<S>,
Thanks to everyone who joined the mission. I had a blast and hope you did too! Have to say, it was nice to see the POTW in Bish 163s for the mission! This is not an after action report, but I figured I'd chime in on some things and set a few issues straight.
1. I, 49MERLIN, am the CO of the 49thFG and the planner and leader of the B-29 MEGA Mission. Any and all request to
work with the 49th in the future, or criticism of the MEGA mission, should be directed at me alone. NOT 49Dallas.
2. I did "plan" on going off map for some of the ascent. This was a consideration should the map had been a small one,
and so that we may have bleed more fuel from approaching fighters from traveling deeper in to our own territory.
The reason we went off map last night was that it seemed easier to amass our formation on the heading I was currently
on, and some of our B-29s had already been killed, so it seemed prudent to try to amass the formation as quickly as
possible.
FYI: It too over 15 minutes for all of the bombers to get airborne.
3. In hindsight, I could have directed us North and stayed on the map. For that I am sorry. I did not realize at the time
how much of a "NO, NO" off map flying is, and that it would cause such an uproar. It was not done to "game" the game.
4. I had absolutely no clue that bullets did not work off map. I have been playing long enough to know that, I know, but it
has honestly never come up, because if I am off map it is because I am afk. As soon as I found out I turned the group
around. The enemy was stalking us anyway and we could not kill them, turning seemed prudent.
5. Yes, we knew there were interceptors IB. No, the 3 or 4 pilots that were up looking for them did not find them. Yes,
I wish I had had the luxury of sending up a proper fighter cap before the mission, but I was trying to get the bomber
numbers as high as possible, and therefore did not want to ask people to jump in to fighters. Also, launching a mission
200 miles behind your own lines no matter how much advertisement you have given it seems like a sad thing to do, and
speaks much less of the community in my opinion. To each his own though I guess. Of all the 66 bombers that launched,
only 6 were lost on ascent due to enemy fire/collision.
6. Personally, I considered getting that many bombers off the ground with reasonable frame rates, no discos, no crashes,
and in a coordinated fashion a SUCCESS! Forming the group up after that while under fire was success number two.
Anything that happened after that was a pure adrenaline thrill ride. AH sometimes is like a roller coaster that can last for
hours and hours, even after you have logged off!
7. We had enough fuel to make it to target and back just fine! The problem, which is solely my fault and which I take
complete responsibility for, as well as responsibility for its detrimental effects on the mission, was that we flew for about
80 to 120 miles in to a 30 knot headwind. Yep, I did it. I'm the love muffin that can't read his wind info right! I got two
thumbs & I'm right here. Had we not done that fuel would have never been a concern. Please accept my deepest
apologies the loss of you aircraft and perks due to my incompetence while under my leadership. Sirs, I am sorry.
8. To the Haters: Do you realize that negativity on these forums does not in anyway help to promote AH? For almost a
year I've heard a lot of people talk a lot of "smack" about the 49thFG. The only thing they said that ever really
concerned me was that somehow we were causing people to actually leave the game. At first, I did not believe that
some of the mission types that we run would really cause people to end a subscription. I was apparently wrong. Please,
know that the 49thFG is here to help enhance the community, not to destroy it! I would also like to point out that the
people who are always on here talking "smack" never seem to think that trash talking the game and its squadrons is also
detrimental to AH and causes people to unsubscribe. The things that have been said about the 49th alone should have
caused me to unsubscribe a while ago, not to mention about me personally. I don't read or post here often. Much of that
has to do with the fact that after 4 or 5 pages of reading a thread I want to stat an IntelliSearch and start knocking on
doors!
9. Also to the Haters: I would like to formally announce to all that have said that the 49thFG causes people to leave AH
that we can now confirm 1, yes one, person has resubscribed for a fact due to the 49thFG!!!!!!!!!!!
gameid: czpetr1 has resubscribed due to the 49thFG, at least to join the MEGA mission, so that is +1 for the 49thFG!
I also thought I saw two others who said they would consider resubscribing because of missions like this, so the
49thFG confirmed total so far is +1 & 2 maybes!!!!
10. Fugitive, I don't know what the 49thFG has done to you on some sort of a personal level, but I am free to talk about it
whenever you get done stewing in it. Also, do your views of the 49th speak for all of the 47Ronin, or is it just your jaded
opinion? By the way we are Rooks now, so you can lay off it whenever you like.
49MERLIN
49thFG CO
