III/KG 30 taking off in its Ju 88A-4's from its base in Sicily.
After-Action Report
III/KG 30
6/9/2007
by Brooke, GL, III/KG 30
This was a scenario that ran in the multiplayer on-line air-combat simulation Aces High.
III/KG 30 consisted of me (Brooke), Cleve, Cooley, Hitch, Nerdicus, Tudza, DeadCow, Valdals, and Alverca1 in Ju 88A-4’s, loaded with 2 torpedoes, full fuel, no internal bombs, and formations enabled. We had with us four pilots in Bf 110G-2 from II/ZG 1: Marksmn, Winzig, WMDNow, and SEbongo.
In addition, command allowed a 109 group to search with us to find the CV groups and provide cover once found. It was lead by 99MechInf.
I was feeling pretty good about having 8 Ju 88 formations and about 8-10 fighters to accompany us.
III/KG 30 taking off in its Ju 88A-4's from its base in Sicily.
We took off from a26, climbed east a bit, then headed SE, eventually leveling off at about 19k. My plan was to go to the 16,0 area, then fan out to search north from there along columns 17 and 18. I figured that they might push one CV group as fast as possible to Malta for cover, and perhaps go lower than row 1 trying to fake us out. So, we’d check that out first, then fly north along columns 17 and 18. If we didn’t find anything by around 18,6, I’d turn us back around and head south again.
We lost Alverca1 to some fuel issue. The rest of us continued on.
The 109’s scouted a bit separated from the Ju 88’s, and the Ju 88’s and 110’s stayed in one group.
A view behind me of a portion of III/KG 30 as we fly to our target scouting
area. From left to right: Valdals, Tudza, Cleve, and Cooley.
Once we got down near 16,0, we got reports from the 109’s that they found a CV group in 17.0.1 followed later by a report of one in 16.0.3. There was a little confusion over whether two CV groups had been found or only one. We got the most solid info on the one in 16.0.3 and decided to go for that.
At this point, I was feeling quite good about how things were going. We had basically flown right at were there CV’s were and found them right near where we were going to begin searching.
We turned the Ju 88’s east and we quickly were upon the CV group. There was some enemy cap a little lower that we were, and the 109’s were reporting that they weren’t all there yet, so I made the decision to have the Ju 88’s overfly the CV group, give time for the 109’s to get there, then reverse and come in for the attack.
We did all of that, and I had the Ju 88’s turn left to do the 180 turn, as I figured that would give us a little separation from the enemy cap, some of which seemed like it might be up at our level -- there were some bogies back there to my 5 o’clock. Unfortunately, I didn’t know there were view consequences to flying off the edge of the map, under row 0. When we crossed off the edge of the map, my view disappeared as if I were a disembodied view floating in air with no aircraft around me. I immediately started flailing around on view keys, jumping to gunner positions, etc. trying to get my aircraft back. Eventually it came back, but things like this caused our bomber formation to become less tight and strung it out a little, as a few others struggled with the same issue. Also, land appeared south of me, which was disorienting.
My view just before crossing off the known world.
My view after crossing off the known world.
We got back on track and headed toward the CV group, which now had more of our 109’s over it. I asked half the guys to go left and half to go right upon reaching the CV, then to spiral down for the attacks.
My second approach to the location of the carrier group. The cruiser and carrier
are visible in the picture near my left wingtip. Fighters visible are, from
left to right: ROC, Fencer, airbull, and 99MechInf.
My view forward as I spiral down from altitude. The carrier is visible in the
middle of the picture, and there is antiaircraft fire going after the fighters
in the area, making splashes in the water. I notice what looks like an odd cloud
layer ahead of me. At this point, I take it for a weird anomalous cloud effect,
as I'm out in the middle of the Mediterranian Sea where there should be nothing
but flat water.
I am setting up for my approach to the CV, overtaking it and then turning left
for an attack at its side. DeadCow is making his approach and is under fire.
As I turn into the CV, the task group turns into me, spoiling my shot, and I
decide to overfly, then do a right turn back around for another approach angle.
DeadCow is still approaching and under fire.
As I go past the fleet, ack gunners destroy one of my drone bombers at very
long range. They are expert shots. Pieces of my destroyed drone can be seen
above and behind the bomber in this shot. Nerdicus is behind me.
After I get closer to what initially looked like a cloud layer, it now looks
very much like water. I can't visually tell how far from it I am, as it lacks
surface details to give me an idea. It still looks odd, and I am at 1000 ft
over the middle of the Mediterranian, so I tell myself (with rapidly diminishing
conviction) that it must be an anomaly. It sure looks like water now, and I'm
starting to have a bad feeling about what I'm headed toward. I start turning
right to avoid it just in case.
At this point, I start to take hits from a Seafire that has latched onto me,
visible behind my Ju 88. Nerdicus is overflying the fleet, working to reposition.
I wonder whether to continue piloting the Ju 88 to avoid the possible water
mountain (which might be a visual anomaly) or to jump to my guns and defend
myself against the Seafire (which is certainly real). I jump to my rear gun
position and start putting shells into the Seafire.
As I continue shooting the Seafire in the face, my bombers fly into what does
turn out to be a mountain of water, and I am dead.
