Flight Sim"war"stories...

[Dagger 21]

everybody has had a dogfight or a mission they remember most all,because of the amount of time involved or the way it unfolded,or maybe it was just one you witnessed..lets hear about it.Remember to let us know the sim,and if it was MP or SP(thats right some of my best missions have been in SP),who all was involved.As a matter of fact maybe some of you grunts remember a misison from OFP,GR,or some other game that was just really cool and left you walking away pumped.

[Seawolf 0]

My most memorable? hmmm, well up until a couple of nights ago I would say it was in JF18 sitting on the flight deck with 7 other squadmates getting ready to launch on a SEAD strike. I had some AC/DC playing on the ol MP3 player and waiting my turn up to Cat2. It was one of the most immersive moments I've had, but a couple of nights ago I think I had a mission that might have topped that.

Some of us from the 195th had the pleasure of flying with our own MrMudd the other night on a coop A10 mission in Lomac. The interesting thing about this mission was that it was nothing special. Just your standard strike package going in to take out some bad guys, but it was the events before arriving at the target area that made the mission special.

Everyone fired up thier TF34s on the tarmac and after some system checks we peeled off one by one onto the taxiway. As if we were performing tryouts for the Thunderbirds the precision seemed to be flawless. One by One A10s were nuts to butts down the taxiway and pulling into a staggard position on the runway. Flaps set, Brakes set, Canopy down and locked, Seat armed its time to go. Our #1 calls out "Set brakes, run'm up" and in unison all 6 Hogs dipped thier nose and with a 3 count all 6 started to roll down the runway as if we had practiced this takeoff all week. With our airspeed reaching 130 we put a little back pressure on the stick and as the nose slowly lifted so did the rest of the aircraft. All 6 in unison, in formation lifted off of the runway and as soon as the gear came up we began manuvering into position off of the lead. The funny thing is we were all yapping on comms and telling jokes, but as soon as we got airborne something happened. Things got serious, maybe it was Mudd with his Pilot terminology and lingo, maybe it was the lead calling out speed and altitude, but things got serious. You could sense the concentration and it got silent. Everyone was so focused and concentrating on the plane in front of them that we were at a loss of words (if thats possible). It wasn't until we reached the target area that the chatter began to pick up again, but I would have to say that the 20-30 minutes of silence in formation the other night was probably my most memorable to date.

[Uk-Mule 0]

Seawolf may i post your story on my website?

 

Blogflight

[Seawolf 0]

sure, go for it

[Uk-Mule 0]

Thanks Seawolf its up

 

blogflight

[Gator 0]

I would say my most memorable would be about 18 months back. I was a member of VFA-14 tophatters flying Jane's F/A-18 on hyperlobby.

 

There I was minding my own business and this guy from the 169th came in and starts bad mouthing my mother, my squad and me. So me being the alligator mouth and canary behind type guy that I am give it back and challenge them to a dog fight 4v4

 

So we go into game and get setup for a 4v4 fight with guns and heaters. After a click of a mouse we are on the tarmac calling BTC's. Spike, Prowler, Jar and Myself lined up in pairs ready to roll. Spike calls 1 rolling and we all release brakes.

 

Gear up and feet wet we transition in to the hunt. Radar off and ECM on ESM listening and there is the spike. I call spike 12 o'clock. the flight splits into two pairs. we dive for the deck and spread to 5 miles. I call to jar to bracket low as i stay a little higher to troll for a radar hit and visual.......

 

I have a target. I uncage my aim-9s and start a hard port turn. Jar is engaging my contact, I am turning to come in on my wingy's 6. He pickles his first 9 and it flies wide and misses. in the mean time spike and prowler are closing our position to assist. Jar is continuing to follow and pickles number two. at this point spike is now passing head to head of the engaged bogey. and kaboom jar has just shot down spike. prowler starts a loop and comes around nose first on the bogey and opens up with his guns and flames #1.

 

Jar is now engaged with #2 and i have sorted to #3 with #4 on prowlers 6.

 

I pickle a 9 and kaboom my bogey is down. I am now following prowler and almost simultaneously both bogeys are gone. I should say at this point that regen is on and the first guy has respawned and is enroute.

