• Rook Strategic Bomber Mission Alert - 10/21/08 •

[Rich46yo]

First off it was fun and thank you to everyone who put it together and flew it.

Second, it all played out exactly as I predicted. The P-47s couldn't even reach 20k before we were getting zipped by 262s and 190s. By the time we reached the bombers we were dispersed and uncoordinated. We never really controlled the high ground and couldn't give proper defensive support to the bombers. I dumped my extra tanks as soon as things got thick cause I'd rather not make it back to base then try and fight with them.

I dont know if the enemy was officially told beforehand or the sideswitchers/intra-country comms gave it all away. Either way it worked out the same. I'm not surprised the bombers didn't get close to target. I saw them getting slaughtered,  as I was trying to bounce one 262 away and had 3 190s dropping on me as I was trying to regain Alt.

This isn't meant as criticism. Everyone has eyes and saw what happened. And as always it was fun to fly both with, and against, a good bunch of guys.

[Anaxogoras]

The P-47N is a good choice among American aircraft for that type of mission.  It's faster than the P-51D from 15k ft and up.  It outclimbs the P-51D from 23k ft and up, and outclimbs the P-38L from 25k ft and up.  However, that is with WEP, and there is quite a drop off for the jug with full military power.  You gotta get to 30k ft before a military power jug outperforms a military power 51.

Still, the extra firepower and extra durability more than make up for the mitigating factors, to my mind.

[96Delta]

Moved to [MoM] AAR Thread
Click image to visit the AAR thread.

[Rich46yo]

Yes, its was a huge success. And your right, the P-47s under Talon did everything we could to stay with the bombers. I think Talon did a great job keeping us focused and disciplined in a poor situational environment.

[Twizzty]

<S> All Great Mission <S>

Was alot of fun flying that 152 at 30K, what a fast bird. As soon as you guys upped (out of 170,171, and 174 I believe) I upped and headed to your general direction, alot of other Bish did the same. See we didn't know what country you were going to hit, so we decided to not wait for you to organize and to bring the fight your way. First couple of passes through the bombers I had a Knit 109 as a wingman, that was a little different. All and all it was different and fun, I have not seen that kind of excitement in the LWA for quite a while. <S> and we need more.

[96Delta]

I had a Knit 109 as a wingman, that was a little different

LOL, Yea, I'd say that was a unique experience.

[bongaroo]

The only way to overcome the icons that seemingly appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly is to spread the action out.  The game is limited in the number of planes that can be seen at any given time.  When the number of bombers alone is near that number you run into this problem rather quickly when adding escorts and enemies attacking on top of that.  The Rangoon scenario ran into this problem.

The organizers could simply run the missions similar to how DGS ran.  Split the bomber groups into 2 or 3 groups with there own escorts and just have them hit targets near each other on the map.  A little more indepth as far as organizing it; but it would give the bombers and escorts a chance to see the enemy before they close to 2k.

Just throwing this out there for everyone to chew on.

[96Delta]

The only way to overcome the icons that seemingly appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly is to spread the action out.  The game is limited in the number of planes that can be seen at any given time.  When the number of bombers alone is near that number you run into this problem rather quickly when adding escorts and enemies attacking on top of that.  The Rangoon scenario ran into this problem.

The organizers could simply run the missions similar to how DGS ran.  Split the bomber groups into 2 or 3 groups with there own escorts and just have them hit targets near each other on the map.  A little more indepth as far as organizing it; but it would give the bombers and escorts a chance to see the enemy before they close to 2k.

Just throwing this out there for everyone to chew on.

DGS didn't have DAR bars or spies.
The icon issue as well as frame rate problems will plague us
in every mission.  We just have to bre prepare for it I'm afraid.

[bongaroo]

Well I think I just offered a way to minimize the problems encountered when you put too many planes in one spot.  I didn't mention darbars or spies.  Titanic Tuesday has always had screwy darbars, no way around that.

And the whole "o noes, spies!" thing is still silly.

[Jappa52]

Delta, thanks for putting this on
3 from the Dynamite Gang upped 152s w/ 75% internal and a DT.  When I made my first pass I had 13 minutes of fuel remaining!!  We flew a long way but it was worth it to see so many bombers and escorts in the air.  There used to be missions like this all the time in the mains but have not seen one for about a year.  Besides the fun these missions bring they also give people a chance to see why bombers flew in formations and why the escorts were needed and what tactics they used to keep themselves and their bombers alive… bit o history. 

We decided to approach the group at 30k just to be safe.  Was a good call cause of all the jugs lurking around at 25-29k but besides a 2ship of 47s we had no one preventing us from setting up for our runs... something that should be taken care of next trip, can’t give an aggressor any free space to roam. Bomber formation had a lot of stragglers so defensive fire was not as effective as it could have been.  Were ya’ll running at a lower MP setting so everyone had a bit of throttle to help stay in formation?  Meh...I understand though, get a lot of guys in formation with lag, miscommunication, jitters, a heavy throttle and it quickly turns into a herd of flaming cats


Anyway I enjoyed it before I was relieved of my right wing 

[96Delta]

Thanks for the screencap Jappa!
If anyone else has any, please post them!   

Funny you should post that too jappa.
I was watching the film and was jumping arund
from plane to plane and ended up with you.

saw you lose that wing too... 

Glad you had fun!

I need to hear from bomber pilots though!
Without bomber pilots we won't be able to run
another.

[zoozoo]

[Paladin3]

ZooZoo!!!! Those are AWESOME! How did you make them black and white? That is amazing!

[zoozoo]

ZooZoo!!!! Those are AWESOME! How did you make them black and white? That is amazing!

Thanks, bunch of photobucket layers, all im gonna say.

[96Delta]

ZooZoo!!!! Those are AWESOME! How did you make them black and white? That is amazing!

Paladin,

There's a program called "Professor Franklin's Photo Effects".
I think its still available.  It has a bunch of built-in effects.
One of them approximates what zoozoo has done.  If I recall,
it was a faily cheap program.