Tonights Big Raid on Bishop HQ (film & news inside)

[Vermillion]

I logged in tonight to find that the Rooks were organizing a large raid on the Bishop HQ and City. So I jumped on my trusty Pony, slapped on a couple of drop tanks, and decided to join in.

Redstar was organizing the Pony Herd for escort duties (9 of us) and CavemanJ was getting the B-17's rounded up and headed in the right direction (9 more).

Popeye was my wingman (easily one of the best wingie's you can have), and since we have flown in many S3's together with our squad, I knew I could depend on him. And it went like clockwork   Great Job Pops... Salute !!

Our group formed up and headed due south, while grabbing for altitdue, and eventually turned east. Caveman was tell all the Bish we were coming, and taunting them so that we would get a warm welcome on the way  

First enemy spotted was a N1K2 and I was lead escort onto him. Worked him for a while, pinged him up, and eventually forced him to dive for his life. Since our job was escort, I let him go. Me and Pops turned back to the Buffs and started grabbing again.

After that many singles and pairs of Bishops (flying mostly Spits, 109's, F4U's and Pony's in that order) started making hit and run raids on the formation from all directions and the escort pairs got scattered but started racking up the kills.

Its all a blur till the bombers made their turn from the HQ to the City after their first bomb run. A larger cloud of Bish had been trailing the formations, and made up alot of ground during the turn.

This is when it got really nasty   All of a sudden we had many fighters in the Buffs and shells were flying in all directions.

And then.... as quickly as it started, the sky was clear of Bish interceptors.  

At least two of nine bombers survived, and at least six of the nine fighters made it home.

Not really sure how many kills we all got, but I did notice that I got two assists in the buffer, but I couldn't watch it all the time as the fighting was hot and intense. There were many planes I could have killed, but my mission was to protect my wingman and keep the bad guys outta the buff formation, so I stayed high and let em run away if they dived under us.

The Bish HQ? Well some biscuit General is gonna be looking for a new home for a while   And his sheep.... errr umm Mistress in the Bishlandia City is gonna be looking for a new "playpen" now.

After that, it was pretty much a milkrun to home.

The whole thing took place at between 25-30k(The buffs playing it straight at 25k, fighters at 25k-30k), and you could tell which pilots were use to flying and fighting at high altitudes.  Up there in the thin air, its a whole new ballgame   And you can sure see why the P-51 is as famous as it is, a reputation well earned.

For those who didn't get too particpate, here is my entire film of the mission. Its a little large at 1.8 megs zip'd, but I can tell you that it was quite exciting on my end.

Enjoy!!! Get the film here  http://web.mountain.net/~arringto/ah/Buffs-toBishHQ.zip

Salute to the pilots on all sides tonight !!! Excellent fun  


------------------
Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure,
"Real Men fly Radials, Nancy Boys fly Spitfires"

[Saintaw]

GREAT FUN ! <S!>


------------------
Saw/Saintaw
BISHOP'S FINEST FLYING BRICK
 
186th  Wardogs (Falcon4 Squad)
 http://www.wardogs.org/
"Firepower Mate, that is what separates the men from the boys..."

[This message has been edited by Saintaw (edited 02-18-2000).]

[Kieren]

Was my bad fortune to be up in a 190 when the forts crossed my path. They were too high to even think of pursuing! But I did manage to get 2-3 of the escort (thanks to teamwork). Was fun. SE arena should really be great.

Good job, Rooks!

[JENG]

Both of our element (saw and me) joined the raid... saw as a 'little friend' and me as a buff (didn't think cave would get enough buffs... I stand corrected).

We all met at field 12 and a count down was done. Fighterpilots went to channel 116 and buffs to 117. Roger Wilco was started and we got our preflight briefing. CavemanJ was leading the B17 box while redstar lead the fighters.  

Fuelload, bombload, climbout speed and direction, bombing altitude, egress point, etc.

After that there was a final roll call and we went to our beloved fortresses. We all took off together and formed a nice gaggle pretty quick. climbout was uneventfull until we cleared the mountains NW of 5 at 21000 feet. We all formed up in a 3 plane V formation (didn't work that way but we stayed close enough together).

Meanwhile cave had been taunting over the open channel so we expected a 'warm' welcome. I felt reassured tho since we were flying pretty thight and I saw above us the gentle waving of our little pony friends.

