I was unaware of an orders update and had no clue we were to hold takeoff. I had to fill in as CO tonight, and had us roll at GO. Saw nobody around us, and then wondered if I was at the right base.
Then we were told to wait, so I had us land. Just as we had touched down and I was trying to figure out what happened, FATE rolled and we cut corners trying to catch them. We never made it to 16k but came in on trailing units of FATE just NE of 64.
What happened next was a swirling mass of fur. Our survivors limped home, 2 had operational planes and we went to 60. When we got there the base had 2 low 190s sitting in the ack. We made a couple passes then about 10-15 enemy appeared and gutted us.
I would have liked to have been over the A20s at 16k at the target, but we just couldnt be there and high at the same time because of my screwed up take off. Sorry FATE, and team.