The other night I had an opportunity to run a variety of attack profiles under varying conditions and those; compiled with dozens of others run over the course of the past few weeks have lead me to an inescapable conclusion… The bish truly are ravening dogs that attack with ferocity and tenacity.. but without much disposition towards little details like goon support or attack element survival.
Typical Bish Assault: Everybody follows everybody else “over dis way..” ..some have ords; most don’t; none have much of a plan in mind other than ‘gonna kill them knits’ or ‘wait till them ugly assed rooks see THIS’. When critical mass over the target area is reached (approx ¼ to 1/3 of total bish population) and after about half of those have been shot down (and come back twice) the announcement goes out “send goon”. Of course; by this time 6 goon drivers have already met their makers and are understandably less than enthusiastic about another useless attempt in that madhouse…
Enter FAST ATTACK. An organized plan of assault whereby the Mission Planner is employed, pilots are briefed as to targets; routes; the order of battle, ordnance to be employed and individual areas of responsibility.
Now normally; FAST ATTACK relies on overlapping areas of responsibility and mutual support across the various elements of the attack force. It’s usually comprised of Med buffs; C47’s and their JABO fighter escorts and whenever possible, a ‘light’ fighter sweep is dispatched in advance to clear the airspace over the target area.
Basically, the plan calls for the JABO/Escorts to move into the contested airspace over the target and force down or destroy any aircraft at altitudes that represent a threat to the buffs, which arrive shortly after the JABO Escorts do. The JABO Escorts are NOT expected to attack ANYTHING ground based till the buffs have closed the hangers and popped the acks down. (This takes less than 3 minutes for 4 B26’s) Once the Buffs have knocked down the acks and hopefully the hangers; THEN the Escort/JABO’s are brought in to deal with any armor on the field or run cleanup on hangers missed due to losses in the buff force. It goes without saying that the buffs first target on that field is the VH. A JABO destroyed by ack while he downs a hanger a buff will nail anyway within 2 minutes is a wasted death. That pilot accomplised nothing that the buff assets dispatched to that field would not obtain.. and in dying the JABO pilot has added to the risk of failure of the attack via weakening of the combat cap OVER the field.
The idea here is to have the JABO Escorts keep as much of the attack force (and it’s c47’s) alive as possible, for as long as possible. It must be mentioned that killing any enemy fighters or GV’s prior to destruction of the hangers is a guarantee that that freshly dead defending pilot does 2 things.. ONE.. Holler fer help on his country channel (BISH HITTING A24!! HELP!!) and TWO: immediately Re-Up from the field… from which vantage point he will no doubt immediately spot the low dots on the horizon… the GOONS. Of course.. we have all seen how that attack goes… the first wave of goons die, and even though the field is eventually closed; by the time the goons get back; the enemy has brought in help from neighboring fields, has caught the attackers low strafing the fuel tanks, ammo bins and various other field infrastructure that we should really keep intact for our own use after its (hopefully) eventual capture. Even worse, since the attackers are now low; they are unable to cap or screen for the low goons that are just then making their low runs in to drop troops. Results are usually the same.. one or two arriving defenders from another field drop down on the goons; kill them and then pick off the attackers that remain while more reinforcements arrive to help mop up the shattered remnants of the original attack force. The fields a ‘bust’, no soap, no capture.
Ok; now, so that you might get a little better understanding of where the biggest problems lie; consider first the job of the escort JABO fighters associated with the main attack force. Their job in NO WAY entails any attack upon the field assets until the Buffs have finished the hangers and the acks. Let the buffs deal with the main field assets and defenses. ONLY AFTER the hangers and acks are down should the JABO’s go to work.. up to that point they should be at intermediate altitude providing coverage and defense of the airspace needed by the buffs or dealing with any threat to the goon force.. Again.. attack NOTHING unless it’s a threat; an IMMEDIATE threat to the buffs or goons. Remember WHAT that pilot will do if you shoot him down too soon… he’ll re-up AFTER he hollers fer help; advertise the goons location and come right back on the deck to kill it. Better you keep him interested.. but don’t attack him till you have to. Once the acks and hangers are down; the JABO’s go in and clean up any low defending air assetts THEN the defending armor forces, THEN RE-GRAB AND SET COMBAT AIR PATROL OVER THAT BASE!! Screen toward the closest enemy field.. where the defenders are likely scrambling to bust up the attack.. intercept them well BEFORE they get to the contested field.. DO NOT MINDLESSLEY CIRCLE OVER THE FIELD AT 1000 FEET AFTER YER ORDNANCE IS GONE.. if you have only .50 cal ammo left you ain’t gonna kill any armor.. SWEEP TOWARDS THE NEXT CLOESET ENEMY FIELD!
The Goons.. all too often; our brave and intrepid goon driver suffers an attack of impatientius, and dashes into the attacked field while it still has live on site defenders thus attracting the immediate and deadly attention of every enemy fighter in three girds around. Hold yer horses.. and the drunks, up short of dot range on the field. I can’t stress this strongly enuff… if you can see their dots THEY CAN SEE YOURS! Stay outta dot range, wait till you receive the call to come in. Remember, one maxim known instinctively by every pilot with guns in this sim. LOW DOT = GOON = EASY KILL = FIELD SECUITY. Stay smart.. stay alive.. don’t be where they are gonna look for you.
Now that you know what goes wrong.. here's how we do it RIGHT. Two B26's or JU88's are detailed and armed for acks, two more are detailed and armed for hangers. The JABO force consistis of heavy fighters armed with 1k eggs and rockets. The goon force is 2 or more C47's; and they are dispatched on a diffrent course with a final IP that is NOT on the target field. The JABO's transit ahead of the buffs; and once over the target field they DO NOT attack it; but instead, CAP it. The buffs arrive within 2 minutes of the JABO's and proceed to take down the acks and hangers.. this takes two passes, at most three.. 3 to 4 1/2 minutes tops. Once acks and hangers are down; JABO's are free to engage low assetts and enemy armor. B26's re-route to the GOONS IP, descened and proceed with goons back toward the target. By this time; the JABO's will have dispatched any remaining armor on the field, sounded the all clear for the goons to approach and be RE-GRABBING to establish hi-cap over the field; with some elements from the JABO force sweeping towards the next closest enemy field for intercept of interlopers.
Simple, enh?? It should be.. and when we do it like this it goes fast and easy.. the field is overwhelmed before it can muster adequite defensive assets, the goons approach unopposed, the capture goes down without a hiccup.
Sadly; merely because most guys flying the JABO section don't understand the concept of "HOLD, CAP; COVER THE BUFFS AND GOONS" they instead see a low no-threat defender attempting to grab up towards the out-of-reach buffs, they ALL go in and attack it, or worse; die gloriously but uselessly attacking hangers or acks that would be destroyed in a few minutes anyway without risk.
The FAST ATTACK mission profile is intended to gain the strategic target being attacked WITH MINIMUM RISK AND LOSSES to the attacking force while delivering OVERWHELMING DAMAGE TO THE TARGET. If any elemet fails to do it's job; the enitire force is weakened unneccesairly and all elements are put at extreme risk.
In essence.. do it smart; get kills, get the objective; do not die. Screw up; all are at risk; most die; no objective obtained.. and mayhem ensues..
Comments??
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1st/AG "Bishlanders"
