. It was challenging terrain that looked sort of like this:

After warming up between A20 and A79 I suggested we strike in unison. We formed up at A20 in Fw190-D9's. Load out was 50% gas, a drop tank full of gas, and the "red baron" skin that sports the red and white striped underbelly.

We took off and formed up tight first heading north and then east to the furball above the ravine near the field. The total number of aircraft, both friendly and enemy, were quite a few between these two fields. You didn't have to go too far to find a bogie. Radar allowed a viz on most aircraft so a coordinated attack with seven aircraft would not likely come as a surprise to the enemy.

Sure enough, along the way we picked up a few contestants. A P51 turned for our tail first and was joined by a few other aircraft as we got closer to the field. The plan for the night was a *Specialist* staple. Stir up the hive in fighters and then bomb it into submission. And stir it up we did! The P51 was no challenge in speed for our D9's once we jettisoned the drop tanks and hit the WEP. The red true airspeed marker on the airspeed indicator was over 400 knots level.

We plowed through the furball and into the ravine at 500 knots. The cleanup was fast and organized. Joker and Luft dug into a low flying one. Luft was just lining up for a canon blow when Joker blew it into smithereens. Way To Go Joker!

Joker rips into a FW190-A8 from 400 yards back.

Heading back to the pack Ditto, Swoose, RTS, Skunk,and Milt were bringing it to Spits, LaLa's, 51's and anything else roaring off the ledge at A79. The airfield was about 2K above the ravine and in pristine shape. Anti-aircraft fire was very heavy and concentrated.

Luft was the first to go down (that always seems to happen when I lead a mission.) I wandered too low to the field after taking on a spit that got a shot at my right wing and ripped it off. I started flat falling all the way down.

Even though it was obvious I was going down that didn't stop the feeding frenzy from their side or ours. I waited it out in the officers club at the tower and cleaned the dust out of the crevices of my joystick with a Q-tip as I waited for the others to come in.

A buff run was considered next. We could go NOE through the ravine or grab as much alt as possible but without making the flight too long. The location of the field between two mountain ranges would require a direct NE flight path in order to line up the bombsight. This would be directly into the enemy. We took off SW and turned due north while grabbing to about 13K in B26's.

Once up and heading north we turned due east. Once again we encountered some bogies and made a run for it. A couple of us lost a few wings on a drone doing 300 knots but the vast majority made it to the field. The damage was extensive. Wave after wave of 500 pounders began taking out bomber hangars, fighter hangars, ground vehicle hangars, fuel, and ground ack. The field lit up in flames and smoke was pouring up from the field. The Specs crippled the field and stifled the swarm. I spotted these two ground vehicles perched at the edge of the cliff. Both were an excellent shot and were taking long range pot shots at us as we swarmed the field.

After flying both missions we loose winged it back and forth from A20 to A79. RTS and Luft grabbed AR234 Arados. They both received some excellent escorts. We made it to the field and dropped our "psychological payload" on the enemy airfield. 250 pound eggs don't do much damage but shooting down an Ar234 means the pilot lost 70-80 perk points buying it for a flight. Both returned to base ok.

It was a good and fun night overall. Had Fuze, Skeksis, and Seal made it we would have been 10 strong. I wish they could have been there.

That reminds me, at 07:38am the next morning we received this email from Seal

Yjust got back from Vegas ,Y
Ylost money found a Wife :)Y
Yi'll post a pic of us after i get permission :)Y

YLater guysY
Y+Seal / <life as you know it ends >Y

YYYYYY WAYTO GO SEAL!YYYYY

The special wingding touch with the red hearts above was added by me, Luft.

I was also Co for the night, debrief writer, photographer, and webmaster. But most fun of all, observer. There is nothing quite as fun as going back through the films and jumping to your cockpit view to watch the fun and action.

Until next week <S>

Luft

High Resolution Screenshots