I went in and started approaching the group, but didn’t end up liking my initial approach direction. I started a turn to reposition and come back around. At that point, there was water up ahead of me -- it looked like a huge water ridge reaching up to a couple thousand feet -- but I took it for a graphical artifact. In addition, a Seafire latched on to me, and I started to take fire. I jumped to the guns and started firing on him, then apparently crashed into that wall of water ahead that I had taken for an artifact.
That was it for me -- dead (at about 1:07 into the frame). My only consolation will be if the Seafire followed me into the wall of water, but I was no longer feeling in good spirits.
Of the rest of the group, some of the guys didn’t make it to drop either because of low cap or manned ack. That’s frustrating as our fighter escort did a great job of pushing them down -- but when you approach at 150 mph on the deck, even freshly up fighters can get at you. We had attacked from various directions, and weren’t all that horribly spread out (considering that there is going to be some spread in getting down to the deck).
Of our 7 Ju 88 formations that got in toward target, Cleve was the only one who managed hits on the CV. He got two torpedoes into it. Most of us didn’t survive the attack. I think only Valdals did.
Those of us who didn’t survive went to a26 and relaunched in Ju 88’s: DeadCow, Hitch, me (Brooke), Nerdicus, and Tudza. A little later, Cleve joined us about half a sector back. Valdals was still on his way back to base to land, and I’m not sure where Alverca1 was.
We climbed SE, then saw that v5 was flashing and reported under attack. We headed east a bit, then back SE back to the CV group in 16.0.3. When we got close, we asked the 110’s and 109’s with us to go check the area out ahead of us to spot the CV’s. They found it in 15.0.3.
There were reports of enemy cap up higher than we were (we were at 20k this time) and reports that 109’s where on the way, but about a sector behind us. So, I had the Ju 88’s turn back N for a bit until the 109’s passed us, then we turned back S to get to 16.0.2, then east to the CV group. I wanted to stay away from the problems with the edge of the map, approaching the CV’s from the west rather than overfly the CV’s while on a S or SE heading, which would take us into the trouble area.
III/KG 30 on the way east to the carrier group. I'm in the center with (from
top to bottom) DeadCow, Hitch, and Nerdicus in the picture.
We got in there, and again the fighters seemed to do a great job of pushing the cap low and reducing it.
My initial sighting on the carrier group, looking through the cockpit glass
forward and down. The task group are the faint shapes in the lower middle of
the picture.
Brooke, Hitch (above), and Cleve (bottom right) diving down for our approaches.
My initial approach. I am very happy at this point, as I'm right where I want
to be relative to the carrier. The cruiser is at the front of the group, and
the carrier is in the middle of the group. Ack is shooting at some of the fighters
in the area, such as airbull (upper right) and jedi25 (upper middle).
Manned ack starts my lead bomber on fire as I bore in on the carrier. My drones
are out ahead of me as I had my dive brakes on, and they overshot me a bit.
This bomber is doomed. Antiaircraft shells splash down all around me. An enemy
F4F approaches for an attack.
My lead bomber's engines quit, and I jump to one of my drones. An enemy F4F
(bottom) and Seafire (middle left) have just completed runs on me. I'm still
taking fire from manned ack. Jedi25 goes after an enemy Seafire among fountains
of ack.
My second bomber is taken out by manned ack.
My second bomber going down. Hitch is boring in close off to my right with three
good bombers so far. Unfortunately for me, when I got to my third bomber, it
was in the process of nosediving into the water, and I was not able to stop
it.
This time, my initial approach was great, and I was lining up on the CV. When I got closer, though, manned ack obliterated me, and I went down in flames. I was very frustrated, as my approach was sooooooo nice that I was anticipating many torpedoes into that CV, and I felt that if I had been quicker on bailing from my stricken primary and secondary, maybe I could have gotten in close enough with the #3 bomber to drop. (In film playback, I could see #1 and #2 were on fire, but at the time, I didn’t know that. All I knew was that I was having power problems in #1 which was rapidly slowing from 150 mph, bailed to #2, had power problems that I couldn’t resolve, bailed to #3, but it was already at 100 mph nosing into the drink.)
After I died, Hitch put three torpedoes into the CV, and Tudza put five torpedoes into the cruiser, sinking it. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get any more torpedoes into the CV, and so it ended that day’s battle with 5 torpedo hits – two short of sinking.
I'm not sure if fighters or manned ack got the rest of the guys. I'll be interested in reading their after-action reports.
Cleve, Hitch, and Tudza did great work.
I am very, very frustrated with how I did, though. We had good escort, they did a good job, but I wasn’t able to get in there to deliver any torpedo hits today, and III/KG 30 did not eliminate one whole task group.
I think the 110's strafed the crap out of the CV, so I'm not sure if it was the CV manned ack or the cruiser manned ack that did so much damage to us in mission #2. I'm guessing the CV manned ack, though, even so. When the logs are posted, we'll be able to see more info.
Cleve, 2 hits on CV
Hitch, 3 hits on CV
Tudza, 5 hits on cruiser and sunk it
Valdals survived and got RTB points
The rest of us are in watery graves
Many thanks to the 110 and 109 pilots who worked to help us out.
by Brooke P. Anderson
e-mail: brooke@electraforge.com
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