Jump to content

DD_Fenrir

1. DDz Quorum
  • Posts

    2,168
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    350
  • Country

    United Kingdom

Posts posted by DD_Fenrir

  1. Mission Date 20/12/44

    402nd FS - Attack Armour, Spa

    485th FS - Fighter Patrol, Spa

     

    Debrief:

    370th FG

    402nd FS:

    402nd Sqn Log 20-12-44 a.PNG

     

    485th FS:

    Seconded Lts. Artage and Mayer to the 402nd FS to bolster their numbers as they were wanting for aircrew. Led a formation of 6 a/c, took 2 x 500lb bombs in case of no-show by the Lufties. Take-off and form up uneventful. Climbed to Angels 10 for transit to patrol area. 10km short of the lines Red 2 (2nd Lt. Bayles) called bogeys 1 o'clock, slightly lower; called for a climb to the right to try and put us up sun. The a/c resolved into 5-6 number long nosed Fw 190s. I directed White Leader (Lt. Nailed) to attack the lead e/a whilst Red flight dropped in on the trailing flights from above. After a brisk action that took us over the frontlines and practically down to tree-top height all the bandits were downed; there was much AAA, both friendly and enemy, plus a group of P-47s got involved which complicated matters, but the 485th counted for 5 of the e/a, though the unfortunate 2nd Lt. Bayles got clobbered by AAA whilst lining up a 190 and was forced to withdraw - thankfully he made it home, though experienced further drama when a damaged engine failed on short final; he got it down and is shaken but unhurt. The a/c, however, is somewhat worse for wear... I strafed two of the potentially offending guns and took them out.

    The rest of 485th remained in the area to cover the 402nd until they had completed their attacks. Whilst in the SE corner of the patrol area we spotted a gun in a field and were northbound and descending, setting up for an attack run when I spotted 5-6 bogeys to the NE, slightly lower and coming in our direction; initial assumption was they were the 402nd and their escorts but we then realised they should be SW of us; it was then that I ordered the squad to break off the ground attack and investigate and potentially engage the coming contacts. They turned out to be a squadron of Bf 110s and we promptly set to, eventually downing 5, but not without some casualties; Lt. Nailed got badly clobbered by the rear gunner of one of the bandits and was obliged to break off and RTB badly wounded and with an ailing aircraft. His wingman, 2nd Lt Badame was able to exact retribution and flamed the e/a, before escorting his flight lead home. Similarly, Lt. Johnson was also tagged by rear gunner fire, but doggedly stuck to his target until exhausted of ammunition. He too was obliged to make for home. Both Johnson and Nailed RTB'd safely.

    2nd Lt. Gannet finished off the 110 damaged by Johnson in spectacular style, the e/a exploding in mid-air about 200 yards in front of his airplane! This was the apex of a rather exciting and productive sortie for the young Lieutenant: having downed a 190 in the first engagement, he then went on to claim two further 110s on top of the one that caused Lt. Johnson such frustration! He had a close brush with Grim Reaper however; as a result of his heavy manoeuvrings he lost consciousness, came to pointed at the ground and in his efforts to recover blacked himself out for 2nd time!

    That said, he managed to recover safely and regained his composure sufficiently to shoot down his final victim before making for home.

    10 air kills in one mission gents is a fantastic score; well done gents, solid cross cover, good comms and well done flight and section leads for giving your wingmen a crack at the targets and especially well done to 2nd Lt. Norman Gannet for the haul of 4! Great job gentlemen.

    485th Sqn Log 20-12-44 a.PNG

    485th Sqn Log 20-12-44 b.PNG

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 3
  2. Mission Date 19/12/44

    402nd FS - Reconnaissance, Nettersheim-Gerolstein

    485th FS - Fighter Sweep, Prum-Zulpich

     

    Debrief:

    370th FG

    402nd FS:

    402nd Sqn Log 19-12-44 a.PNG

    402nd Sqn Log 19-12-44 b.PNG

    402nd Sqn Log 19-12-44 c.PNG

    402nd Sqn Log 19-12-44 d.PNG

     

    485th FS:

    6 a/c of Zenith Squadron took off uneventfully and proceeded to the patrol area, climbing to Angels 19 en-route. Just after our turn onto the Northern leg of our patrol route 2ndLt. Artage called out a formation of unidentified aircraft closing from our 10 o'clock low, approximately Angels 15. These resolved into enemy short-nosed Fw 190s, 5-6 in all and after calling to jettison our bombs, I led Red 2, Lt. Nailed, in a wheeling dive down onto the rear of their formation which began to break up. The dogfight lasted a good few minutes until all the e/a were eventually dispatched, with claims for myself, Capt. Payne, Lt. Nailed and 2nd Lt. Snocker. 2nd Lt. Bayles also made a claim but for some reason this has been denied by Wing HQ; apparently an AAA battery in the area is making a claim and they've been awarded it. There was plenty of AAA - both enemy and friendly - in the area as the dogfight occurred directly over the front lines.

