A map of the battle area for us. Our home base was a1, the airfield at Rangoon.
After-Action Report
6/4/2011
by Brooke, GL, 135 Sqn.
This was a scenario that ran in the multiplayer on-line air-combat simulation Aces High.
I was the Group Leader (GL) of 135 Sqn, an RAF fighter group. We were flying Hurricane I's. The group consisted of airbull, Amsoil, me (Brooke), Klingan, prono, SF, and zack1234.
A map of the battle area for us. Our home base was a1, the airfield at Rangoon.
135 Sqn. taking off from Rangoon (a1) in our trusty Hurricane I's. From left to right: prono, zack1234, me (Brooke), SF, Klingan, and Amsoil. airbull was with us, too, but was delayed in taking off. t=(film1)0:00
We were to patrol SW of Rangoon.
Seeing a lot of bogies in sector 7.11. I type out a radio message as best I can before we are among them. Amsoil and airbull are to my right. It looks like four large groups of enemy fighters -- not good odds for us. t=(film2)0:18
In the initial merge, I'm not happy seeing a flight of enemies concentrate on me. zack1234 and Amsoil are to my left. It is hard to pick which direction to go since there are enemy fighter groups all over in front of us.
I spend a lot of time dodging around in situations like this. SF and airbull are off to my left.
A view left out of my cockpit as things get even worse -- a high group of Ki-45's (Bf 110C-4b's) joins the fight. 135 Sqn has been pushed down in altitude a bit, but surprisingly to me, most of us are still alive. From left to right: zack1234, prono, airbull, SF, Amsoil, and 68Gaidin.
More dodging is needed.
I'm not feeling very threatening in this fight -- just evading and split s'ing when attacked. I console myself that I'm at least still alive, at least occupying some enemies, and forcing attackers that come after me to blow some altitude. SF and 68Gaidin are off to my left, and I'm turning back into them.
A view out of my cockpit as I split S in an attempt to help clear SF, who has 3-4 Zeros diving after him.
Fortune smiled upon us. Down low, we spotted bombers off in the distance and were able to go after them without the enemy fighters swarming us. The Zeros didn't initially follow us in our dives out.
68Gaidin, SF, and I push forward to the bombers. I call them out on the radio. My Hurricane has a bit of battle damage, but nothing critical is broken. t=(film2)0:22
The start of my pass on a trio of G4M1's.
I press in close, firing the whole way. The Betty is taking a lot of .303 rounds, losing pieces, and leaking fuel.
At what I think is enough time, I nose down sharply to avoid collision. There is an A6M2 following me. SF has flamed a bomber off to the right, and zack1234 and Klingan are getting ready to attack a formation of Betties.
Alas, my nose-down maneuver was a moment too late, and my vertical stabilizer clips the bomber and breaks off. My Hurricane goes out of control, and I bail out several seconds later. I did end up getting the kill on the G4M1.
I take off from a1 and climb hard. Before I can get up to altitude, bombers are called out. They are the black specs to my left, and there is a large assortment of allied fighters heading toward them for intercept. t=(film2)0:29
While I'm watching the incoming bombers, contemplating which direction to go, a low Zero that I don't see zooms up from under my nose and starts landing hits on me. I go into a quick evasive and fortunately am not shot down or even seriously damaged. I am lucky.
A handful of high Zeros shows up and starts to harass the allied fighters (which outnumber them) that are at lower altitude near Rangoon. I think at this point a large number of other allied fighters that had enough altitude had gone haring off after the bombers. prono and SF are also in the mix here.
I land some hits on one of the harassing A6M2's but don't manage to shoot him down. We're over the factories at Rangoon. t=(film2)0:35
After this fight was done, there were no reports of any enemies around, so I landed and replaned at Rangoon, to repair battle damage. I was up and patrolling when I suffered a mechanical failure (disconnect) and had to replane again.
Shortly after I took off from Rangoon, enemy fighters and bombers were called out entering the area.
I climb toward the enemies. There are Ki-45 escorts and some G4M1's bombing Rangoon, but they are outnumbered by allied fighters. From left to right: LeitWolf, cactus, Snibbo, Redtail7, CorkyJr, Vudu15, airbull, 68Gaidin, me, Lumin, kansas2, surfinn, and Crosfire. t=(film3)0:03
I didn't have enough altitude to get in on the bombers, but I jumped into fights that got down to my level.
I chase a Ki-45 and put shots into him as he goes diving vertically past me. This must be the Ki-45 I got a kill on, but someone else did a lot more damage to him than I did. t=(film3)0:05
Another wave of attacking bombers is called out approaching Rangoon. (visible along with their escorts and probably attacking allies as black dots.) I don't have the altitude to stop them from hitting Rangoon, so I climb on an intercept course, hoping to get enough altitude to attack them as they leave the area. Rangoon airfield is visible in the distance, as are the factories, one of them burning fiercely.
I attack one of the G4M1's as it leaves the area. His rear gunner shoots off my landing gear. t=(film3)0:12
The bomber's wing catches fire then breaks off under the hail storm of many .303 rounds.
I tangle with Zero stragglers in the area for a while. Here, an A6M5 reverses back toward me as I'm in a steep climb going for him. airbull is reversing to get on him, and Rapier is above looking for some Zeros to attack.
After this fight (I didn't get any shots on stragglers before they were eliminated), I followed Rapier, who was in pursuit of a Ki-45.
Krusty in his Ki-45 (Bf 110C-4b), with the awesome paint job that he designed himself. Rapier, Redtail7, Vudu15, and cactus are chasing, but Krusty's Ki-45 is faster, and he leaves them in the dust. t=(film3)0:25
I come in for a belly landing (having lost landing gear to a bomber gunner). airbull and Snibbo are coming in behind me. t=(film3)0:32
I shot down two G4M1's and one Ki-45 (Bf 110C-4b) and got an assist on a A6M2.
Overall, 135 Sqn killed 19 aircraft and got 24 assists.
135 Sqn, it was a great pleasure to fly with you. <S>!
-- Brooke, GL, 135 Sqn