A map of the battle area for us. Our home base was a71 in sector 16.9.
After-Action Report
12/10/2011
by Brooke, II/JG26
This was a scenario that ran in the multiplayer on-line air-combat simulation Aces High.
I was in II/JG26 "Schlageter".
A map of the battle area for us. Our home base was a71 in sector 16.9.
II/JG26 taking off. From left to right: cactus, Wedge, me (Brooke), and Redtail7. IrishOne (our Group Leader) is a bit ahead of us. Ditto was with us today, but had trouble at launch and took off a few moments behind us. DrBone showed up a bit late, but joined us, too.
Our first mission was to go bomb port p106. While we were up coordinating with a fighter group that would escort us in, what looked like the entire RAF did a large attack right up the middle, pushing in around sector 13.10. We asked if we should drop our bombs and go engage, and our orders were to continue on our mission. Our attack on p106 coincided mostly with the RAF being over France (although we worried about getting swarmed if a good chunk of the RAF came after us instead of pushing on to France).
I put a bomb on my assigned fighter hangar at a14, the Typhoons' home base.
Once we were done and heading back to France, the RAF was done with its attack heading back to England. We rearmed for another attack on a14, as the fighter hangars take more bombs than we could carry in one run to take them all out. We refueled and rearmed, and went back up for a14. Again, there wasn't any opposition as we went in.
My bomb hit on the same hangar as before destroys it this time.
We hung out near the coast a bit. Then, not seeing any enemies, went back to rearm again.
We contemplated what to hit. First, we got permission to hit p105 city, but that was going to be a bomber target, so we eventually decided on p106.
Dropping my bomb on p106. Redtail7 is in the background attacking as well.
We went back out to the Channel, climbed, and waited for the enemy to show a presence. However, they attacked in force far south of us instead. We contemplated going down there, but there is always the risk that as we are flying down there, they mount another attack up where we were (which is what happened in a previous frame, and we were glad we stayed put). So, we stayed put again. Unfortunately this time, it seems that just about every RAF plane went down south, and we flew back and forth along the coast for half an hour with no enemy presence.
Eventually, the Ju 88's were coming in on a bombing mission, and we joined up over them as escort.
Looking left out of my cockpit at the bombers below. They are egressing.
It was clear until they were egressing, then calls came in of Spitfires racing in. I saw the first bogies diving in from up high, at very high speed, with LW fighters in hot pursuit. I went after the bogies following that don't have anyone on them yet.
Diving in, attempting to cut off the high-speed diving bogies. 1ijac, rUG, and shamus are below chasing other bogies. I call out "Achtung! Spitfire!" on the radio.
I close on a trio of Spitfire IX's, which are really hauling. I'm wondering if I should go after the one on the left or right when DrBone calls on the radio that he'll take the one on the left. Right it is! Bombers ahead: Popsman, chris3, syncrII, and thomace. Fighters: IrishOne, shamus, and rUG.
I blast the tail off the Spitfire IX I'm chasing. Ahead from left to right: chris3, syncrII, and OOZ662 (the Group Leader of the bombers).
One of the Spits farther ahead raced towards Popsman. I called out a "check six" and continued to close.
Popsman blasts the Spitfire off his tail before I get there. It flat spins down into the Channel, missing parts, and trailing smoke. Way to go, Popsman!
I zoom up, then dive back around to get on any more trailing Spitfires, but they are well handled by others. Here, ruG and shamus take out the last pursuing Spitfire. Ahead, from left to right: Popsman, OOZ662, thomace with no icon, syncrII, and chris3.
After this, there was another fight with a few Spitfires, but there were other groups around. The Spitfires were swarmed and soon all shot down. I didn't fire any shots.
Most of the fighting seemed to be done at this point, but we patrolled up and down the coast. Then, I spotted bogies north of us along the coast and flew north toward them. I could tell that they were five enemies at 24k as I got closer, although I didn't have icon yet (based on how they looked). I call it out on the radio. I was getting ready to engage but looked back and didn't see anyone behind me. Uh oh.
I reverse to get back toward some support before engaging. The five enemies are the dots upper middle of the picture. The burning port is visible below.
I reversed, they chased me, but then when they saw me joining other LW fighters, they reversed and headed back north. I turned around and chased along the coast, calling out the situation on radio. I figure they were Spitfires, but I wasn't closing -- in fact, they were slowly pulling away. Typhoons, then. I chased north all the way to v118, lost them, then rounded the coast and headed west, hoping to pick them up. I had just about given up hope (and fuel at this point was very low), where a range-radio call came in of someone spotting Typhoons. I continued west, then I saw them in the mist below and in front of me.
I dive on one and lay on the cannon rounds. Many, many cannon hits, and off come all sort of parts, including aileron and landing gear, but again the sturdy Typhoon doesn't go down. They say Il-2's are tough!
The Typhoon I just blasted did a high-g maneuver, and I pulled up to arrange for another run at him. Looking around, though, I saw two other Typhoons working to get on me, and again, no friendlies around. Crap! I thought one or two groups of Luftwaffe fighters were just behind me in the chase.
I work to evade the two Typhoons while, on the radio, I yell like a little girl for help.
I evaded for a while, dragging the Typhoons low. In between runs on me, I try to get oriented and drag them in the direction I think help with come from.
Wedge and IrishOne diving in to help. Whew! Thanks, guys!
Wedge and IrishOne dove in and got the two Typhoons off of me, and a couple other Luftwaffe fighters dove in on their heels. I zoomed east getting a little altitude to come back into the fight and looked at my fuel. 3 minutes left! Arg! I called to the guys that I had to leave the fight right away because of fuel. The guys killed the Typhoons. Good work, guys!
I tried to economize best I could to make it back, but this fight was in 12.12, and . . .
I end up having to ditch within sight of the closest French airfield. Drat.
I shot down one Spitfire IX and one Typhoon (got the kill on the one I worked over), destroyed three ground objects, and ditched once.
Overall, II/JG26 got 13 kills and 4 assists, which gave us top-scoring fighter group for this frame.
-- Brooke, II/JG26