Then suddenly a enemy F4u appeared at our high 1 'o clock position... he came over and turned into our 6. But Verm and Beeger peeled off from high above and chased him down until he dove away. So far so good...  Some other cons appeared level at our 12 oc but they were quickly chased...  everybody knew that this was just the beginning... redstar yelled over rw to get up and not to chase the cons down while we tightened our formation even more. I listen in over RW while Redstar checks how many fighters he still has... beefer gone... saw far astray but coming back.

Then suddenly we see some cons appear on our right... after a while I see that they are bogies. We all jump into gun position. I see a F4u divin onto us followed by frodo in his pony but the hawk gets closer... I tense up in my 6 gunner and wait till the 1K mark. suddenly I see a flash... and cave's b17 goes into a deathspiral... one wing gone. I watch for chutes but only see one silk umbrella. Damn... one hawk got through and our flight lead gone... confusion... jimbear throttles up and takes the lead. Then a voice over RW... Ras tells the group that he's lot 2 engines... I look back and see his mighty plane trailing smoke...Then he peeles of in a sad slow right turn... I feel sad... he doesn't stand a chance. I ask Redstar over RW if he can lend a pony to ras for rtb... but no go.. all fighters needed...

Jimbear calls for a roll call... Skipper... rtb (engine failure on climbout), cavemanj downed (MIA), Ras, peeled off to rtb (two engines death), Bac, Mox, Zug, Logan, Jimbair, and me still left... we form up on Jimbear and head for the city.

Two cons appear...while we are in our bombingrun over the city... pongo goes after them, but they break and one dives into us... back to gunnery... we are warned now to take the enemy serious... the pony comes in a shallow dive and goes for jimbear.. but he gets it big time... the other one comes in again trailed by redstar, pongo and verm ... I see him coming up my 6 but he skids to the right and rakes Zug with his 30mm...Zug's fortress totaly collapses but the 109 is getting hit too. Confusion everywhere... we turn to bish HQ but our formation is too wide... then at the worsed point the Bish armada arrives...

7 cons are spotted as we try to form up for our run at the HQ... luckely we still have 6 friends with us but they are trailing.... an F4u dives on us and goes for Mox... we all shoot but mox gets it and spirals down... followed by the F4u...

All the other cons come closer but have a hard time getting through our fighterscreen... an F4u rakes Logan (he was trailing behind) and settles on our 6... frantic position calls on bogies over RW... another 109 comes in... gunners firing... SA overload... the f4u gets it from the .50's and the 109 gets killed by Saw. Suddenly all bishops are gone... the sky is clear... Jimbear settles on my wing and we turn for our route home...When we get over 2 our remaining little friends...(Popeye, redstar, frodo, verm and saw) peel off and return to base... we are safe... we made it...

BEE
   

PS:
1) I want to thank cavemanJ and redstar for organising this... most fun I had in days...  
2) To the escorts... nice flying... without ya we wouldn't even have made it to the city... to the opponents... what a brawl... wtg  
3)I'll put up a film and some pics tomorrow.
4) buffpilots: CavemanJ, Logan, Ras, Bac, Zug, Jimbear, Mox, Kipper, Bee... Escorts: Redstar, Frodo, Verm, Popeye, Saw, Pongo, Udie, Wiley, Brit
 


[This message has been edited by JENG (edited 02-18-2000).]

[Frodo]

I had a blast and look forward to more like this and the scenarios in the future.

I can't believe how stable this game is most of the time.Even with all the planes in a small area,I saw very little warping.Damn smooth most of the mission.

Frodo

[RedStar]

