http://www.squadselectseries.comIn war most things go wrong at sometime and this was certainly the case for the USAAF 8th Air Force. An unpredictable storm front moved into the approaches to Hamburg as the inbound American bomber and escort group turned toward Germany out in the North Sea. There was a mix-up in communication and half the bomber force turned back to England leaving the resolute lead formation to proceed with the entire fighter escort into the hornets nest that was Berlin's defences. Continuous attacks from head-on and high angles slowly wittled away the B24s in the lead group, one after another they fell from formation or exploded into thousands of pieces from direct hits by flak or heavily armed interceptors. But half the force made it to Berlin and dropped on the city centre starting several large blazes in the downtown core. But none would return as they were hunted mercilessly across central Germany as Luftwaffe fighters scrambled to engage them the entire way. Finally as the last bomber was shotdown only a couple hundred feet above the Fatherland did the Luftwaffe stand down leaving the American escort fighters to return home without their charges.
Overall the day appears to be a major victory for the Luftwaffe but Berlin was hit proper in broad daylight and Hitler is furious. USAAF leadership has issued demands to increase the armour on their bombers and several division commanders were reassigned following the disaster.
Luftwaffe fighters claimed a total of 12 human and 15 AI heavy bombers as well as 14 escorting fighters. The USAAF escorts and bomber gunners were not without bite claiming 15 enemy interceptors. The Luftwaffe have a large lead 257 to 126 going into Frame 3 but about two thirds of the TOT needed has been done to Berlin and approx 5 more bombloads are needed to score the Allies 80 pts.
NOTES
1. AI bombers did not work again, slowly sinking like lead balloons soon into their mission. They were unloaded and tried again and unloaded again. The problem may have been a missing file for the S3 arena and testing seems to indicated that the issue has been fixed. My apologies for the Allied Frame COs that put together a great plan twice only to see half their bomber force disappear.
2. The positioning and attacks on heavy bombers by the Luftwaffe have been excellent. We tried to leave the damage models on a 1 to 1 scale for this event but it is not working. So buff tuff will be increased for the last 3 frames. Not as much as in previous events before the new damage models but enough to give bombers a chance of returning home. Otto is set quite low and will remain so. AI bombers will continue to have no buff tuff and should prove as easy to down as in previous frames.
3. Adjusted the player rules so that it is clear that only players that fly multi-crew aircraft may gun for each other. We have very few bomber and strike players now and this is one perk they are allowed. Players that fly fighters cannot take advantage of this.
Merry Christmas to all and thanks for flying the unfriendly S3 Skies.
See you all for frame 3 on Jan 11
jabo
