S3 Series

About 12 pilots answered the call at T+0. We were tasked with Bomber Escort and met them at the appointed RV. The flight was uneventful until our charges began their run to target. By that time, the Luftwaffe had awakened from their slumber and sent a mix of FW190's and Bf109's to defend. The Buffs hammered all targets. Enemy ack was fierce and though we did our best to keep their sixes clear, several bombers went down to enemy aircraft. American Eagles managed to kill 2 EA in the fight with the loss of only one of ours to a collision. We escorted our charges back to England and rtb'd. Thus ended Sortie #1.

Sortie #2 didn't go quite as planned. The target was 105. The plan was for AE to sweep high ahead of the bombers heading southbound. At the 8.4X the bombers were to turn to target while we headed a bit further south drawing the enemy away. When the Buffs popped a few miles from target, we would turn to target and cover our charges on egress. So much for planning. We knew we were in for it when our GCI reported 3 different EA groups heading right for us before we were even halfway. We engaged 109's at 34,000 ft. Within a minute our Buffs far below had been spotted and were attacked by 190's and 109's. Our bombers elected to press the attack and we did our best to protect them. In short order, the entire Luftwaffe force seemed to drop on the buffs with us on their tails. We fought in, around, and above the formation in a huge dogfight. Alas, the courage of the allied bomber formation was not rewarded. I don't think any of them made it to target. When we lost the last buff, we attempted a fighting egress to the 8.4 cross where we managed to group up again. After that, it was a running dogfight home. American Eagles shot down 4 and lost 4 in this sortie.

Final tally (subject to Phenix data):
Kills: 6
Losses: 5

Thanks to the side CO's and Jabo for a fine Frame.

S!
Crommm
American Eagles

Great job American Eagles!

it was a tough assignment but you guys stayed with us through the long boring flight and fought tooth and nail when the time came, we could not have asked for more.
We were able to sink two ships at the port but it ended with us all falling to enemy fighters. They seemed to know right where we were, but with only a few minutes to attack they knew we had to go close, so they covered the most obvious targets. We are always happy to see you guys as escort.

I was GCI who gave the heads up. Yes it was the entire LW going after you (18). Next time if we have that kind of warning we might consider diverting the BUFFs to the west and let the fighters engage to run the LW out of gas. To be fair we were fighting the time line so didn't have much choice if we were to attack anything.

On another subject, did anyone else have trouble with dfuse bombs going dud? We practiced all week in the main and off line (since the arena was not available) with little difficulty, but on our first sortie I watch every bomb (24) go dud so the only thing we could do was attack again with a 2nd pass and strafe which got half of 136 down but gave the LW time to close (instead of allowing our escape) and all but two were killed, forcing us to hit it again with a 2nd mission. I'm aware that the iENT game geeks changed the code for defuse some time back but have never had a 100% failure, so something is off. I think the code should be to be changed back to the way we had it for years in WB and quit trying to be cute. I dropped lots of defused bombs for real and the only crtiteria I was aware of was that it took less than a second for the wire to be pulled out and the fuse to arm when the bomb was released FROM ANY ALTITUDE, and the actual detonation was triggered by the time set for after contack in the fuse. That's obviously not they way they are set up now. There is nothing that pisses guys off more, and causes them to quit the game, than unaccountable software glitches. bombr-

Agreed Bombr-,
have been VERY frustrated ever since they messed with 1000 lb bombs that way. It has led to much aggravation. 500lb bombs seem to work dfused but they are a very small bang and require multiple hits on most targets. Night stalkers don't even bother with the large bombs anymore... (not that there are any Night Stalkers around much anymore) As I understand it the purpose of this was because individuals in the main would fly a Lancaster low drop all the bombs and bail/exit I personally think this decision to change was akin to shooting yourself in the head because there is a mosquito on you. the negative strongly outweighs any perceived/misconceived benefit.

Having to make multiple passes really brought everyone down on you.

So True! I like to drop low. Not having the 1000lb bomb as an option anymore really sucks! We have been fighting that for 2 years now. I think min. alt is 1500' to get the dfuse to work? stupid

Your feeling our pain. Sad how everything seems to keep getting stacked against the strike guys.

IEN hides the arena after every Sunday. You can access it by typing .privatearena s3. It is open and ready.

Dfuse issue I think is a code and not arena setting. No setting I can see but will ask Dan.

Yes, I did use privatarena to capture S3 setting sand fly the mission off line. I did that seven times with no issue from dfuse+10 #1,000, but when we flew it yesterday for real using the exact same profile we flew off line (except there were 11 of us in the same airspace, we got nothing but duds! It really screwed up the mission and got us caught low over target and killed, so I'm crying fowel. I really don't care whose fault it is but the code needs to be changed back to the way it was before we piss off any more guys and loose them from WB! bombr-

I don't believe it has anything to do with dfuse...

the regular, non dfused bombs don't go off either.

Salute!

Gotta see the S6. My 1000 pounders seemed to work fine and I think I got two spans and a boat on our first mission.

Gums sends...

I agree with Cool, it always seems like can't drop below 1000' and expect it to work, dfuse or no dfuse.