Broken Sledge

[Hollywood]

You know it's always the anvil that breaks the hammer.  

So how would you guys evaluate the success of the opperation?  Wish we could get some stats on it from the server.

Seriously it was a real blast rooks, feel free to try again any time.  



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It's a good day for flying!

    General Chuck Yeager

[buhdman]

Due to battlefield promotion, I became the leader of the Battle-Axe bomber force that hit the city (three ships, by that time, due to attition and intercept).  We got our bombs on target, though.  Sigh.  If only my commander had listened to me when I told him 25% fuel load would not be enough!  Sadly, all planes became gliders at 30K and were quickly dispatched by the greedy sharks that filled the air around us.

Was a blast!  Cudos to those who flew on both sides!  <SALUTE>

Thanks, again, Nite for providing defensive fire while you could and to ts and company for the excellent fighter coverage!

buhdman, out




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Walt (buhdman) Barrow
(formerly lt-buhd-lite)
home.earthlink.net/~wjbarrow

[214CaveJ]

the broadswords met with problems when a spit jumped us between f17 and f18, managing to get one very lucky shot on me before our escorts (flying pigs) sent him to the ground, taking out the oil for my #4 engine.  This slowed our climb, but our escorts fended off most of the bishcuits fighters, and then our guns them.  We also got our bombs on target before the bishcuit fighters finally broke through our escorts and took us down one at a time, loosing a good number of fighters.

We'll be back wood, count on it =)

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Air power is a thunderbolt launched from an egg shell invisibly tethered to a base.         -  Hoffman Nickerson

[Fallen]

Heh.I think that WAS my spit actually (orginally posted that it wasnt but i thought you said f7 and f18..weee im so happy now)   But i got one of you up by f18-f17 when you were still down about 7k. What a blast. Too bad i didnt survive the pass *lol* Like wood said, feel free to try agian any time. Oh and that b-17 i got was my first Air to air kill!!! I got 4 of you total through that, not impressive or anything but it was a great rush, im not very good at flying or shooting so it was quite an experiance to see 20-30 planes all flying around...*cough* ne how..sorry..very fun.

Fallen

[This message has been edited by Fallen (edited 11-26-1999).]

[Rojo]

Yeah, buhdman; it was my idea only to take 25 percent fuel (though I don't recall you're making an argument, at least not vehemently). Seriously, tho, it was great fun.  I also would love to see the stats on what effect our strategic strikes had on the Bishops.  How about it, HtC? Can we have some post-strike BDA from the server?  We'll try it again, some time.  Thanks to all.

Rojo (a.k.a. Sabre)

[Camel]

Glad to be your first Fallen, er ah? maybe not, that sounds wierd  
I was the 17 you got, that got you! between 17 and 18.
Welcome and good shooting!

Camel

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The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all.

Peter Tosh

[NiteF1yr]

The view out the back of Buhdmans plane on our approach to f3.

 

Nite

[Fallen]

I know it was SOMEONE camel   glad to have shot you down *lol* great fun.

--Fallen

[Hollywood]

I was heading over the mountains in a 190 when I saw the red takeoffs from 17 & 18 I think it was & heard some radio chatter by CaveJ that told me something was up.

I gave everyone the heads up & went in on a low bomber that I came across, we shot each other down, end of Luftwaffe plane #1.

I then took off from 4 in a 109 I believe it was & was over the mountains again in time to intercept some buffs & 51s at about 15k.  If I remember it all right some of the 51s chased me around for a while before I got free of them & caught up with the buffs & close escort.  I got two 51s before they knew I was there & two buffs before being shot down again.  End of Luftwaffe plane #2.

Next I took off from f1 in a 109 with all the fixins & caught up to a buff formation on their way out.  I found that I could catch up to the 51s & they would have to break & then they couldn't catch up to me again when I continued on through.  After some fencing with 51s I caught up to the buffs and got two more before being shot down.  End of Luftwaffe plane #3.  Then the server went down ending the scenarioette before the cunningly devastating counterattack, arrrrgh.

In all it was a pretty realistic experince.  Particularly the losing planes, bailing & replaning tho I think I bought it either once or twice.  The sneak attack was interesting & kind of realistic in its own way.  I thought we poor bishops did pretty good being outnumbered 3 to 2 or thereabouts & having no warning.  We even sent some buffs to strike back at the factories near f1.  At the outset I thought we were gonna get plastered.  It was the most fun I've had in AH so far & that's saying something.  I wish my k/d could be like this every day.

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It's a good day for flying!

    General Chuck Yeager

[-kier-]

Nite-

You can witness the death of one B17 on your kill buffer... I was hitting the nasty Rook buffs at that hour!

