The boys were pretty jazzed, today we were really gonna 'get some' over Malta.
Those poor brits would never know what hit 'em.
Umm.
It was a bit hazy at 30k as the 5 of us cruised toward Malta on our first sortie of the day, dawn takeoff and all ..we were 'Coors fighter flight' .. aka the Damned.
Led by JJ; Joker, Devi, Beatem and I formed up in the best Luftwaffe tradition ..kinda stragglin in 2 loose pairs and a single.
Just as land was sighted down to our left, dots were spotted in the same vector.
'Horrido!' the call went out .. and down we went, controls stiffening, throttles back a bit... and .. 'Hurricanes!' .. 10 or so against our 5 Emils.. this may get a little rough!
'Stay fast, boom an zoom!' ..and throttles to the firewall as I leveled and chose my target out of the swarm. I did a smooth arc over the top of the mass and went for the far left, topmost hurri ..cutting right across the top of the already milling, breaking, shootin mess just below my tan wings.
800yds .. 600yds .. he and his lead surely see me by now ..400 and they break hard right rolling downward .. I ease into a 4g pull up..keeping as much speed as I can... and track the bandits below me, choosing my next target as I drift slowing fast over the top.. letting the Emil go ballistic now to get as much as I can out of the zoom.
JJ has 3 scrambling hard to get a bead on him, I drop onto them just screamin down thru the mess ..one breaks as I fire a short burst that tracks over his cockpit, 1 Scared .. then another .. JJ has him curvin to the left, I setup the intercept ..and get hits just as he breaks hard into me, going inverted and downward. 1 Damaged.
As the Emil noses up, I get a check 6, look back .. and there are no less than 3 hurri's all 600 back fightin for a guns solution .. and a 4th joins in as I watch. Hmmph .. this will not do at all .. my crewcheif spent most of the day before waxin this beautiful shape!
I roll hard, pull hard nose down, smack the methanol button, and now we're goin *straight* down ..what's that rattling tin sound I hear?
Bullet holes march across both wings, one snaps thru the glass on my left,
..come on Daimler .. lets get this crate *moving*!!
A few more sporadic hits ..and I streak away from the hurricanes as I began to level ..out of the fight, heading home, North ..thinkin my crewcheif is gonna have a bad day for sure.
The hurri's peel off as a unit .. I managed to suck them down with me quite aways at least .. hope the buffs have at least some out of the fight when they come over.
I check systems on the seemingly long flight back .. everything checks out ok except my right wing cannon ..it is damaged somehow and does not fire.
'Lucky' I am thinking .. there are bullet holes everywhere in my Emil.
The Daimler doesn't miss a beat ..and we arrive over the field, a sharp break, flaps out, and walk the Emil down to a safe landing to refuel and re-arm.
I don't even open the hatch .. the crewcheif is out there just fuming as he rearms my one remaining cannon.
Two of us did not return. Terse radio calls .. I catch the drift. Beatem scrapped his crate on landing (exited to tower by mistake) and Devi got in front of JJ right in a firing pass ..and took serious damage. Then a hurri finished him.
Three of us took off after regrouping, rearming .. I think my crate was the noisiest, it sounded like a band of flutes as the wind played thru all the bullet holes on climbout
We settled at 25k .. and the sky was clear all the way to Malta ..nothing was up here with us.
Low dots spotted over the port .. we nosed over to take a look .. anti-aircraft started popping all around us . . and we spotted some of our JU-88's making tracks just ahead of a few hurri's below us!
No thought or call out required ..all 3 of us were IN IN IN!!
Buffs on the radio ..glad to see us .. I was focused on my target .. I don't think he even saw me coming as I closed from slightly below his 9 o'clock, at 300 yards my deflection, one working cannon, and two mG's did the deed . . his plane shed it's rear half and started falling to the port area far below. JJ called one down also, Joker was havin a bad day at the office.
Once more JJ had a parade followin him .. I counted 5 planes all in trail lined up behind him.. I put the nose down and one by one ..they peeled off, seeing me coming. Joker called in he was wounded ..trying to bug out ..
.. then a wing off .. and he was gone.
I let the Emil arc up into the sky .. puffy ack still going off all around me.
FLASH-KABAMMM!!! ..Oil smeared my windscreen and I heard the engine wind down, prop coming to a standstill!!
Looks like I am gonna have a bad day at the office too .. boy my crewcheif is *really* gonna be pissed now!
I roll her over, intent on getting as much speed as I can to dive thru the milling enemy planes below .. knowing that some will surely see my stopped prop and come in like vultures.
Right over the trees I level .. see flashes ahead ..the PORT!! ..and all the ack is looking at my Emil!! .. I break hard right out to sea, take her right down to the wavetops ..bullet spouts hit nearby from the shore guns ..
..I ease my Emil into the water gingerly .. the nose dips, I flip ..crashed.
Another beautiful day over Malta.
-GE (2 damaged, 1 kill)
