Hi and good morning Spec’s,

 

This is it, the last Tuesday in July.

 

For this week I had several ideas in mind;  One of which happened to be duplicating a very old (mid-97 or so) Spec mission that stood out in my mind as very enjoyable from Air Warrior.  The original mission was flown with all P-51’s at 500 feet or less(below radar), heavy on the deck to attack of an airfield.

 

After running the mission through solo a couple times over the weekend, I figured out & confirmed to myself that the low altitude approach will never work in Aces High. I had my doubts about the low altitude strategy, and the various enemy installations I attacked simply confirmed the feeling; the field guns tore me to pieces every time.  Even if I was fortunate enough to survive the first pass over the field, I was badly shot up and losing oil.

 

So- not only is the low altitude portion of the mission is unfeasible, it’s allot like suicide.  L

 

Therefore, the mission this week will be flown at 12-15K+, in the heavy P-51B or D of your choice. The B has a slight speed advantage over the D, but the gun package isn’t as strong as the D. The D also has a better bomb load out capability, with 1000 pounders available should you choose to use them.

 

My thought is to take bombs only, that can be jettisoned if necessary to pick up the pace. I you are a rocket jockey and insist on taking them, I will not object…. Just keep in mind that they do have a decided negative effect on drag and overall maneuverability on either of the 51’s.

 

As mentioned above, I was up in the air for this week on mission choices… and I know that this exact mission has been run before, but an accident occurred this week at Oshkosh that cinched the P-51 mission for me.

 

For those that didn’t know, two P-51’s that were landing in formation at the annual Oshkosh Air-show collided on Friday, and the warbird community lost a great pilot & warbird restorer, Mr. Gerry Beck and his fabulous P-51A “Precious Metal”. (see enclosed pictures borrowed for the WIX forums on-line.)

 

It should be noted that Mr. Beck scratch built this aircraft from the original plans, built just like an original in every way. Gerry was killed when his planed rolled over after his wing-tip touched the tail of the P-51D he was flying with. The other pilot in the collision, Mr. Casey Odegaard, walked away with minor injuries. (For those that are interested, you can see more details here: http://www.aero-tv.net/index.cfm?videoid=00b0d640-e714-4b79-b17b-6f3b0f149c4d )

 

So, I figured what better way to honor and remember them than to fly an all Mustang mission. I hope you all agree.  

 

Start time is the standard time, 8:00 PM Central, 9:00PM Eastern.  As usual after the first hop is out of the way, we go with fighter of choice to continue the sweep.

 

I hope everyone can make it, as always I look forward to flying with you gentlemen.

 

<SALUTE>

 

Tailwinds and blue skies,

 

~Milt

<CO> July 2007