GMT ToD #1, mission report

[LLv34_Camouflage]

Hi guys!

First of all I'd like to thank Saw &co for arranging the ToD.  Unfortunately this was my premiere-goodbye mission, so I'll cya in the opfor then  

Here's my report that I sent to Saw.  I will post a few films later today.

The Jabo mission was a success, but the escorts took a beating.  I'd like to hear some comments and suggestions how to improve in the future!

GMT ToD #1 report: Camo - LW Escort Lead

Mission:
 
I lead the escort of 10 109 G-2's for the 9 109 G-10 JaBos, who attacked F7.
 
Pilots:
 
Our escort Staffel included the following pilots:
 
1st Schwarm: Camo, Snefens, JanJan, Danish
2nd Schwarm: Chain, Ardy, Timbers
Top cover: Awe, Loopie
 
We were all on RW, except Ardy and Loopie.
 
Mission timeline:

We took 100% fuel and Drop tanks, most pilots took extra cannons to their G-2s.  We waited otr F17 for the order to roll.
 
It came, and we took off, headed S, and met the JaBos at F22.  We lowered manifold pressure to 35 (from 40) to save fuel.  We also made final adjustments to the flight positions and went throught the flight plan.
 
I ordered 2nd Schwarm to take position on the left side of the JaBos, a little ahead.  Chain, however, had wrong channel tuned and didn't get the command, so there was some confusion on the way.  I took my schwarm to the right side, top cover stayed above the JaBos.  Awe got discoed as we crossed the mountains.
 
I had intended to climb to 25k so that we would have enough altitude, but with the hassle with positioning the flights, we didn't have time to climb that high.  We were at 20k when we reached F7, the Jabos' target.

And here is where it all went wrong!  When the Jabos made their drop, I didn't notice their RTB message!!! But of course it was my fault because I didn't watch where they went.  I was too busy to organizing my men above the target...
 
The following actions took about 30 seconds:
 
I ordered the 2nd schwarm to circle E of F7 and I took my schwarm a bit to the S.  I ordered Loopie to stay hi over F7. Chain called a few dots inb, and at that moment about 10 high P38s appeared from SE and we were forced to engage.
 
If I just had noticed that RTB message 20 secs earlier, we would have been RTB without any hassle.  Now we were forced to engage from a real bad position.
 
I will try to describe the battle that followed, as seen from my flight recorder:

Chain's flight of 3 G-2's and Loopie took on the first wave of P38s. We went into the same hassle.  At this moment I realized the Jabos were long gone, but it was too late to back out.
 
A fierce battle ensued, us being clearly on the defensive. Ardy was forced to bail after the initial merge. The fight quickly dropped to under 10k.  I was in deep trouble with at least one P38 on my tail all the time.  I couldn't do much to help my buddies, but I tried my best.  Snef and I were separated from the rest of the gang with many hi
P38's diving on us all the time.
 
As the fight progressed, Danish scored a kill, as did Chain.  Timbers was shot down and killed. I saw Loopie trailing white smoke. Soon after this Snef and I were bounced by 3 P38's.  I managed to evade 2 attacks, but SCDuckw6 managed to get his guns on me, killing me.  Snefens bailed
at the same time.
 
The Jabos rtb'd safely without ever seeing the enemy.

Results by pilot:
 
Camo:  0 kills, killed by SCDuckw6 at SE of F7, 11.9.3.
Snefens:  0 kills, bailed and rescued (dice)
JanJan: 0 kills, MIA (killed????)
Danish: 1 kill, bailed and rescued (dice)
 
Chain: 1 kill, bailed and rescued by Whitey (WTG!)
Ardy: 0 kills, bailed (and rescued (dice)????)
Timbers: 0 kills, killed
 
Awe: No kills, Disco
Loopie: 0 kills, MIA (killed????)

Summary:
 
2 kills
2 killed
2 MIA (killed?)
4 bailed and rescued
1 disco
 
Although the mission was a success, it didn't go too well.  All planes lost, which could have been prevented...

