Not having a good tour at all, dying a thousand skillless deaths in the furballs -- so decided to try something a bit different. Had a few successful sorties trying to intercept some solo porkers... and then things got interesting.
I saw a solo con coming in to 175, so upped an La-7 (I use for base defense only, gentlemen!) to get as much E as possible before the expected 15k pork dive. Just as I cleared runway, the only other guy there -- Kuh -- killed the lone attacker with a nice burst from his M16.
Sim: Good kill, Kuh!!
Kuh: Thanks! It's my first kill of the day.
Sim: WTG!
I got the definite feeling that Kuh had a lot of deaths to go with that one kill, and it turns out that its his first month.
I considered landing with an empty net, but I saw a single red dot entering the circle from the west. So, I turned away to grab a little alt while he came on.
Sim: Dont clear out yet, Kuh -- got another one coming in from the west.
Kuh: I dont see anything, I dont see anything!
Sim: He's on the radar, just watch that direction
Kuh: There's nothing on the radar!
He was right. The circle was clear. I turned to the west at about 4k, and just then saw two blips appear on the radar.
Sim: They're coming in, must be low. There they are -- a couple low 110s at max icon range....
make it 3 110s....
oh crap, its a full NOE raid. I count 5, no 6 110s and a yak, popping up to hit the town!
Kuh: Man! I see more than that! I've never seen that many at once! What are we gunna do???
Sim: Shoot, I see 8x110s and counting, plus a couple Yaks. Am I gunna run for it?.............Nah>
Sim: Kuh, answer is, we're not gonna do much. Just try to take one with you, dude!
I had an alt advantage, and I was at 270mph or so, so I knew I had a chance to control the engagement at first. I drew a slightly wide circle to the north, and tried to build some more speed, so when a couple from the first wave climbed up to me they'd had to spend a little E laterally as well as vertically. The remainder of the wave concentrated on the town, and stayed low. I figured that there had to be a goon at the back of the swarm, and i wanted to try for it if I could.
By this time only a single 110 had tried to stay with me, and a slightly more worrisome Yak had merged to stabilize between 600-800. Despite some spraying, I was untouched -- they must not have done enough praying...
I thought I spotted a single con at WSW -- about where I'd place a goon if I was planning the mission. The dot disappeared, but I guessed on an intercept angle and kept curving to the west. The rest of the group was by now pretty low and slow, but there continued to be late arrivals -- including a low La7 just coming in from the water off the island's west edge.
Crap, there goes my only advantage -- he can match me for speed!
By now I'd made it to the true west side, and was behind the bulk of the raid. I rolled in and dove to avoid the Lala pulling up in to me --
and was delighted to see just the edge of a "C" attached to a dot landing right by the town's north edge. TEH GOON!!
A single clean strafing attack, and no more troops. Nobody got out of that flaming bird with its D-Day stripes, but did the attackers think to bring two sets? There had to be 20 cons in the air around me, there must be a second goon...
I did a shallow zoom up, then a half roll to throw the ever-nearing sprayers off, reversed the roll and did a high speed Immelman to keep those nasty Zerstroyer guns from getting too close. Flashes all around, but not a single ping yet. Over the base, I saw tracers from Kuh but no other help as yet.
I interrupted the Immelman before levelling the wings, and dove with a kinda wide, evading barrel roll.. by now with (count 'em) at least 4 red icons trailing me. Closing on the town... scanning for forward icons... pressing my luck with the nasties behind...
and next thing I know, my plane is moving ina very un-aerodynamic manner. This likely has something to do with the absence of my left wing and associated structures. I never heard a ping, so I bet it was a 30mm strike in a bad place.
And as I saw the trees come ever closer to my armor glass, I couldnt help but grin at the unexpected way I accidentally made a big mission go bad...
PS Kuh and I continued to up vehicles for the next 10 minutes, with plenty of allied help around. The enemy didnt get around to killing the VH until just before the second goon arrived, though they did isolate the town by relentlessly strafing anything that tried to move that way. So a good time was had by all, even though we didnt end up saving anything.
PPS And a big to Kuh, who kept up the fight despite the losses!! Trust me, it WILL be even more fun when you get to kill one for one!
PPPS Anybody who fought the other side -- how many WERE in that mission? I figure I was "counting the enemy twice" but it seemed like pretty big effort! And a heart to the noble foe!