 

All four decide to foul mouth us and quit.... The satisfaction of that moment was unlike anyother.... VFA-14 has been and probably will always be the best online pilots on the net....

 

Thanks for the memories fellas.

 

Gator

[Vampyre 24]

I just posted this in the Thirdwire mods file announcement section and thought a dedicated thread on combat stories would be a good thing to start. As usual someone else had thought of it first so I am resurrecting this thread to post some of my combat stories in. I hope you enjoy them.

 

Flaming heck whatever next... a jet powered flying submarine.... Good model and I the smokemarks on the tail set it just right and as to flying note to everyone dont mess with an Agressive Su-27 series its seriously bad for your virtual health....

 

I fought the new Su-27's (they were the black white and grey camo'd versions) on my second mission with the ADV and came out on top. It was 4v4 engagement on the SoCal map with the Su's on top of us almost as soon as I took off (my wingmen had not all taken off before my first Skyflash shot). First shot from both sided was simultanious, Skyflash and R-27 both impacted the mountain as the fireing Su and I dove to avoid each others shots. I popped back up over the ridgeline and shot another Skyflash but had to duck back down to avoid an R-73 thereby losing my lock. Before I dove below the ridge I managed an AIM-9 shot that nailed the Su-27 while I was running below the ridgeline. Scratch one!

I decided to pop over the ridge again with my nose pointed toward where I thought the bad guys might be and was rewarded with the sight of three Su-27's angling for a SARH shot on number 4. I got a radar lock on one and popped a Skyflash at him and locked another up with an uncaged sidewinder and sent it his way. Both went defensive the one breaking lock with the Skyflash and the other taking the winder in the wing. The winder shot ended up being a kill. Scratch two!

With just two left and no losses yet I pressed the attack against the guy that had just broke lock and evaded my Skyflash. I followed him around the top of a mountain and boresight locked for a Skyflash shot but ended up shooting a winder at him. He spoofed the winder so I shot another from a closer range and this one struck his port engine and fireballed him. Scratch three! I searched the sky and my RWR but could not locate the last Su-27. It turns out he had probably crashed while evading a missile shot from my #3.

With all of my wingmen finally formed up I proceeded to make my waypoints and no further enemy aircraft were detected. We RTB'd and made an uneventful recovery.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Vampyre

[Rambler 1-1 9]

you know, there is a thread just for these types of stories. try HERE <-- (Link)

 

nice stories, btw.

[serverandenforcer 33]

Went up against 2 Flankers with me and my wingie in super scooters. Flying on the SoCal map, I was able to pick them up at about 80 NM out. I.D. them and found out what they were. Thought I was screwed, but remembered that I out did a flight of 4 Fulcrums a while back in the super scooter so I was feeling kind of lucky. They're out over the Pacific, just going feet dry and we're flying behind the San Gabriels over San Bernardino. We fly low, using the mountains to cover and conceal us as we fly south to get into a closer range. I then have us pop over the mountains at a point that I thought was prety close enough. My wingie instantly calls out missile launches from the Flankers. Don't know if they're for me or for him, but I start jinking all over the place. He then calls out that he got hit so now I'm on my own against 2 Flankers. I roll out, heading west, and just barely see a missile being popped of at me. The super echo doesn't have any counter-measures so I have to maneuver my way to avoid getting hit. I bank hard right and then pull left and up, doing this "corkscrew" maneuver and right when I roll out from it, the missile whizes right by me on a head on pass, barely missing my right wing. The Flanker fires off another missile, but this one doesn't track. I point my nose directly at the Flanker as we go head to head with each other. I pull up hard, passing right over him as we almost collide into each other. As I come back 180 deg, I can barely make out his exhaust trail as he flys west and begins to turn to the south. I switch to A/A mode, select a winder and wait for the missile to lock. I hear the tone and let one loose. Two seconds later, splash one Flanker. I call out for RC to give the location for the second Flanker. RC comes back, giving the location to my south west, at 50 miles, angles 5, heading... south west. A Flanker running from an A-4. I turned around, locked him up, and he was cooking at 500 somewhat knots to get away from me. Thought it was the funniest thing that I ever saw.

 

 

you know, there is a thread just for these types of stories. try HERE <-- (Link)

 

nice stories, btw.

 

 

Darn it, if it didn't take me so long to write that out.

