AAR 4 Sept!

Myself and Speedy77 teamed up to run some CAP missions over Namur and Aarschott.

Unfortunately, the campaign being half an hour old, there were no Spitfires left in the hangar. Luckily Speedy had already bagged one, so I took a battered old Hurricane up to provide some support. Speedy was on an RTB, and logged 2 kills on landing.

Forming up near Brussels, it was noted how difficult it is to keep track of each other without having the squad tags visible.

Speedy called a contact his 2 o'clock and set off to investigate. I turned my hurri around, but couldn't work out which direction Speedy was looking when he called! The contact turned out to be a 109, and Speedy engaged him as I struggled to get over to where they were. As the two tangled, more contacts appeared in the distance, with altitude on us. They turned out to be a mix of 09's and 110's. Speedy was engaged on a 109, and I also saddled up on one. An E4 variant, he simply accelerated away from my climbing hurricane, and as I looked behind me to see what Speedy was up to, I was hit in the head.

I managed to find a Spitfire in the spawn list up Antwerp, and set off to help Speedy disengage himself from the now 4 cons. As I was heading towards him, I saw a 110 and a 109 high above me. They BnZ'd me for about 5 minutes, each time they made a pass I was able to evade and climb, reducing their BnZ ability. Other friendlies joined me, and more 110's turned up at altitude. After taking some hits, I was able to RTB and join up with Speedy at Brussels AF. Speedy got jumped by a high 110 again, and was forced to RTB or crash near the AF.

After a few more sorties where we were constantly split up and shot down by 110's and 109s, we tried to get some alt and come in from a different direction. We managed to single out a 109, but the poor firepower of the Spit 1 (and some wayward shooting) meant by the time we had him bang to rights, Speedy was getting picked off by the 109's mates. I managed and RTB with hits but no kills.

Debrief

Overall, it was good to get flying with a wingman again, although its frustrating when the same aircraft isn't available. Also, flying without squad tags is difficult to see on the map who is who and where they are!

We struggled over the target due to sheer numbers - it's difficult flying against 4+ eas when they have alt advantage. We had better success when we grabbed alt in a different direction. I think we might have had more success avoiding the combat zone completely and heading between the AO and the enemy airfield, and jumping them there.

Points

I thought comms were good considering it was our first flight together. Its hard sometimes when using clock calls (eg 2 oclock high) to work out where the other guy is looking. It works better in close formation when both pilots are heading the same way! I try and use Cardinal headings (e.g con north high) but if you dont' have the mini map open that becomes confusing too!

More pilots needed! At least 4 pilots working together will be more effective. ALthough this early in the campaign, getting 4 Spits on the same mission might be tricky!

Altitude is Life. Those guys BnZ'ing us were only up at 12 or 13 thousand feet. No reason why we cannot operate at 15 or 16 feet when entering enemy areas. that would put the Hun on the back foot, and make them have to play to our strengths.

hopefully we can learn from this, and get some kills next time!

That sums up 19 Squadron's first outing very well!

We should have nailed that 109 in the last engagement. I think we both had opportunities but he slipped away and ran to his mates, who happened to be Bersi and his chums. They came in with greater numbers and altitude, and we were up the creek with no paddle, canoe, and a sudden recollection of the film Deliverance

I agree getting altitude is paramount. It's a very obvious point, but sometimes the temptation to get into the action is to great and altitude is ignored. Comms could be improved, but more pairs of eyes would help to.

Look forward to the next outing!

speedy77 wrote:They came in with greater numbers and altitude, and we were up the creek with no paddle, canoe, and a sudden recollection of the film Deliverance

LMAO!!!! awsome!


i think you guys are gona rock when you get rolling and more numbers start comming in....

as regards planes, yea its a biatch when there is no spits (specialy in tiers 0/1) we actualy find it better flying all the same plane, trying to keep hurri's and spits in the same formation is more work than its worth lol, if we find enough spit for one flight (4 pilots) we will send flight with spits up high while the second flight comes in lower around 8k in the canes...

as for contact calls its difficult at first but you need to nail it down squad wise or its going to be a world of pain up there lol and multiply that by 10 when you have 15+ pilots up there, confusion at this point (con visual) is deadly for a squadron when you start flying in larger numbers.

but as stupid as this may sound the longer you fly with each other the better the understanding, i know most of the time where my guys will be in any situation i duno what it is but it does get better, we used to make it the rule that while in formation use the clock, while in combat mode use N/E/S/W and everything in between, this works because (with us anyway) once one of our flights is engaged it splits into 2 parts so your wingman is or should be always with you to some degree and he will catch on quick so when you call the "109 SE high" the rest of the flight gets the info and can understand it quickly..

and yea alltitude is life! especialy in RAF, canes we usualy operate at around 8k spits we take in higher around 10k/15k, you would be suprised how quick the 109's run for the hill when they see a squadron comming at them thats actualy higher!! LOL i dont think there used to it hehehe..

first sortie of the night we go in high as possible simply because we are not sure what the situation is, if you find the EA are layered around 5-8k you can drop a little on your next sortie and save a little time..

Considering you guys were flying a 2 ship and NO SQUAD TAGS!!!! you did awsome! really looking forward to seing you guys grow, speaking with dojo he seems to have it nailed down nicely...

GO 19 Squadron!!!

Gizz


ill shut my yap now before dojo bans me