First I want to thank Saw for this very challeging mission. Although some of my boys didn't see a single enemy plane the mission was very tense - at least from the tower.
Axis CO AARThe mission was to bring down a transport carrying russian traitors who arranged a meeting with our enemies. Despite the brave effort of our men the objective was not met.
Order of flight- Recon1 (R1): 1 Bf-109G10, led by Duma
- Recon2 (R2): 1 Bf-109G10, led by Red
- MainAttackForce1 (M1): 6 Bf-109G6, led by Camo
- MainAttackForce2 (M2): 5 Bf-109G19, led by Maik
Mission timelineBoth Recon flights took off as planned and followed their route into enemy territory to search for the transport.
MainAttackForce took off with a little delay due to roster changes.
After scanning their designated area Recon flights left their planned scout pattern and went for a more aggressive scan towards enemy territory because of lack of fuel.
Recon made contact with enemy forces. Sightings of P-51s and Spitfires were reported. As ordered Recon did not engage but kept on looking for the target. Although very low on fuel both Recon flights achieved to avoid engagements.
From this point on time kept running out. M1 & M2 were ordered to send each a pair of fighters to each of the designated landing fields for the transport to aid Recon in their task. Meanwhile mainforce advanced 1 sectore south of their hover points to tighten up the cover.
M1 made contact with a high formation of P-51s. Under the lead of Camo M1 stayed clear of the enemy and hid in a nearby cloud layer which granted M1 their escape.
M2, covering the southern and western corner did not make any contact.
All forces were called RTB after chances to still catch the transport did not justify the losses which would have to be taken.
After flights made it back to home base rescue missions were started.
Results- R1: Duma bailed, rescued by Camo
- R2: Red bailed, rescued by Camo
- M1: Ceray,1 kill, bailed, rescued by dice
Chain, 1 kill, rtb
Snefens bailed, rescued by chain
- M2: All pilots returned to base, no kills were recorded.
- CO: Kirin ditchd during rescue mission, rescued by Camo
All pilots not mentioned remain their status; there were some technincal problems (discos).
Recommandations:
- Chain is recommended for the Bronze Star of Valor for downing an enemy plane and rescueing a bailed pilot
- Camo is recommended posthumaly [because he is not active anymore] to be decorated for his use of superior tactics in leading M1 and the rescue of 3 pilots.
End of AAR
Some remarks on this mission:
- very excicting and challenging, although it was very hard for us Axis to find the transport. Intelligence reports that the C-47 was flying below 500ft which would have Recon required to close as close as 3k to it. One scout even crossed the spitfires - but did not see the C-47. Staying above 500 probably would have given it the chance to spot the icon. Well, tighter and more numerous recon would have found it either - CO's fault...
- Still the radar issue: mission start was delayed by more than half an hour. We began bombing down the cities one hour prior to mission start. Please HT, allow CO's to set arena parameters or shut dar down yourself - makes things a lot easier... not to mention that allied radar came up before the end of mission...
Thank you Saw for the GMT TOD - looking forward to the next mission!! <S>
Thanks to Camo for his great AAR, which is added here:
Hello Gentlemen!
Thanks again for a great event, and letting me lead a flight even though I'm officially opfor
Here's my report:
Mission:
I lead the Main Attack Force1 (M1) of 6 Me 109 G-6's. Our mission was to destroy an enemy transport aircraft in hostile territory. Our orders were to take off from F17 and fly to 10.9 ("F7") sector and wait there until the search party would spot the enemy transport, and then move in for the kill.
Pilots:
Our Staffel included the following pilots:
Lead Rotte: Camo, ceraY
2nd Rotte: Chain, Ardy
Top cover: Snefens, Staga
We were all on RW, except Ardy. Some pilots from other flights were on our channel too.
Mission timeline:
We took 100% fuel and Drop tanks, and only one cannon. I ordered extra cannons to the Fennomaniacs (Chain, Ardy and Staga) due to their own request. We waited otr F17 for the order to roll, while the search party was looking for the enemy transport.
We got our order to roll and took off, heading S towards F7. 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 and ROE.
I ordered 2nd Rotte to take position on my right side at D1k. Snefens took his top cover to ahead and above us. We crossed the mountains and arrived at F7 at 23k, Snef at 29k, ahead of us just beyond icon range.
