Lets set the scene, I log in at 9:00 PST and the Knights have 15 players online versus the rooks 25 and the bishops 27. To make matters worse, HQ was dead, factories were all below 50%, we had only 1 v base, base 8, and base 11. There was talk on the message buffer saying things like "We really suck tonight." At that point I knew we had our work cut out for us, but as a longtime knight supporter I knew we could recover.
My first sortie a took a b26 to v44 and found that 4 of us were working on it. Smoke covered the field and there were reports that an ostwind was somewhere below. I made 3 passes, but saw nothing. Just then Kaptkaos (I think) said, Ostie near the hangar area. Getting a little low on fuel I figured why not drop a few bombs into the smoke and hope for the best. On the next pass I randomly dropped 3 bombs into the billowing smoke. Somehow they found their mark and the base was flat. Three minutes later the base was ours.
Even though numbers had not improved much (18 players online) I decided to try a mission to base 9. It had been the target of sporadic Knight lone-wolf strikes, but since radar was down no one could figure out who was where. I made the mission, Tiffies and p47s, escort consisting of a N1ks and p51s. When the time came for launch we had 2 Tiffie pilots, 2 p47 pilots, and 1 N1k escort. When the time came for launch nothing happened.
The mission just disappeared from the planner. Discouraged I said, "Well, lets just launch SW from 11 and see what we can do." Up came the Tiffies, p47s, and the single N1k. We leveled at 10k and proceeded into the unknown. I thought to myself, we don't have a goon, and there are only 5 of us versus any number of defenders. Right before we reached the target, our radar came back. It showed 2 cons in the sector, but by then we were right over the base and didn't see any. The other Tiffie pilot (Vulcan I think) got the Vh on the first pass, so I lined up on another hangar. Diving straight down I released my 2k of bombs and they struck home. The BH and an ammo bunker were destroyed. By then the ack fire was coming all around my plane; I lined up on one and pulled the trigger. I had forgotten to unselect the bombs and only 2 cannon fired. Regardless the shells hit the target, 1 down, 4 to go. Making pass after pass our p47s and Typhoons managed to take down the acks with no casualties. Not long afterwards the base was ours. "WTG!!!!" appeared all over the message buffer. I knew the Knights were on a roll. At this point some of us turned our attention to the V base just the the SE of 9 and managed to grab it quickly. The rest of us either rearmed at 9 or launched from 11 to go against base 10. Soon the Vh base force joined us and the newly restored radar showed a big green cloud converging on 10. By chance the majority of us arrived at the target at nearly the same time. This time my bombs made missed the intended target of the Vh, but it killed the ack. One of our spit pilots started strafing the Vh, the acks firing at him the whole time. Soon he was out of cannon and the Vh was still up. All of us knew that if we didn't managed to knock out the Vh soon Ostwinds would make the job next to impossible. I lined up on the Vh and made sure to select my cannon again. The VH began to get larger and larger in the sight. I let loose with 4 20mm HS. Soon the Vh was reduced to rubble, but then I saw it! In my rear view I saw the dreaded words "FLAK." Was it too late, had we not been fast enough? Over the base we now had 1 190, a spitfire with no cannon, and myself with 350 rds of HS left. Fortunately the ack had been taken down by this point. The 3 of us made pass after pass on the Ostwind, breaking off whenever we saw shells heading our way. Eventually I managed to dive from high at the same time the spit was coming in from a lower altitude. Able to line up neatly on the target the shells found their mark, the turret itself. The ostwind exploded and cheers went up in the buffer again. Unfortunately the BHers were still up and as a goon was approaching a b26 spawned in the hangar. My squaddie Griz managed to kill it, and then killed it again when it respawned. He reported that he was out of ammo and I knew I was the only plane left that could really cause any damage. As I turned back for the BH I saw "b26" appear inside it. I also saw paratrooper icons decending slowly across the base. I lined up and closed to 500 yds. By this time I had only 48 rounds of ammo left total; I knew it would be close. I opened fire and the b26 immediately blew up, but now I only had 3 rounds of ammo left. Nothing could stop the b26 now if he respawned, or so I thought. Griz vowed to dive into the b26 if it reappeared and I turned back. The lives of our troops depended on a damaged spitfire with no ammo and myself in a Typhoon with 3 rounds left. Griz struck first, a big ball of fire errupted next to the b26, but it seemed uneffected. Now it was just me and the b26, its nose pointing dangerously close to the column of troops now entering the map room. I closed to 200 yds and let loose my final 3 HS rounds. 1 or 2 found their mark on the b26's fuselage and it blew up! About 3 seconds later the base was ours. I landed and proceeded to rearm at the newly captured base. As I was rearming we managed to capture the V base just to the west of 10. "WTG!!!" erupted for the 5th time in less than an hour and at that point I knew the Knights were on a roll.