    We turned back toward Zulpich, aiming to get back to altitude when I spotted 2 contrails to our NW. We closed climbing hard all the way with 2nd Lt. Bayles the first to ID and engage the bogeys; turns out they were Ju 52s! Also turns out that Bayles is a damn find marksman as he downed the no.2 a/c in his first pass, in a 45 degree climb from head-on! Nice work that man.

    The lead aircraft then reversed course and I approached with Red 2 from it's low 5 position, putting an accurate and heavy burst into the right wing root and walking the fire across the under fuselage and into the left wing; it lost control and crashed shortly thereafter.

    Regrouping, 2nd Lt Artage spotted another bogey skimming the treetops just SW of Kelz airfield. Sending his section down and keeping the rest above Angels 10, we watched as Artie ID'd the a/c as another enemy Ju 52, and clinically dispatched it with a controlled burst. This e/a crashed just North of Kelz airfield.

    At this point I was having fuel feed issues and elected to RTB, but directed Reds 3 & 4 to join with White flight and for Capt. Payne to search for targets at his discretion. Despite being given clearance to join them Red 2 kindly stayed on my wing and we had an uneventful flight home and landing. Capt. Payne took the remainder down to search for possible strafing opportunities but found slim pickings as it looked like the 402nd had already been through the area and picked off the majority of the targets. There were a few however and these were duly liquidated. With ammo running low and targets sparse Capt. Payne wisely decided to make the best of it and called RTB, landing some 10 minutes after Zenith leader and Red 2.

    Good mission chaps, well done all.

     

    485th Sqn Log 19-12-44 a.PNG

    485th Sqn Log 19-12-44 b.PNG

    485th Sqn Log 19-12-44 c.PNG

     

    • Thanks 1
  3. Hey Patrick,

    The start time is based on a variety of factors; on a normal co-op evening people turn up and drop out for the night/evening/afternoon generally at their leisure. Even if you joined a bit later than the majority, generally you would only have to wait 5-15 minutes till the next coop mission started, there being somtimes3-5 run in the course of the session.

    However, with a single 1-1.5 hour coop it vastly complicates attendance: everyone who wants in has to be there prior to my generating the mission (I can't generate slots for every possible attendee and just leave the AI to fly those who don't show, in case the AI does something dumb and kills off your persona!) so we had to set a cut-off time to have everyone who wants to fly be there...

    We have American continent guys joining in their afternoon, with Brits just after supper time and the Euro guys worrying about needing to hit the sack before the mission ends. Ultimately we tested out a few times and eventually it settled on 2100 as a good compromise for everyone.

    Everyone is generally landed by by 2230/2300 BST, and some duck out early if necessary (without penalty) so there is that option for you.

    • Thanks 1
  4. I'd prefer peer adversaries; if it's Shermans and the Western Front Rhineland map then I suggest go reasonably authentic: 

    If it's Autumn/Winter 1944 then: Spitfire IX and XIV, Tiffie, Tempest, P-51, P-38 and P-47D (no 150 octane) vs Fw 190A-6/A-8/D-9, Bf 109G-6 late/G-14/K-4 and a limited number of Me 262.

    If it's Winter/Spring 1945 then: Spitfire IX and XIV, Tiffie, Tempest , P-51, P-38 and P-47D (150 octane for the RAF birds only) vs Fw 190A-8/D-9, Bf 109G-14/K-4 and a limited number of Me 262.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
    • Sad 1
  5. Hi all,

    Just to keep you in the loop, I've decided to announce any updates to PWCG here, so you can see what we're dealing with, if you've noticed any issues prior to this where they maybe getting fixed and how changes may affect what we do. We're currently on 12.2.1 so there's a fair few additions since the last update.

     

    Quote

    12.2.5
    Tank and Train Busters: tanks and trains now considered separate victory categories
    - Tank and train victories weigh more heavily into medals and promotions
    - Tank and train victories have separate counts on the first page of the pilots journal
    - Tank and train victories have their own detailed section in the pilots journal
    Added columns for tank, train, and ground to chalkboard
    Added summary to Squadron Log
    - How many pilots lost
    - How many air, tank, train, and ground victories
    Expanded summary to Pilot Log
    - Air and ground victories scored in aircraft type
    - Number of Air and Tank victories summarized by vehicle types
    Add skin configurations for Spitfire XIV
    Added skin pack from 41 Squadron Riksen for Spitfire XIV
    - PWCG Skin Pack 16

    - Available for download on PWCG Site
    Fix 41 Squadron withdrawal erroneous date for Spitfire MK XIV
    Fix 66 Squadron withdrawal erroneous date for Spitfire MK XIV

     

    12.2.4
    Added Typhoon
    Added Fokker D8
    Added 41 Squadron flying Spitfire Mk XIV
    Reverted 349 Squadron to Spitfire Mk IX
    Changed 193 squadron to Typhoon with a focus on ground attack
    Added 15 new vehicles and guns
    Made battles context aware to be manned with British or American units
    Fixed missing airfield structures
     