Edited February 17, 2009 by serverandenforcer

[Vampyre 24]

you know, there is a thread just for these types of stories. try HERE <-- (Link)

 

nice stories, btw.

 

Well, this one is good enough for me. The moderators can move it if they wish but I think I'll keep posting in this thread as I do not wish to repost yet again. The title fits well.

I did a search for "stories" and this was the first thread I found that had what I was looking for. I had originally thought to make this Thirdwire only but felt everyone could learn a thing or two or maybe some new things if all flight sims were included in the mix. Thanks for enlightening me on the other parts of the forum and I'll keep that in mind for next time.

[Vampyre 24]

I was over at the WoP Zekes vs Wildcats Server flying my F4U-1D Corsair a few days ago. It was my first mission after a long hiatus and jumped right in head first. I was conducting a single aircraft strike on the harbor and beach facilities on the island of Chichi Jima. I had my bird loaded down with eight 5" HVAR's and two 500lbs bombs plus full ammunition for my six .50's and 75% fuel. I coaxed my heavyweight Corsair off the deck (Il2 dogfight servers have stationary carriers so it is pretty tough for the uninitiated) and proceded to climb out on a heading of 180. After climbing out to angels 15 I made a lazy banking turn to the right to 270. When the islands came into sight I noted a lot of tracer fire to the north but decided it was safe to proceed with my strike. As I was approaching the southern island three aircraft appeared, two to my front and one at my 4 o'clock position. The larger threat was from the bogie at 4 o'clock so I heaved my big sair around for a better look at him. We were in a head on pass and I trained my reticle on the nose of the bogie until he was identifiable... A6M Zero... Bandit! Bandit! As soon as I ID'd the Bandit I let loose a quick burst from my six .50's and was rewarded with a large explosion and Zero parts flying by my bird. I did a quick scan to ensure my plane was still operating as advertised and to clear my six. The two bogies were still over the island so I assumed they were a CAP defending the port as they were just circling that one spot. A big air battle was in process and was evidenced by the large amount of tracer fire to the north. I boldly proceeded towards the bogies CAPing the harbor to get a positive ID on them. As I approached the closest bogie he started spraying my general direction with cannon and machine gun fire which immediatly gave him away as a Zero. For the second time before hitting my target I had the privlidge of sending some .50 cal lovin to a bandit head on. This time he caught on fire and burned for a good 10-15 seconds before exploding. His buddy then decided to take a swipe at me and only managed to not die under a hail of Ma Duce fire by performing a barrel roll as he came in range. I didn't kill him but did get some hits causing him to lose fuel. After this pass I rolled inverted and pulled down initiating a dive to the harbor.

As I approached the harbor area I recieved AAA fire from several positions and a destroyer in the middle of the harbor. The destroyer was the first target I hit, the two 500lbs bombs were delivered into his bow instantly sinking said destroyer. Upon my pull up from the bomb release I lobbed two 5" rockets at a AAA gun popping off at me, performed a 90 degree roll to the left to dodge his return fire. The rockets impacted squarly on his position as I pulled out of my turn I acquired a small fishing boat and put two rockets into it causing it to sink. I extended out to the west of the harbor area and did my usual post attack scan and performed a clearing manuver noting a Zero streaming fuel and trying to follow me. At this point I decided to use the sair's speed advantage to extend out further and make a shallow climb. After flying for about five minutes I performed another clearing manuver and the bandit was gone. I turned around and proceeded back to the target area put two rockets into a cluster of three tanks killing them and used my last two rockets on another fishing boat. My last rocket attack had me positioned west of the harbor again so just before egressing to the fleet in the northeast I made a straifing attack on a truck convoy destroying three of them. After performing my last scan in the target area I noticed three aircraft in a dogfight at my 12 o'clock. As I got close I identified two of them as Zeros and the other as an F6F Hellcat. The Hellcat had good energy and was holding his own against the nimbler Zeros. The timing for me to arrive on scene could not have been more perfect. One of the Zeros had manuvered to the Hellcats rear quarter as he was climbing and was trying to acquire a fireing solution but had run out of energy. I whipped into the fight with a ton of smash acquiring a firing solution on the unmanuverable Zero hanging on his prop and poured fire into his center mass exploding his plane in an instant. Evidently his wingie did not like that one bit and started spraying fire my direction and missing widely. The Hellcat took advantage and when I performed my clearing manuver the Zero was missing a wing and falling into the sea on fire.

