KG 53 taking off in our stylish He 111H's from our home base at Lille-Nord (a119). From left to right: Volron, me (Brooke), Sg, asterix, Beefcake, Popsman, tudza, Fang, and bombrich. t=0:01
After-Action Report
9/7/2013
by Brooke, GL, KG 53
This was a scenario that ran in the multiplayer on-line air-combat simulation Aces High.
KG 53 taking off in our stylish He 111H's from our home base at Lille-Nord (a119). From
left to right: Volron, me (Brooke), Sg, asterix, Beefcake, Popsman, tudza,
Fang, and bombrich. t=0:01
Our mission was to head to sector 15.11.1 to rendezvous with KG 54, then west to hit Folkstone (p71) and the radar at Fairlight (v69).
Overflying the brave pilots of II/SG 1 in their Ju 87D-3 Stukas. From left to right in Stukas: potNpans, RbrtErl,
and Redtail7 (who is the Commander of the Luftwaffe). <S>, SG 1!
t=0:27
We made the English coast without getting intercepted, then proceeded to turn southwest toward our first target of p71. We were nervous, as there were no Luftwaffe fighters in visible range yet, but we knew that they were nearby in large numbers, taking on the RAF and working to screen our approach.
Achtung! Spitfire! We see a flight of Spitfires up from a nearby
airfield. Fortunately, they are currently too low to attack us, but they
turn to travel in our diretion and climb hard. From left to right:
Fang, tudza, me, bombrich, Volron, asterix, Sg, and Beefcake. t=0:45
A Hurricane I has just blown up one of Beefcakes He 111's, and one of Fang's
bombers is trailing smoke. A flight of high Hurricanes dove in to attack
us. Also, the Spitfires from before are getting up to our altitude and
turning in to attack. Fortunately, our salvation is arriving in the form
of Bf 109E's, racing in. From left to right in the Bf 109's: Dolby,
Tikto, perdweeb, Bobcat81, Flyman92, jeffdn, Ruah, and Sukov. From left to
right in bombers: bombrich, me, asterix, Popsman, tudza, Beefcake, Fang,
and Volron. t=0:47
A Hurricane destroys one of my bombers, but I and others put enough rounds into
him to damage his engine then blow his wing off. From left to right:
bombrich, Dolby, Flyman92, me, asterix, Popsman, tudza, jeffdn, and Tikto.
t=0:47
Bombs away on target! I was worried if we'd survive to target because of
the aggressive attacks, and the attacks made it more difficult for us to do our
final calibration and line up. t=0:48
My stick of bombs blowing up the buildings along the causeway. t=0:48
A view of the port right after our drops. The vehicle hangar is definitely
down along with a lot of buildings, and I thought at the time that we had
destroyed enough buildings to shut down the port. t=0:48
I and others blow the wing off an attacking Spitfire I. One more flight
of Spitfires and one more of Hurricanes have shown up. I order KG 53 to
keep going along the English coast, to set delay to 0.05, and to drop on radar
stations as they present themselves as best each pilot can manage while we are
under attack. When we are out of
bombs, if we are still alive, we'll head back out to the Channel. perdweeb
is still with us here, providing much appreciated help. t=0:52
I drop bombs at a radar station, but miss. I had a pilot wound and blacked
out just prior to my drop point and dropped as soon as I came conscious again,
but it was about 200 feet too late. Fortunately, someone else from KG 53
got it. perdweeb is still with us, and Bobcat81 and Dolby are racing in.
Volron looks OK so far. asterix is trailing fuel, I'm down to two bombers,
one of which is soon to die of a pilot wound, and Fang is down to two bombers,
which are under attack from a Hurricane. t=0:52
Once everyone was either out of bombs or dead, we turned southeast out to the
Channel. Only one Spitfire was able to chase us (thanks, 109's! <S>), and
he was driven off by fire from Popsman and bombrich. Beefcake, Volron, and
bomrich each got a radar tower -- well done! From left to right:
Popsman, tudza, bombrich, Volron, asterix, Beefcake, and me (in my lone bomber).
Fang survived in a lone bomber as well. t=1:02
On they way home, I gathered bomb-damage assessment from each pilot (counting objects destroyed). Beefcake and Sg made sure the VH was destroyed. Brooke hit 6 buildings, Volron 10, Popsman 8, asterix 6, bombrich 5, and Fang 1 for a total of 37, which is about 1 building short (and there can be counting errors of a couple). So our count came up short on p71 by maybe a few buildings. I notified Command and suggested that I send two pilots back to the port to hit it again, which was approved. Initially, it was to be Beefcake and Popsman, but three of our pilots could not return for mission 2, meaning that we'd be quite short of pilots to take out the port for our next mission (Portsmouth, p59). Beefcake suggested that he go it alone and try again if he didn't make it the first time, and that's what we did. <S>, brave Beefcake!
On our long route west, then north to hit p59, Popsman's bombers developed a problem and couldn't keep up with us. It took us a while as a group to figure out what was going on. It turned out that his flaps were stuck down and wouldn't retract. Once that was figured out, a remap of the key for retracting flaps got them back up, and we were able to join the group back up again.
During this time, Beefcake made it to p71 and killed 3 more buildings. Way to go, Beefcake! That was probably enough to do it. He was shot down shortly after his drop and came up again to go for more, but was unable to get there a second time -- too many enemy fighters around got him before he could get to target. <S>, Beefcake!
A view from my cockpit as we approach p59. Volron is ahead of me.
t=2:52
There were reports of fighting near our target, so we knew that there were both enemy fighters but also friendly fighters around, even though we did not have escort with us. As we got ready to drop, a couple of enemy fighters showed up to our six o'clock, but the way was totally clear other than that.
I drop my bombs for the vehicle hangar at p59. From left to right:
tudza, asterix, me, and Popsman. t=2:53
My bombs hitting the VH (top left corner of the pad at bottom of the picture).
Lots of other buildings have been destroyed.
I put hits into an attacking Hurricane I as I work to come around for another
pass on the port. t=2:55
Another pass on the port just prior to cease hostilities. I'm dropping for
the ships as most of the rest seems destroyed already. t=2:59
On our way back to base. Counting our hits, we figure that we destroyed
more than enough buildings this time. Brooke got VH and 3 ships, Volron 20
(wow!), Popsman 3, Tudza 4, Asterix 15 (wow!). From left to right:
Popsman, me, asterix, tudza, and Volron. t=3:06
Landing back at a base on the coast with the sun setting. Volron and
asterix are in the background coming in. t=3:22.
I destroyed 6 buildings at Folkstone (p71), 3 ships and the VH at Portsmouth (p59), shot down two enemy fighters, and got 5 assists.
Overall, KG 53 shut down Folkstone and Portsmouth, destroyed 3 radar installations, got 9 kills, and a very large 30 assists. Well done, guys! <S>
-- Brooke, GL, KG 53