• [MoM #2] "Stacked Steel" AAR •

[832725]

i heard great things about it, wish i could have been there.

Neary i was one of the first and F77 to burn to the ground but i did rack up 1 262 kill .
Be lucky u whernt in the Green group we where slaughtered.

[oakranger]

Great MoM.  353rd up in 109s, 152, 110 and 262.  The escort was all over me but somehow i got into the bomber formation taking out 3 of them.

[macerxgp]

Apparently, the escort did better than I thought they did. Back in my '47 with the rest of the 352nd, I was plain BORED! At the point we went feet wet, I had only seen six fighters enter con range. I thought that was all they had sent! I barely used 400 rounds of ammo, and my opinion was that the jugs were useless, due to the 'weak' enemy resistance, but as it turned out, the ponies and lightnings were getting all the action! I just wish I could have seen a bit more action, Especially since my first actual taste of combat vs an enemy fighter was after the city when I had 6 gallons (NOT MINUTES, US GALLONS OF AVIATION FUEL) of gas left and somebody ended up on my six and sent me to the tower. I was a little miffed, but a good way to tell the mission is going well is if the close cover fighters and the gunners are getting bored.

  I salute the pilots that actually MADE it thought the fighter screen, I think the performance of the P51's in the first MoM gave them a reputation of being ineffective, and I think that cost a lot of fighters their perks. Overall, I think that the jugs (especially myself) wanted to see a bit more action, or at least see a bit more altitude before the fighters hit.

[96Delta]

Thanks for the comments guys. 

macerxgp,
I have a plan for the next time that will definitely get you
and all the other fighter escorts some action.

The problem this time was the botched launch.
That messed up our whole operations plan and
resulted in a caterpillar of bombers with the lead
seeing the majority of the early and most intense action.
I think we have a handle on that now.

Its all a learning process.  We improved significantly
this time over our inaugural performance.  The next time
will be better still.

And brother, I wish you were up front with me when all
the action started!  I was in the GREEN bomb group
and dude, we needed help up thar!

Sorry you didn't see any action though and the same
for anyone else who felt like they missed out.  Just stick
with us as we iron out the kinks.

The next MoM will be another Strategic Bomber Mission
only this time we will be using B-24J Liberators and the
same fighter aircraft for escort and "other" duties.

Hang in there guys, we're just getting started!   
We need your patience and continued participation while
we work out the kinks.

David
"96Delta"

Register for MoM Alerts at the LCA website: www.lcasquad.org

[zoozoo]

Thanks for the comments guys. 

macerxgp,
I have a plan for the next time that will definitely get you
and all the other fighter escorts some action.

The problem this time was the botched launch.
I think we have a handle on that now.

Its all a learning process.  We improved significantly
this time over our inaugural performance.  The next time
will be better still.

And brother, I wish you were up front with me when all
the action started!  I was in the GREEN bomb group
and dude, we needed help up thar!

Sorry you didn't see any action though and the same
for anyone else who felt like they missed out.  Just stick
with us as we iron out the kinks.

The next MoM will be another Strategic Bomber Mission
only this time we will be using B-24J Liberators and the
same fighter aircraft for escort and "other" duties.

Hang in there guys, we're just getting started!   

David
"96Delta"

Register for MoM Alerts at the LCA website: www.lcasquad.org

Need to do this twice a month, only 12 a year now!

[96Delta]

Need to do this twice a month, only 12 a year now!

Don't want to burn people out zoozoo.
I'm watching the participation levels.
When I see them climbing steadily and can
see increasing interest I will look into the
possibility of running them with more
frequency.

Thanks for the vote of confidence though.

[yanksfan]

Don't want to burn people out zoozoo.
I'm watching the participation levels.
When I see them climbing steadily and can
see increasing interest I will look into the
possibility of running them with more
frequency.

Thanks for the vote of confidence though.

Your doing a heck of a job Delta, well done, keep up the good work

[HighTone]

I had a great time. Just about half of my 38's got shot down over the channel of death right before we got into bish territory. That's where the NME seemed to number its highest. It can be hard to stay in with the group sometimes and not chase cons, but I thought this time the 38's did a great job staying with the bomber group protecting the buffs the best we could. It was hard because it seemed like every time I turned a 152 or 109 would pop up in icon range almost out of nowhere. <S> to the Lightning Pilots. I hope there will be 38's in the next one. I was shot down after the fuel refinery was hit, but I only had 18 gallons of fuel left so I doubt I would of made it back to base.

<<S>> to the bomber pilots. These missions wouldn't work without you guys. I hope you had fun and will join us for the next one.

[PFactorDave]

I'll be interested to see what happens if the layout of the map favors one target over another and we see a massive shift of players from one country to another a few minutes before launch...  Be a shame if Rook ENY penalties prevented the bomber of choice being available...

Just a thought...

