awesome fight with b17's

[guncrasher]

it was the pigs squad night last night.  we noticed a darbar west of a55 it had been there for about 10 minutes.  it was about 1 1/2 sectors, we thought it was a fighter sweep or bomber raid towards a55.  so we called the alarm and a squadie and me went to investigate as we were the first to take off.  my squadie flew  on the southern portion of the sector while I flew on the norther side.  I found them first it was a really tight formation of 5 boxes of b17's at 10k.  it was an awesome formation.  we waited till about 4 more pigs and a friendly showed up with altitude.

if we had gone one by one we would have gotten killed so we counted and we all dove in at the same time. I dove in and I swear all 15 b17's were shooting at me so I broke off 1000 from them.  I started yelling that they were all shooting at me.  my squadies were able to get a couple of the b17's.  then we pulled up for another dive, think there was 6 of us we all dove in from different directions.  dive in shoot pulled up organize then dive in.  I swear those b17's put up a first class defense.  we would get 1, 2 or 3 with every dive.  took us a long time  to shoot down all the b17's.   that's the most fun I have had in a long time. we all had parts missing and no ammo, 1 squadie had no engine.

the b17's mounted another raid but by then they had a couple of fighter escorts but we shot down most of them I think.  you can say it was a sucessful attack by us but they pulled enough fighters away from a55 that bishops took it with tanks and a few fighters.  it doesnt matter that was some of the best action I have seen in a long time.

dont know which squad flew the b17's but I said a job well done  that's how a great bomber raid is done even if they didnt drop a single bomb.  it was great fun for all of us.

semp

[TequilaChaser]

Awesome "AAR" , Semp

Sounds like everyone had a lot of fun


Thanks for sharing

~S~

TC

[bustr]

If you don't know squat about ACM, the K4 is a superb bomber interceptor like it was designed to be. I lifted late 2 sectors away and still got into position at 22k just after the first attack started with fuel to spare starting with only 100% internal. Just like the 163, attack from front and side obliques holding fire until 400 pulling off at the last moment. I only got assists becasue I started late into the fray and my squad had already peppered almost all the B17 in the formation. They were locked together like a brick wall studded with 50cals. But, the single 30mm separated the rear from each B17 I attacked. The incredible WEP in the K4 made it possible to constantly reset out front of the formation and slash back in to cut apart another bomber. Instead of burning WEP on my initial climb out to catch up with the formation, I stair stepped up to alt becasue the K4 in level flight picked up speed so fast for the next vertical popup step.

Attacking that formation was real AH old school fun. Didn't hurt that POTW is an FSO squad and used to coordinating attacks like this on the fly with no pre-planning. Waystin just went all FSO flight lead on us and fired up the piggy machine.

[DubiousKB]

I'd like to second the Hats off salute to the b17's!  Was it the D*ckweed heavy bomber group??  That kind of action is what the game was MADE FOR!   There's something very rewarding about diving into a large bomber formation AND coming out the other side at least once. 

Gunners were angry on those bombers and I doubt any of the attackers left without at LEAST one hole in their aircraft. Either way, <S> to those in the formation as you guys are awesome and make the game worth playing!

       


P.S. The only downside was the POTW left a trail of slop all the way to the bombers and home. It was a mess and them pigs was hungry!   

[1stpar3]

YES! Feral Hogs are a HUGE problem....just tear up EVERYTHING! Good thing though.....YEAR ROUND HOG HUNTING opportunities Shoot...who DOESNT like BBQ   

[molybdenum]

Though I wasn't there myself, this sounds like it was much more fun for the fighter pilots who pounced than the bomber pilots who got slaughtered.

As a bomber pilot first and foremost, my mentality is to reach and hit a target in whatever I have upped. Someone in this thread said that the 17s never dropped a bomb? Then the bomber guys spent a fair amount of time to reach alt (granted, 10k not much alt) to get killed before they could do what they presumably spent that time to do?

Would be very interested to hear from any of the actual buff pilots involved to see if they thought getting torn apart like that was fun.

In the good old days AH had the people to do such missions with fighter escort, I am told? This was before my time mostly, though I do remember bumping into a few missions deep in enemy territory with my strat-running Ki67s, and tearing into the buffs before the escorts could tear into me! But that was half a decade ago....

Anyway (and again) I'd like to hear from any of the buff pilots involved. If they had fun, <S> to everyone involved. Otherwise, experiences like this just discourage further retro buff missions of that ilk.

JMO...

[RELIC]

Though I wasn't there myself, this sounds like it was much more fun for the fighter pilots who pounced than the bomber pilots who got slaughtered.

As a bomber pilot first and foremost, my mentality is to reach and hit a target in whatever I have upped. Someone in this thread said that the 17s never dropped a bomb? Then the bomber guys spent a fair amount of time to reach alt (granted, 10k not much alt) to get killed before they could do what they presumably spent that time to do?

Would be very interested to hear from any of the actual buff pilots involved to see if they thought getting torn apart like that was fun.

In the good old days AH had the people to do such missions with fighter escort, I am told? This was before my time mostly, though I do remember bumping into a few missions deep in enemy territory with my strat-running Ki67s, and tearing into the buffs before the escorts could tear into me! But that was half a decade ago....