I then proceeded to the Carrier and prepaired for landing. Radiator full open, prop pitch to 95%, flaps to combat, canopy open, speed 140kts, flaps to landing, gear down, lights on, hook down and rolling into the groove. I leveled my wings with the mast of the carrier slightly offset to the right of the top of my hose nose with throttle at 25%. Airspeed 105 kts and on glideslope, I chop the throttle as I cross the fantail and perform a perfect trap. I love that Corsair!

Edited March 5, 2009 by Vampyre

[Hokum 0]

I have plenty in Il2, but in SF2 i have a recent mission which will stick in my memory for a while.

 

06:00 Mission from D8 Airfield (lovely name...) to hit a Paran Airfield Fuel tank. Loaded up my A-4C with 6 MK82's, cycled up and took off. Set cruise altitude to 10,000ft and trundled to the enemy base, while keeping an eye on the other flights inbound on various missions and the radio chatter. Approximately 18 miles from the target over the sea I spot four smokers on an intercept to my course.

 

The mig 17s turn to engage my single A-4 so I decide to head for the deck. I throttle back a about 540kts and 100 feet, not wanting to overstress the bird. I watch in disbelief as a Mig shoots by and explodes upon hitting the sea, another mig bottles its run and pulls up and gives chase.

 

Screeching towards the target i line up with the target, set the ripple to 6 and loose just before the target shoots underneath. My first bomb hits the target and the others strike the following tanks. With the low altitude and enemy flack the A-4 is hit multiple time, partly from the bomb blast and 12.7 mm rounds.

 

I turn back towards base with the migs still behind as baggage with one airbreak blown off, no rudder and a plane looking like it been attacked by angry wood peckers. I throttle up to regain the bit of air speed I lost and headed back to base. After giving chase for another 30 miles the migs bug out rather than overfly the friendly airbase I was passing through. A bit moth eaten and damaged i managed to touch the A-4 down without a hitch at 06:45

[macelena 1,070]

Korea, 1952 (yesterday), thirdwire sim. Flew SEAD with two a mock up F4U-5N, when i wasted AAA with HVARs, i see how a flight of 8 Phanter

flies by, taking no care of hostiles (2x MiG-15bis, 2xYak-9U). Three of them get behind my wingman, and a storm of plumber

buzzes to KingFish 12. With 90º deflection, my four 20mm cannon erase one MiG-15 (locked into radar) and both Yaks, changing targets as

i saw them coming, but its too late for No.2. Meanwhile the last MiG-15 gets on my tail.

 

I try to break by climbing , pushing airbrakes and shutting off the engine (useful when RF-4C vs. Su-27) but then

Kim Jong "Tell" blows my engine with a salvo, a shot of each cannon

 

Given that i find quite hard to kill Yaks or Migs with other aircraft, even Sabres, it was quite satisfactory

[wahubna 0]

I do not do any multiplayer (because i cant get on at the right time and servers), but anyways, I have had a lot of intense moments in IL-2 and WOE.

This most recent one was shortly after i got all the NATO addons working. So to kick it off, i did a single mission in the F-16 blk 1 USAF on a fighter sweep in the early 1980's date. My flight was 12 Vipers each with 6 AIM-9L's and a ECM pod. Just before my flight got to the target area I 'asked' RED CROWN where the neareset threat was, the stupid AI voice replied "Rambler 11, you're clear, no bandits in area". So my flight spreads out and all aircraft including me kept the 2 drop tanks. As we cruised along on max military power at roughly 15,000ft with a thick overcast sky I asked RED CROWN again since my radar on search mode showed nothing and again she said no bandits. Then suddenly all hell broke loose and warnings went crazing and all my wingmen said "MISSLE INBOUND!". Up to this point i was also calming talking to my girlfriend on my cell, then suddenly all this happened so I went "what the hell?" and started hitting keys to get everyone to drop tanks and engage while switching to 'winders myself and switching my radar to AA mode (so i could track targets through clouds better while turning) then started banking every way I could on full burner. Now not only was I talking to my gal, but my flight just entered a huge cloud bank so we had no radar contact, and no visual and no warning. So after me and my flight turned and burned like all hell for a minute, we made visual contact, the enemy was 12 Mig-25's that snapped up from low level and did a formation BVR salvo, they closed on us fast but in F-16's, we easily downed them all. Still, the start was quit the shock. By the end of the mission my flight claimed 12 Mig-25's, and 3 Mig-23's with only 1 Viper lost. 15:1 not to bad considering they had the advantage!