Lessons to learn:
 
The mistake was that I didn't realize the Jabos RTB'd so soon.  If we would have gone with them, we would have had a completely different situation.  The P38s would probably have chased us, but we could have dragged them to our side and to the ack if needed.
 
All in all, a well arranged scenario, with the jabo attack being a full success!!

My deepest condolences for all the pilots who didnt make it back!
 
Camo

------------------
Camouflage
XO, Lentolaivue 34
 www.muodos.fi/LLv34

"The really good pilots use their superior judgement to keep them out of situations
where they might be required to demonstrate their superior skill."

[Saintaw]

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the poeple who sent me a nice AAR, especially the flight leaders, this helps me a great deal for the AAR ! <S!> to all of you !

I do not have the time to thank you all  personaly by Email, so thank you and THUMBS UP TO ALL !

I am still waiting for the 2 reports from the CO's    


------------------
Saw/Saintaw
KNIGHT'S FINEST FLYING BRICK
   
JG2 "Richthofen"
"Firepower Mate, that is what separates the men from the boys..."

[This message has been edited by Saintaw (edited 03-03-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Saintaw (edited 03-03-2000).]

[Chain]

Yeeehaw it was great fun !  

------------------
Chain
Aki Holopainen
     aki.holopainen@quicknet.inet.fi      
HLeLv FennoManiacs

[Duckwing6]

Ok Camo here is the FLight from MY side as P38 Lead  

We upped from F2 to evade initial FPS issues with 20 planes on 1 field .. which worked pretty well ... Takeoff 1 by 1 then circle right aroud the field to form up (this didn't quite work as planned tho)

The we haeded climbing for our rendevouc point at F4 with reduced thottle to get all A/c tightened up.

Just wen we had vis to the Poneys at 25K i was ordered to Proceed to F7 directly to engage the Axis JABO Force.

We haeded over to F7 at about 20-22K with a group of 3 (CavemanJ and the TWC) giving Top cover slightly to the west at 25-26K.

All of a sudden we ran into what appeared to be 2 seperate groups of fighters all a bit highe than my group but we were pretty fast at this time.

The next 2 minutes is just a whirling furball with 109's all over the place , where i break, dive and try to get out of dodge with 1 109 on my 6.. i dive away from him in a right turn and as i look forward i see a 109 filling my sights .. I let loose with all guns and get a perfect tracking shot. I didn't even realize that i shot YOU down Camo until i reviewed The screenshot after the fight.

After the furball we were all spread out and started to reform and re-alt towards F4.

Soon after we had to RTB for fuel.

(sorry have no numbers here as i'm at work right now)

All in all a very good event which tought me a lot of thngs about pre mission confusion and such (IMHO this is what make them so immersive LOL)

 

[LLv34_Snefens]

Here is my report I sent to Saw:

----

Pilot: Snefens
Plane:G2, 100% fuel + DT. No 20mm gunpods
Mission: Escort 109G10 JABO-flight in its bombing of F7.
 
Details: We were 9 G2 fighters and we took off from F17. Over F22 we rendezvouz'ed with the 7 G10 JABOs, about 5 K below us. We continued over mountains at about 20K and the bombs was dropped without any resistance. A few minutes after the bombs was dropped and the G10s had turned back north for home we saw 10 P-38's about 5K higher and further 5 enemies very high, but they didn't engaged.
From then on I could only really keep track on myself and my wingman Camo.
I get a fast shooting opertunity on a 38 when he tried to shoot a 109, and I hit him a few times but couldn't see any damage. He split-S and I didn't follow.
I turned to get close to Camo and a new 38 got in front of me. I opened fire and as I was pretty close I saw how my hits disabled his left engine. I couldn't keep follow him though and I went to clear Camo's six from a 38. It overshot and camo fired on it when another 38 came in from behind. I warned camo and he broke just in time, when my engine and both elevators was hit on my plane by a 38(piloted by Wil) I didn't see coming.
Camo was shot just about the same time.
I bailed out and started walking North, where I met with the resistance and was brought home.