Kirin, the LW CO, gave orders to dispatch one rotte S to F6, the transport's presumed destination. I ordered Snefens' top cover to go, because they were ahead of us already. The rest of us headed SW toward the low left corner of 10.9 to be as near S as possible when the attack order would come. We were then ordered to head one sector S.
As we turned left to S, I noticed 6+ dots on our hi 10oc. I immediately ordered retreat to W so we wouldn't be bounced. The cons closed fast however, and we noticed they were ponies. There were some clouds just nearby, so I ordered to dive towards them and run N and retreat/rtb.
The enemies closed into D1k as we made it to the clouds. Luckily, I managed to get them off me. My wingie ceraY, however, didn't succeed in it, and was forced to engage with 3 bandits. He managed to down a P51 but his engine was shot out. He prepared to ditch into the canyons NW of F7. The cons kept close to the clouds as I headed N. Ardy had dove for deck a bit earlier and was separated. I spotted Chain right next to me and we kept heading N, clear of any enemies. We saw a lone dot E of us over the canyons and headed towards it to id it. At this point is was discoed
I heard from Chain that the dot was Ardy, who also got discoed only seconds after me. After this, Jarski managed to ditch. Chain scored a kill and RTB'd safely.
Snefens' and Staga's top cover encountered 3 ponies on their way to F6, but got out clean. I think Staga got discoed. Snefens ran out of fuel just south of F18 when RTBing. Chain picked him up in a C47.
All in all, our mission was a failure because we didn't manage to shoot the transport down. But on the good side, we didnt loose any pilots.
After all had ditched or landed, the search and rescue started. When I logged in again after my disco, I took a C47 up. I flew to pick up ceraY in the canyons, but thrashed my gear while landing! Since I'm opfor, I got the permission to take another goonie up. ceraY went to bed at this point, so I headed towards F3 where Red had bailed. I picked him up safely. In the meantime, Kirin was on a SAR mission too, and managed to break his gear while rescuing duma. I proceeded to head their way and picked them up too just SE of F7. On our way back, the guys had a real party with the 10 Heidis my C47 was carrying. Thank the LW bailout kit for the rubbers and lubricants 
Of course, we also had a case of cold beer hanging outside in the cool breeze!
But the party was violently interrupted when an enemy 109 appreared on our 6. But with some exciting evasives and foul language, we managed to get away with only 5 pings and a direct hit from a drop tank. Pheew.
We landed safely at F18 only some 2 hours after the mission start. Exciting!
Oh yeah, ceraY was rescued otw too. Well, by dice actually
Results by pilot:
Camo: Opfor already. 0 kills, discoed while RTB. Rescued red, duma and Kirin.
ceraY: 1 kill, ditched and rescued (dice)
Chain: 1 kill, RTB. Rescued Snefens.
Ardy: 0 kills, Disco.
Snefens: 0 kills, ditched S of F18, rescued by Chain
Staga: 0 kills, Disco.
Summary:
2 kills
1 RTB
2 rescued (1 lost plane)
3 discos
though the mission was not a success, it went pretty well. We suffered 3 discoes, which would have been probably RTB's. One plane was lost when ditching behind enemy lines.
** I recommed awarding Chain a medal for achieving a landed kill and bringing Snefens home with a C47! **
Lessons to learn:
Well, I think I had taken a lesson or two from the last mission and lead my pilots better this time. When we spotted the cons, I was on the matter and gave the retreat order in time. If we had engaged, we would have suffered more losses, I'm sure. Now we only lost one plane, with the pilot rescued. We were also lucky out there, because the enemy was not very aggressive. When they had lost their element of surprise, they didn't chase us N at all.
What to keep in mind next time: Climb climb climb! 23k was not enough, the ponies were above 25k!! We have to go in around 30k next time... And like we noticed, use the clouds to your advantage!
Radar: I think the allies got their radar at some point, while the LW was without it all the time. HTC needs to help us out here. Also, shorter icon ranges would be excellent!
All in all, a well arranged scenario, with the allies' transport being a full success!! (grrrr)
Camo
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~Kirin~
JG2 "Richthofen"
[This message has been edited by Kirin (edited 03-10-2000).]
