Leaderboard

193 squadron were rudely awakened at an ungodly hour, Squadron leader squiddley refused to get out his bed due to it being too dark and cold and remained there cuddling teddy as two brave souls took to the sky. Take off was a bit hairy in the dark but we got off and made our way to target, without the yanks air cover,who as usual were late. 😃 It was difficult to see bridge so I dropped on some ground forces and distracted flak while crash managed to get the bridge. We mopped up some ground forces then headed home. On the way back we spotted bandits high so called for assistance and opened throttles for home. We managed to outrun them and they turned away but were harassed near Arnham, fortunately the calvery arrived in time to assist and we were able to make out way back home and land sucessfuly.

Mission Date 27/12/44 402nd FS - Fighter Sweep, Zwolle sector 485th FS - Escort P-47 Fighter Bombers, target Duisberg 193 Squadron - Attack bridge, Raalte Debrief: USAAF 9th Tactical Air Force 370th FG 402nd FS: http://dangerdogz.com/forums/topic/13668-pwcg-p-38-lightning-strikes-co-op-campaign/?do=findComment&comment=145829 485th FS: A meagre showing from the 485th this morning, the CO on a 48 hour pass, some tech issues and a large number succumbing to "illness" (chief suspect being the discovery of a new and very friendly "hostelry" in Genk, attended by some most accommodating females... ) meant the 485th could only put 2 airframes up to cover a group of Jugs "attacking" Duisberg. Being woken at dark o'clock for the brief was bad enough. To find only two fit planes/pilots available was frustrating. To then see the waypoint selection of the mission planner thereafter was to define incredulity. Our RV was all of 35 miles from base but some genius had routed us on an additional 60 miles on a scenic tour of Holland prior to reaching the RV. Red 2 (2nd Lt Ian Bayles) and I in a disposition as sunny as the morning (it wasn't) took off and made our thoroughly cheesed off Grand Tour of the low countries, only to be given an extra dose of good cheer (sarcasm) to hear Leakage squadron calling out gleefully that half the damn Jagdwaffe had appeared in their sector and were flying like deaf-mute bunnies with impaired vision. I mean, credit where it's due they did a fine job of taking down Jerry, but each joyful refrain of "he's on fire!" or "roger, he's gone in, I'll confirm that for you" did not exactly provide much tonic for Zenith squadron's mood at that time. We duly met the T-bolts and faithfully weaved over their flight as they proceeded to Duisberg. We faithfully, if slightly expectantly, weaved over their flight as they proceeded to make a couple of orbits of Duisberg at 12,000ft. We then faithfully, if incredulously, weaved over their flight as they proceeded to head back to the frontlines without so much as make a rude gesture to Jerry, let alone release any ordnance or fire a single bullet. We then faithfully, if thoroughly embittered, weaved over their flight till we reached the front, at which point I made a very rude gesture at the Jugs and proceeded North looking for something, anything to vent my frustration upon. 80 miles later and now cursing the name of every poor bastard born because of the lack of anything of interest to be seen anywhere, to the North-east of Arnhem Red 2 and I happened upon various clusters of light and heavy AAA that seemed to be protecting bridges in the area. Utilising the murk of the morning twilight we accounted for 12 guns between us, then pissed off home having partially assuaged our ire. RAF 2nd Tactical Air Force No. 146 Wing 193 Squadron: http://dangerdogz.com/forums/topic/13668-pwcg-p-38-lightning-strikes-co-op-campaign/?do=findComment&comment=145830 370th FG Awards and Promotions: 402nd FS: 2nd Lieutenant Mitchell Martin is awarded the Bronze Star. Personnel: No changes. No. 146 Wing Awards and Promotions: 193 Squadron: None. Personnel: No changes.

Yeah, me too Nick; in game stats showed that I had knocked out 8 guns & Bob 4; in PWCG it registered instead as 7 and 5 respectively. But hey, what's one pyric flugabwehrkanone between friends?

Oh dear, so the 485th was reduced to the 4/85 😟 Bloody shame the Luftwaffle didn’t show but worse that the 402nd had a blast ! Buggery balls with a Jerry on top !

Pity PWCG has not seen fit to award me with the other AAA gun the stats screen showed but 'fog of war' I guess. I believe the aircraft that I was dogfighting with (FW190D9) was the same aircraft that Crash attacked and that was subsequently knocked out after force landing by Reds 3 & 4 with Dennis delivering the coup de grace. Fun mission that - not without incident but everyone got home safely (Lt Over arrived back at base in a 'borrowed' jeep earlier and a repair crew has been dispatched to Volkel to fix his P-38 ready for Sunday).

402nd FS Mission report (yes, really!) - 27th December 1944 Woke up from a nightmare this morning that it was perpetually the morning of the 27th December, how strange! Perhaps it was something to do with the 5.30am mission start, we were all a little groggy and irritable having to start so early in this god-forsaken freezing country. That said; Ophoven looked deceptively peaceful this time of day, they even managed to put the fire out that was blanketing the runway in dense smoke. Our mission for the day was to intercept enemy aircraft in the area of Zwolle, giving cover to the 193rd Typhoon boys who were slamming bridges and such. We took off as a reduced force of four aircraft (many pilots on leave / awaiting replacements / didn't read the mission brief yada yada) and headed roughly due North with a pair of precautionary 500s in case Jerry didn't come out to play in the skies. There must have been some miscommunication between the yanks and the limeys because they'd already hit their target by the time we got to the front line. However, at this point somewhere near Nijmegen, Jabo flying as Red 3 duly spotted four bandits co-alt to our 2 o'clock. Four 190A8s - They hadn't seen us. We crept up behind in a sneak attack and let them have it. Both FT (Red 2) and I knocked one down each in the first pass, Red 2 subsequently destroying a second in the short melee that followed. I maintained top cover as Red 3 and Wingflyer flying as Red 4 chased after the remaining Focke, with Red 3 landing a number of crucial blows. With the limeys calling for help with a possible formation of bombers sighted further North, we let it go as a probable and regrouped on a climbing heading for Apeldoorn. Shortly thereafter we spotted what appeared to be a pair of enemy aircraft in the circuit to land at the airfield near Arnhem. After some confusion it turned out to be the 193rd on their way back attacking the heavily defended airfield. I spotted a third contact trailing them high - another 190 it became apparent - with the hots for Crash. Firewalling it, Red 2 and I closed on the bastard as it was lining up for the attack. A lucky highly skilful deflection shot on the first pass from yours truly sent him to the forest in a fireball, momentarily yet satisfyingly spreading light on the dark fields below. Meanwhile, Red 3 and 4 had made a run on the airfield, damaging a landed aircraft but upon discovering the level of resistance, thought better of any further attacks. On the recommendation of the Typhoon boys we headed North East to look for ground targets around the IJssel river; a significant number of initially silent AAA were encountered and our bombs finally found their targets of opportunity. A successful period of strafing ensued but not without some damage to us. Red 3 had his rudder controls knocked out from the waking AAA and with a pair of hot engines headed South for a precautionary early landing at Volkel. The remaining three of us briefly encountered another collection of angry AAA near Doesburg on our egress, word must have got around of our presence, so we dodged and made for friendly lines without further ado. Flight home was unremarkable except for the slowly rising sun, casting it's crisp bright wintry rays upon the brilliant white canvas of Western Europe below us. A brief moment of apricity in the cockpit. Peaceful again, for now. Well done chaps, great team work and a decent haul all things considered. Hopefully, it's the 28th when we wake tomorrow...

Possibly the most romantic debrief I have ever read…. Good show 402nd !