Leaderboard

I know - you'd expect a bunch of individuals of such suave appearance to be somehow deficient in other areas, but our immaculateness is no mere veneer - it permeates to the core old boy.

Congratulations 402nd ! You guys fly much better than your looks would suggest ! 👍🏻😘 Well flown once again 485th, considering our mission was air to air we proved to be versatile when needed. Sorry to Kimo for stealing all his AAA kills 🤭 2nd Lt Tom Petty’s mission report may well have read something like this.... I was “Learning to Fly” climbing to “A Higher Place” when I saw AAA telling me ”Don’t Come Round Here No More”. Was thinking of my “American Girl” and decided that “I Won’t Back Down”. “Even The Losers” get lucky from time to time and my plane was damaged so it was “Time to Move On”. I was “Crawling Back to You” thinking “Don’t Fade on Me” , I knew I had to “Handle With Care” but “The Waiting” was too much. “I Need to Know” if my gear and flaps still work, “You Don’t Know How it Feels” when they do not ! Found myself “Free Fallin’ “ ...........

nice

Scoreboard as of 05/11/44: Rosters to follow.

Introducing for one night only (probably) 2nd Lieutenant John Mayer

Yes that sums it up The lesson is that if it isnt handling too well and you are over friendly lines and the ground looks ok then BAIL OUT

Welcome to debrief gentlemen, for this mission of the 3rd November 1944. Even by initial accounts a most productive mission, very well done. The 402nd were slated to strike transportation hubs and attack trains and MET in Cologne; despite some stiff AAA opposition and some targets being obscured by buildings this they did beautifully, with much chaos being wrought upon the enemies ability to move men and material through the centre of the city. Lt. Per Fesser managed to drop one of the primary road bridges and 2nd Lt. Fenton Rea destroyed the Köln-Deutz station - and a train with it - with their squadron-mates taking a heavy toll of AAA guns trucks and half tracks in the vicinity. However, not finding themselves content with this haul and still possessed of much ammunition they moved to a lucrative target that they had spotted on their run-in to the city: that of Köln-Ostheim airfield, and they proceeded to wreak further terrible vengeance upon AAA guns, parked aircraft, fuel bowsers, trucks and the fuel storage depot. All in the 402nd are claiming a phenomenal 42 ground targets destroyed in a single mission - a new record, and one which pushes the 402nd into the vanguard as premier Ground Attack Outfit within the 370th FG - and all for no loss. Lt. Arjen Efftee did catch some Flak during the attack on the airfield but sensibly chose to call it a day and head for home where he landed without undue difficulty. That is outstanding work gentlemen. Well done. A tough act to follow, but the 485th did themselves proud nonetheless: despite the fact that their primarily air oriented mission to the area of Cologne-Bonn bore no fruit (the Luftwaffe frustratingly refusing - yet again - to come out and play), Maj. Payne-Less' decision to bring some more weighty hardware "just in case" certainly seems vindicated as the 485th went hunting for prey on their very airfields. At Köln-Wahn, Köln-Butzweilerhof and Bonn-Hangelar the 485th left a trail of blazing flak guns, parked aircraft, fuel bowsers & trucks in their wake and netted a grand total of 28 ground targets destroyed - their best ground target haul for a single mission yet! Special mention goes out to Maj. Payne-Less for his acumen in taking on - and out! - AAA guns (he claims 7 this sortie alone) and to 2nd Lts. Denis Richard and Sidney Gittins for their 3 e/a each destroyed. Shame they weren't airbourne boys, but strafing has hazards all it's own and if they're burning on their airfields then they ain't attacking our troops on the ground. Great work. The days only vicissitude comes from the tragic loss of 2nd Lt. Tom Petty. Hit badly by flak attacking one of the airfield targets he struggled back across the front-line leaking fuel at a prodigious rate; with controls damaged he was attempting to test whether his flaps and gear would function normally at a reasonable altitude when both engines failed due to fuel starvation. It appears that he lost control whilst endeavoring to perform a out-of-field belly landing and was killed in the subsequent crash. Although only with the squadron a lamentably short time, this taciturn yet affable fellow will be missed. We await news of his replacement. As for tomorrow, Met reports indicate we're in for some high winds and just to make things even better, a healthy dose of Europes finest rain to boot. Weather does appear to be flyable for the following day, so get some rest in boys, we're flying on the 5th [event to be held Tuesday 10th November].

Touchee !!!!! Thomas 🤣

Love the way the roundels have been painted out but the colour doesn't quite match the camo. Very much looking forward to this!

Really like the taxi shot at 0:45 ish... the way it wobbles looks so much like it does IRL ... well from my DX-Memory that is...

Chaps many apologies but I will not be able to partake tonight - apologies for the short notice. Best of luck, hope it all goes well, shoot one down for me and all that I will hopefully be able to pop onto a server later this week depending how things go