Leaderboard

Mission Date 16/11/44 402nd FS - Rail Targets Remagen 485th FS - Fighter Sweep Ulmen Sector 410th BG - Bomb Infantry Positions Remagen Debrief: 370th FG The COs have covered the major events in today's missions, not much to add but the exceptionally heavy enemy air activity encountered over the front and well behind our lines by the 402nd - and a number of other friendly squadrons too by some of the rumours we are hearing. With regards the 402nd, special note goes to 2nd Lt. Roy Hinkley, flying as Leakage White 3. After receiving damaging fire from an enemy aircraft during the first engagement by the 402nd, Hinkley not only kept his bomb load throughout but persevered on to target, destroying the largest amount of ground claims of his squadron (7 in total) from his attack. As commendable as this action was, as he was limping home, he then engaged a squadron of Ju-88s, downing 2 and damaging a third. Then just after his wingman, 2nd Lt. Zukkerelli was obliged to bail out when his aircraft was struck by debris from the a Ju-88 he was attacking, Hinkley was engaged by 4 Fw 190s, whose ministrations he managed to avoid for more than 5 minutes as other elements of his squadron rushed to assist. Just to top it off, he downed a further Fw 190. Exceptional work 2nd Lt. Hinkley. Incredible even, especially for his second mission. Not to be left out, our brand new pilot, 2nd Lt. Patrick Last downed 4 enemy fighters in his first mission. Clearly one to watch from hereon in. Excellent work and great shooting Lieutenant! Veteran Lt. Finknottle also had a good-day, claiming 2 long nosed Focke-Wulfs and a Ju-88. He also engaged a squadron of Bf 110s single-handed and damaged one before discretion took the better part of valour and he disengaged - wisely as he was low on ammo and fuel. However, he showed considerable sagacity by alerting the returning 485th squadron via radio as to the location of the e/a and thus Zenith squadron were able to tear into the Zerstorers with considerable success. Capt Efftee opened the scoring by knocking down a long-nosed FW during the first engagement near the frontlines. 2nd Lt. Zukkerelli, prior to his misfortunate of being hit by a large piece of debris falling from the enemy Ju-88 he had just shot down, had also claimed a second kill , an Fw 190, during the stiff air-to-air fighting earlier in the mission. He hit the silk successfully and has telephoned from XIXth Tactical Fighter Command in Vervrier that he will be on his way back to us soon ( a few Belgian bars notwithstanding...!) Our resident top-scorer Lt. Rea also added 2 scalps to his collection today but came damn close on the last to joining his victim, passing so close to the ailing Kraut that the Focke-Wulf's wing tip took off his starboard aileron. Close call there Rea! Alas, 2nd Lt. Dennis Winger was not so fortunate. Having shot down an FW during the early engagements, he collided with the enemy aircraft he was attacking. The wreckage of his aircraft was seen to hit the ground in friendly territory but no chute was witnessed. A dedicated and faithful wingman to Capt Efftee and a friendly effusive fellow in the squadron mess, his departure has left something of a vacuum in the squadron that will be hard to fill. Leakage Red 4, 2nd Lt. Tony Bowen had engine troubles on startup that obliged him to abort the mission - and he will no doubt be cursing the name of his Crew Chief for missing out on so action-packed a mission. Considering that their remit had been to attack rail targets in Remagen, you could be forgiven for thinking that with this record haul of 15 air kills in one mission that perhaps the 402nd had neglected their duties, but the opposite is the case; the 402nd decimated the target and left Remagen with 16 ground claims under their belt. Capt Efftee you should feel justly proud, both of your boys and of the leadership you exhibit to garner such impressive results. Well done. Maj. Payne-Less should feel no less satisfied, though Group well understand your frustrations at missing out on the bulk of the air action today. Nonetheless, Zenith squadron still took the fight to the Germans with gusto strafing and bombing any thing that moved in their sector of operations and still having the mettle to get stuck in to Luftwaffe when the opportunity presented itself on their flight home. Whilst 5 kills may seem slim pickings in light of the rather unprecedented performance by your sister squadron, 5 air kills in a mission is exemplary by any squadrons measure and that represents 5 enemy airplanes that will tomorrow, not be dropping bombs on our troops heads. Group knows that given the same remarkable circumstances that the 402nd encountered today, the 485th would have equaled or bettered their performance. It is with sadness then that we announce the loss of 2nd Lt. Gary Funflaque and Capt. Frank Priory. Both fell, we suspect, to rear gunner fire in the engagements with the 110s. Funflaque had been with the squadron since our move to Belgium in the Autumn and will be sorely missed. Capt. Priory, so recently new to the squadron had already started to settle in and earn the trust and respect of his squadron mates as Zenith White Leader. Tomorrow, the 17th is looking fine and bright gents, according to the Met boys, so keep your heads clear and get some rest. [Event to be flown Tuesday 22nd December 2020] 410th BG Please refer to Maj. Viscous' debreifing.

