Orders this evening were to join the bomb group flying B25Js
Extensive recon details and pre made DTF file made easy work of the missions tonight.
Pilots in attendance were Mt-dew, Farout, Muskyz, Coolon.... Houndg made it for the second sortie.
Rolled at T-0 as ordered, burning up WEP right off the bat to get as high as possible, however there was a minor bit of confusion as we were well above the Knights when we merged. But it was not a problem as it is much easier to join from above than below
Targeting info was passed on during flight, NightStalkers (N/S) would hold our bombs until reaching the second target. Soon there were calls of cons above us. Our escorts fought a long running battle as the cons stayed on us for quite a while. All N/S survived the first target and were able to drop on the second target. We continued in formation and broke off to our home base.
Second sortie had Houndg join us for a similar mission to the first. Again the bomb groups merged and continued to target. After Hawk divided up the targets again we completed our drop with the knights and the field soon closed. Fortunate again, we all returned to base and were informed of a third target, F6.
This mission was thrown together at the last minute with no pre scouting and it turned out to be successful also. Half the N/S joined with the Knights again while Muskyz & myself headed east to line up to hit the bridge northeast of F6.
We maneuvered to try and hit the targets at the same time and were within a minute of doing so.
Muskyz & I were clear to drop and then broke north running home. We were jumped by cons... maneuvered and stayed alive long enough for some little friends to show up and save our bacon.
(thanks Robert) Muskyz & I were able to land back at base with minor damage.
Unfortunately the main bomb group was not so fortunate as us.
Being the larger numbers they drew much more attention. Mt-dew and Farout had to bail out and Houndg was able to nurse a very damaged airplane back to a friendly airfield and ditch there.
Tentative totals as follows:
14 sorties flown
2 shot down (survived)
at least one kill by Mt-dew, I know there were several assists recorded also.
Don't know who destroyed what, but all targets attacked by the combined bomb group were reported as closed.
Thank you Hogjaw and all those responsible for the excellent prep work which had a great deal to do with our success tonight. Thanks also to Hawk for leading the bomb group & making decisions on the fly. Also much thanks to our escorts who were constantly busy fighting off the axis all night, again, our success is a result of your work <S>.
Coolon