[Scca]

I wasn't involved in the mission, I had forgotten about it honestly, but was part of the take attempt on 139.

It was pure chance that our mission and your mission collided.  There was no talk on the mission channel about the bomber mission.  As we were NOE flying to the base, I saw the dar bar growing, thinking that we were busted.  I had no idea it was the refuel base for the bomber mission. 

When we arrived at the town and started taking out, there was no inital resistance, but it sure came quick when the town exploded.

Even though our attempt failed, I had a great time.

Thanks for making it a challange.

[Nutzoid]

96Delta, 

Utterly enjoyable! Was in Blue group and had our share of Bandits! Although I lost a buff before reaching the primary, I was able to make it in with the other two. Didn't do a lot of damage to the Knight city, but I was able to land 3 kills!   I must say that this (MoM) is just about as much fun as the scenarios have been.
Keep up the good work and I'll be waiting for the next one!

  Nutzoid

[MaSonZ]

do the MoM's always fall on tuesdays? if so i ampacked every tuesday and would have to be a lte joiner if i participated.  sounds like a bunch of fun...maybe i can snag some of the next one.

[CHAPPY]

was a good time 

[stephen]

A8Popysd here... glad I had an opertunity to fly out ahead with a small flight of fighters, and we did very well for a short time...
However by the time the bombers arrived over the mainland my boys where low on fuel, and all over the sky.

The Ta's came streaming in above is, but a significant portion chose to engage fighters, and thus where kept away from the bombers.
Myself I bought it at 31000ft when one of the buggers roped me....
Thank you, and though it wasnt perfect, id love to do it all over again real soon <S>96Delta

[GGhost]

NOV. 27, 2008


352ND FIGHTER GROUP

AFTER ACTION REPORT

MOM MISSION: STACKED STEEL

NOV.25, 2008

ACTING COMMANDER OF THE 352ND

GGHOST, COL. USAAF
                                                                    AAR - STACKED STEEL



Had a blast doing P47 fighter escort cover. This was better organized then the FSO ever could be. The problem with the launch was only minor and we can work thru the headaches of Aces High II clocks next time. The Vox chatter was fairly low.
We cruised at a comfortable 20 to 30K hitting the Knight’s city and fuel depot. I got 1 kill on a FW152 and 2 assist on couple other FW152. We where facing ME262's and FW190's and FW152's by the half dozens at a time. We got hit hard early, but we still made it to 2 targets thanks to the P-51’s up front. The P-38L did fairly good job down low.

352nd – P-47’s had the top cover pretty well. We did have to engage the FW190 down below bombers. But we quickly regain order and climbed to altitude above the bombers.
I asked some of the P-47’s to circle the bombers and patrol the back bomber force. I myself cruised to the last bomber group then worked back towards the front. I did this to oversight any gaps in escort covered. Some enemy did manager to get thru. But was met with escorts and our big friends (B-17) putting some lead on the enemy. 

I was glad to see that not everyone engaged and merged onto one enemy aircraft.   
Good job P-47’s pilots. I was also reassured to see the pilots knew what their job was by using wingman tactics and only couple of pilots at a time was engaging the enemy planes. By using wingman tactics the P-47 pilots bounced the enemy off or destroy them on the spot. Check 6’s was being use properly and things seemed too worked smoothly. 
 
I had to land due to the fact that there was so many targets to go hit, so I ran short on ammo & fuel was force to land. After landing, then returning to flight again to meet the bombers on a return flight to base. I was looking around, you could see some targets available. By then the City and Fuel depot was smashed by the B-17 bomber groups. I return to the bomber flight to escort them back from their targets and had to fight my way back to the B-17’s.

All in all this was a real fun time. And there was no arrogance from some of the Aces High II CM staff. We flew real planes that most pilots like to fly. Not always the early war pacific fights. Real planes with allot of horsepower.

This was members coming together to fly and fight in Aces High II combat simulator. No major bull just some flight path and a 20 minute in house commanders meeting. We discussed where everyone should be at what alt and launching in what order. Then we flew the mission. If this catches on, then the FSO could be in a world of hurt.

One word would described the MOM is "AWESOME!"
The sight to see 60+ bombers layered with 4 large groups of fighters.

I would like to also thank the enemy fighter pilots that came to fight. They provided the extra effect of a true WWII theme to the fight.

Looked like WWII 8th Air Force bomber flight from Britain to Germany with escorts battling out with the enemy in a not so friendly sky.

“Totally Awesome!!”

On behalf of the 79th Fighter Group members, we enjoyed flying with other fighters of the Rooks. Thanks for inviting us to join in the mission.

Thanks for all the your hard work 96Delta.

<S> to Skuzzy for providing us with Aces High II and maintaining the combat simulator.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.


Signed:

GGHOST, COL. USAAF   
79TH FIGHTER GROUP (CO)