S3 Series

“Tonight you are going to the Big City. You will have the opportunity to light a fire in the belly of the enemy that will burn his black heart out.” -Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris

Taking B-17s downtown to the Big-B! This will be a big push to the heart of enemy territory and is going to be demanding on endurance, gas, and ammo.
B-17s are launching from LF-1 in Great Britain and flying a SE heading into the continent. They will pick up an Easterly Heading to avoid Early Warning Radar as long as possible. Rally Point for escort with bombers is just East of Turn Point 1 (TP1). This is prior to them being on radar.


Bomber aircraft Ord and Fuel
See Gum’s Post

Fighters
All fighters will be in P-51Ds, with 108 Drop tanks and full internal. You are advised to burn external (select on Runway) then switch to internal. See Fuel considerations for details.
23rd –Based T36--Part of Decoy flight
4th—Based M24—Part of Decory Flight.
352nd—Based L27--Close Escort with Bombers
There may be time for a quick Defensive Combat Air Patrol sortie before you need to launch for primary role. It is IMPERATIVE you make you arrival times.
Night Stalkers I am waiting on word for your request.


Roles
Decoy Flights
4th will launch from M24 and fly WEST to set up to overfly TP D1 and be on heading to TP D2. They will do this to cross TP D1 at T+35 and start climbing at a 150 Climb Speed in close formation to mimic buffs. -- Edited due to input from Noflyz that you will be on Dar earlier then I thought, so it is important you are on track when you cross TP1.

23rd will launch from Tac36 and climb West to intercept the 4th and pick up “escort” role. YOU WILL BE ON THEIR RADAR! So climb up, and look like fighters picking up the buffs. Once you turn East at TP D2, you can push it up to fighter speed.

The intent is two fold: cause confusion/ give them a sight picture they have been seeing the last 3 frames, and try to create a gas/timing issue for the LW and forcing them to commit to attack pre target or commit to post target attack. If you get engaged early, cycle those who need to replane due to fuel/ammo/damage. They can pick up the “baton” on Buff Escort for RTB as I expect 352nd to be in an ammo issue state. If we get word early on of incoming strikers, you are cleared to send a 4 ship to interdict at your discretion. This is one of those frames where we are at a “whose line is it anyway-- where points don’t matter and Buffs to and from Berlin with Bombs on Target and minimal losses do.”

Close Escort
352nd will roll L27 as escort to pick up Buffs with a RENDEVOUS TIME OF T+50 over F27 with the requirement of being AT the buffs altitude (25k) when they rejoin. They will fly close escort and send guys home to cycle as fuel/ammo/damage dictate. Cycling aircraft should get back to rejoin with Buffs to provide coverage for RTB legs.
Late comers to the frame for fighters will serve as initial Defensive Combat Air Patrols (CAP), and will be called to cycle to pick up Buff escort on RTB as well.

Fuel Considerations
Full Burn rate at altitude is 20 gallons per Grid, or .5 gallons per mile. This is important knowledge: Pony carries 269 Gallons internal which gives you 13 grid range or 520 miles. External fuel is 216 gallons: Range of 432 miles. Round trip distance for Decoy group is 700 miles, Full range with External is ~950 miles. Externals are required to make the trip….and hopefully you can make it 150+miles before having to jettison tanks.

DTF with both routes attached.

Questions please ask! Fighters direct questions to me, Bombers to Gums. A big thank you to Gums for helping with the Bomber side of the house.

With all due respect ~S~ -

It seems to me this plan will result in the bombers causing a net loss of points instead of scoring on our behalf. I'd happy to be wrong and learn something new but consider the below..


By the series rules:



They will not be fooled because buffs are only allowed to launch from F1 or F6.

Look at the DAR pic.


according to:



The 4th will be on enemy DAR in about T+5. How will they possibly believe they are buffs?

Now lets turn to some past data:

Buffs lost last 3 frames:
==================
Frame 1 - 2
Frame 2 - 4 - 1 disco damage
Frame 3 - 4 - 2 disco damage

Enemy Fields closed last 3 Frames:
========================
Frame 1 - 3
Frame 2 - 3
Frame 3 - 3

Given the distance+time it takes to get there and back we will probably loose more to both kills and disco. So the bombers will result in a net loss of points as opposed to gain.

We all have a mandate to fly a different aircraft at least once in the series. So why not just put everyone in fighters? (given that bombers are going to cause loss of net points)??

~S~
-noflyz

DOBS:
I think your plan will work, so long as we make sure to time the 4th coming on radar about the same time the bombers have done so in the last three frames. I think that they should be on radar for at least another 15-minutes before the bombers reach your "red" line and show the gig is up. That will hopefully draw the fighters to the 4th for the 15-minutes before they realize they have been fooled. FYI, I have noticed that they quickly put up scouts all along the frontline to watch for us, so, the trick won't fool them very long, if at all.

I have posted a question to GUMS on his thread regarding the number of bases for targets. It appears that the plan calls for us to hit only Berlin (L63). As NOFLYZ expressed his concern, I do the same here. We will bring home a net loss during frame 4, unless we include two other fields.

Sincerely,
Darryl <S>

That is the game plan. 4th will not be on dar when they launch, Dar can't discriminate altitude in the game, so how do they know they are 10k and climbing vs. 20K and climbing? I've amended the orders to ensure the 4th is on the route and correct heading before they appear on dar, added 5 minutes to their TP D1 time,so they will be on Dar roughly same time as previous frames.

Disco's I can't account for...sorry.

Taking a flight of fighter bombers to Berlin doesn't pass the common sense test to me, so that is out.

Buffs won't be on Dar until later this frame due to the more southern route. So 4th and 23rd will be looking similar to what they have been seeing on radar, as long as the 4th flies tight formation during the climb NE.


Cheers!
Dobs

How flexible will your plan be, if we can convince GUMS to hit two additional bases on this run?

FYI, we weren't talking about fighter bombers to Berlin, earlier. We were talking about getting to fly plain Jane fighters (P51) in the last frame to protect the homefront.

<S>

Got it Boss.....wilco. 4th will hit D1 at T+ 40 heading NE and climbing.

BTW Just ran a test...CLimb from M24 to D1+5 miles gets us there in 21 minutes and at 23000ft.
So if we want to appear on DAR at T+ 35, will launch at T=11 to give us a little wiggle room.

deleted

Bomber guys fly bombers and fighter guys fly fighters. Both sides have limits and advantages and disadvantages. To stand down to limit bomber losses is to grant the airspace to the enemy. Something considered in 1943 but unheard of in 1945. The spirit of an event is just as important as the rules and this should not be forgotten.

Do you happen to have your WP-1 to Berlin to WP-1 time in the buff of choice? That would help to answer your question.

Salute!

Not sure about your question, Wolfie.

Dobs and I examined several routes and timing and fuel for the lites. Buffs can take over 3 hours of fuel, and just climb slower. Hence, we picked a buff loadout and climb/cruise schedule that would keep the "short attention span" lites interested and BZ, heh heh, just poking fun at the Little Friends.

Fuel for the lites and squad assignments were primary planning considerations. The mission is prolly more realistic than many we have flown in the S3. As with the real WW2 escort and sweep missions, it was many hours of boredom separated by a few minutes of terror. S3 won't allow for a real mission profile involving 7 or 8 hours, so we play the cards we're dealt.

I predict that our lite squads will get many, many chances to get kills on the LW lites attacking the buffs.

Once the decision was made ( and we posted on the main Allied forum a suggestion that we would go to Big B), we proceeded to come up with best plan we could.

Good luck to all.

Gums sends...