Frame 1 Results for Turning the Tide

[TracerX]

Originally posted by JB42
We all know the superior fuel advantage the Allies have. Can't blame them for trying to use this to their advantage. It has been a long since practice of basically running the LW out of fuel in order to hit targets realitively untouched. But the limitations of how things are run in the FSO make this very very frustrating.

I am not sure if you were defending A35 or not JB42, but our intent was not to run the LW out of gas.  Our actual flight path to attack A35 was not assigned with the orders.  We had a short meeting with the escort groups before we launched, and we decided to hit A35 from the SW if possible.  I liked this idea since we could continue to A50 if we needed to finish off any targets there.  

Durring our flight, because of the layout of the fields, and A37 was a target, I decided to go even further south, and go between Fields A38 & A39 to give us the best approach to A35.  This added time to our arrival, and I think we ended up droping on the target at 1:05 from launch.  It is still close, but I think we took a little too long to get to target.  We should have run a few routes so we knew how long it would take.  I can assure you however, our intent was not to run the LW out of gas.

I hope this helps explain what happened.  I imagine that if you had to drop tanks early, you might not have had fuel to stay up over an hour, but if you used your drop tanks fully, shouldn't your endurance be longer than 1 hour?

Here is my log for reference:

TracerX  

 
00:22:09 ------ Arrived Safely At Field #14
 
22:47:14 ------ Departs From Field #10 in a B-26B
 
22:49:03 ------ Joined By SKDMRK As A Gunner/Observer.
 
23:51:00 ------ Destroyed Fighter Hangar At Field #35.
 
23:51:00 ------ Destroyed Fighter Hangar At Field #35.
 
23:59:53 ------ Destroyed Fighter Hangar At Field #50.
 
Pilot Totals: Kills 0; Assists 0; Objects 3; Deaths 0.

I think I calculate actually 1:04 till I killed the first hanger.  A lot less than 90 minutes.

[GooseAW]

As I recall, we C HAWKS who were in 109G-6, had to lose drop tanks with about 40% remaining when engaged by similar sized group of P47s. After killing or driving low these jugs, we returned to A35 area and found 2 more jugs lower. Once these were disposed of we had to land for fuel/ammo. We were on climbout when your B26s arrived from the south. I let drop tanks go and managed to reach and kill 1 B26 just before bomb drop. I was immediately swarmed by higher P51s and had to pull off the bombers.

[TracerX]

I think I remember seeing you in my Bomb scope Goose.     Nice shooting to get a B26 like that.  I am suprised you were able to get one of our B26's.  Some of our guys are crack shots.  

I read your previous AAR, but I was wondering if you were the only squad charged with defending A35?  We had 3 squads assigned to attack it.  2 Escorts, and us Bombing.  Where would the rest of the LW have been?  It seems a little lopsided no matter how you look at it if you were the only squad assigned to defend.

[GooseAW]

JBs were there with us also. The JBs tht were still around at your arrival were affected by the same circumstances we faced I believe. They were in 190s and at that point the ones I saw in that AO were well under 20k and/or were refueling.

10 to 15 minutes earlier and things might have been a lil different as we all still had plenty of ammo, and the several that I know who dinged a prop or clipped a building when trying to hotload would've still been in the mix.

[JB73]

yes, the JB's were there therotically...

we were engaged by P47's 30 minutes prior, and as you know dogfighting takes more fuel than cruise. also ammo. we were then engaged again, about 15 minutes before the bombers came in.

when we got back over A35 airspace we were in 2 groups. the group i was in was down to 3/4 FWD tanks on the 190, thats not real far to fly, and low on ammo. we reloaded, lost 1 on the reload, and went into a WEP climb. WEP ran out about 12k and by then we could see the 15k+ bombers IB, and the 25K p51's. the p51's engaged us from a 10K advantage and we never had a chance.

[ghostdancer]

Nightmares were tasked with defending A50. Took awhile for the Allies to punch through the other ring of LW defenders and bases. They did make a run on A50 before the hour mark .. but not in force.

Part of this I think was do to the allied bombers in the first wave not really being able to punch past A35 and A37.

We kept waiting for a strike to come in from the North (out of the North Sea) which never happened. It seems (in hindsight) that the allies kept had a problem with timing and kept coming  on from the SW in small waves which got bounced by others squads and then hit by us.

We lost 1 fighter hangar to a B26 strike about mid frame.

But toward the end of the frame .. for some reason I think at T+70 or T+80 (not sure on exact time) .. a major B26 strike of like 9+ boxes came in. Only light escort and we had a field day with them. Problem was that the B26s were flying very tight formation. So they had some very effective fire .. several of my guys had to put down do to oil and radiator hits.

As for myself I did several runs on the B26s, took down one on a firing pass, extended through and slammed into a B26 .. dooh.

Whatever the allied plan was or if the B26s just got stripped of fighters trying to break the LW outer ring .. they lost a ton of B26s (50 all told).

[TracerX]

Originally posted by ghostdancer
...But toward the end of the frame .. for some reason I think at T+70 or T+80 (not sure on exact time) .. a major B26 strike of like 9+ boxes came in. Only light escort and we had a field day with them. Problem was that the B26s were flying very tight formation. So they had some very effective fire .. several of my guys had to put down do to oil and radiator hits.

As for myself I did several runs on the B26s, took down one on a firing pass, extended through and slammed into a B26 .. dooh.

Whatever the allied plan was or if the B26s just got stripped of fighters trying to break the LW outer ring .. they lost a ton of B26s (50 all told).

That was us in the B26's, and you got two of our formations enroute to A50 after hitting our assigned target at A35.  Our guys had a choice, but would hear no arguments for returning home as long as A50 still had even a single hanger up.  We got an additional 3 hangers at A50.  I think it was a good exchange.  

We noticed that the formations that were not grouped up tight got hit pretty hard.  You did a good job in thinning the herd there.  For your info, we started with 13 formations, and had about 11 by the time we hit A50.

The reason we were alone is because our escorts (AK's and 412th?) screened ahead of us over A35, and then had to head home for fuel.  They did a great job for us.  We could not get to the target as fast as they did, and that is why we kinda staggered over in successive waves.  We had a blast, and it sounds like the LW did as well.

[ghostdancer]

Yeah we targeted your groups that were seperated and not flying tight formation with your core group. Had good success there and I guess its a good lesson to bomber pilots .. stay tight with each other. Since we tore the boxes that were by themselves to pieces with little damage to us.

But that main group of you .. all clustered together like sheep .. well found out those sheep were packing some serious guns. Would do a diving pass and dive pass the target group of bombers only to be lit up by everyone else around them as we extended. Lost many planes do to that .. both kills, collisions, and damage forcing planes to break off and land.

Was fun there are the end.