Some AvA ideas...

[jimson]

I'm new to this - I can provide all the historical data you need (most of it direct from the brain cells), but I'm not up on how its all set up, the amount of work involved, etc., but I am willing to learn.

I have downloaded all of the maps, so I'll fly around in offline mode and see what I can scout out as potential scenario sites for these one-night events. If this "ain't how its done in these-here parts", let me know.

J

One big way you can help is to offer suggestions on how to improve set-ups when posted, we have several members of the community that help us in this way.

A few of our set-ups are loosely historical/generic and don't represent an actual battle but a time frame or area in general.

There are sometimes intentional omissions to improve playability.

IE we may not always include the entire US/Britain planeset that was historically active in a particular scenario in order to keep the Luftwaffe from having to simultaneously deal with the best of turn fighters and fastest bnz birds.

[JHerne]

Absolutely. Understand completely.

There's gaps in the planeset as well that would limit the historical missions. Of course, any "historical" mission is bound to go totally awry once the scenario is underway. The real events were controlled chaos, expecting to recreate them with that same randomness in which combat occurs is idealistic at best. That's not to say that we can't create some great scenarios with what we have. The trouble is achieving a balance for the sake of gameplay.

I will offer this to my new pals in AvA. I have about 1500 or so books from my library in PDF format. I got this bright idea a few years ago when a buddy of mine (who works for NASM) lost his book collection to a fire. So I started scanning...ugh. I still have another 800-1000 books left to scan.

I have books on damned near everything imaginable in WW2 aviation. Books on particular units, battles, aircraft types, camouflage practices, you name it. If you're coming up with an idea and want more intel, PM me. I'll rummage through the files and post what I have to my server for you to use.

Something along the lines of "What do you have on the Ki-61 in New Guinea in '43?", or let's find some obscure encounter between Ki-84s and P-51s over Japan in 1945." Something as specific as that will be easy to nail down, and chances are I can provide you with multiple references.

J

[JC67]

OK J  i got one for ya  when and where  was the yak-9u used against what..and how do we implement that in to the ava for a spin. i need my Russian iron for a spell

[JHerne]

Yak-9s were flown everywhere, they made more than 16,000 of them between 1943 and 1945.

I'll PM you my server site where I've uploaded some titles for you to read.

J

[gyrene81]

Good idea JHerne, we have done the neutral country/bases before with less than stellar results for turnout...1 or 2 nights get a good crowd but the rest of the time the place was a graveyard...however, a bigger more diverse crowd is blooming so the right setup (ie map and planeset) could be a big hit. These "AvA snapshot missions" have become fairly popular.

[JC67]

Ok  hint hint Jaeger   need some russian iron  next time there is a late war setup

[CAP1]

although i like flying more than gv'ing......does anyone remember that old tv series the rat patrol?

[JHerne]

Absolutely! Great series.

The Yak-9...served in various permutations from '43 to '45, so you can effectively pit it against anything Fw-109A-5, Bf-109G-6, and up.

The VVS's first Me-262 kill came from a Yak-9. The best idea I can come up with off the top of my head would be a series of battles between the following aircraft...

109G-14
109K-4
190A-8
190F-8
190D-9

JG 301, flying the Ta-152H, also had several encounters with Yak-9s, Jupp Kiel's last two kills were Yak-9s. There's a great account in Erich Hartmann's book of Bf-109K-4s tangling with Yak-9s, then a group of P-51s dove into the fray and the Russian Yaks fired on the US P-51s! This book (the Blonde Knight of Germany) has some fantastic accounts of late-war skirmishes between JG52 aircraft and countless VVS and Guards units.

This can tie into the second scenario I posted of the final days of the Luftwaffe, trying to hold back advancing Russian forces. The key to making these work is controlling the altitude. Yes, 109s met Yaks at 20K, but in the last days of the war, the bases were often so close that they were engaged as soon as the gear was up.

J

[CAP1]

Absolutely! Great series.

The Yak-9...served in various permutations from '43 to '45, so you can effectively pit it against anything Fw-109A-5, Bf-109G-6, and up.

The VVS's first Me-262 kill came from a Yak-9. The best idea I can come up with off the top of my head would be a series of battles between the following aircraft...

109G-14
109K-4
190A-8
190F-8
190D-9

JG 301, flying the Ta-152H, also had several encounters with Yak-9s, Jupp Kiel's last two kills were Yak-9s. There's a great account in Erich Hartmann's book of Bf-109K-4s tangling with Yak-9s, then a group of P-51s dove into the fray and the Russian Yaks fired on the US P-51s! This book (the Blonde Knight of Germany) has some fantastic accounts of late-war skirmishes between JG52 aircraft and countless VVS and Guards units.

This can tie into the second scenario I posted of the final days of the Luftwaffe, trying to hold back advancing Russian forces. The key to making these work is controlling the altitude. Yes, 109s met Yaks at 20K, but in the last days of the war, the bases were often so close that they were engaged as soon as the gear was up.

J

well, the reason i mentioned it, was a combination of dicho and i think jc mentioning the jeep battles. then i thought about one of the fso's i was in where i drove, and a squaddie manned the turret. it was on a desert terrain, and was a massive battle....and massively fun too.

 to inspire total and complete silliness, i was thinking of maybe just jeeps and m3's...........

[Dichotomy]

Keep the stories coming Jherne... man I love this place.  I get great writeups on WWII that you don't see in standard history texts and 5 seconds later we're talking about JEEP RAIDS!!!!!  boooyahhhhh 

As for silliness.. well, obviously, that's my favorite thing.

[CAP1]

normal is boring. hence i shall don my special pink bra for tonights battles. 

[Dichotomy]

whats the terrain?  Do I need my BDU's or DCU's?   I'm taking cammo to the next level 

[CAP1]

whats the terrain?  Do I need my BDU's or DCU's?   I'm taking cammo to the next level 

hhmm....

good question. the only desert camo i have is a cover......all my other camo is woodland camo.

[Dichotomy]

just peeked... looks like lsd spider slapped her web on the terrain... woodlands are the order of the day.  Bu bu bu... but no jeeps  

edit: I'm probably going in there as soon as this headache clears up. 

[JHerne]

One of the best stories to come out of JG52 was in the winter of '44. It was so cold (-40) the 109s couldn't start. A shot-down Russian pilot was brought to the base and was walking around the aircraft. Through a translator, he could see why the Germans were having trouble not only starting their aircraft, but dealing with weapons troubles as well.

One of the first things he recommended was removing all the grease and oil from the weapons. The grease congealed to the point that it was nearly impossible for the mechanisms to work. They removed the grease, went to a light viscosity oil, and the weapons performed perfectly.

The second was hilarious. The Russian asked for a couple of gallons of gasoline, which he poured into a pan under the aircraft, and tossed in a lit match. The resulting flames caused the Germans to scatter and the Russian was almost shot on the spot. The fire burned for several minutes and everyone thought the aircraft was done for. The Russian then signaled the pilot to crank the aircraft and it fired right up.

Another trick learned from the Russians was to pour a half-gallon of gasoline into the oil sump of 109s. Since gasoline doesn't congeal like oil, it mixed with the oil and allowed the engines to be hand-cranked. As the engines would warm up, the gasoline mixed with the oil would evaporate off.

(Reference: Blond Knight of Germany, Chapter Six, pgs. 80-81)

Obviously, while these stories don't do much to help with the development of scenarios, they add a level of immersion to what we're doing in the sense that it adds a human element to two aircraft trying to shoot each other down.

J