---
Anyone of the p38 drivers wanna admit I disable his engine? It is quite hectic and even reviewing the film I am unable to follow the plane as he is not smoking, so I can't tell if he was shot down later. It MIGHT just also be some cunning plan he had about shutting down one engine.  

------------------
Ltn. Snefens
RO, Lentolaivue 34

[Shamus]

Snefens, the 38 jockey whos left engine you toasted was me You did a good job because at the time I was hitting Camo fairly hard, but my wingman (trell) did his job and pulled you off me before you got the other engine or worse and allowed me to limp back to base.

Salute to all of you, it was a blast!!

Shamus

[Skyrider]

TO: LLv34_Snefens

hi Snefens, its possible that the P38 you hit was me. I was one of the P38 with the first contact with 109's. Two 109's passed me
with high speed, just dived a little under me.
I tried to hit the 2nd one with a minni burst, but hell we passed each other way to fast  
I looked back an saw this two 109's just flew into a swarm of P38 they where bit behind me. Shamus one P38 pilot shoot one of those down (i got the kill msg).
As i looked again to front i saw 3 or 4 more 109's !!! And then i done my wrongest move ever, since i flew Simms   Immelmann... in this Situation absolutely deadly. After finished the turn, i realized i had 3 109's on my six!  
Fraction of a second later i got hit, my left engine died instantly (Big shock now, my heart stoped to pump heh )
Then i tried to shake all those 109's from my six with wild manoevers, Split S, diving and some manoevers i never know a plane could do!  
I dunno if i got hit 2nd time, but 2 sec. later i lost my left rudder too.
After some more crazy manoevers i realized that the last 109 on my six give up !
So i flew home near ground and safe landet the plane.

It was a short party for myself, but enough Adrenaline hehe  
I'm alive, so see you at the next GMT TOD !
<S>

Skyrider

[LLv34_Snefens]

My my, pilots almost stumble over each other to confess, lol.

Looking at the film, shows the 38 doing a immelman right up in front of me just before I hit him. He then breaks low but I don't follow.

Seems it was Skyrider I hit then.

------------------
Ltn. Snefens
RO, Lentolaivue 34

[Shamus]

Hmm.. when I saw left engine shot and description of encounter I could of sworn it was me, but I do have a tendency to limited SA at this point in my sim career.

Now I'd like the LW culprit who so selfishly infringed on my flying pleasure to FESS UP!!

Shamus  

[Kirin]

First of all I'd like to thank Saw & Bee who made this event possible. Please go smooth on me; this was my first assignment as CO ever, and I got in last minute - so not all went 100% perfect... nevertheless it was much fun and really an experience for me. I had so many things going on that I didn't joined the fight - well I think that's what a COs fate is...    

AAR for Axis CO:

Two flights were sent off to bomb a stratecigal important structure at F7.

• JABO-Flight: 8 Bf-109G10 led by Aper
• ESCORT-Flight: 9 Bf-109G2 led by Camo

The two flights took off from separte fields and rendez-vous'ed 20 miles north of target area. Everything was running smoothly and JABO-Flight delivered their load as planned. From that point on things went out of hand. JABO-Flight went on a course back home while ESCORT-Flight kept pushing further into enemy territory. HQ (me   ) didn't notice the division in time and thus called for RTB too late, when ESCORT already was engaged. As we began to lose planes. HQ sent up a C-47, piloted by Whitey, to recover any bailed pilot. Meanwhile JABO made it home safely, replaned and headed back into combat zone, under the command of Visconti since Aper had engine trouble and took off later in a C-47. ESCORT was desperatley fighting for their lifes, when HQ decided to call back all forces including replaned JABO and C-47s on rescue mission.

This was the mission from the COs view.

