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Debrief: Quite the sobering first mission for Norman Gannet. He arrived back to base under a black cloud shrouding the 485th, And the day had started out so glorious. Launching on his first early morning raid with the 485 Norm was struck by the beauty of his first combat sunrise. The luminous orb outlining his esteemed commander, such a sight. Surely a good omen. The reality of war, soon disavowed him of that illusion. Shortly after sunrise Lt Johnson, RTB'd with engine difficulties. The rumors in the training cadre about the cold winter weather being unkind to Allison engines, seems to be bearing bitter fruit. Left without a wingman, Norman was given the choice of attaching himself to white flight but, chose to remain with his commander and chip in where he could. It would not be long before he would regret that fateful decision. Prior to target we encountered 3 enemy bombers escorted by fighters, however both sides elected to continue on mission, there were jobs to be done after all. Over target : To quote the British, "Bloody 'ell!" So much AA, Norman had never born witness to such a display. To see Maj Painless and Lt Reginald simply dive straightaway into the teeth of such fire gave Norman such pride. He too shall not quail! Giving the lead pair much distance he dove in as a straggling #3, and promptly buggered up his run and held his drop. Climbing back up he watched as the Maj and Lt wreaked havoc on the AA. Picking his window of opportunity he dove in on a halftrack and managed to hit one of two vehicles. As the airspace was crowded he requested to hit the rail yard solo and placed one 500lb square in the center of the enclosed station. It was difficult to see weather or not it had any effect. By this time the AA had been diminished and He was eager for a few of his own. The first few runs he seemed to fit nicely into the chaos. with everyone calling in and out on target, the 485th doing serious damage to the enemy. It was only when running in on that one damn gun, It had spat such a mouthful of venomous 37mm directly at his head that Lt Gannet lost his nerve and broke away to the safety of the South, where the AA had already been hammered. Directly across the path of the oncoming Maj.Painless. With an almighty "NOOOO!" from the radio echoing in his ears, Lt. Gannet was looking rearward for tracers when he saw the good Majors aircraft strike his tail and disintegrate before his very eyes. 'It was at that moment, he knew he @#$%ed up.' Witnessing the remains of the Majors aircraft cartwheeling into the river, Norman quickly checked his aircraft over, and was astonished to find absolutely no damage. The guilt and remorse would have to come later, there was still a job to do. Lt Reginald bought it shortly after, he was hit by Flak and seen to go in. With the 485th now at half strength, Lt Artage of White flight spotted aircraft lights and investigated to find a lone Ju52 attempting to sneak in under our noses. He looks to have damaged it severely as Lt Gannet saw it bellied up in the snow a few miles short of the airbase. Lt Gannet found another train hiding in a nearby village and strafed it with Capt. Rea of White flight providing cover. Back at target Capt. Rea made one last pass before calling us off to return home, laying a beautiful stick of 3 bombs right down at the bridge footing and decimating the Germans hiding there. Not a moment too soon as well, for a marauding flight of FW190's appeared. Lt. Artage and Capt. Rea soon got stuck in with the flight of 3, and Norman dropped his remaining bomb on an 88 crew that had the misfortune of being between him and the fray. With one 190 down to the Captain, and Artage poking holes in the 2nd, Norman Gannet locked his jaws solidly on the tail of the 3rd 190 and chewed it like a bone until finally the bandit rolled over and buried itself in the forest below. With ammunition low, It was past time to leave, and we departed for home. In the process of organizing the remains of the 485th, Capt. Rea's radio gave up while crossing the frontlines, and Lt's Gannet and Artage landed at the nearby friendly field of Ache. Looking back on his first mission, Norman had the stark realization that there is no glory or excitement in war. Only Fear, adrenaline, and determination. Also regrets.. lots of regrets. Who ever said it was absolutely correct. "War, is hell."

Ah-ha - I see you've found your way here despite my instructions. Welcome aboard Seagoon, you've probably realised we run a fairly easy-going ship here already. I'll send the TS details over a little later. Cheers Jabo

Good evening guys, I'm just outside of Manchester in leafy Cheshire but I'm originally from Cape Town. Crash I have all of the Il-2 modules except for Volume 2 of Flying Circus. I had DCS installed but it runs like a can of rusty nails on my Quest 2 so sadly I'm sticking to Il-2. Friar I heard about you guys on the Il-2 forums a while back actually but it took me a while to realise what I wanted out of the flying online experience. What sort of aircraft do you chaps fly? I see mention of the P-38? Do you stick to the 38 or do you fly anything else? The Tank Crew side sounds interesting but my VR time in it is limited. I used to play Warthunder a heck of allot and had some great fun but it is a bit rubbish in VR and I can't bring myself to play it back in flatscreen. Hello Arjen, I may appal you by speaking Afrikaans sometime if you're unlucky. Yes I know it sounds like a child talking Thank you Arthur. I've relieved I didn't choose Redbladder!

Good afternoon everybody Seagoons the name and Seagoons the game...err wait that doesn't work does it? There is vicious rumour that you are looking for fresh cannon fodder? Well sirs..and ladies, look now further! You will find that there is no bigger target in Multiplayer Il-2 Great Battles than yours truly! I have flown with a serious bunch before, lovely guys but a bit too rigid, and realised that seeing as this is only a game we should be having fun. So if there is space for a silly bugger like me I would love to join you. S

Strangely I was actually wondering how much of a slaughter a 109 in FC would be last night after reminding myself what a good climber the 109 is. I took a G2 out for old times on Finnish and was blown away how quickly I got to 3km. I was climbing at a faster speed than the SE5A's maximum speed!

Fresh Mest? That is brilliant! That's a bit like the story I'd heard about old England bowler Ashley Giles who wanted to get t-shirts printed with the logo "King of Spin" printed on them. When they arrived with "The King of Spain" emblazoned on them the name stuck!

Good detective work FT...

Anyone called Seagoon is welcome here.

We sure aint rigid. We don't like change. But we're not rigid at all. Or maybe not too rigid anyways. Or, maybe we can change? Oh wait ... (Hey, Pst, Friar, he posts in our afternoon time zone, he starts with 'good afternoon' ... where do you think he could be? Ah, I see, he could be a time zone challenged Aussie ... ) Hello Andy!

Here https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/261146-avro-vulcan-xh558-mod-by-t-pap/