Santa has already been though. Happy christmas to me from me. lol

370th FG Scoreboard, as of the morning of 17th November 1944: 410th BG Scoreboard as of the morning of 17th November 1944:

Christmas has been tough for me this year... Spent all my money on a joystick instead lol.

After being damaged in the engagement on ingress we dropped bombs and Zukker and I headed home and stumbled on to this. Curious the 88's were not returning fire but initially I was setting up each pass from their high 6 and breaking off at a safe distance. As for the circling bombers PW has found the cause and is on it as of Oct 24. https://youtu.be/ITLXaStkyWU After this I took another couple leisurely passes on the 88's before spotting 3 FW 190's climbing up through the clouds and I turned into them calling for help. Then a fourth showed up. I got good hits on one and he went away smoking. The next ? minutes were spent in some of the most intense action I've seen yet. On the edge of a stall most of the time- refusing to give up altitude, so low on ammo I only shot when it was a sure hit. Rescue arrived and they cleaned up the opposition. Unfortunately by the time I remembered to hit record again(shadowplay 5 min record) on the way home I had missed all the good action...... just caught the end. https://youtu.be/avxGa_E5m-Q

Join in..... Ohhh Jingle bells Painless yells The planes don't come our waaaay... 402 run into them Every feckin' daaaay..... Dashing through the snowwwww In a one horse feckin' showwwww Over flak we fly Most of us do die.... Searching high and low The Jerries they don't showwwww So we drop our bombs instead And lawn dart as we go Ohhhhhhhh Jingle bells Painless yells The planes don't come our waaaay... 402 run into them Every feckin' daaaay.... Fighters over there.... In a distant square... Shall we join the chase? I really couldn't care... 402 are close never feckin' mind... Let's just go home to the mess and genterly unwind... Ohhh Jingle bells Painless yells The planes don't come our waaaay... 402 run into them Every feckin' daaaay.....

Hurrah, Bronze Star - I am on my way 😀

370th FG Awards and Promotions: 402nd: 2nd Lieutenant Patrick Last is awarded the Bronze Star 2nd Lieutenant Roy Hinkley is awarded the Bronze Star 1st Lieutenant Bert Finknottle is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross 485th: 2nd Lieutenant David Reginald is awarded the Bronze Star Major Mick Payne-Less is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross Personnel: 402nd: Replacement pilot is due, identity TBC 485th: Capt Alan Cloister is posted to the squadron. Replacement pilot is due, identity TBC Rosters: 410th BG Awards and Promotions: 2nd Lieutenant Dave Haggis is awarded the Bronze Star Personnel: No changes. Roster:

and fairly frictionless I'd say is also desirable.

Where's the little key? Don't think I have that one on my keyboard 😔

Looking forward to hearing you sing that little ditty live at Legends Sidly ? Maybe with Tom on backing vocals and geeetarrrrr. 🤣

Veteran? Cheeky young whippersnapper

You forgot this line: "It's tin hats that we wear"

Must be 2020, they are all wearing masks ?

Understood Reggie but it was the kind of thing that would haunt my dreams in the small hours, particularly as it was my absent-mindedness to blame. My own eye for detail would cause this to gnaw at my soul henceforth, so it was as much to save my own sanity as to see justice done to two hard working virtual pilots. Besides, if Painless thought for even a moment that the 485th was being denied legitimate kills, he and Artie would break out the tin-foil hats and cries of "CONSPIRACY" would forever plague our Teamspeak channel. Thusly it is better for us all that I did this!

Here are some highlights from my perspective. Nothing as cinematic or interesting as the videos BluBear and Perf posted, but you can see me doing ground attack at and angle I had no right to fly away from with just a broken prop [4:20], Friar singing [5:30], instrument flying through clouds with appallingly set up rudder trim [5:47], and a fast bouncy one-engined landing and pathetic taxiing attempt with some incriminating comms chatter in the background [6:30]. Also friendly reminder to myself and others, nicely lined up targets like that are made for two separate (ripple) bomb drops in succession, instead of dropping the pair in unison. Oh and question for BluBear, when you make those awesome videos, do you record a track and then record? Do tracks work as they should in GBS (they're near-useless in DCS)? I figure that would be a much better workflow than directly recording in-game with the UI and other ugliness getting in the way.