A map of the battle area for us. Our home base was a16 in sector 13.11.
After-Action Report
10/20/2012
by Brooke, XO and GL of JG26
This was a scenario that ran in the multiplayer on-line air-combat simulation Aces High.
I was the XO of the Luftwaffe and GL of JG26 "Schlageter".
A map of the battle area for us. Our home base was a16 in sector 13.11.
JG26 taking off from a16 in our FW 190D-9's. From front to back for JG26
was only 5 pilots today: wnt2, wil3ur, cattb, me (Brooke), Ditto, and
Slate. Also taking off are the mighty Finns in I/JG301 in their FW
190A-8's, from left to right: Camo, Aati, (can't read overlapping names),
Charge, and Have. t=0:01
I was to coordinate the fighter support (FW 190D-9's and Bf 109K-4's) in the center, with Stampf controlling the bomber destroyers (FW 190A-8's and Me 410's). JG26 was to cover the bomber destroyers, and Wildcat's and Perdweeb's groups were to find the bombers, disrupt the high escort, then mix things up when the bomber destroyers were close. Early on, radar showed a large enemy formation coming east in the center. At first, it seemed too small to contain bombers, so I asked Wildcat to send two scouts into the center of it at 34k to check it out. Before they were there, though, radar showed a lot more enemies arriving, so I was more confident bombers were present and dispatched all of Wildcat's group to go. Stampf maneuvered the bomber destroyers, and we in JG26 stayed near them as escort.
JG26 escorting the bomber destroyers. From left to right: CANUKK,
(can't make out), Frodo, Ditto, Turner, TheBug, Pepper, (can't make out),
JollyFE, BaldEagl, aztec, Vilkas, Honcho, Zambelli, Vasco, LeitWolf, Krusty, me,
Slate, chris3, ccvi, cattb, Camo, Untamo, Charge, Jarski, my1, Aati, wil3ur,
raivo, and Have. t=0:30
Wildcat's guys found the bombers, so I asked Perdweeb's group to go in with the same mission: to stay high and to disrupt the high escort. Folks kept reports of bomber location going, and Stampf worked to position the bomber destroyers for intercept.
JG26 drops tanks after bogies are spotted, 10 o'clock high to the bomber destroyers. The bogies are the dots near my right
wingtip in this picture. From left to right: my1, wil3ur, me,
Charge, Aati, Jarski, Have, Camo, and Untamo. t=0:37
We lead turned into the oncoming enemy P-51's. They dove for speed with
members of JG26 closing. From left to right: Camo, Untamo, Have,
Jarski, Aati, Charge, my1, BizMan, me, wil3ur, Slate, and raivo. t=0:38
The P-51's ended up below the bomber destroyers, heading away with JG26 in hot pursuit. I called for all JG26 pilots not directly on a P-51 to turn back to the bomber destroyers. The P-51's would not be a threat from where they were currently. I feared that the P-51 flight would be calling in location of our bomber destroyers, and more enemies would show up soon. However, we were getting closer to the bombers, and I called for Wildcat and Perdweeb and their guys to get more aggressive with the escort around the bombers (i.e., no longer constrained to stay high and just harass).
As we got within visual range of the bomber stream, P-51's started to arrive from behind us. I did a 360 to get back in among the P-51's.
A view of the action as our bomber destroyers are starting to hit the bombers
and as I complete my 360. More P-51's are off to my left. t=0:47
I mix it up with a couple of P-51's, but then a P-51 and P-38J latch onto
me, and I dive out. t=0:49
The P-38 stayed with me, and I jinked and dove hard under the bombers. I took a few pings from the P-38 but didn't take any major damage. I outran him after a while.
A view from below me as I zoom through under the bomber stream. There are a
lot of bomber formations missing planes, and the bomber stream has been
spread out. From left to right: perdweeb, Slate, Dutchie, me, Wildcat1,
Seighin, syncII, morfiend, cattb, and Ace8. t=0:49
From this position, I saw LeitWolf being attacked. I tried to get to him, but before I closed, the attacking P-51 got his wing.
I go back up into the fight that is swirling under the bomber stream, going
after the P-51 that got LeitWolf. From left to right: Slate, CANUKK,
and jollyFE. t=0:50
A P-51 with a lot of speed moved to latch onto me. I went down to the deck trying to get away, but he stuck about 500 yards back and he landed some hits on me as I jinked and went to the deck. Another P-51 joined him. I saw some friendlies overfly me and squealed like a baby on the radio for help. I saw cattb come racing in, and reversed into him.
