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Bloody good show chaps, sounds like you had an OK mission, not at all upset that I missed it ! 😏

Mission Date 20/12/44 402nd FS - Attack Armour, Spa 485th FS - Fighter Patrol, Spa Debrief: 370th FG 402nd FS: 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.

Generally, if you want to fly on a 'non flying' night, all you have to do is jump on TS. It doesn't normally take that long for someone else to show up like minded. Like I'm going to do later on tonight when the new beta patch for DCS finishes downloading, lol.

Looks like after the next update (probably today), carrier landings in the Tomcat will become even more exciting: https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/274164-dcs-f-14-development-update-bounce-burble-and-orbits/ Hook Skips, Hook-Shear and improved Burble...