Oops wrong part of the BB, sorry (eek)
"They'll just keep on coming", ede stated in a matter-of-factly way. "We'll be hard pressed to stop them, I'm telling ya".
Reluctantly accepting his gloomy outlook, a grumbled to myself "and we'll just wait for 'um". SG4 had suffered some losses during the last sortie but inflicted more. The question was whether it was enough.
The scheduled sortie for the day was much like the previous one; patrol and protect friendly airfields from intruding enemy bombers. Maybe this time we would actually spot the formation of bombers before they drop their bombs and spread by the wind, instead of tangling with the escorts like the last time.
Our Staffelkapitän HBlair was back from his R&R in Paris and would be leading the flight. With the stories he told howevver, I wondered if he shouldn't drop by the doctor to check his private parts for uninvited visitors. So many girls in such a short time *cannot* be good for a man. Then again, what the hell do I know about that?
Our flight took off and formed up. After barely nudging our A5's up to 29 000 feet, we continued towards our assigned patrol area. My bird was screaming in the cold, thin air and it was as if she said to me "get me lower, and I shall be able to treat you better" But escorts were expected to be high and we needed the altitude so we could dive past the escorts and hit the B-26's.
Soon enough, far over seemingly an endless body of water, bogeys were spotted - to our 1 o clock and higher. Must be escorts. Where are the bombers? A frantic search revealed nothing. Seconds later, "P-38's, P-38's coming in on our 6 fast" roared through the intercomI saw 6 of them in a loose formation with three engaging our rear formation.
HBlair wisely ordered us to bug out and head for friendly territory; at this altitude the A5 would be meat on the table for the high altitude specialist P-38's. During our retreat, ede, my dear comrade and wingman, utilized his normal poor judgement. Apparently, that man has too much testosterone. He engaged the high P-38's and I reversed to help him. Quickly, he scored a kill and let me know he was also running. I could almost see the big grin on his face.
A little earlier we'd lost our tail end boy. Ede was shot up and reported that he was going to ditch his plane near the city. Another friendly had also gone down. Things looked bleak.
HBlair realized that if we all tried to land, the P-38's would have no qualms about strafing us. He ordered me to reverse and engage the 5 remaining 38's, in order to cover the rest. Being a great leader, he had reversed earlier than me and was already going into harms way.
I came in fast, as the 38's had engaged HBlair and the fight was going lower.
600mph compression time!
Fortunately, I spotted a zooming P-38. Catching him on the way down, my guns brought an end to his flight. Pilot bailed succesfully.
The fight kept getting lower and for a moment I totally lost situational awareness and sight of HBlair. Spotting him, I saw him a good distance away engaged defensvely not with one, but two P-38's, both with higher e states. His great skill kept him alive and allowed me to close.
One P-38 broke off, but must have forgotten to call 6 to his comrade; he continued merrily on, firing at HBlair. He spotted me too late and made a desperate right turn. My guns hit their marks; one engine could be seen windmilling. But those damned things have two!
Zzoming up to avoid the second P-38, I completed an immelman and found myself directly behind the stricken P-38. More cannon rounds hit, and this time, it was enough. HORRIDO!, kill 2.
A third P-38 came in. bad news; he had both speed and altitude and I had spotted him relatively late. I desperately resorted to a flat scissor with a vertical element, went over to a vertical scissor and got enough nose-to-nose to enble me to disengage. The other P-38 was now wounded by HBlair but was coming directly at me; head on. A barrel roll spoiled his shot, but allowed the first P-38 to close again. This time, the pilot was more aware, and I was slower. Scissors again! pingpingping VERTICAL VERTICAL. A series of turns, nose to nose, he firing. CRACK, I felt a big jolt go through my aircraft as a 20mm perforated my wing. Well, at least I threw him off, we were heading separate directions.
What now? The second P-38 had now closed on me! Coming in at high speed, he went for the gun solution with HBlair on his six. Once again, scissors! How long can this go on? This is insane! With his high speed, he overshot, allowing me to disengage. At this time, the fellows refuelling were on the way. HBlair shot down both P-38's in rapid succession. Enemy destroyed, we returned to base. The following flight, a lone B-26 was downed.
Man, that was the most fun I've had in AH for a LONG time. The P-38 that I had to outscissor twice and nearly shot me down was JCY19 I think. With the P-38's meeting us that high, I thought we were done for. With just me and HBlair going in, I thought we were done for. With the P38's my 6 and closing, I thought I was done for. With 2 on his 6, I though HBlair ws gonna buy the farm.
Phew. Still shaking
Film can be found here:
http://www.geocities.com/stsantasatan/A5vsp38.zip Two cases of bad loss of SA there, and one minor during disengagemnt after scissoring.
Thanks Zigrat for a great job.
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StSanta
9./JG 54 "Grünherz"
[This message has been edited by StSanta (edited 10-17-2000).]
[This message has been edited by StSanta (edited 10-17-2000).]
