S3 Series

<S>!

At the start of frame 1 the enemy was well organised in numbers, ready to counter our bomber mission. As such for frame 2, sortie one, I'm thinking of having Bf 110G-2's come in with 2x 1000 kg bombs (2x 2200 lbs) at high altitude, dive bomb and get the heck out of there. The Bf 109's will go in to target area prior to the Bf 110G-2's to disorganise the VVS by playing cat n mouse with them. The VVS fighters have a slower top speed than us above 20k so we should be able to hold the initiative. The Bf 110's are faster than the Lavs/Yaks above 25k so should be able to make it to target. The Russian planes also have a low max dive speed so won't be able to follow the Bf 110's well in a dive, which should allow the Zerstörers to hit n' run with low losses. In worst case scenario the Bf 110G-2 can actually turn fairly well with the La-5FN and even has a slightly lower stall speed, so can defend itself with support.

For sortie two we'll come in with an organized He-111 bomber raid as the VVS will be far less organised to counter a bomber/escort mission mid frame.

I'm also thinking about a smaller Ju-87D Stuka raid with a few Bf 109's as escort on the outer edge of operations mid frame. The Stukas have a nice payload and are easy to dive bomb with. Their extra wingmen can also be sent in for extra damage. Stukas were very effective at the Eastern front IRL so can be worth a try.


All ideas are welcome!
<S>
/Robert

The map got redrawn for 2nd frame with out posts still along a front line but bowed inward toward Russian center where we punched through last frame.
Can we use ju-88's?

Just a couple of quick thoughts. Maybe for a first quick sortie for the buffs would be to hit a single target to the north and south. Just a couple of bombers with 2 fighters to each group. Hit the airfield F80 in the South as it appears there's only 5-6 targets and to the North another single target. JU88's would be fast enough to get in and out for a quick turn around for the second sortie.

The balance of fighters head to the bulge made in the first frame to drag most if not all their fighters to that area.

After the buffs first sortie they can re-up for a strike in the bulge, while the fighters will still have plenty of fuel for a cap there.

FWIW

Rgr Ju-88's will do just as good for the second sortie bomber raid.

For first sortie I'd like us to launch the 4th FG in Bf 110G's, rest of squads in fighters. We can have one squad that goes with two bombers to hit northern/southern field for sure. They will need to cooperate and go in once the Bf 110's are about to strike. We need to get nearly everyone RTB after first sortie so that we can quickly launch the second sortie in an organised manner.

We should probably have two-three wingpairs at good altitude who will keep harassing the enemy between sortie one and sortie two, playing a cat n' mouse game just so the Russians are on their toes and disorganised prior to our bomber strike.

Second sortie we can go Ju-88 raid at high altitude if decent visibility, otherwise we'll have to protect them as well as we can at the altitude needed. We'll check the cloud layer during the first sortie. Probably the LF6/23rd will do this bomber raid with the 4th now in fighters.

Subsequent sorties I think the those who can and want should take buffs and announce this clearly so that they can get some escort. The rest can go fighters and take the fight to the Russians. It will probably be quite a chaos at this stage but squads should strive to get their pilots together and not have their pilots go in piecemeal though. I'm thinking of having the 4th FG to do a hit n' run Ju-87D Stuka strike at the northern or southern tip while our other squads are duking it out with the Russians.

What has been discussed will basically be the plan. Posting full orders early tomorrow morning.