Axis Frame 1 AARs CO's especially :)

[Kronos]

I want to find out the big picture on what happened as we hit Malta.  It was extremely hectic there for a bit, and before I knew it I was sitting in the tower.  (My flying was absolutely horrendous, I was trying to keep up with what was going on, and find my wingman after I lost him.)

Orders (In brief)

MAG 33 was sent to the southeast of malta to make a surprise attack on the P2, after the bomber force drew the enemy.  Not sure how successful they were.  After the first strike, I sent the 1 remaining 110 back there by himself.  (He was absolutely superb and did much better than I expected.)

KG2/332nd Vikings were JU88's and tasked to hit both A1 and HQ.
Not sure if they even really made it to target.

56th FG originally tasked to stay with MAG 33, I rescinded that and sent them with the bombers.  Once near malta, we vectored
south and then east to hit the port.  We did some damage.

9 GIAP was tasked with Hi alt bomber escort duty, then after malta, I had them defend the port.

18 Gruppo was tasked with close bomber support for the raid into malta.  I messed up on their orders, I should have sent them ahead in the very beginning so they could refuel just once during the flight to Malta, instead they had to refuel twice.

They all performed way above expectations, and we managed to beat back the attack on P82.  Very costly in the numbers of planes for our side.  

Will be interesting to see just how much damage we inflicted.

[Ripsnort]

Swoop will be along to account for a full AAR, but from my viewpoint as a pile-it...I would assume that MAG-33 destroyed their port.  I accounted for a ammo bunker, a barracks, two enemy spits before being shot down.  Looking back over my shoulder when we dropped, the port was a smoking ruin.

I might add, since air superiority favored the Axis by the time we went "IN", CO decided to let us have fun and dogfight! It was great!

Fun frame, enjoyed it!

[Swoop]

MAG-33


We snuck in at 15k to find a real big furball over Malta.   I promptly discoed and spent the rest of the attack in Cav's gun position.  All eggs were dropped on target, the flight were then engaged and only one fought his way back to base:  RangerBob.

RangerBob was last seen taking off again from the south coast of Sicily muttering something about beer at P2.......

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Swoop
MAG-33

RangerBob was last seen taking off again from the south coast of Sicily muttering something about beer at P2.......

LOL, that conversation was funny as hell...

[Kronos]

LOL Im betting he was cussing me... especially when I told him he had no escort.  

[GA]

Gents;)

The 332 Vikings in JU88 tok off from A-14 and circled for about 10 min and at 9k waiting for the 109 & 202 to arrive and reful, before I Ordered the JU88 heading W.
The KG2 were only 2 pilots, so They formed in on our Brown flight and flow in close formation with us.
The 109 & 202 were refuling and started to take off again, so they were just behind us.

We tunrned Stright S when 3-5 miles out of 8 line and lvl at 17k shortly after. At this time we had both 109 & 202 in escort range;).
20 miles after this, Kronos asked if I could spott any Cons?, No enemy cons from my view( my maps, Orders and the rest of my paper on the desk ) I responded to Kronos, my squadmates inforemd me that I should look more closer to the sky!! and yes indeed Multi Cons of enemy fighters IB , then all hell broke lose;), our fighters did a great job fighting the enemy away and some of the JU88 did shoot down some fighters also.
When stright W of Malta ,we turned stright E for IB on Target, A-1 & HQ. The enemy were all over, and we had hard time keeping controll and formation, then after my 1 kill and 1 assist , I gott 2 damn Spits on my tail, and they gott my wing and I gott into a spin!.

Some of the Bomber did Drop on Targets, but did not get confirm on the damage!

Was a great frame , see you gents next sunday!

[clouds]

From my point of view the worst thing was our twice rtb (in A14 and A10) for refuelling while it would be sufficent only one refuelling. In other words, when we spotted 109s approaching A14 from NE, we should be headed due W for A10 to make only one refuelling instead of two.

Make refuelling twice, seprared 18°Gruppo (or part of it) from the bombers and last but (unfortunately) not least, 50% of us was suffering serious damages during landing and / or taxiing so only 5 202 pilots survived the 2nd landing (me, Tempest4, MechW2 Korben and maybe SohEh).

Our run to meet the bomb group over malta in time came to finish when I saw GA writing "I'm down" or something like this.

When we arrived over Malta, we merged with at least 10 SPITS over and below us, Tempest4 damaged one, MechW2 damaged 2, I scratched one down and damaged another (so I think) then FLAK bring away half a wing from my 202 and I was forced to bail out.

I don't have any report from Korben and SohEh.

The only one pilot remained from 18°Gruppo was MechW2 on fuel shortage so I suggested him to head stright to A6 for refuelling and rearming and so he did.