Results:

• ESCORT: Nothing more to add to Camos AAR
• JABO: HQ did not receive AARs from all pilots and has only incomplete information on pilot status. Status quo:

All members with the exception of Drago made it back to base an thus are still active.

• Drago MIA

Promotions:

• Whitey is proposed to receive the Iron Cross 2nd degree for his brave rescue of Chain

End of AAR
---

Some remarks on GMT-TOD#1:

• Timing: JABO hit target too earlier so that they didn't met any resistance. If both flights would have RTB'd instantly the mission would have ended without any enemy contact. I suggest that next time routes will be flown prior to the real mission so timing can be set appropriately.
• Briefing: Although it was possible to handle it COs should be set and briefed a good time before mission so that flights can be planned properly
• Roster for TOD should be available for COs so good AAR can be done    Walk-Ons should be the exceptions. For example I only have the excact number and names for JABO flight - a bit hard to keep track of...
  
• Radar has to be turned off
• etc. same remarks as noted in the 8th vs. LW scen.

Nevertheless it was very exciting and I am looking forward to the next mission.

A special thank you to my FLs who did a very good job.

And of course Saw - keep up the good work and GMT-TOD will be a blast!

BTW, I am still active!!    I took off a G2 to observe my boys but rtb'ed when things started to go wrong. Most time I sat in tower, writing down stuff, shouting on the radio, watching radar...  Always safe & comfty - never saw an enemy...

ok... I am not the report writing guy - hope this does the job...


 

------------------
~Kirin~
 
JG2 "Richthofen"

[This message has been edited by Kirin (edited 03-03-2000).]

[LLv34_Camouflage]

Wow, excellent reports guys  

Here's the fight from my flight recorder: http://www.hut.fi/u/vpitkane/LLv34/GMT_ToD1_4_engagement.zip

The zip is 167kb.

Camo

[This message has been edited by LLv34_Camouflage (edited 03-04-2000).]

[danish]

I must admit I was cursing LLv34 when we wernt ordered to return after bombs were dropped ;=) , but now knowing he didnt see the return message its understandable.Life as a FL is rotten and workload high.

Like everybody else I was pushed down by the 38's basically just trying to survive and clear my kaczmarek's (janjan) 6.Shortly after killing one in hot vertical pursuit of janjan I had to do prolonged evasives myself and lost him of sight.
Getting message from janjan that he was killed :=( I decided to try to sneek out.Was spottet by a High E 38 who did 3-4 slashing attacs while I sweating and cursing barrel rolled N in grassroot altitude.Thankfully he gave up (lost sight?) and I could sneek up the the mountains keeping close watch on my 6.Thats when I hit ground ugh! - thankfully made it as a ditch and was saved by the magical dice ;=)

Nice event!

BTW is there any possibility to disengage radar? if not by arena settings then we could bomb them just before eventstart?

danish

[VISCONTI]

More info about Drago MIA.

Drago was hit on the engine by ack over 7,
he landed north of 7 near mountain.
Exit from wreakage of his plane start to walk to base.
Aper in a C47 found Drago but Aper dumped at the moment to carry Drago onboard.

[Saintaw]

NIce report guys !
I updated the Data, please let me know if something is still missing/wrong....

IF HTC cannot disable radar, I propose that 30 minutes prior to TO, we organise 2 big bomber flights (No interception) just to...shut them down manualy, as well as Cities...

What do you think ?


------------------
Saw/Saintaw
KNIGHT'S FINEST FLYING BRICK
 
JG2 "Richthofen"
"Firepower Mate, that is what separates the men from the boys..."

[This message has been edited by Saintaw (edited 03-04-2000).]

[Kirin]

Heya Saw,

good idea on disabling the radar prior to flight, thought of that myself...   - but I still think HTC should give the organizing people more privileges to modify the arena to their likes...

Keep up the good work!!!

------------------
~Kirin~
 
JG2 "Richthofen"

[This message has been edited by Kirin (edited 03-04-2000).]