Well I have to say is this. Tonights Mission was a taste I think of what we can accomplish as a team togther. Last night was the first time in a long time I have seen a large raid like this. I was in charge of leading out the P-51's. Cavemanj was ,ofcourse in charge of the B-17. We got our flights out of 12 with no problems. We also picked up one or two other escort fights around 16 that we late on take off for the mission. I got my P-51 flight to 30k right above the bombers. Caves bombers got to 22k with no problems and turned into tgt. I took my flight of 9 p51's and began to criss-cross the bomber formation. The first fighter encountered was a F4u,(think it was Trimmer), anyway I sent Verm, and his wingman which I think was Popeye to chase away the F4u. the F4u Dived and Verm keep his alt and began to come back to the formation. I think someone else, (brit), maybe saw a niki and chase it away. Now hear is the Big Joke I think, I did not realize that Cave was baiting the Bishes to a fight cause I was busy trying to keep track of 9 bombers, well 7 after the f4u and another 109, plus trying to get my remaning fighters back to the formation. I really did not see it on the buffer HAHA Anyway I just started seeing 109's 51's F4u's and a few 190's coming from all directions. My fighters were pair up so every one had a wingman. I saw a 109  the was shadowing the bombers trying to catch them, I put my self beside the bombers a little higher so I could get a shot at him when he dove. After chasing the f4u a niki and a 51 away from the formation my flight was scattered but I could see 6 of them. We had p-51's in front of the 109 and behind him. The 109 was forced to make a move. As expected he went for the bombers, It was called out on the RW channel and me and my wingman Pongo, turned to engage the 109 before he had a chance at the bombers. The 109 pilot was detremined to get to the bombers which made it easy to get on his six.  I was doing 250mph when I turned so I put the nose down on my pony and put the throttle all the stops and my bird was to 450mph real quick. I began to close the range quickly on the 109. I gave him as good 3 second burst from my 6 50. cal's and his plane went into flames. About that same time Pongo notice a Niki at our alt and we gave chase, the niki went into a dive and since we both already had our speed we both onlt had quick snap-shots on the niki. I noticed after our pass that he was missing a Vert stab so we climbed back to the bomber formation. That Niki ended up becomming my second kill. About the time the bomber group finished hitting the city and lined up on HQ The second wave of Bish fighters hit the bombers. At this time I had 5 p51's with the bomber 1 was catching up from behind us. We were hit again by a F4u and 2 51's and a couple of other lower cons. The F4u and a 51 tore into the formation I think the f4u got 2 of them and the 51 got one to but paid with his life. My fighters were out of postion so the bombers paid the price. ( sorry guys ) I began to try to chase away the f4u when I saw a 51 going for the bomber right off my wing with in 1k of me! So I did a wide roll onto his six where I got my third kill. After that kill I called on RW to Cavemanj who had been gunning for Bee, on the status of his bombers. I saw that there were only 2 left in formation, but what made me happy ws that the city was down to 71%, which is not a lot, but the target was hit. And the Bish HQ was knocked out. As for the fighters well 5 of us made it back to 6 to land. I found out after the mission that 3 bombers made it back 1 was not in formation but he made it back.
   All in all I say this was one Hell of a mission. A total success for the rooks. My hats are off to the bomber crew for putting the eggs on target. A special thanks to Cavemanj for leading the bombers.  A Standing Ovation (hehe) For the Escort Fighters in the formation! You guys did one Hell of a job!! Great teamwork everyone!!
   Boy I wonder what kind of turn out we will get for the Senerio Cave and I are doing on the 27th?? Hope to see all of you guys there!

<SALUTE> To ALL!
RedStar
The Wrecking Crew  

[llbm_MOL]

DAMN!! I always miss all the fun!

LLBM OUT!!!!!!!!!!

[Pongo]

I was most supprised by how quickly we got lots of vollenteers, How patient everybody was in waiting for the lauch and how stronly the bish responded with no offical warning...
So much for buffs being untouchable..
all


------------------
Pongo
The Wrecking Crew

[Vermillion]

Redstar that F4U was not Trimmer, it was either ArkanReb, or Fatty.  

Those were the two assists I got, and I had only engaged both the initial F4U and a N1K2 shortly after I rejoined the flight.

I figure that initial plane was Fatty, he is a F4U driver isn't he?

------------------
Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure,
"Real Men fly Radials, Nancy Boys fly Spitfires"

[Fatty]

Yep, the F4u was me.  Was hoping to pull a bunch of the escorts down there at the beginning, unfortunately the opposing pilots were intelligent.

Forgot you'd pinged me, was amusing to see Assist on Fatty there at the end, 20 minutes or so later  

Fatty

[Vermillion]

Yeah me too Fatty  

I had to go back and watch the film to figure out where the assists came from. For a second I was wondering if I was seeing some kind of bug, and getting assists from the bomber gunners. Then I figured it out.

  Had me baffled for a few seconds

------------------
Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure,
"Real Men fly Radials, Nancy Boys fly Spitfires"