Great fight in FSO 3 A6M2 vs 30 P39D

[valdals]

friday night FSO was exciting. japanese vs americans. i was part of a 3 zero recon group tasked with spotting the enemy for the main force.  in grid 11, 8, 4 at 19,000 ft we ran into a force of 30+ p39d fighters.  we reported the position to the main group and tried to escape. the p39 was too fast. my flight leader and number 3 were blasted out of the sky. my only hope was to twist and turn and try to make it on deck. 3 p39's followed me down the rest remained high. i managed to splash all 3 p39s.  my plane and pilot was in bad shape. 1 elevator lost, 2 of my fuel tanks leaking, 1 landing gear missing, and a pilot wound. i managed to make it inside the dar ring of cv8. i bailed safely before my pilot died.  knowing you only have one life in this scenario, i managed to kick in the extra effort to save my hide. i think the main arena should be like this. 

[spit16nooby]

Hey Valdals this is ace.  Come on take all the glory I got a kill and 3 or 4 assists.  Not to mention how many times I dove down to help you too.  That was the funnest night of my life even though we lost to who seems to be becoming my friendly rival 1pLus44.
<S>Valdals

[FiLtH]

  I had a good fight with 2 f4fs that chased and caught me on the deck. Fight lasted a long time. Lost my right cannon and a fuel leak (luckily the flames didnt start). Popped one f4f pretty good, assumed it was a pilot wound as he broke off. Continued fight with a guy named BnZs till he finally broke off. I then flew all the way home, landed like a feather but overshot re-arm on cv.

  As I sat there I thought wow, this is a long 30 seconds to re-arm. Then I realized I wasnt on pad ao I tried to back up with a touch of throttle, but it launched me off the stern killing me. Was kind of a let down after such a good fight.

[valdals]

Hey Valdals this is ace.  Come on take all the glory I got a kill and 3 or 4 assists.  Not to mention how many times I dove down to help you too.  That was the funnest night of my life even though we lost to who seems to be becoming my friendly rival 1pLus44.
<S>Valdals

i could not tell where you were at the time i was trying to save my butt. but thanks for posting your results. i  was not sure what you  and selino did.

[valdals]

funny thing about last night. when i got a kill. it did not tell me which pilot i trashed. i was very lucky to have survived. i though i was a gonner when i saw so many cons after me. i knew if i survived long enough to get on deck i had a chance against the p39

[Spikes]

I don't believe Special Events tell you straight up who you killed. It's in the logs.

[hubsonfire]

No kill messages in the SEA. Go to www.ahevents.org and check the logs.

[Halo46]

Fun night. Hey Filth, did you put your arrestor hook up before backing up? I found that out the hard way.

[Saxman]

VMF-251 posted its best night in FSO last night, if not it's best sortie ever. We launched from C22 with 31st Fighter Group to defend the carrier. As we climbed to alt and our patrol positions, the two strike packages (ours and one from the enemy CV) must have ran right into each other. Army of Muppets slaughtered the Kates before they could reach the carrier. 31st and VMF-251 arrived to help them with the Zekes.

My squad had been drilling hard on coordination and communication, knowing that 1v1 our F4Fs weren't well matched against the Zeros. However everything worked perfectly. We utilized our strengths to perfection: durability, firepower and ammo load, (we took the 4x.50cal option for longer duration of fire) and high-speed maneuverability, and our work on tactics paid off. Time and again if one Buc picked up a bandit, his wingman was right there to clear him off. The end result was between the squadrons of F4Fs, not one of the enemy strike package made it within flashing distance of the carrier. VMF-251 had one plane damaged and unable to rearm (landing gear) and one with engine damage (RTBed). The squadron that could rearmed aboard the carrier in flights, keeping at least four of us up at a time.

After our flights rearmed and reorganized, the remaining 9 F4Fs proceeded back north. With no threat to the carrier, we were permitted to proceed north to A9 by the CiC. Initially we were then redirected to 41, but over 9 a (dubiously legal) furball erupted. Eventually the fight got down to the deck where our F4Fs were at a disadvantage, but once again our hard-practiced teamwork came into play.

By the end of the frame, eight of VMF-251's pilots accounted for 32 enemy aircraft (all fighters) destroyed. Three scored at LEAST five victories, (eight, six and five) and one had four. Only three of the squadron appear to have actually been credited as "shot down." Most either successfully returned to base, or ditched on their way back but clear of the engagement area.

