Here's the report I sent to Sabre.
Hello Sabre! Here's my report from Saturday's mission.
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Axis Report - ToD 2, Mission 2: Taken by surprise! I was the Axis CO, leading a flight which consisted of 5 Me 109 G-10's. Our mission was to intercept an incoming enemy strike force that were to attack our airbase. Our orders were to stand by on the runway and wait until our radar operator could spot the enemies on the radar. Unfortunately, the material for radar operators are quite poor at this stage as it seems we had a blind one. We never received the order to take off until the enemy fighters were above our base!
The mission was a failure - all but one of our planes were forced down, 2 planes and pilots were lost.
Atleast two enemy aircraft were shot down by the airfield ack. These kills should be awarded to 2Cool and Camo. Additionally, atleast 2 enemy fighters were not seen leaving the combat area, maybe shot down by ack?
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Pilots: Our flight included the following 5 pilots, divided into two:
Camo (CO)
Jarsci
Snefens
2Cool
Mx22
We were all on RW. The communications worked well, but because of the bad inital situation, we never got to use it to its full extent.
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Timeline of the mission: Before the mission started, I made the mission with the editor, one for each available loadout for the mission. As gunpods were not allowed, this meant two missions: one with 20mm cannon, the other with 30mm cannon for the G-10. 50% fuel into each plane, as this was going to be just local defence.
Unfortunately, the arena time had stopped so the missions didn't work. After a few minutes of wondering, I ordered everyone to make the selections manually. Fortunately there were only 5 pilots, otherwise this would have been a disaster. When the mission start time came, we went OTR. Mx22 had taken gun pods by accident, so he had to go back to the hangar and get them removed. Then we took a comfortable position and started waiting in our cockpit. The radar operator had his (blind) eye peeled to the radar, so he could give us the roll order when the dots appeared on the scope. Unfortunately, the arena settings were screwed up again, and the radar dots were disabled!!
Suddenly we noticed a large group of dots to our 1 o'clock high, and I ordered ROLL ROLL ROLL!! The enemies were closing fast from the south. We climbed on full WEP south-east, watching helplessly as the first fighters made their dive bomb runs. I counted 8 enemy P47's at the beginning of the fight.
Soon we had almost enough alt that we could turn north and engage them. The enemy was split up into two flights. I ordered the turn and assigned Snef's flight to take on the high 3 P47's that headed our way. I saw 4 P47's attacking the field, one was shot down by ack in the first dive? I took Jarsci with me and headed that way.
Mx22 took mortal hits in the initial merge and was shot down by Citabria, KIA. 2Cool took also hits, but managed to land his plane safely. He managed to ping his opponent, Gie, in the headon, who was later shot down by ack. The kill was awarded to 2Cool.
Immediately after Jarsci and I engaged the low P47's, we were forced to break off, under the attack of their high cover. Jarsci got hit in the engine, but managed to land the plane 2miles from the base. At this point only Snefens and I were left, against maybe 4 remaining enemies. I wonder where another 2 P47's went. Shot down by ack?
Snefens and I both had 2 enemies on our tails. I managed to drag one of them into ack, he lost his tail and crashed. I claim this as an aircraft destroyed as the kill was not awarded to anyone. The screenshot is attached to this report. Snefens was not so lucky, he ran out of alt before I could help him and was shot down by AKMosby. Snef's plane exploded in midair, before he was able to bail out.
I was the only 109 left, with 3 P47's remaining. One P47 headed for me, I began to climb away from him. I noticed another P47 making passes at the field, the third was loitering SE of the field.
The P47 on my tail turned away, I dove after him. I catched him soon and engaged. I got behind him but he managed to evade my 30mm cannon rounds. Bad shooting from my part! His wingman closed fast so I decided to disengage. The P47s didn't follow me so I managed to land safely.
I didn't see any major structures destroyed on our field, I believe only a bunker and maybe some acks were disabled. Sabre announced an allied victory, however.
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Results by pilot: Camo: 1 kill claim, RTB.
Jarsci: Ditched, forced to land 2 miles from base.
Snefens: KIA, shot down by AKMosby.
2Cool: 1 kill (Gie), RTB.
Mx22: KIA, shot down by Citabria
Additionally, several P47's were noticed to disappear from the battle area. Shot down by ack, discos or low alt RTB's?
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Summary, Axis forces: 2 kill claims
2 RTB'd
1 Ditch
2 KIA
The mission was a failure as we were unable to stop the allies from attacking the field. The collapse of our early warning system enabled the enemy to achieve total surprise!
We were forced to engage from a slightly inferior position and lost 2 planes in the initial merge. Facing about 3vs1 odds, the remaining fighters could do little.
The allied fighter-bombers could attack the field almost unharrassed, but the anti aircraft fire shot atleast 2 of them down, which kills are claimed to the pilots. I believe that several other enemy planes were shot down in addition.
As I landed to the airfield, I didn't notice any major structures damaged on the field. I believe one bunker was smoking, though.
Attached are my and 2Cool's gun camera films of the engagement, as well as a screenshot of the fighter that I claim, crashing without a tail.
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Thanks for the great event, Sabre! I hope the arena settings will be in order next time...
Axis CO, Camo
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Camouflage
XO, Lentolaivue 34
www.muodos.fi/LLv34 Brewster into AH!"The really good pilots use their superior judgement to keep them out of situations
where they might be required to demonstrate their superior skill."
