S3 Series

Here is my planned route for our 262 run.

Beaver,

What to you think about this? We are taking ME262s for the attack. Planned route 1 takes us out over the water but it is closer to more bases. Planned route 2 is a safer route but doesn't get us close to the ships. Altough we could extend out and get them and them run home.

Let me know.

Beav,

What would you like the Luftflotte's focus to be? We are considering a mix of 190s and K-4s. There will be only one buff formation to deal with so we can focus more on escort and sweep interdiction for the other guys or make buff decimation our priority and set our mix accordingly.

Thanks,

From the rules

5. Me262 Restrictions - can only be used as strike a/c throughout the series. All ord and 30mm must be expended on surface targets or AI aircraft only.

So do not attack anything but those targets. If you are jumped by P51Ds use your superior speed and run. We have done this before with the NS and MFs and it works well, otherwise we are looking at have a very small number of 262s in the series. Imagine its a Dh 98 IV

Glad we got that cleared up. Thanks Jabo.

<S>

Second on Zinhwk's request. With fast B24s, bufftuff, massed allied escorts and widely varying firepower on the available LW aircraft we need to figure out who is doing the stripping of the escorts and who will be primarily shooting buffs. Strippers, for instance, might want to consider the Bf109K4R6 for it's great high altitude performance (it's low firepower rating of 8 makes it useless as a buff killer) and shooters might want to consider the FW190A8 or the Bf109G6R6 (kind of clumsy in fighter vs. fighter matchups but firepower rating of 18 makes them viable as buff killers). Otherwise we are all likely to be in FW190D9s as a compromise (a little clunky vs. the allied fighters, firepower rating of 10) and not kill very many buffs. I would skip the Bf109K4 due to the poor performance of the 30 mm cannon and the Bf109G6 as it will be outclassed for both speed and firepower in this series.

trigr=

Another thing to keep in mind is that the number of actual bombers is relatively low, we are looking at 18 or so but the LAF targets relatively easy to close so hitting them early will do more damage than in previous events. They will probably try and string together several LAFs and cutting out a third of their force early on will confuse target assignments and make multiple closures more difficult.
Once the bombers are RTB you then have to worry about low escort fighters trying to finish off the damaged bases. Normally the 190A8 is useless up high but there probably will be fighters down low searching the Ju52 routes which will be flying relatively low as well as hoping to strafe some a/c at the LAFs on the ground. This is not like typical bombers into germany events and having defined defensive areas, local CAP and a sharp watch on coloured radar to determine the nearest threats. The indicated flak areas are going to be very dangerous down low so expect the Allies to avoid them if at all possible.

Do not forget we have 20mm K-4 options giving it more bite than before. K-4/RIV as a 20mm is pretty much a faster G-6/RVI

Either plan is good, closing bases is a high priority as is shipping. TAC 41& 45 are not targets.

If you take route 1, you should be able to get shipping and probably close M23, on your return leg you could cross over TAC34, a field to close and just up river is a bridge span. BE safe and score some points.

<S> Knights

Hey Zin, what we need to do is to protect the 262 bases. I need your squad to be able to inflict damage on the buffs, but you will need mostly strippers as there will be a large number of escorts. I expect each of the two groups to have between 25-33% buff attack aircraft with the rest in strippers.

Depending upon their strategy, they may have Jabo aircraft hitting the southern 262 base as the buffs hit a northern 262 base. We can't give them free reign on any 262 base, so the two large groups might to fight tier own battles.

Route 1 it is.