The focus of attack now shifted to A37. MaxQ announced he was taking a b26 for the acks and asked that others join him. I relaunched to the north and soon the great Knight cloud was converging on 37. The Rooks had awoken by this point and a P51 and an F4u were spotted at 12k just north of 10. WMutt made short work of both of them, assisted by a few others. Soon I found myself at 5k and nearly 1/2 way to 37, those 1k bombs had really impacted my climb rate. Then I saw it! A rook p51 was heading straight in on me. Wallowing at 120 IAS with 2k of bombs still attached I knew I was a goner. The p51 continued to come in, right at my 12 high. He did not realize the power of the monster known as Hispano however... The p51 continued in, 1k, 900, 800... I barely managed to lift the nose and fired off a short burst at 400 yds, 50 caliber shell hits ringing in my speakers. Both of us were mortally wounded, I lost my engine and most of my right wing and flames were pouring out of the plane. The p51 was in worse shape though, he had lost both wings and his engine. Desperately I tried to nurse my Typhoon down, bombs still attached, but alas I was unable to save it as it went into a flat spin. Just then the p51 hit the ground and I registered my 4th kill that sortie. Immediately I bailed and barely managed to slow down in time before I hit the ground. Luckly for me the p51 made no attempts at evasion, obviously he was unaware he had a massive E advantage, sacrificing it all in a HO.
I then reupped at 11 in the Typhoon, this time with only 75% fuel to increase my speed. I leveled at 10k and managed to get within 8k of MaxQ as he began his bomb run. The Vh had been destroyed by this point by other Knights so I lined up on the Fh. The bombs were a near miss, but I did manage to get 1 ack. Quickly I extended in a loop and came diving back in. 3 acks fell to my HS this pass. Now only 1 ack remained, which was immediately destroyed by another Knight. Hanger after hangar blew up in quick succession as many Knights joined in making strafing runs. Soon this base was ours as well. I landed and rearmed and joined up with the rest of the Knights; the target was now base 12. As the knight force wove through the mountains, "LOL" cries appeared, our newer members had seen the beer and pizza on the top of the mountain. We knew now that allowing the rooks to continue to control this area could not be allowed. It was an awe inspiring view, the great Shiner bottle jutting through a thick layer of clouds, flanked on both sides with tall mountains. (I took a screenie, maybe I'll add it later.) At this time the first recon report began to come in from 12, 3 acks had been destroyed by one of our b17s, but it was mortally wounded by the 88s. We also managed to capture the V base just W of 37, near 4. As I came within range of the base, I saw that all the hangars were still up, and to make matters worse all the 88s were as well. One of our planes managed to kill the Vh and it's ack, but the rest of the acks shreaded his plane without mercy. I dropped my bombs one at a time on what I thought were 88s. One of them found its mark and another ack was down. From then on I had the best Jabo sortie I've ever had. I managed to take out all but 1 of the 88s (which I and others later couldn't seem to locate, I even blew up the radar thinking maybe that was it). Luck was truely with me and the rest of the Knights, though I did lose my right landing gear to a single ack strike. Despite the single 88 that remained, our goonie snuck in low and dropped his troops. Even though all the fighter hangars and bomber hangars were still up, no Rooks rose in opposition. Soon base 12 (our 8th in less than 2 hours) was ours. Forgetting I was missing my right gear, I came in at 125 mph lined up on the runway. As soon as I touched the ground my plane veered sharply to the right, destroying my left gear leg. The plane then reared up on its tail, destroying most of that as well. Then off came the wings! I was still alive though, and with NUTTZ crying "LOL Bloom," I was parked right in the center of the runway in what remained of my once proud Tiffie. "You have landed successfully" appeared in the buffer, though "success" seemed a bit of an exaggeration in this case.
By now it was nearly 11:30 PST and the Knights were beginning to log 1 at a time. The remainder of us began to head for base 4, though not in the great pack we had been before. We managed to flatten the VH. Just then a high F4u appeared over the base. It didn't take long for me to figure out that he was after me. I dove for the base again, lining up an a pair of active acks and managed to destroy them. Soon the F4u was 800 yds away and I saw the HS shells wizzing by. My right flap, then right elevator quickly disappeared, but I managed to turn to the left and the F4u zoomed away. I made another pass on the base and got the last remaining ack. As I turned back I noticed the F4u was now to my left and slightly below me. I kicked the rudder hard and fired off a short burst at him. 3 shells found their mark on his left wing, fuselage, and rudder repectively. His plane began smoking badly and impacted the ground. I was fortunate he had not gone for the shot as well, but yet I felt bad destroying a F4u that did not want a HO. (It was Zigrat and he later told me that was his first death in the F4u all tour; I now felt REALLY bad. Normally I try to avoid HOs, but that's just common sense considering I generally fly la5s and p51s for Air to Air.) I made one last pass at the FH, but ran out of cannon rounds without destroying it. A 109 lanched below me, so I turned for home. About 1/2 way there my fuel gave out and I was forced to ditch. ( I wasn't able to ditch successfully though, the missing flap caused me to lose control a few feet from the ground.)
By this time several rooks had entered the area from the south and others had upped at 4. I decided an la5 was the best bet this time. I managed 4 kills (3 were vulches, so not really very good kills.) before an ack came up as I was strafing another ack that had just reappeared. I managed to get 2 of them, but then my whole right wing came off in a hail of 40mm ack and I was dead. It was getting late and I decided it was time to go, so I applogized to Zigrat again and left the arena.
What a night for the Knights!
(I wonder how they did afterwards?)
BTW: I do have film of every JABO attack and every fight from tonight, so I can post them if anyone wants to see them.
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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS
