Winter Sky - Death Ground, Frame 4

After-Action Report
5/5/2012
by Brooke, JG26

This was a scenario that ran in the multiplayer on-line air-combat simulation Aces High.

I was in 1/JG26 "Schlageter".

Map


A map of the battle area for us. Our home base was a25 in sector 6.13.

Mission 1


1/JG26 on its takeoff roll in our FW 190D-9's.  From left to right:  pervert, Ditto, 68RacrX, 1ijac, me (Brooke), IrishOne (our GL), and Redtail7.  t=0:0

Our mission was to patrol the western part of sector 5.11 along with JG27.  On the way there, enemies were called out heading east from a114, so we vectored to intercept.  As we went south, we spotted a couple larger groups of bogies.


We head for the right (western-most) group and turn in on a group of P-47's.  From left to right:  1ijac, Redtail7, IrishOne, and 68RacrX.  t=0:27


A view right and back from my cockpit at the same moment.  Unfortunately for me, just as we turned for the right group, I just missed seeing the left-most group of bogies resolve themselves into another group of P-47's heading for us.  I had assumed that the left group was heading away from us.  VANDALS is back there lower than I am.


My bad initial read on positioning caused me to get chased down and out of the fight right at the start.  Then P-38's showed up as well, also higher than I was.  I spent the next several minutes staying out of trouble and getting some altitude to get back into the fight.  Another group of Bf 109K-4's entered the fight, which we were glad to see.  pervert and Ditto are back there in the picture.


I try for one of the P-38's after I got back into the fight, but miss.  t=0:30

Then high Typhoons showed up in the fight as well.  By now the fight was very spread out.  One of the Typhoons dove on me.  I didn't see many friendlies around me, so I dove out, with him in hot pursuit.  I passed a group of friendlies in a furball on the deck and thought about a hard turn around and into that melee as a way to scrub off my attacker, but I was going very fast and figured I'd try to run for it.  The Typhoon slowly reeled me in, but I chopped throttle turned hard one way, then the other, then went back to full throttle and WEP once he broke off to keep from overshooting me.  I was starting to pull away from him when . . .


Another Typhoon showed up with lots of alt and started reeling me in.  He forced me to turn, and the first Typhoon then was able to catch up.  I tried the same thing again.  t=0:35


Unfortunately, the first Typhoon landed a snapshot on my wing on one of my crossing turns, and down I went.  t=0:36

So, my first life was done, and my total offensive tally was firing my guns once at a P-38 and missing.

Mission 2

I came back up from our home base along with IrishOne and 1ijac.  Redtail7 and Ditto were up, too, but had taken off in advance of us.  We were vectored to v101 area.  Once there, we saw fighting down low and went in to join the battle.


I clear a couple of P-47's off of mosca1's tail.  I saw him heading away from v101 with these two in pursuit.  I got some hits on the closest P-47, but didn't put him down in this pass.  t=0:56


I blow the wing off one of the P-47D-25's in the subsequent fight.  t=0:57

Mission 3

After fighting for a while here, the area looked clear, so we went back to rearm rather than mill around eating up fuel.  Once up, we climbed and again headed to the v101 area.  When there, we got reports of enemies up high.


I put some hits on a Spitfire 14 that I found up higher and pursued low as he dove.  There are lots of enemy aircraft down low at v101 and many different types:  Spitfire 14's, Tempests, P-51's, P-47's, P-38's, and Typhoons.  68RacrX is down there making a run as well.  t=1:37


I go in to clear IrishOne.  Ditto is down there, too.  There is quite a fight developing on the deck near v101.  t=1:38


I pour some shells into the left boom of a P-38L and take off his tail. t=1:43

At the same time, another P-38 and P-51 are chasing me, so after this kill, I was forced to jink and run.  Fortunately, I took only a couple of bullets to non-vital areas of the D9.


The P-38 and P-51 break off when they can't catch me and because there are a lot of Luftwaffe fighters showing up in the area behind us.  t=1:43


My buddy Fencer takes a run at me in his P-38L, but fortunately for me, the angle is bad for him. t=1:44


I blast a Tempest.  It explodes a moment later.  t=1:44


I knock some pieces off an already wounded P-38.  t=1:49


A Spit 14 chases me around for a while, 400-600 yards back.  I use my roll rate to keep him out of sync until Spikes in his Me 262 clears him off my tail.  Thank you, Spikes! <S>  t=1:50


I get back on that wounded P-38 from earlier and remove the rest of his tail.  t=1:51


Some fresh P-47's and a P-51 come hammering in and do a firing pass on me.  Fortunately, I'm heading into them, and the P-47's have bombs.  One of them lands a couple of MG rounds on me, but still no significant damage to my D9.  t=1:54


I kill one of the P-47's, landing cannon rounds all over its left wing, cockpit, and engine.  t=2:00

At this point, I was down to less than 10 minutes of fuel, so I headed out to re-arm at a133.

Mission 4


Back into the v101 area low, I clear two P-38's chasing Ace8.  I put some hits into the trailing one, but not enough to put him down.  t=2:17


I put some hits into one of the P-38's, and he does a hard diving turn to evade.  mosca1 and Syko are down there, too.  t=2:18


The P-38 hits some trees and explodes.


I cover a Spit 14 in cannon hits as he tried a hard climb to evade me.  His tail and back half of his fuselage come off, then both his wings.  t=2:19

At this point, v101 was again momentarily clear, and there weren't many Luftwaffe fighters around anymore -- I think only a few of us.  I wasn't keen on staying down low at v101 in that situation.  Also, some of our fields well in German territory were flashing -- a typical sign of bombers.  I went inland a bit, but asked our CO if he wanted me to hunt bombers or head back to 101.  He ordered me back to 101.

The other couple of guys still up spotted a lot of enemy aircraft heading south from a133 area to v101 area.  I headed north from v101 area toward them, but stayed at about 30k.  I came across various enemies up at about 25-28k, Spitfires and Typhoons or Tempests.  I made some runs on them and followed them back to the v101 area, where the sky at altitude seemed clear.


I dove in to try to clear ccvi who was being chased by a couple of Typhoons or Tempests and a P-47.  Unfortunately, he was shot down before I closed.  BippeeII is in the area as well.

At that point, there were two of us in the area and a lot of allied fighters, and time was almost up.  I decided to head back in the direction of the nearest flashing base hoping to find bombers along with Ace8 just before cease hostilities.  We didn't find them, but saw in our film that we got close.

Conclusion

I got seven kills (two P-47's, three P-38's, one Spitfire 14, and one Tempest) and one assist (a Spit 14).  I died once.

Overall, 1/JG26 got 19 kills.

-- Brooke, 1/JG26