|
After problems with the runways at F221 and F261 Trigr=, Crommm, Phenix, Rock and Timos took off from F7 in 109G2s at T + 4 and grabbed direct for F32. Pipe of Checkmates was with us. We fought lower Yak 9s from 4th FG and American Eagles. Trigr= picked up a kill and we rtb'd to F7 to rearm at T + 55.
With F32 still open and the Knights logging due to losses Trigr=, Crommm, Phenix, Rock, Pipe and Timos took off from F7 in 109G2s at T + 56 and grabbed towards F32 to support JG77 and TK in their attempt to close the field. We detached a pair to attack low IL2s that were hitting F143 and Rock shot down an IL2 and spun in. We fought the same Yak 9s over F32 and capped them down as long as fuel allowed. Pipe got a successful ditch at a non-airfield, was done for the night and we rtb'd to F7 to rearm at T + 110.
Trigr=, Crommm, Phenix and Timos took off from F7 in 109G2s at T + 112 and grabbed for F32 to support JG 352s attempt to close the field. We fought over F32 until time expired to strike targets rtb'd to F7 and stood down at T + 165.
Kills: 2 (Trigr= and Rock.)
Losses: 1 (Rock.)
Thanks to Looboy, the LW CO and Jabo and Roan, the S3 guys, for a fun frame.
Comments: I was very surprised to see the VVS choose to fly the slower, lighter armed Yak 9 over the La5F. We only saw one small group of La5Fs all frame. The Yak 9 does have a longer fuel duration with these S3 settings of 84 minutes on a full tank vs. 34 minutes but I had thought that with judicious use of the throttle they would fly the better aircraft in this type of short range tactical contest particularly considering their short ammo clips. It will be interesting to see if they change to the La5Fs next frame.
We encountered airfield bugs of two types, boundary box problems at F221 that broke our wheels off about half way down the runway and sticky grass at F261 that kept us from getting more than 62 ias during our takeoff roll. Aside from the damage that was done to the Knights this frame by our inability to rendevous with them and provide protection this has strategic consequences for the series in general if it cannot be fixed before Frame 2. There is no point in closing enemy fields that can't be used due to runway bugs if your goal is to drive the enemy air forces back away from the front as a means of gaining air superiority, all that you have to do is to close the fields that work. My suggestion would be to investigate the condition of the enemy fields (we know that F32 and one north north east about 40 miles with a number like 267, 261, 297 work because we saw enemy aircraft take off and land there). We must preserve our bombers at all costs so I would have them grab west, away from the front, rendevous with a large force of escorts, take the package to the target with the bombers at 20,000 feet and half of the escorts as front sweep scheduled to arrive over the target about 5 minutes before the main formation. The front sweep fighters drive the enemy interceptors down below 20,000 with the emphasis on driving them below 20,000 feet not following them down to the deck or killing them. The bombers arrive in full force, close the field and egress with continuous close escort. We could probably get in two such sorties in a frame and make some real progress. We need the bombers for this because the ack is so brutal that jabo attacks in heavy fighters amount to suicide. I saw both enemy and friendly fighters go down to hostile ack before doing any significant damage to the target.
|
trigr=
