S3 Series

Changes will be in RED. Please check before logging into the arena on Sunday.


General
We'll posture for the usual North Sea enemy ingress, but be flexible to defend alternate attacks. I'd bet the Allies are a little pissed about how last frame went. Enemy fighter escorts will likely be better coordinated, so brace yourselves. It's rare to catch 352nd/23rd/4th with their pants down more than once a series. Radar coverage is excellent over the European continent. Any Allied incursion over land will be spotted immediately and with ample time to react. If they're ballsy enough to take that route, expect a fall back to Berlin then vectors for head-on intercept. I'll play the Berlin Bullseye game, but will give both radial and grid coordinates for GCI. I won't convert alts given in metric. (This is the Axis side and we're all about immersion short of silly mustaches, so get used to it. It ain't that hard to convert on your own. If I had my way, Axis maps would be in km too. ) Orders are as follows...



Escort Intercept Group (EIG):
Launch at T+0. Drop Tanks, 100% Fuel. TAC Channel 7. Form as one group or work independently at discretion of Squad COs. Scout North Sea for BG. Engage enemy escort fighters on contact. Provide mutual support as needed. Rinse and repeat for following bomber formations.

JG 127 - F69 - Bf109G6
JG 475 - F70 - Bf109G6



Buff Intercept Group (BIG):
Launch at discretion of formation lead (drdart), no later than T+15. Drop Tanks, 100% Fuel. TAC Channel 6. Rally over Bremen (CTY77) and hold there if BG has not been spotted. Expect immediate vectoring to BG once located. Destroy enemy bombers after escorts have been stripped. Rinse and repeat for following buff formations. The Fw190A4 does well against the P-47/P-51B when flown appropriately. Lf6 has a secondary role of clearing the BG of enemy fighters if EIG is overwhelmed.

Lf6 - F93 - Fw190A4
JG 100/AE - F91 - Fw190A8





Good luck. We're all counting on you...

Be advised in the first frame the bombers rolled prior to T+0. (T-30 is when they CAN roll according to rules)

BIG launched at T+20 and were barely at altitude when we got to the bomber stream less than 200 miles from Berlin

There should be an update this week with proper fuel burns for all fighters in this series which will help matter greatly but if you don't see an update plan on last frame fuel burns.

To add onto Dawger's post

At T-30 there were NO Allied bombers in flight...at T-15, the Night Stalkers and few of the Knights were in flight...IIRC less than 15 players.

To add on to this: Bombers have Real World fuel burn with much less then RW distances to cover....translation: They can climb much better then you think due to light fuel loading.

They have 2 frames in 24s and 3 in 17s. Having hammered the 17s, I'm guessing they will try 24s next. 24s =faster, higher.

LF6 set a high bar for the strippers <no pun intended>, and we hope to be able to at least equal their success. We have an abnormal amount of RW conflicts this Sunday...right now 475th is looking at 8 for sure, with a few possibles. We hope to field 10...

If JG127 shows in full...we number 18 tops. Not sure how many LF6 put up last time.

Looking forward to the frame, and thank you for early orders!


<S>
Dobs

Two of the three squads in Lf6 were extremely light in Fr. 1...missing seven regular pilots.

I think as a CG we fielded 14 in Fr. 1.

Had the same thoughts.

Another thought: Jabo posted in his summary that next frame all the human pilots would be together this time and in Lead group. The AI's would trail. Lets hope they split the escorts again and that first group will be in some trouble. However if it were me as CO on the other side I would have front fighter sweep and close escort all on the first group, that might give us some trouble. I dont know if they are allowed to have all escorts with one group though?

They can put the escorts wherever they want. If they stack everything on the front group we would just blow through and pounce on the undefended group as they would need to turn around to chase us

Experience note from last frame. We may have had 14 total for the frame but it certainly felt like less at any specific snapshot of the engagement. The keys to success were altitude discipline and keeping the offensive pressure on the escorts, always positioning in the rear and attacking their 6 so they were constantly having to dive out. We didn't chase just blew past after the next one. The P-47 bleeds a ton of E if forced to maneuver so even though you might see one zooming up on you or turning hard. Just do a slight out of plane maneuver and hold your ground you will keep running from them or at least buy enough time for your mates to help out.

Last frame the escorts were about 2-3km above the buffs with the buffs at varying levels so it will take patience to work the escort down. Fog of War also helps as it is difficult to pick out friend from foe when you find yourself in the clutter. It is actually fairly easy to sneak up and maneuver away from potential threats. Most times the enemy is not looking beneath him. Just keep the comms up and the tension calm and you will be fine. Between 475th and 127 there should be at least 20 109s there. Lf6 hopes to be closer to 20 as well to keep the 190s a healthy number.