Anyway (and again) I'd like to hear from any of the buff pilots involved. If they had fun, <S> to everyone involved. Otherwise, experiences like this just discourage further retro buff missions of that ilk.

JMO...

My thoughts too.  Unless they are at a decent alt and leveled for speed, buffs are easy pickins.

[RELIC]

and no disrespect intended to the POTW. 

[bustr]

Wasytin and the two scouts read the map and the darbar as a bomber mission. The scouts located the bombers and shadowed them waiting for more piggies to show up. That allowed the bombers to get to 20k and locked tight together. They had zero escorts which in the real war is why bombers over the continent got chewed up before the P51. We setup to dive in from multiple directions to limit the gunner's ability to hit all of us. Some of us got nailed but, being vets we prevailed and eventually eliminated all 5 boxes.

So fun for the bomber pilots is what, all of POTW should have lined up 600 on the 6 of the bomber boxes and allowed ourselves to be slaughtered? B17's are not the easiest bombers in the game to attack and groups of them often chew up attackers. POTW happens to be good at working as a unit to destroy things in Aces High. That mission took their chances and this time they ran into POTW and not some uncoordinated gaggle of green guys. At least we didn't up 262 which the last time we ran into this many bombers we had to fight each other for leftovers due to the mass falling apart of 18 bombers. It was actually faster getting prop fighters into position 2 sectors away at 22k than it does with 262.

If you want to denigrate anyone, point fingers at 999000. Over the years we lost a lot of piggies to him while he taught us the hard way how to kill bombers.

[guncrasher]

they were not easy pickings.  I found them at 10k while still climbing shadowed for a while while others catched up.  they were in a very tight formation.  we didnt kill them within a couple of minutes it took a long time.  they made 2 turns while under attack  while still maintaining formation.  they were at full speed level flight most of the time.  they had walls of tracers in every direction.  they defended themselves  pretty good.  we all had bullet holes everywhere.  1 of ours dropped early in the fight  because of a dead engine another had engine quit 1/2 thru the fight.  I miself landed with parts missing.  everybody had bullet holes and parts missing.

the last 2 or 3 b17's were the hardest to kill as we had either no ammo or very little left.  the b17's werent shooting as much then as I think they had used up ammo in several positions.

this was a very disciplined set of b17's, they werent noobs.  they fought us well thru turns for about 3 1/2 sectors.  the last b17 was killed just before it could reach a55.

semp

[horble]

If I’m in a bomber and no one comes to intercept me the whole sortie was a waste of time.

[Mongoose]

Though I wasn't there myself, this sounds like it was much more fun for the fighter pilots who pounced than the bomber pilots who got slaughtered.

As a bomber pilot first and foremost, my mentality is to reach and hit a target in whatever I have upped. Someone in this thread said that the 17s never dropped a bomb? Then the bomber guys spent a fair amount of time to reach alt (granted, 10k not much alt) to get killed before they could do what they presumably spent that time to do?

Are you serious?  First, if you launch in anything, you are a target, period.  You don't get to complain when someone shoots at you.
Second, we have pages and pages of people complaining of not being able to find a fight.  Here you have two groups that had a really good fight, and you put them down for it.

Here the Pigs are saluting the bomber team for doing such a good job.  Kudos to both teams.
 

[waystin2]

As a note the Dickweeds upped immediately afterwards but adjusted their flight to avoid where the Pigs were operating.  The Dickweeds are always a professional crew and it does not go in the Pigs favor every time  the two squads meet hence the <S> that Semp is throwing out.  I would say we have lost as many planes to them in the long run. I am currently flying with a few of them in the scenario and they curse me and love me at the same time.  I am guarding their B-25's and B-26's  against Axis fighters while trying to destroy the German JU-88's.  Love working with these guys and fighting against them.  It's what Aces High is all about.


 

Waystin2

[Ciaphas]

Though I wasn't there myself, this sounds like it was much more fun for the fighter pilots who pounced than the bomber pilots who got slaughtered.

As a bomber pilot first and foremost, my mentality is to reach and hit a target in whatever I have upped. Someone in this thread said that the 17s never dropped a bomb? Then the bomber guys spent a fair amount of time to reach alt (granted, 10k not much alt) to get killed before they could do what they presumably spent that time to do?

Would be very interested to hear from any of the actual buff pilots involved to see if they thought getting torn apart like that was fun.

In the good old days AH had the people to do such missions with fighter escort, I am told? This was before my time mostly, though I do remember bumping into a few missions deep in enemy territory with my strat-running Ki67s, and tearing into the buffs before the escorts could tear into me! But that was half a decade ago....

Anyway (and again) I'd like to hear from any of the buff pilots involved. If they had fun, <S> to everyone involved. Otherwise, experiences like this just discourage further retro buff missions of that ilk.

JMO...

It's the name of the game, you up for a target and hope you get time over that target. If you get bounced, you get bounced. If flying with impunity is your idea of fun, I recommend flying off line because as has been previously stated. wheels up = target. The longer you are in the air the greater your chances are of getting bounced. it's all part of the circle of combat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[molybdenum]

If you want to denigrate anyone, point fingers at 999000. Over the years we lost a lot of piggies to him while he taught us the hard way how to kill bombers.

How was I denigrating anyone?
I'm glad you guys had fun, just was wondering if the bomber pilots who got killed before they dropped thought the same.