Map of battle area in Italy.
After-Action Report
1/24/2015
by Brooke, 1st FG
This was a scenario that ran in the multiplayer on-line air-combat simulation Aces High.
1st FG was to escort the 2nd BG (B-17's) on a mission to bomb a78 (sector 8.17), a83, and various factories.
Map of
battle area in Italy.
1st FG taking off from a113 in our shiny P-38J's. From left to right:
Columbo, me (Brooke), mir, and Lazer. Soulyss is with us, too, but is on a
different runway. LtngRider was having mechanical problems and joined us
later. (I was temporary GL while LtngRider was having computer problems.)
t=0:01
We took up high cover over the B-17's, flying at about 35k altitude. The path was clear as we flew north from a113, then west to the first target just in from the coast of Italy. Many attacks were reported on the B-24's northeast of our position by about 25 miles.
Bombs hitting the target factory. t=1:00
C.205's were reported heading toward the bombers from 6 o'clock shortly after the bomb run. We escorts tangled with several as they came closer.
I shoot the tail off one of the C.205's trying to get to the bombers.
Flossy in her B-17's is up ahead. t=1:05
After the C.205's, FW 190A-5's started showing up two to five at time. They didn't come in with altitude (we figured remnants of attacks on the B-24's), and the escorts were able to disperse them. I made a couple of runs, but if they dove out, I broke off and went back to the bombers. If they were far under the bombers, I left them alone.
I put cannon and MG rounds into one of the attacking FW 190A-5's. His wing
blows off, then the entire plane blows up. t=1:13
Another one of the targets getting hit. 2Slow, Razor3, and ET37 (the GL of
the B-17's) have released bombs. t=1:14
More 190's showed up, still without much altitude, and the escorts kept most of them away from the bombers.
I chase and fire on a FW 190A-5 as it attacks one of Razor3's bombers.
Razor3 is firing back. Unfortunately, the FW got one of Razor3's bombers,
but Razor blasts the FW from the sky. t=1:22
Two more factories getting worked over. Lazer and Razor3 are below me.
t=1:22
More enemies showed up a few at a time, usually without much altitude advantage on the bombers. I went for a C.205 that had altitude on the bombers.
I follow the C.205 into a split S, firing. t=1:29
That wasn't a good move on my part, as I hit compressibility as I pulled my nose down through the vertical dive. I rode my P-38 down in its screaming dive, full back on the elevator, full rudder, full aileron, throttle chopped, full up trim. Once down lower, the P-38 started slowly to pull out of the dive, and then I was able to get out of compressibility and level out. But . . . I had lost enormous altitude and ended up underneath a cloud of angry enemy fighters that had been driven well below and behind the bombers. And I was heading at high speed deeper into enemy territory. The C.205 that I was chasing now was chasing me, 400 yards back and firing. I evaded and worked to head south instead of north, and tried to avoid going into more groups of enemy fighters or over an enemy ground installation. Now some 190's were chasing me as well.
"Crap!" t=1:31
I dove for the deck at very high speed, down next to a little hill. The C.205 had to pull off to avoid the hill, but a 190 was now closing fast on my tail at about 500 mph.
I chop throttle and slam it into a max-g right turn. The 190 is going 500
mph, but he's pulling enough lead to start hitting me. I pull harder (into
blackout for that brief moment you can do so without losing consciousness), but
one cannon round lands in my cockpit, and I'm dead. t=1:31
After coming back up from a113, I climbed west and hooked back up with the rest of the 1st FG, which was over the bombers, escorting them in. Once the bombers were well clear of any possible enemies, we went north in search of enemies, but didn't find any. We saw one radar contact 50 miles to our SW, so we headed that way, but before we got there, it disappeared. Also, F77 called on the radio to say that B-24's were on the deck leaving enemy territory after their second mission. The B-24's were about 75 miles or more away, but Columbo and I decided to go to them and escort them back in, which we did. We didn't run into any enemies on the way back.
As we near the bomber base, I am formed up close with F77 and his beautiful
B-24's. A gunner mistakenly puts some rounds into my right engine, which
takes out my radiator. So I high tail it back to a113. I was so
close to F77 that I wonder if his gunner got tired of the noise of my engines
and let me have it! t=3:03
Landing back at a113 with Columbo. Columbo, by the way, was a pilot for
the Collings Foundation and regularly flew, among other aircraft, the Collings
B-24 (when painted as The Dragon and His Tail). I took a flight on that
B-24 in 2004 with a couple of friends and in 2005 (when painted as Witchcraft)
with my wife. <S>, Columbo!
For any interested in a flight on a B-24 (or B-17), Collings tours the country every year (visiting airports all over the US), and a ride is about $450. It is definitely worth doing at least once in your life. You get to travel through the whole plane during flight. More details are here (a pictorial) and here (Collings Foundation site). You can also ride in their P-51, although it costs a lot more.
2 kills (C.205 and FW 190A-5), died once. 1st FG did well. 10 kills, 3 deaths, and did a great job working to keep the bombers safe.
-- Brooke, 1st FG