Sorry you didn't see more opposition. I had assigned two squads to defend that port but only one showed.
Yup Anaxogoras. Just saw that this Sunday morning as I was going over the logs.
How it turned out:
The A20s were tailed low by 2 A6Ms from a squad that was probably assigned to scout. Two more from the same squad came in high as the battle was winding up. They motored away when the realized the A20s had already hit and ran.
We were in flights of 3. 1 was sent after the 2 low A6Ms. 2 more flights were lowered a bit between them and the buffs but kept most of their alt. My flight trailed the persuit flight high. That left 1 flight at 23.5K as top cover. My flight was at 23K but our eyes were directed down most of the time as the A20s were dropping and we did not want them disturbed.
That's when The Damned came along. Ki-61s at 23.5K. They were too much for the flight that had top, so they were brought to the rest of us. Another flight took over top and happend to be between the second pair of A6Ms and the fight- their squaddies already dead and the fight had gotten low by then.
The Damned gave as good as they got but were out numbered 2:1. The Port was flat, A20s RTB, out numbered up high and the rest of us climbing up from several directions I can see why the two A6Ms left it at that.
The rest of the frame we looked for a fight and found none.
I was thinking as we sat in the radar circle telling Tuk "no ones home" that we were about to be hit from 2 directions or that the defence was being shifted to the A20s- they told us they were being followed. I also wondered why The Damned came in a tad late.
I think Tuk's plan of A20's going North and the CAP killers going South and near an enemy base worked well. The route the A20s took did not make it clear if they were going to 60 or 12 until the last turn. Would explain why the defence come from the South. When they got there they had little choice but to fight fighter vs fighter or drop 20K for A20s that were already dropping ord.
How it could have been:
(1)A 7-10 squad intercepting the A20s. (2)A 7-10 squad tying us up and The Damned dropping in on us. (3)A 7-10 squad keeping us busy while The Damned tackles the A20s.
I like option 2. The A20s do their job and we end up in an even fight to the death. Don't mind a fair fight where only a few of us limp home and tower early from damage. Beats another 50 minutes of searching empty sky.
The only high point for me was watching film and finding the only one that made a real play for me was Jordi(waves hello). Glad my wingman was on the ball. You had me dead to rights.
