WOW, Skuzzy!
Some old names in that one..........great players from way back when............hblair and I were talking a couple weeks ago about some of those folks....we've been trying to figure out how to contact milnko, as he was one of the original members of The Assassins. Zigrat joined up with us later and become our "operations" officer.........he was always planning missions. Oftentimes he would start planning even as we were taking off on one he had planned, always thinking about what to do next.
Frenchy, Ammo, Nomde, and the rest of the 56th were great to fly with and against, too.
Fights that I remember that made me laugh/smile:
First was against StSanta. He'd been on the open channel all night, doing his "Allied opportunists..." stuff, I knew the general area he was in from reading what he was saying. I took a P-47D30(D40 now) up, grabbed alt to between 20K and 25K, and started looking. Sure enough, before too long I spot an enemy 109. We began closing on one another, I tune a channel to StSanta and ask him if the 109 might be him, telling him my location and that I am in a Jug. Getting an affirmative reply, the fight is on..........and it was a good one, too! We go vertical, we scissor, we try to out turn one another.......finally, after what seemed like forever, but was probably just a couple minutes, I manage to hold him in my sights long enough to smoke his engine.........he starts a split-S, I roll over to see where he is going.........BAM!! Back in the tower......."you have been killed by wrongto".......StSanta PM's me that he had been telling wrongto to please stay out of the fight. I didn't care, it was a blast, and while I enjoyed the idea that I had gotten killing hits on him, I hated for it to end.
Second.......This was not long after I started playing AH, hblair talked me into getting into a 109G10.......back then I did NOT like flying LW rides. Just didn't feel comfortable in them. But off I went, flying with him. We went to the area of a base that was under attack by buffs and fighters, got there and the attack had been broken up, so we debated just landing and finding another hunting ground when hblair spotted some B17's low and trying to exit the area. Down we went, until we were right behind them, weaving between the hills in pursuit. I'm closing on one buff, hblair says something on vox about "check out what I just shot off this guy", I look to my right where he is, and POOF! I slam into the side of one of the hills..........my intended victim in the B17, turns out to be SoupNazi........"no soup for you!!" Heath laughed so hard I had to turn the speakers down, and the open channel was full of good natured ribbing.......
Last one........again, not long after I started playing AH, back in 2000 or 2001:
One area of the map was under almost constant attack, can't remember if it was by the nits or bishops........The Assassins flew rook nearly 100% of the time back then.
After a few hours of general furrballing, intercepting CV raids, etc., I get the urge to take up a 109.........other rooks are talking about someone who repeatedly brings B17's over. I decided to give it a go and see how I fare in a 109. Grab alt to 23Kish, give or take a couple thousand feet........kinda loiter around in a racetrack pattern, waiting for him to (hopefully, I thought) wander into my airspace. I figured I would be really close to his alt, as that was how high he had been on all the previous sightings.........the country channel comes alive as he is spotted again, right about my coordinates.......I am asked several times "do you see him?", but I haven't yet....I dip a wing to look below me, and way, way below me I see a B17 cruising along. Split-S, line up on him.........down I go.....faster, faster, faster......uh oh! Just missed colliding with him by a whisker or less, streaked all the way to the ocean and back in the tower again. He told me on PM that my plane was just a blur I was moving so fast.
My fun experiences weren't always victories, as you can see. On the contrary, I found ways to laugh at myself and have fun even in newbish moments. I'd like to say that I got better, but I have no concrete evidence of that...........but I DID have a lot of fun in this game. Hopefully I can find my way back to playing again. After almost a year of being out of work, I just offered a job very close to home. But that's a different topic........have fun, all!!