Next FSO: The Dogs of War - Belgorod Kharkov 1943

[daddog]

2nd lives are a pain. Never liked to deal with them much myself.

Even if you are tasked with flying them, you will only have to one of the three frames.

How will the CM's insure that?

If you have a CiC that puts out the orders late (has happened several times in the past couple months) and a squad that has already been assigned Stuka's gets them again I guess they bite the bullet.  Would not make for a happy crew. Might be a difficult promise to keep in a bad situation. Personally I would put in the 2nd life for something like a Stuka just for situations that CM's can't control. My two cents for future thought, I am not asking you to change it.

Nice write up and setup Squire.  I don't see much in the way of rust.

[Squire]

Not a guarantee, but CiCs should always, always, check to see who has already done attack/bomber duties in previous frames and share the burden fairly. I see no reason why a squad should pull Stuka or IL-2 duty more than once in this setup, as fighters make up at least 2/3 of both forces, with 220-260 players per side.

[1pLUs44]

I really really hope my guys get the P-39Q.

My 'shade' account IS p39dweeb....

[Sled]

Not a guarantee, but CiCs should always, always, check to see who has already done attack/bomber duties in previous frames and share the burden fairly. I see no reason why a squad should pull Stuka or IL-2 duty more than once in this setup, as fighters make up at least 2/3 of both forces, with 220-260 players per side.

One of the first things I do as CiC is look at what squads have flown in previous frames, Then I look at what they have requested. (on the AH events site)

That process takes about 20min, and almost guarantees that a squad is not going to get a "lame" ride more than once.

CiC's have all the tools they need, they just have to use them.


DD you have a PM.

[humble]

The A-20G was in active russian service as of May 1943. The russians actually flew more A-20g's then all other allied forces combined...lobby lobby lobby

[Dantoo]

I'll take Il2 all three frames thx 

[Squire]

Hmm, May 43 sounds like the USAAF ops date, I dunno about the VVS. They certainly had many A-20A/B varients in use, which is why I went with the Boston III. if it was a 1944 setup, no doubt the A-20G would b a possibility. Gimme a source if you have one, just for my own info.

[humble]

Operatational deliveries started in Feb 1943

I cant find anything specifically giving delivery dates for the USSR. The closest I can come right now is a link to the 8th attack Squadron in the pacific stating that its transition to A-20G's was delayed specifically due to the priority of lend lease and stating that almost all the initial 20mm versions + a large % of the follow up production was delivered to the USSR before US units were upgraded...

Most of the A-20G-1-DOs, as well as a large number of later A-20G variants were delivered to the Soviet Union.

http://8thattacksqdnassoc.tripod.com/WWIIa.html#Convert

I did find a link documenting a russian naval A-20 was shot down by the germans near finland, it seems it had a female gunner so it was unusual. Almost 100% of the naval A-20s were G's but the article didnt specify. I did come across some lend lease stuff the collaberates that the initial production A-20G's did go to Russia but cant find the link now, it did not however give any delivery specifics...

[Fencer51]

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/geust/aircraft_deliveries.htm

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/sterlikov/index.htm

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/photogallery/boston/index.htm

Picture in the bunch above dated May 43.

Anyone read Russian?

http://www.bellabs.ru/51/index.html

[Dantoo]

Anyone read Russian?

Thanks to SD67

[Krusty]

Looking at the links in the past 2 posts doesn't seem to show the presence of solid-nose A-20Gs during July/August 1943 very much. Seems they were slow at getting planes where they needed to be after delivery, in fact. So maybe the US shipped them over on a certain date, but does anbody have anything that shows when they first started seeing widespread combat use?

[humble]

nothing concrete that I can find anywhere on actual deployment dates or locations...

[Squire]

Ok, well, I do appreciate the look. I think I will just keep the Boston III in there for now. I looked myself too, and could not find anything concrete, which is why I decided to not include them this setup. Have no fear, im sure the A-20G will be back in a future FSO.

[Hamltnblue]

From  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-20_Havoc
The A-20G, delivered from February 1943, would be the most produced of all the series - 2850 were built. The glazed nose was replaced by a solid nose containing four 20 mm cannon and two 0.50 in (12.7 mm) Colt-Browning machine guns, making the aircraft slightly longer than previous versions. After the first batch of 250 the unreliable cannon were replaced by more machine guns. Some had a wider fuselage to accommodate a power driven gun turret. Many A-20Gs were delivered to the Soviet Union. The powerplant was the 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) R-2600-23. US A-20Gs were used on low-level sorties in the New Guinea theatre.

[Hamltnblue]

Here's another reference of an actual unit using them around this time.
Link   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47th_Flying_Training_Wing

The 47th remained active in combat during March and April 1943 while training for medium level bombardment. In 1943 the group was upgraded to the A-20G, which increased their forward firepower during low-level strafing missions. Moving to Malta, the group participated in the reduction of Pantelleria and Lampedusa (Operation Corkscrew) in June 1943 and the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) in July. The group also bombed German evacuation beaches near Messina in August.

The group supported the British Eighth Army during the invasion of Italy in September. Moving to Italy as part of the Italian Campaign, the group assisted the Allied advance toward Rome, Sep 1943-June 1944 at the battles of the Bernhardt Line, Monte Cassino, and Operation Shingle.