[ShrikeHawk 384]

I had just installed an F-5E-C (upgrade performed by the Taiwan AIDC) and took the bird out for a spin to be sure the install went smoothly. I was looking forward to maybe meeting with one of the J-7s I installed (Chinese version of the Mig-21) and cutting them to ribbons. The F-5 is one of my favorite Thirdwire planes to fly and kill Migs with, especially Mig-21s.

 

My RWR picked them up before Red Crown said 'boo.' I got a visual lock shortly afterward and realized what I was tangling with.

 

Su-27SK Flankers.

 

...oh crap...

 

I haven't had much luck fighting Flankers. They've blasted me out of the sky in every modern aircraft in the US inventory. And here I was in a slightly suped-up version of a Vietnam-era light attack plane. I'm thinking to myself, "this is ssooo not good!"

 

But then I remembered the advice I received from Brain32, Fubar512, and MigBuster when I posted a question about how to survive BVR engagements. So I turned 90 degrees away from the Flankers and went to afterburner. The RWR soon stopped pinging, indicating they'd lost me, and I started a slow turn back to the enemy. It wasn't slow enough because they aquired me again. So I dived for the deck and skimmed the wavetops at about 50ft, keeping them 90 degrees to port. The Flankers lost me in the surface clutter and they screamed past overhead.

 

When the last of them raced by, I still had a lot of speed and energy left from my 8000ft dive to the sea. I zoom-climbed and quickly got on the tail of a trailing Flanker. I had out-flanked a Flanker! I immediately got tone from the AIM-9J at 3.2 miles, but I didn't launch. I learned a long time ago not to give the AI enough time to react to Sidewinders, particularly if they're carrying flares like the Su-27 does. I closed as rapidly as I could at full afterburner, but it wasn't quick enough for me in these dangerous skies. Lucky for me, the Su-27 saw me and began a series of hard turns. That killed his speed and gave me the chance to catch up.

 

The F-5 couldn't quite match the hard turns which surprised me a little. It seemed sluggish compared to my other F-5. But this was an upgrade from the usual F-5E. "Upgrade" in my experience usually means add a lot of weight in equipment so the plane turns poorly. I imagined the sluggish feel made sense.

 

I still managed to stay on the Flanker's six with a series of lag-pursuits. Soon I got a good close look at his tail pipe, but from way too close for a missile shot. My guns did the talking for me instead. One Flanker down.

 

I got an immediate visual lock on another Su-27 from 0.5 miles (eek!), just passing overhead. The hard maneuvers from my previous kill must have spoiled his attempts at getting lock on me. I did a high yo-yo, got on his tail, got tone, and squeezed off another sidewinder. His flares spirited my snapshot away. He twisted into a hard turn to port. I was waiting for this and yanked the nose around to pull lead. The Flanker filled my gunsight as the hyper-maneuverable plane began to pull ahead. A brief squeeze of the trigger was all I needed. His airplane exploded instantly. Small pieces of Flanker peppered the sea.

 

I finally got a close missile hit on the next one, but it seemed to have no effect. As the enemy jinked around the sky, I tried to line up for a gun kill. This guy was better than the rest, but not as lucky. As I brought the nose around, anticipating his next move, he suddenly exploded in a huge fireball. One Flanker left.

 

The last enemy was the best of all the rest. My last missile shot missed even from 0.5 miles. The jinking of this pilot was much harder, almost violent. Rounds from my guns screamed through dead air repreatedly as last moment maneuvers took him out of harms way. I still drew closer. I knew I would have him soon. But even at his six, I was in danger.

