3rd frame Fso

[TUK]

The 13MPG took off from a24 in ki67's. Preceded to 107 then v113.  We bombed out targets and rtb'd  tp 24. We had a great time and enjoyed our bomber slots in frame 3. Wanna thank Pope14  for being cic. Our escorts were the Sky Knights . Thanks for clearing the road, then jumping in our guns.  Specail thanks to SKAlpo for gunning for me.. We had a blast, enjoyed the frame..... TUk151 

[humble]

I was curious about that, the SK's were the Ki-84's that jumped us initially. We were actually tasked with bomber escort and not a fighter sweep or defensive CAP. I completely understand why we got bounced (I was actually in icon range of the ki-67's for a brief second). Looking at the event logs they took close to if not 100% casualties in that action. No question that they broke us up pretty well, from the event log we actually suffered no casualties in that encounter (other squad did suffer 2 losses it appears) but our formation integrity was shattered and never totally regained. I'm always curious about the effects when the escort is forced to engage prior to the defensive CAP.

Without getting into the BS in the locked threads I've always found close bomber escort to be the most challenging task in FSO. You know that you'll normally face an organized CAP with alt and positional advantage. The threat of a fighter sweep or inadvertent clash like the above always creates additional risk since attrition in planes, ammo, and sometimes fuel can create significant challenges even if the mission itself is a success.

[TUK]

Reports, were that the skynights broke off to the right, and tangled with la7's.  We pushed ahead spotting alot of dots to our right side.  We had a p39 shaddow us for a while then hit the coastal defense. They were about 6-10 yak's. Rumble , i saw alot of stuff to our right otw to 107.  We also spotted a noe group of bombers otw. Didnt get a tag on em tho.. Tuk151

[Alpo]

Thanks for the kind words Tuk.  I was happy with the results considering the SkyKnights are usually the ones being escorted, not the other way around

Basically, we were high above 13 MPG when enemy contact was first reported.  A large formation of bombers with escort.  As I was trying to report enemy position and course to vector an intercept a cloud of La7s appeared at my 12 o'clock.  I called out to the squad to engage the La7s to keep them away from our bombers as I viewed them as a larger threat to the speedy Ki67s.    to the gang from Precision as they pretty much chewed us up with numbers, but we took a few with us even though the logs don't say it.

Zotch and I then jumped in to gunner positions and watched some fine bombing.  Didn't manage to knock anyone down (looks like Zotch tagged a couple) but lit up quite a few Yaks.  For having a 20mm in the mix, I've never been impressed with the Ki67 guns.

[apcampbell]

You must have run into us over 113. 353rd was assigned Yak-9U's for CAP duty over 110 and 113, with Fate assigned to join us after T +50 (GV battle). We figured Fate would be hard pressed to join us in time, and were not suprised when contact happened at approximately T +35. Some of our pilots scored very well against the Ki-67's, (and knocked down a few scattered Franks) but others like me had a difficult time getting into position due to the bomber's speed.  to the tail end charlie that hit me with a pilot wound, that ended my night as I tried to get down before I passed out. (ended up crash landing at 107 when I blacked out on final)

[Vulcan]

I 'escorted' a bunch of Ki67's in my P39 for a bit, I got separated from my squad and stumbled upon them SE of 107. Twas hard keeping up with the ki's and those 20mm's made me wary of getting up your 6's