Forgotten Battles Cooperative Play After Action Report 3/28/2003:
Location: Somewhere over Hungary (I say somewhere, because I was lost the whole time)
Conditions/Visibility: Cloudy/Hazy
Time: Sometime before 12:00 (I'm good with details!)
Difficulty: Full Difficulty
Mission Type: Pre-bomber raid fighter sweep
We started off in the air, all 16 of us in P47D-27s. I failed to pay attention to the briefing and the flight plan was not marked on the in-flight map (due to difficulty settings) and so the only thing I knew was what we were attacking and where it was. I, on the other hand, was completely lost. Rather than try to find landmarks as to where I was, I simply followed the pack. Unfortunately they were all on full throttle settings, I was on economy cruise settings and began to lag behind the closer we got to the base. There were two things I knew: Where we were supposed to attack and what we were supposed to attack. As we approach our target, I see dots in the distance diving down.. obviously my flight because our mission was to bring the Hungarians up from their base to attack us so they would be busy with us (or even better, all shot down) before the bombers would arrive.
So here I am cruising along, watching the fight develop and not knowing where I was or where I was heading. I just saw tracers and smoke, well, what the hell- I signed up for the fight, not to play Flight Sim Navigator. I push my throttle forward, open up my cowl flaps, bring the mixture up, put full prop pitch, roll over and dive. In front of me I see several planes chasing each other around in circles, unsure of who was what I lined up on one of the planes from a good distance out. Unfortunately for me, there was a cloud bank he was about to dart under and I was going to go through it. I lost him in the clouds and pulled out of the dive, breaking out of the clouds I see a 109 coming at me head on. Just enough time to open up on him. He didn't have time to react to me, as his guns remained silent. As we passed, I look back and see a trail of light grey smoke- Got his coolant! I go vertical and loop back around on him, he's still oblivious to me and is chasing another 47. As I dive down I catch him with his belly exposed to me and open up again- this time thick black smoke pours from the engine. No time to see what happens to him as he levels out and flies off, there's another 47 with another 109 on his tail about a thousand feet below me. I dive in, and make a pass, hitting his coolant too. The 109 breaks off and goes level, I quickly reverse and am on his tail- I let a few bursts go, and as I'm letting up on the trigger after the last burst, my plane is rattled by the explosion of his plane and I have to dodge large pieces of debri. He's done, all I see around me are 47s and in the distance a smoke plume. I fly over it to investigate, could make out debri of a 109- I assume it was the one I damaged that disengaged smoking badly earlier.
No more targets around me, I head to the Hungarian airfield to make a straffing pass. I'm in a shallow dive when I decide to adjust my mixture settings, and made a huge mistake- leaned it out completely. Thus my engine dies. toejam! First time I've done that , but I've never successfully restarted a killed engine before. I put the mixture at full, prop pitch full, and let the engine windmill for a few seconds, then try to restart it. First ignition- cling, clang, sputter... Failed. I recheck my settings, and try it again- this time I get a more familiar sputter, purr, and a roar as the engine bursts back to life. Well, that's lucky- especially since I'm now heading right towards a flak battery that's acquired me. Gun the throttle, haul back the stick, and go into a steep climb. Terrific, I'm hit. I level out and notice my plane dragging slightly to the right, I look over at my right wing and notice that I not only see the wings internal structure, but can also now see the ground through it in many places. Time for me to get the hell outta here.
Just as I'm turning into a SSW direction, a 109 comes flying towards me in a head on. I open up, and run out of ammo just as he passes by. Other 47s are on his tail so I just ignore it and keep on heading away from the field and towards safety. Now I know where I am on the map, and so paying close attention to my compass I navigate myself some 40 miles south until I see a unique city along a couple rivers. Studying the map and where I could possibly be, I find my location on the map: Szentgotthard. I plot out my flight path and head to the safety of friendly territory.
Final status: Returned to base, heavily damaged, with 2 bagged 109s.
Flights final status: All shot down except for me. (That AA is deadly)
Once the net code gets cleaned up a little (planes lag out a lot in FB while it was smooth as glass in Il2), the online experience will be amazing.
-SW