 

He pulled something I would never have expected from an AI. His plane suddenly pitched upward hard, almost stopping dead in the air. He was doing the cobra maneuver! I started gaining on him way too fast. I would overshoot if I didn't do something, soon. I popped the airbrakes and killed the throttle. I barrel-rolled to drain even more energy. I watched him pitch forward again in the final stage of the cobra as rolled above him. My last second attempt at killing speed worked and he slid ahead of me as I rolled out. When he realized his trick failed, my trusty mount still on his six, he pitched up again, but I was ready for it this time.

 

I believe it was Boelke who said to never present yourself as an iron-cross to the enemy. Well, this guy had apparently never read that. The Flanker bobbed strangely in the air, almost hovering, as it hung vertically in the air. Even in this position I missed him. The plane twisted and turned, skittering from side to side in a vertical posture. But that huge cross-section couldn't be missed forever. I breathed out, squeezed the trigger in a deadly calm, and watched my 20mm shells obliterate my last Flanker kill!

 

For the first time in all my engagements with Flankers, I and my entire flight survived the engagement. At last! When I popped out to take an external look at my new best buddy, I finally realized why she felt so sluggish. I had flown against hyper-maneuverable aircraft...with two extra-large sized drop tanks still attached.

 

Victory is sweet.

[+ST0RM 145]

Had an interesting one today.

 

I'm flying a 1971 campaign over Europe. I'm a "Wolfhound" assigned to the 32nd TFS based out of Soesterberg. Our base was put out of action on the first night by a sneak attack by An-2 Colts, flying low and dropping frag bombs. Several of our Phantoms were hit, but a few made it without a scratch. So, were on detachment to Twenthe AB. Anyhow...

 

My flight was assigned a CAP over Giessen, Germany. It's about 60 klicks north of Frankfurt. This morning, I had a brief conversation with my crew chief. She explained that she had cleaned the cockpit, but everything should be ok. Well as I'm rolling down the runway and pull back to lift off, the Phantom immediately rolls hard to the right. WTF!?!?! Luckily I had a few feet of altitude and caught it quick. I re-trim the jet and off we go. During the fight, I bag 3 MiG-21s with a pair of AIM-7s and an AIM-9, plus a Il-28 with another Sidewinder and gun. My flight did well and we RTB'd without incident. Upon shutting down, I ask my crew chief about the trim issue. She was embarrased and promised to do better next time.

 

The real part of this story is that my wife dusted my computer and sticks and must have hit the trim knobs and knocked them out of allignment. Funny huh? We both laughed about it.

[JediMaster 451]

I take it you have a CH stick then?

[xclusiv8 35]

Had an interesting one today.

 

I'm flying a 1971 campaign over Europe. I'm a "Wolfhound" assigned to the 32nd TFS based out of Soesterberg. Our base was put out of action on the first night by a sneak attack by An-2 Colts, flying low and dropping frag bombs. Several of our Phantoms were hit, but a few made it without a scratch. So, were on detachment to Twenthe AB. Anyhow...

 

My flight was assigned a CAP over Giessen, Germany. It's about 60 klicks north of Frankfurt. This morning, I had a brief conversation with my crew chief. She explained that she had cleaned the cockpit, but everything should be ok. Well as I'm rolling down the runway and pull back to lift off, the Phantom immediately rolls hard to the right. WTF!?!?! Luckily I had a few feet of altitude and caught it quick. I re-trim the jet and off we go. During the fight, I bag 3 MiG-21s with a pair of AIM-7s and an AIM-9, plus a Il-28 with another Sidewinder and gun. My flight did well and we RTB'd without incident. Upon shutting down, I ask my crew chief about the trim issue. She was embarrased and promised to do better next time.

 

The real part of this story is that my wife dusted my computer and sticks and must have hit the trim knobs and knocked them out of allignment. Funny huh? We both laughed about it.

 

hahaha

[DWCAce 19]

That's a good one!