[Lephturn]

Holly, you either got tangled with 2 flights of us, or you didn't get that many kills.  After the first early loss, there was only ever 3 Buffs, and we escorted Camel safely home.  Jinx was our roving fighter in Angel (escort) flight, and he got 4, Ichi got 1 and I got 1, we were the close 51 escort.  At 30k the 51 is really a pig, couldn't really tangle with the 109's, had to try and lead ya away as Wrek did with a bunch.  We were wishing for P47's up that high, I can tell you that.

In the end, I died in the canyons trying to shake a Pony (Note, 600 MPH canyon runs are not reccomended!) but he was the last and I lead him down away from our single remaining Buff.  Ichi, Jinx (with no ammo) and Camel in his 17 RTB'ed safely and all targets were destroyed.  Not bad considering the very stiff resistance we were facing.

It was great fun!


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Lephturn
The Flying Pigs

[Rojo]

For the record, the date and time, if not the operational details of Operation Sledgehammer were advertised in advance in two separate posts here.  Weazel was at least one guy flying for the Bishops that was waiting in the cockpit for the scramble horn.

In a way, this is very much like what the Luftwaffe had to deal with in 1943/44. If the weather was clear, they knew the Mighty 8th was coming. They always knew what time the bombers launched from England, via their excellent radio intercept capablilities. What they didn't know was where, and with what force the 8th would strike. This was the experience I was trying to create for both sides with this event. I think it succeeded.

Quite frankly, when our two bomber formations and their escorts lifted from f17, I was sure we were going to have a walk in the park (relatively speaking). As we climbed out, the Bishop's numbers climbed until they had about three-quarters of the Rook's numbers.  Then the attacks on our formations began, first lone wolfs, then more organized resistance.  The Bishops did a great job of defending their homeland, but couldn't stop the buffs from reaching their targets and decimating them. Unfortunately, only ONE B-17 rtb'd. War is heck, eh?

The plan was actually a three-pronged attack. Wraith flight was a composite tactical strike package that launched from 18. It's job was to hit f8, f7, and f4 (in that order), destroying the fuel (#1 priority), and any other targets of opportunity. This, it was hoped, would restrict any LW types launching from their to 25% fuel (not enough to climb to 30K and attack the two main buff formations attacking strategic targets. Battle Axe Flight came next (Dragon Flt as escort), and attacked the city and the refinery; it was also to attack the ammo factory if possible -- it wasn't! Finally came Broadsword Flt (Angel Flt as escort), which passed over the mountains several about 10 min behind Battle Axe. It's targets were the refinery, and both ack factories.

By staggering these three flights, it was hoped the Bishops would be unable to react in time to concentrate against any one of them. I'll be posting a complete after-action report a little later -- I'm still compliling post-strike reports of individual pilots.  Thanks again, to all who participated. We'll definitely do it again sometime.

Sabre (a.k.a. Rojo)

[This message has been edited by Rojo (edited 11-27-1999).]

[Hollywood]

Yup Lephturn, I'm pretty sure it was two different flights.  I'm not sure the first buff was in on the operation he seemed a little of a lone wolf and had no escort.  One buff that spun down missing a vertical stab might possibly have made it home but I doubt it.  It was a very lucky night for me, I was always in the right place.

Yup Rojo, I saw the message in passing on the bulletin board but didn't note the time or date.  Only when I saw things begin to happen I realized this must be it.  It was a great idea, well carried out.  I'm waiting to see what you come up with next.  

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It's a good day for flying!

    General Chuck Yeager

[214CaveJ]

hey wood, was that 17 with it's vert stab gone near f4?  if so that was my flight, broadswords.  Ardy lost his vert stab just south-east of f4 I believe, and fell out.  I dinnae if he made it, but I dinnae remember seeing an 'ardy shot down' msg either.

Looking forward to the next one.

[Swager]

First flight (and only),  Weazel and I (yes I was there also  )flew from Knight airfield in FW190s, crossed mountains to bishop land to intercept rook B17s.  Tangled with escort of 3 P51s, managed to evade escort.  At this time deep in bishop land to attack rook B17s.  Was working with a bishop 109 and 190 in combined effort to make pass at B17s when attacked by other bishop fighters.  Had to disengage to evade, going from 12k feet to 400 feet where the 3 to 4 bishops fighters finally downed me.

Was fun, but too bad could not of worked out a more coordinated effort against the bombers. Maybe next time.

Gave a feeling what the real LW fighters had to experience about climbing and then trying to engage strong US bomber streams and fighter escort.

Weazel and I had a hell of a time gettting to the bombers, I never made it, but it was fun!

   



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Damn Ghostrider!  This bogey is all over me!!