    12.2.3
    Added squadron level target preferences.  
    - Allows squadrons to be directed towards specific target types
    - Target preference for P-47 units some is trains
    - Added shipping target preference to 45th Bomber regiment (A20)
    Made several P-47 squadrons prefer ground attack
    Moved units closer to the front on Kuban map April 1943
    Made Spitfire Mk IV its own archtype to reflect complete replacement.
    - Currently flown by 193 and 349 squadron.  Others keep the Mk IX
    - 349 is acknowledged to be non historical.  It kept the IX.  I just wanted at least 2 units to fly the XIV.
    Fixed many (should be all) instances of duplicated units
    - They weren't really duplicates.  They were just positioned on top of each other.
    Fixed case where battle was not being generated when it was required
    Fixed case where Ai scramble missions could have a zero altitude waypoint
     

    12.2.2
    Improved performance of the waypoint editor screen
    Improved (slightly) performance of the map screens
    - Press new button edit waypoint details to edit 
    Fixed error that cause incorrect intercept waypoint altitudes

     

    • Thanks 1
  6. Hi all,

    Jocko, a chap who has consistently made great Spitfire skins since way back in Il-2: 1946 days, turned his hand to DCS.

    I recommend you get them - particularly the generics -because I will be using them a great deal in my missions as, in my opinion, in some regards they're even better than Reflected's:

    https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/filter/unit-is-spitfire_lf_mk.ix/user-is-jocko417/apply/?PER_PAGE=50

    1.jpg

     

    ModelViewer2%202019-07-23%2014-11-52-06.

    5.jpg

    • Like 1
  7. Wrong way round Kira; 

    Green chevron = too slow either add power, drop the nose slightly or a bit of both.

    Yellow donut: at target AoA. 

    Red chevron = too fast, either reduce power or raise the nose or a bit of both. 

    But that's only half the story. Being at the right AoA doesn't mean you have the right glideslope. You need to ensure that you're stable "on speed" with your nose pointed ~5 degrees above the horizon; because "on speed" is ~8 degrees AoA this will give you your glideslope of ~3 degrees.

    However, even getting these 2 right does not equal a successful trap as you may well be "on speed" and holding the right glideslope but if you don't finish your turn onto the groove at exactly the right distance and altitude from the carrier you will find yourself either too high (and thus overshooting the wires) or too low (and undershooting).

    This is where the FLOLS comes in. It will tell you if you're too high low and even give you hints as to if you have your glideslope and trim dialled in correctly. If the yellow light (meatball) is above the green datum lights, then you're high and will have to correct with a brief reduction in RPM. If low you'll need to increase your power temporarily to translate your glideslope up to meet the optimum. 

    The tricky part here is that a change in throttle has an immediate effect on your AoA; it's easy to make a power correction too large or for too long and overshoot the target glideslope, particularly when cutting power as engine spool up times are longer than spool down and increasing AoA = increased drag. All this means that the aircraft is slower to power out of a "slow" or "low" position than it is to brake from a fast or high.

  8. Mission Date 17/12/44

    402nd FS - Attack Armour Column, Duren

    485th FS - Attack Armour Column, Duren

    410th BG - Rail Interdiction, Zulpich

     

     

    Debrief:

    370th FG

    402nd FS:

    402nd Sqn Log 17-12-44 a.PNG

    402nd Sqn Log 17-12-44 b.PNG

    402nd Sqn Log 17-12-44 c.PNG

     

     

    485th FS: 

    485th Sqn Log 17-12-44 a.PNG

    485th Sqn Log 17-12-44 b.PNG

    485th Sqn Log 17-12-44 c.PNG

    485th Sqn Log 17-12-44 d.PNG

     

    410th BG

    410th Sqn Log 17-12-44 a.PNG

    410th Sqn Log 17-12-44 b.PNG

     

    370th FG

    Awards and Promotions:

    2nd Lieutenant Thomas Crown is awarded the Bronze Star.

    Zukkers Bronze Star 17-12-44.PNG

     

    2nd Lieutenant Jean Artage is awarded the Bronze Star.

    Arties Bronze Star 17-12-44.PNG

     

     

    Personnel:

    2nd Lieutenant Matt Mason is posted to the 402nd FS.

     

    410th BG

    Awards and Promotions:

    Major E. Shoo is awarded the Silver Star.

    Sid's Silver Star 17-12-44.PNG

     

    Personnel:

    No changes.

  9. Bad news fellow Dogz:

    Dear Friends of Flying Legends,

    In the light of yesterday's message from our Prime Minister, and the uncertainty surrounding the UK opening fully for business, it is with deep regret and a heavy heart that we must cancel this year's event. We understand the government's careful position but cannot safely stay the course in the light of the potential loss and lack of clarity so close to show time.

    We sincerely apologise for the disappointing news but the circumstances are truly out of our control. We will be reimbursing all of you, our faithful friends of Flying Legends who pre-paid for tickets in the coming days.

    On a personal note and in the name of the whole team at The Fighter Collection who have worked so hard this past year to prepare the aircraft and the show itself, please know that this decision has not come lightly. We are very sad but pray that next year will be COVID free for all and that Flying Legends 2022 will be a classic.

    Thank you for your understanding and for your dedication and support.

    Yours sincerely

    Nick Grey
    Director

    • Sad 2
×
×
  • Create New...