Dweebs of Death

A classic S3 Frame for us in Operation Crusader. So Mediterranean... so .. DWEEBY.

We had tone rhno hero and mgyver and were charged with protecting our carrier HMS Formidable from whatever the enemy might toss at it.

We took off and flew around it for 20 minutes until we had 50% fuel and then HQ asked us to replenish and take off to help cover Tobruk on the coast to our south.

Smack! Bang! Mgyver and Rhno discover too late that the enemy had jacked up the flight deck of our carrier, and crashed into the ass-end of the ship.

Hero and Tone take off, and (in typical fashion), there is no longer a desire to see pilots of our caliber in the Tobruk region ("The Germans are bombing us! Please don't crash your planes into us!"). So we fly off after some radar reports near two convoys in the area. Rhno and Mgyver's disembodied voices beckon us over the radio... there are bandits inbound the the carrier! We come back on the double and chase off some fighter-types who are none too aggressive (icon settings.. they prolly thought we were friendly and they had alt on us).

At this point, TF-17 was starting to roll at T+60- to take over CAP duties. And another squadron was making to go attack shipping off Suda Bay in Swordfish... COOL! Hero and I are tasked to escort them. But for DEATH! Hero smacks into the fantail, making THREE operational losses to the same farking ship... OUR OWN SHIP!

Tone rolls as a singleton to escort geezr+ and his Stringbags up to Suda Bay. They are going in at wavetop height, so tone decides to go a slightly different route and at 5K. As I fly FAR FAR FAR to the North (around 100 miles!), I am nearing the objective when I sight a large formation at 8K off my left wing. I turn away and try to get away and see better what they are, but then I see only 2-3 planes, but they are clearly coming in hot on my six..... Me-110s!!!

I'm 20 minutes flying time from any assistance and 1/4 that from an enemy airbase. I have 2-3 110s on me and they have the energy.

The first one comes roaring in and delivers a small ping on a not-so-good shot. A few more passes and I find that I am down to 1K and (in accordance with the DoD flying handbook) starting to panic. One guy comes in, I get inverted and realize I'm at 300 feet and about to taste salt-water taffy (the low-calorie, taffy-free variety). I push the stick forward and red-out mightily. I slowly reduce the pressure and see I'm in exactly the same bind. I push it forward again, and then flop the plane out of this position and into sane flight. A six check show me something VURRY NICE... a 110 in a spin and a large splooosh.

Some more dogfighting, still at the disadvantage (though I did force one overshoot) and then I see the other 110 pull onto its tail, falter, and slide over into the drink -- KERPLUNK!

Yes, as the tactical channel to the Swordfish strike burst into idolatry at my feat, I basked in the moment and reported I still had 100% ammo on board (guns are for the unskilled!).

I gamely flew on to the objective, but shortly before getting there, noted that my fuel was at 52%. I turned back and went to land at HMS Formidable. The Swordfish strike reported several torpedo hits and only one loss to ack.

Hello Kitty attendance stickers (the first ever awarded!) will go to tone, rhno, mgyver, and hero. I wish we had had fewer accidents, but we can work on that -- in fact lets do that next weekend before the S3.

-tone-

--Posting from mgyver, 9 September 2001

After an afternoon of practice and three perfect carrier landings, one of which was dead stick with the enemy sending tracers past my rocking aircraft, I entered the S-3 arena. Found -tone-, -rhno-, and -hero- there waiting for takeoff orders. We took off in two flights to increase the awe-inspired reputation of the DoD. After scaring the enemy away from even looking for the CVs we returned to get more gas. I lined up perfectly with the end-full of wires and proceeded to fly straight into the back end of the carrier! Not a pretty sight. It must have psyched -rhno- out or he just followed me in but he also tattooed the stern of the cv. (I suspect foul play on the enemy's part.) Hero followed my lead on the next landing.(We were setting up the surf nazi's for what was to happen next.) Sitting in the tower for the rest of the evening watching (limited 5 mile dar) and listening to tone's battle for his life that turned out to be one of his finest moments--2 ME110's down to manuever kills! I suggest the addition of a "kitty on drugs" sticker for this feat of dweebishness.

mgyver

Except for a fuel modifier and carrier hooks that don't work, it was a pretty good mission. But we don't seem to be patrolling anything of consequence.

Having technical problems (RW locked me up solid--a first), I took off late, but joined the group in a westerly direction looking for the supply and CV convoys. We accidentally flew over one at about 5K and I lost my pilot armor and my flaps. Stoopd and I stayed over the supply convoy while mgyver and -rhno- went looking for the enemy CV group.

Stoopd and I flew in circles for a while, waiting for an attack from TF17 and we came in contact with a pair of D3A over the convoy. Stoopd and I were forming on a co-alt con when I noticed one to the 7 oclock. I had stoopd break off since the D3A was now on my 6, and I pulled a vertical corkscrew and gained attack advantage on the enemy.

