Talk about Murphy's Law whackin' ya upside the head.
I rush home from work... and finally get into the SEA 5 minutes before the planes start rollin'. I am completely disoriented. Nath sez "we need bombers". I say "I'll bomb".... he sez "Cool". So I do a quick roster check on Nath, see his country, then change to his country. I'm just getting my bearings at this point, when I ask on the country channel "Any RW channel fer Buffs?". A chorus of "What the hell ya doing here? Buffs are on the other team". Doh!
So I quickly change sides, hop in my B17 just as we're taxiing for take-off. The take-off was uneventful and we form up in a southern heading, as per the little line on the mission planner. That's when I start to fall back. Somethings not right here. I go from being oh, 3rd or 4th in the pack, to falling behind to 2k out of the formation.
During this, I notice a comm mentioning RW at such and such a channel. Good, ok. I switch to RW, as well as find our text channel. At this point I realized why I was falling back - I had forgotten to bring my flaps back up. Doh! again. I'm not making up much ground at all, but by now I'm not falling behind any more. So the chatter on the Buff's RW and the text buffer continues along.. when someone says "Ok - I got the Buffs in sight - 3:00." Wot?! It turns out I was jacked into the escort's comm. Doh!
So ok.... I'm thinkin'.... I got a bit of time here... Damage control. Flaps up, level out fer a bit of speed, finally got the RW set to the Buffs now... Not too bad. But I really need to get back into formation. The Buffs were between 2k and 3k out in front of me. I'm gonna be easy prey for the Luftwaffles. I gotta make up some ground in a huge way.
So I'm looking at the map, at the mission planner, and seeing the route we're chartin'. That's the ticket! I'll cut a few corners, take a more direct route, and within' ten minutes I'll be back in formation. Damn clever huh?
It turns out the Buff group mistakenly took the wrong route... holding the course not of the route to the enemy HQ, but the course coming BACK from HQ.
Oh this is beautiful.
However, the commute was a long one... and I finally get semi formed up. I'm about 1k out from the group when the enemy fighters pounce. But hell, I'm ready. I got my game face on. Then I see Buffs all around me start to pour smoke. Wings and tail sections start to litter the sky. Where the $@#@# from?! I'm not liking this at all... and I take up my vigil at the back of the Buff, waitin' for the ghosts to come. And they came. A hail of tracer fire comes at me out of thin air. I'm jumpin' back and forth in my gunner positions... I'm zoomin' in... I'm zoomin out... And all I can see is what appears to be God taking a rather forcefull and determined leak on my aircraft. Great. All this damn trouble, and now God is peeing on my plane.
Well... one wing gone, horiz stab gone... I'm dead. Turns out my icon was set to enemy off. Sigh... I figure I had so much bad luck in there that Karma is gonna kick in huge... I'll be untouchable. Invicible. Zigrat - outstanding job on this! Now give us another! I'm cashin' in Karma Currency. I need payback, dammit!
<S> Gentlemen... despite it all, it was a great time and very well thought out, Zig.