I pull a hard, diving turn as cattb comes racing through. cattb and I mix
it up on the deck with these two P-51D's. They turn out to be flown by
CorkyJr and Redbull. t=0:51
I plaster Redbull's P-51D. Off come his rudder and half his horizontal
stabilizer, but I don't land enough hits to take off the whole tail.
t=0:52
CorkyJr is behind me at this point, and as I pull down into a dive to evade and to build up some speed, he puts some hits into me and gives me a pilot wound.
A view out of my blood-stained canopy left and back as wnt2 comes racing in to
break the P-51's off me. I evade then try to accelerate away to get
distance before blacking out. When I come to, I'm comfortably ahead of the
P-51's and pulling away. Many thanks to cattb and wnt2. <S>
I tried to head to a16, but I wouldn't make it with the pilot wound, so I went toward the closest field. That took be back by one of the P-51's that went after me briefly, but there were other Luftwaffe fighters in the area that were on him, and he had to break off. Thanks, guys! <S> I landed, which used up one of my lives. I came back up from a16, and wil3ur, wnt2, Slate and I joined up with Camo and his FW 190A-8's. The surviving enemy bombers had made it to Berlin and were turning back west. We worked to vector into a position to intercept them as they returned. We four of JG26 worked to be escort for Camo's A8's. Calls came in of bomber position, and we were able to vector right into them from their front. Calls came in of a lot of high escort, too.
JG26 tries to engage the P-51's and to keep them off Camo's group as we head to
the bombers. From left to right: Aati, Jarski, Grendel, Untamo, my1,
Charge, Camo, Have, and me. t=1:26
A view forward right as I mix it up with P-51's. Stampf's and Wildcat's
groups are coming in, too. We didn't keep all of the bomber destroyers
uninjured (Jarski trailing smoke, and Aati and raivo are being pursued), but we
did keep a bunch of P-51's busy to the rear of many of the others. Bombers
are being attacked (see black streaks in upper right of picture). From
left to right: raivo, Wildcat1, Slate, Aati, Jarski, CANUKK, bino, Frodo,
Turner, TheBug, and Stampf. t=1:27
I followed a P-51 into a dive and into compressibility. I stayed in compressibility to keep up with him. After a bit, though, he pulled up and out of the way, and I couldn't get out of compressibility quickly enough to stay on him. That took me away from the major portion of the fight, but in coming back toward it, I came across a P-38 that I then engaged.
Putting cannon rounds into a P-38J. t=1:36
Finishing off the P-38. There were a bunch of Luftwaffe fighters around
greatly outnumbering him here. t=1:36
After this fight, I tried to get back toward the bombers, but I suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure (i.e, my software crashed). I got back on and took off from a16, but that was well behind the action. I joined up with wnt2 and wil3ur who were refueling or replaning, and we tried to find any stragglers we could attack. Calls came in of a big fight in 7.12, so we headed that way.
Then a call came in from Klingan saying that he was getting jumped by P-51's at a69. We were about a sector SW of there, but with lots of altitude. We headed to a69 and put ourselves into enough of a dive to hit and to maintain compressibility to get there as fast as possible. I arrived and saw the four P-51's SW of a69, racing off at low altitude. I called it in and overflew them to get on the leader and to make him turn. Soon, there was an excellent swirling fight on the deck. More Luftwaffe fighters show up, and soon the P-51's were outnumbered, but they gave a strong account of themselves.
My cannon rounds cut one of the P-51's in half. t=0:37 (film2)
After that fight, I climbed back toward the center of the remaining fight to find the last P-51 trying to run off with many Lufwaffe fighters chasing him, but not in firing range. I had some altitude and angle on him and was able to chase him down. It took me a while, but I closed to 400-500 yards. He was jinking, but not enough to lose much speed. I took shots here and there, mostly missing, but scoring at times. I blew off his rudder, then his right wingtip.
Final hits into the doomed P-51D. t=0:41 (film2)
Landing with wil3ur, Camo, raivo, and Untamo. t=0:47 (film2)
I got three kills (a P-38J and two P-51D's) and one assist (P-51).
Overall, JG26's five pilots got 11 kills and 10 assists against 4 deaths, and helped get the bomber destroyers to the bombers (which was the most-important part of our mission).
-- Brooke, XO and GL, JG26