I dove down and couldn't seem to close on him more than D4 so I opened up and peppered him pretty good, and then I backed off, since I couldn't see the other con anymore and my RW was AFU for the entire mission so communication was less than ideal. I pulled out and flew a circle looking; stoopd had tracked him to the convoy, and engaged him. Even though he was at D2, he wasn't damaging him, which would explain why it took me 70% ammo while I was firing to get hits. Stoopd broke off, I did a reverse Immelman and found myself at D3 on his 6. About 10% ammo and both his wings came off. Was quite exciting...

I RTBed for fuel and ammo while stoopd shadowed the convoy. Upon landing on the carrier, the hooks would not catch me--and it was a near perfect landing, perhaps a bit fast at worst. Skidded to a halt.

Went back up while stoopd RTBed and got confirmation from -rhno- about the enemy CV group, but because of the fuel modifier, they had to RTB fairly soon, but not soon enough apparently. Toward the middle of the second half of the frame, mgyver had to wet ditch and -rhno- was not caught by the hooks either; he fell off the end of the carrier.

TF17 (-swit- and crew) eventually got around to hitting the convoy we'd been circling for almost an hour and a half. They sank one out of five ships with torpedoes; obviously they weren't using -tone-'s template. I contemplated strafing them, but fuel was low and there were reports of large numbers of cons headed our way. I RTBed again, and again, the hooks would not grab me and I skidded to a halt.

Got up one more time, but the frame was closing before I could get back to the carrier, so I RTBed to meet the deadline. Definitely a deadline. Probably my most perfect approach of the evening, touching down dead in the center of the wires at a perfect 140MPH, and BOOM. Dead on impact. Only stoopd made a decent landing, and somehow the hooks caught his plane. Perhaps my planes didn't have their tailhooks installed?

Anyway, 3 DoD operational losses and one enemy KIA. Not a terrible night, but frustrating as hell with regard to landing success, or lack thereof, and the fuel modifier from hell.

DoD is flying as part of the Fleet Air Arm during this operation

Task:
Surface Search - locate at least 2 of 3 It. Navy convoys/battlegroups know to be active in the Med

Aircraft/Aircrews:
4 x F4F-4's
-Rhno-
Mgyver
-Hero-
Stoopd

Mission Summary:

2 x convoys located (1 merchant shipping, 1 battle group)
1 x Enemy aircraft Destroyed (by -hero-)
0 aircraft lost to enemy action
3 aircraft lost on operations

Overall, mission objectives met, but at a high cost in aircraft and crews

Mission Narrative:

Launched as a 4 ship, with intent to split into elements to cover larger search area. Based on location of our CV, started search to the West...quickly found enemy merchant convoy and sent out scouting report to our Task Force and Allied Q. Detached 2nd element (hero and stoopd) to monitor and report on convoy while 1st element (rhno and mgyver) continued search to the north. Whilst proceeding N, 1st element spotted single enemy aircraft headed S. Gave a short chase, then assumed it was a scout and handed off to 2nd element while we continued on with our primary mission. 2nd element gained contact on this E/A, confirmed it was a scout (D3A) as it approached the southern convoy and destroyed it in short order. 1st element pressed almost to F1, then turned SW as fuel forced an RTB. Swung as far to the SW as fuel permitted, and then pressed on a litte further, since we had not spotted second convoy yet. Eventually spotted second convoy at 4.7.8, confirmed that it was actually It. Navy battle group on hdg of 060 and passed contact report to Task Force and Allied HQ, then started RTB on min fuel profile. Both of us ran short of fuel on RTB and Mgyver ditched 2000 yds astern of CV, and Rhno crashed onto deck while doing an engine out gliding approach. 2nd element stayed on station to vector Swordfish attack aircraft into their attack on southern convoy.

Lessons Learned:
1)Combination of distances involved, fuel modifiers and RN Task Force course of due East (away from action) make it impossible for F4F's to scout the entire Med. We covered less than half the search quadrant and still had 2 fuel morts (flt profile was 90% pwr climb to 5K, then 45% pwr cruise at 165 IAS the rest of the way, with idle power 140 IAS descent on RTB).

2) Sending scouts out 1 hour ahead of strike group takeoff may be too early. End up spending a lot of time cycling back and forth to the CV, with each subsequent launch further away from probable convoy positions (due to E track of our CV), and if we mort early due to enemy action or disco, 45 min old scouting reports may be of limited use. Perhaps a launch for scouting ops 30 min prior to strike group would be a better compromise. Strike group can launch at T+60 if surface contacts are reported, and if no reports, can provide VF cap over the CV until surface contacts are reported and VT is needed. From T+0 to T+30, VF can be used to CAP our CV or provide CAP/Sweep of our coastal bases.