Afther tookoff Kronos told me to send MechW2 to P82 (just 10 miles North from my real Home ) and while MechW2 was trying to gain altitude, a furball appeared just over P82 involving some 109s, SPITs and Hurrycanes, and it was exaclty one of these Hyrricanes to put the word "END" on the MechW2 flight.

I'm sorry for my POOR SA (it could been helpfull to have a better SA but.............this was not the case).

We will try to make all tasks better the next frame.

Thx to all and...........chk your 6666666 I could be there

[Kronos]

Agreed clouds, That was a mistake on my part.  I should have realized that 2 refuels for you didnt' really make sense, and just sent you immediately to A10, then rendezous with the bombers.

[snafu]

Definately the best yet, I think the Euro TOD is finally starting to take off (Excuse the pun) Having not flown the 110 before I found out that trying to adjust view position with 2 Spits and a Hurri on my 6 results in a quick trip back to the tower. Joined RangrBob as a gunner for the suicidal 2nd sortie and had a blast... a string of allied fighters followed us all the way through the 2nd strike. As mentioned in another thread some ack appeared to be  back up and we took several hits on our way through. There were 4 on us as we tried to egress and although we smoked one  the reduced weight of the airframe due to bits blown off by the ack did more to hinder manouverability than increase the speed and we got caught and I found myself in the tower for the 2nd time in one night.

Having been "Considering my options" after trying out previous Euro TOD's I'll definately be back after this one.

to all involved

TTFN
snafu

[Fariz]

We had 10 109f4s, and 3 109e4s.

Loses: 4 109f4 and 3 109e4s.

Kills: ~10 enemies.

[Tilt]

Originally posted by snafu
There were 4 on us as we tried to egress and although we smoked one  

You didnt smoke him.........he was hit by freindly fire............ but made it back to base........

The 1st spit on you emptied his clip............. the 2nd followed you thru p2 and finally got you......... the other two dived and turned you but pinged the 2nd in their eagerness......... was a fun chase.

[Esme]

I was out on the right side of the Ju88s and near the rear, I think. Flossy had joined me as a gunner after t+30. As soon as Spits started attacking, I started bobbing and weaving, and Flossy hammered away, and we managed to survive 4-5 attacks.  Lost sight of Gearup, the other KG2er present, but he outlived me, I believe.

Lost my 500kg bombs when I tried to shoot a Spit that fly across my bows... trigger on fire all weapons doh!  Managed to drop my 50kg bombs onto a target but the jinking about menat I was hurried, and only killed one flak position. Couldnt make out what had happened to rest of force,, and was turning NW to dive away from the Spits when BAM! We were suddenly sans tail unit. Flossy and I floated gently to earth - in my case dead killed by the flipping ack (HTC; any chance you can stop flak killing pilot chutes?!)

For a number of reasons mostly due to RL (Tm) a rather hectic frame for me but our comrades leading Gearup and me into the fray were excellent hosts and as it happened I was more than happy to follow their lead.

Next frame though KG2 WILL have more pilots! :-) There's even a slight chance we might have double our estimated number! :-}

Esme

[Joker312]

Tilt is in fact correct! While the 1st 2 spits were chasing you Chanter and I watched from above. After watching for a few minutes we figured that maybe they werent gonna catch you so we swooped in.

Chanter turned you and didnt get a shot, I followed and as you filled my sight I squeezed the trigger. To my great dismay your turn allowed Tilt to close the gap and he flew between you and I. I luckily came off the trigger so as not to blast him to bits but the damage was already done. Hit him in the radiator and his frame was done. He did kill ya before he RTB'ed:)

Great frame overall except the frendily fire thing. I got 2 possible kills and 3 assits not counting Tilt! The 4 other guys I flew with made claims for 5 or 6 others. 5 of us took off and 1 was shot down for 8-10 kills. Good days work for 880 Squad!

Excellent plan and execution by the Axis, you almost caught us if not for a bit of luck. As it was I think it will be a very close frame !

Joker

[snafu]

Hehe guys,
 Suppose it was that bit harder having to keep out of everyone way because of friendly fire, (I had no such problems) I did feel slightly miffed at RangrBob though, he lured me into the gunner position by telling me we were going after the Beer at P2, He never said anything about enemy aircraft imagine my suprise when he didn't even attempt to land so I could grab a few cases on the way through.

TTFN
snafu

[daddog]

Sounds like it went pretty well.

Next frame though KG2 WILL have more pilots! :-) There's even a slight chance we might have double our estimated number!

Remember only 2 over your max. The next TOD you can up your numbers.