[Scotch]

This was a pretty good frame!

Even though Moot shot my meatbomb in the head at the end.  

[Krusty]

friday night FSO was exciting. japanese vs americans. i was part of a 3 zero recon group tasked with spotting the enemy for the main force.  in grid 11, 8, 4 at 19,000 ft we ran into a force of 30+ p39d fighters.  we reported the position to the main group and tried to escape. the p39 was too fast. my flight leader and number 3 were blasted out of the sky. my only hope was to twist and turn and try to make it on deck. 3 p39's followed me down the rest remained high. i managed to splash all 3 p39s.  my plane and pilot was in bad shape. 1 elevator lost, 2 of my fuel tanks leaking, 1 landing gear missing, and a pilot wound. i managed to make it inside the dar ring of cv8. i bailed safely before my pilot died.  knowing you only have one life in this scenario, i managed to kick in the extra effort to save my hide. i think the main arena should be like this. 

USMC were in that group. We saw you off our 3 oclock. I think the AKs or the 68s off our distant wing (we were all heading the same way) stayed to deal with you. We let you go and kept on our target path.

Glad you had a blast. One thing I might point out, though, is that by "one life" they mean one aircraft. Landing safely helps the score of your team. Once damaged and landed, you cannot up another. Valiant though your effort was, by bailing you lost your ride (and so did many pilots, you definitely shouldn't feel bad after what you flew through!)

I did a bit of checking just now. We (P39Ds) encountered you at 20k. We drop off sharply above 15k. A6M2 may be slower down low, but the higher you go, the better you will fare against those P-39s. Just an FYI. Take a look-see:

[Captfish]

  i was one of the greedy 39s that followed you down .......and eventually hit the water...I had fun, It was my first time back in combat in a while been having some connection problems, anyway. I merged with you a few times but on the last merge you killed my engine  tried to come around see if i could get one more in but i sucked every last drop of E out that green turd(J/k its not that bad a plane I'm just not used to it) and I went for a swim, I was either the last or second to last of the 39s that you sent to  .....

hopefully i wont be so anxious next time

[stodd]

I was in a tbm. I droped my 2 bombs form about 20,000ft and missed. I felt mad that I flew all that way for nothing so I dove on some low zero's. I hit 1 from 800 out with the 2 50cals and got his engine i saw him glide back and land. I then started doing loops with another zero,I was able to put him on fire but after re watching the film he was able to ditch to ): . By this time the rest of my flight had died or rtb'd. I was then jumped by 3 zero's and I had been doing spit s's and turns with them for about 5 min when finally help arrived! Friendly p39's came in and flamed all 4 of em. Lucky for me to because I probably wouldnt of taken any more hits. I was eventually able to RTB and land. I was missing an elevator,aileron, back gun, left flap, rudder and had a fuel leak.
<S> to the p39's that saved my but!

[DEBO]

Splashed 1 P39 and ran for my life...

Im new, so I'm just getting the hang of this, among many other aspects of AH.

[angelsandair]

Me, my squad, and another were guarding Henderson in P-39Ds. Out of our group, I think only like 3 or 4 made it out (including myself). And darn it this FSO!! I was one kill away from getting in the Top Allied kills. (Got 5 kills and  I think 4 assists).

My first one was at about 25,000 feet when the Patrolling group of P-39s ran into a group of about 30 Japanese A6M2s. We fought and I ended up getting a kill (I'm not sure which one though, I didn't stay on any one Zeke too long for fear of another diving down upon me.) When the fight got low, a Zeke got on my tail and hit me 3 times, only combat damage i got. Then I HO'd a zeke (stupid on his part) and ran for it again. Finally, I ran into the D3A vals. It was me vs. 2 of them. Soon enough, a dog fight ensued, and I took both of them down. It was wierd too, cuz I shot of their gears first (they looked like Kates after that). I then went on to score 2 more victories on low attacking zeros on Henderson. Finally, things were looking bad, the Zekes had alt on my squadies and numbers (ratio of about 2:1) Then our saviors came in, Shreck and his little bunch of F4Fs came in and helped us finish off the remaining Zekes. We then all ganged a D3A Val which I got the kill for.


I think I would like to thank Shreck the most. His group inadvertantly saved all of us P-39D pilots and helped us re-establish a CAP on the field  to you guys.

http://www.mediafire.com/?t23mtymbok3 (Video I made using FSO footage)