Rhno
Dweeb Planning Officer

First, Rhno did a "Great" job of holding two seperate wings to our jobs. Second he put up with my inability to stay off his right wing with great patience. I took the convoy for our own (f27) and if rhno had not gone back to check it out, I would have flown on by it, losing the chance to relay it's position to hdq. (Hangs head in shame. 8-0)

The fuel problem was two headed, the fuel modifier is very tight, and the cv group goes along way during the search. Not seeing it on the map while flying makes it hard to quesstimate the half way point.

Methinks that since we have the time, we should go higher, 7000 to 10,000 ft. This gives us a better range of vision, better odds if flak is encountered, better position if attacked, and greater glide range
when out of fuel.

Mgyver

tone rhno and flyboy flew 2 sorties

We flew an extra-long (and well-planned) scout mission, but the enemy ships were SOOO far out that eventually the CM's just told us a submarine had reported their position. Indeed, the enemy ships were 5+ (rhno?) sectors out! We then RTB'ed fast to try to escort TF-17 on their strike mission, but as we were getting ready it was clear that a friendly transport group 2 sectors away had many enemy aircraft near it, and only 2 transports remained. We flew down there to help. We stuck close to the ships (we
had erred in trying to trim back on fuel -- 100% should be mandatory for every mission in that arena) and flyboy saw a 109 but it was quickly destroyed by members of the 31st.

We flew back to the carrier, but I crashed and died on landing -- embarassing for me who has told everyone to work on this aspect of our flying. I should have been thinking more about the 20 knot (as opposed to 32 knot) carriers in that arena -- I snapped off my gear and skidded over the side. To their credit, rhno and flyboy each nailed 2 landings out of 2. Final tally: 1 Dweeb lost in a landing accident and 2 non-scoring missions succeeded.

We took off at T+1. We were only 3 guys so it wasn't easy to make a scout in this huge map ( 1:1 scale as I heard). We each took a different vector--tone300* flyboy320* rhno340*--after cruising for half an hour+, I don't remember how long until -tone- called to rtb and try to extend a bit to get a vis on the ship group. He too rtbd after getting low on fuel. After we all landed safely at the cv, we took off again to try and cap our convoy that docked near f2.

We went to 7k in a line abreast formation and leveled; I thought 7k is not enough and asked to climb higher so -tone- told me to go to 12k and give them high cover after we reached the convoy zone we started orbiting the area and looking for cons. Suddenly a huge cloud of dots apeard S of us (wtg tone for spoting it though the radar guys said the area is clear! ) As I got vis on the dots, I went full power (had plenty of fuel) and started to climb to the SE to place myself on their 6. I saw -tone- and -rhno- breaking up their formation (wasn't sure though--RW disconnected) I called "con to S of ships" then "confirm 109f co alt, I'm engaging" He allready had a friendly on him and a cloud of 31st above him so I didnt see him as a threat. I kept on him and watched him get killed by a fast P40 from the 31st. After that we regrouped and went back home

We had a very effective (but quite deadly) night.

2 Missions, 11 sorties, 7 pilots (7 deaths), 15 structures and 6 guns at TAC3 destroyed.

Mission 1:

-tone- -hero- -zath- -rhno- flyboy and bujdod rolled from F26 in Kates to destroy a truck convoy SE of F10. Apart from an immediate mort on take-off (-zath-), we proceeded to target area with topcover from daddy= and LAMBASTED the convoy. Reports indicated all 12 trucks dead. We lost bujdod to a disco-with-damage.

score: 2 operational/gameplay losses, 12 scoring targets and approx 4-5 guns for Tac3 destroyed.

Mission 2:

adweeb showed up (the pilot formerly known as -unfg-) so we had 5 planes (-tone- -hero- -rhno- flyboy adweeb)

We flew to F10 and approached it from the N at 6K, in spite of the fact we knew there were many enemy aircraft there. We arrived with 12-20 109s in the area and nipping at our heels as we made a bomb pass.

We had to just bear on in and drop, which we did. Estimates indicate that the radio mast, hangar, and fuel went down, and 1-2 acks with the 20mm being certainly destroyed.

We flew in all directions, but ... well you can imagine. Tone almost made it out at 50 feet to the S and adweeb actually got back to the carrier, at which the godz of fortune realized their oversight and smote him mightily with the aircraft carrier.

Mission score: 5 dead Dweebs (1 to ack, 1 to landing, 3 to 109s) and 3 buildings and 1-2 acks.

I hope it is not truly the case that TAC3 was not 75% down. I counted 16-17 targets (by the posted plan's definition of what targets mattered) and we killed 15 of them. If there were structures OTHER than the buildings at the field and 12 trucks in convoy to the SE, I sure never saw them.

tone