AAR - "Desert Victory" - Sunday March 25th 2001
S!aluteA big thanks to all that participated to the event today! I had a blast and it seems that everyone else enjoyed it as well. This was my first event and I hope that my future scenarios go as smoothly as this one. I'd especially like to thank Crash177, our allied CO tonight, and Busc, who volunteered to CO for the axis.
For those who missed the event,
click here to read the scenario writeup.
General event infoHere's the event map:
The axis held A1 and Sicily, while the allies had their bases in the Tunis area and Malta.
Basically, the event was a generic mediterranean axis vs allies 3-hour field capture race with a twist. Re-planing was restricted to 10 minute replane windows every 30 minutes. C47s, M3s and M16s were available throughout the event at all available fields.
Scoring:Fighter kills: 10 points each.
Bomber (B17, B26, Ju88) kills: 20 points each.
Small field captures: 100 points each.
Medium field captures: 200 points each.
Large field captures: 300 points each.
No points are awarded for C47 or vehicle kills.
No points are awarded for capturing vehicle- or neutral (rook) fields.
Participation and numbersAt the beginning of the event we had 30 axis and 28 allied pilots, for a split of 52% / 48%, quite close to the planned 50/50 ratio. The numbers held very well for the first 2 hours, with 32+32=64 pilots at T+40, 27+26=53 pilots at T+70 and 26+22=48 pilots at T+100. After the fields were opened at T+120 for the rest of the event, the numbers were and stayed around 15-20 on both sides until around T+150. The fighting slowed down towards the end, with around 20 pilots flying during the last 30 minutes of the event.
Here's the after action report:
T+0We started a bit late, 3:14PM EST due to some logistic problems on the allied side. As the call to roll sounded, all pilots got airborne without troubles. The allies launched three groups, from Bizerta (A7), Tunis (A8) and Malta (A15). The axis took off in two groups, at Cagliari (A1) and Licata (A18). The axis strategy seemed to be to repel any allied attacks with strong CAP over their bases in Sicily.
T+10Soon enough the forces clashed above the mediterranean. First blood was drawn by Zigrat, who downed two 109 G-2's in his P38L north of Bizerta, in just 2 minutes. Unfortunately, he was shot down only moments later as well. Pirado, flying a 109 G-2, opened the axis account by downing a P38L and P51B in less than 2 minutes in the same area north of Bizerta. The kills started coming very frequently now, with over 20 kills awarded in the first ten minutes of fighting. Almost immediately after the first victories, the allies managed to acquire a beachhead in the southeastern corner of Sicily by capturing V50. Local farmers reported hordes of allied marines harrassing their sheep in the nearby areas around the vehicle base, while celebrating their great victory.
Here's the situation at T+10:
T+30The fighting had taken its toll, with the skies being almost clear between A1 and A7. Both sides had suffered devastating losses. However, the axis Sicily defense groups had not seen much action yet, and a large battle had just started north of Malta. This resulted in the victory for the axis, with the allied taking heavy losses and nearly all their planes being shot down in the V50 area.
With the replane window now open, most of the allied pilots took off from the Tunis area. The axis took off at A1 at the same time. Some axis jabos and bombers took off from Sicily and headed towards Malta. With most of the allied concentrated in the Tunis area, they forgot all about Malta. Only 4 fighters rose to defend it. If only they knew what they were up against...
T+40As the replane window closed, the axis forces were closing on Malta. The 3 defending P51's were quickly shot down by the axis forward sweep. The last remaining Typhoon struggled for a while, but had to submit his tailfeathers after a lengthy chase. The road to Malta was paved for the axis. Ju88s and jabo 190s quickly levelled the field's defences and hangars. After this they established cap over the field and held it for over 20mins, while the goonie made its way from Sicily.
The allies made a strong attack to Cagliari, Sardinia (A1). The axis defenders were taking heavy losses and the fields was getting bombed heavily. The hangers stayed up miraculously, with multiple bombs missing them by mere yards.
T+60The allies' main objectives were still set west. With the second replane window open, the Tunis area airfields saw heavy action. Fighters poured towards Sardinia, while the axis pilots tried their best to protect their island base. Climbing high above the clouds they waited for the enemy to come.
With Malta hangars levelled, the allies had little hope of protecting their base. Malta surrendered to the axis forces at T+70.
T+80The third wave of allied fighters hit Sardinia. The axis put up a good fight and managed to repel the attack. A1 was safe. For now.
The axis, having secured Malta, concentrated on defense. Three fighter groups stayed above Sicily, establishing cap over the bases. A small group of fighters remained at A1.
With the skies of Sicily clear of enemies, the axis recaptured V50 at T+95.
T+100The fourth replane window saw a dramatic tactics change from the allied - a massive all-out attack. Over a dozen B26 bombers took off from Bizerta (A7) and headed northeast, their target A17. The bombers were heavily escorted by P38s, P51s, Spitfires and Typhoons.
While the action at A1 withered down, the axis started to look for the enemies. The three fighter groups above Sicily headed west and managed to intercept the B26 group west of A16! Even though some of the bombers eventually got through and bombed A17 heavily, their suprise was gone. The axis separated the bombers from their escorts and worked the bombers one by one. The last B26's were shot down over A17 at T+135.
T+120At T+120, all fields were opened for free re-planes for the remainder - last hour - of the event. Bomber operations were scrubbed and pilots concentrated on fighter sweeps. Some large battles were fought near the Tunis area, which had been the stage for most of the clashes during the event.
The leading CM Camo (hey thats me), having taken off in his G-2 at T+100 from A17 and fought with the B26s' escorts west of the field, continued west towards the Tunis area. Flying beside him was Snefens, his trusty long time wingman. Snef had already scored 2 victories in his G6, while fighting the escorts.
Soon enough, Tunis was in sight and the pair was greeted with a warm 88mm welcome. After some circling in the area with no enemies in sight, a dot appeared in the horizon, slightly above. Flying closer, it was identified as a Typhoon. In in! the combatants cried and threw themselves into the melee. After some twisting a twirling Camo got on his tail and sent him down smoking.
Moments later a P51 showed up, which Snefens shot down in a matter of seconds. Being low on fuel, the pair decided to RTB north to A1. Unfortunately, two more high dots appeared ahead. Since no friendlies were in the area, they had to be enemy. Our rtb'ing heroes decided to hug the waves so they would be harder to notice. Unfortunately, this didn't work out and soon they had two Typhoons diving on their 6's from above. A fierce dogfight ensued. The 109 pilots were running on fumes and were desperate to disengage and head towards home. This obviously didn't fit in the Tiffies' plans. The pressed hard and 6calls sounded in the air. All of a sudden Camo saw one of the Tiffie zooming into a hammerhead. With too little speed, this resulted in a spin - all the way to the sea. Tables turned, now the other tiffie was in trouble. Or so it seemed.
With the Typhoon hightailing off and our two 109s in close pursuit, down came three P51s - out of nowhere. Camo was bounced one of them, who managed to miss his first burst. Seeing tracers whizzing past his cockpit, Camo broke hard and spoiled the enemy's aim. Now the heat was on. Three fast P51s and a Typhoon against our two 109Gs, low on fuel and ammo. But like a miracle, the enemies somehow managed to loose their advantage which enabled us to get into position. Snefens got a snapshot in which de-winged the targeted P51. Camo slipped behind a P51 and put a long burst into him - crashed in flames. The last P51 tried a desperate snapshot at Camo, but hit the sea instead. Now only the typhoon was left, tightly glued on Snef's tail. Snapping his 109 around, Camo managed to get onto his tail and quickly shot him down. 3 kills in less than 1 minute. With all enemies shot down, Camo and Snefens headed home. Only to run out of fuel moments later, both ditching into the sea. Luckily their shark repellent was effective and kept the pointyteeth away until the sea-air-rescue plane arrived.
Download the film of the sortie. (650kb zip)
RESULTS
Allies:[/i]
36 fighter kills: 360 points
1 bomber kill: 20 points
No airfield captures.
Total allied: 380 points
Axis:[/i]
68 fighter kills: 680 points
11 bomber kills: 220 points
1 medium airfield capture (A15): 200 points
Total axis: 1100 points
OVERWHELMING AXIS VICTORY!Thanks for all that participated!
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."
[This message has been edited by LLv34_Camouflage (edited 03-25-2001).]