[Ruggbutt 45]

Hyperlobby was slow but I had the urge to fly so I hopped into our dedicated server to fly some LOFC CAS missions. The particular mission that was running had several convoys en route to their destinations and I had HUD markers showing their last known locations. I loaded up my A-10 with CBU's, Mk 82's, 84's and a couple of Maverick D's. The flight into the target area ran about 30 minutes so I was enjoying the scenery at angels 15 until I passed the FEBA. I knew that medium and long range SAMs were operating in the area so I decided to mask my presence in the mountainous terrain. I knew I was taking a chance at being hit by MANPADs but it was either hop ridges and keep my exposure low or dodge SAMs till they got lucky or I augered in. I popped up from time to time to scan the area for the convoys then I'd terrain mask. Eventually I got nails on my RWR, it was a short range mobile SAM, Tor IIRC. Tor's suck to go up against, they're longer ranged than my Mavs and I was well inside their WEZ. Thankfully the convoy was traveling on road in a deep canyon. I could ridge hop and limit my exposure. I got my bearings and set up for an attack run. It was a large convoy (about 18 vehicles) protected by Tor and Shilka. I set myself up so that I was on the edge of the WEZ for the Tor and I let him fire on me. I immediated put him on my 3 o'clock and turned on ECM and dropped chaff, a bundle a second as programmed by my CH software. The missile went ballistic and exploded behind my some distance so I yanked hard on the stick and went nose on with the Tor, Mav D's selected. I use a CH DT225 for my cursor duties and as such I'm awful quick on locking up targets. I ground stabilized the Mav, slew it to the Tor, zoomed in to IFF and Rifle! Mav away. Another high g turn put me beam on the Tor as I hopped over the next ridge.

 

I gained airspeed and turned back to take a quick look over the ridge. No nails! Tor was dead. The convoy was traveling north and a couple miles up the road was a bridge. I disengaged and selected Mk. 84's, single drop. I set up on the bridge and shacked it. The convoy was in trouble. I removed the Shilka and the rest of the convoy using CBU's and iron as well as some GAU 8. I was Winchester so I headed back towards base. About this time one of my squaddies joined Ventrilo and asked what my location was. He said that there was a Su in the area, he'd just joined the server. I wasn't worried at first because I was flying below the tallest mountains and there was no EWR to datalink the Su and give him my location. I did some quick calculations and gave Dubb a heading for intercept with me. He was an A-10 as well. I figured I had plenty of gas, I could fly with Dubb and call out targets as well as SAM launches as he made his attack runs. I was headed towards the last known location of the second convoy. I flew another 5 minutes or so before I got nails, I was ridge hopping again. Seems that the Su was in the area and he was looking for us. I flew lower continuing on my flight path so that Dubb would be able to rendezvous with me. At this point we were two slow jets being forced to evade the best that Russia had to offer.

 

I get a call over comms that Dubb has visual on me, and a couple seconds later he says "break, chaff-flare". I yank a hard 90 degree turn and dump chaff and flare like it's going out of style. The Su-27 on my butt had me locked in EOS (Electronic Optical Sighting) and fired an IR missile at me. The Su continues on and blows thru our flight but then he does something arrogant and stupid. He goes into the turn. Dubb is still heavily loaded (no time to jettison weapons) and he's in a right hand turn (as am I). Dubb was coming the opposite direction so as I'm in my right turn he's turning circles in an opposite direction. The Su is yanking hard and burning off airspeed, which is stupid as the jet is extremely heavy and at low AOA it's sustained turn rate is horrible. This fight is a two turn fight. Coming into my second turn I'm still at 180 knots (Winchester) and I get a shot on the Su. I have visual on Dubb, he's got perfect separation and in no chance of being tracked by my IR seeker. Fox Two!. My Sidewinder smacks the Su in the left engine, smoke and fire billow out but he's still flying. Dubb gets nose on and fires as well. Another hit in the body of the jet, it's wounded but not out. I position myself behind the Su and go guns on him. I run GAU 8 up and down the spine of the enemy jet. Off comes the canopy and I see the ejection seat fire. A few seconds later a chute. There's one Su pilot that will respect the A-10 in the future.

 

As Dubb and I formed up RTB rearm/refuel he commented on how perfect my heading and distance numbers were to get him into a position to link up. I had done some quick calculations using my waypoints, distance to home plate, offset for where the convoy was and the HSI helped me out tremendously. Thankfully we have some real pilots in my squadron that taught us how to use our instruments. Dubb linked up with me from 100 miles distance and lateral separation was a mile. That's pretty good Kentucky windage. That wasn't the most important part though. Dubb saw that I was going to be in a turn fight with the Su (in chat after the fact he hadn't spotted Dubb) so my wingman put himself in a supportive position to protect me and to attack at the same time. I only got the first shot off cuz I was light with 2500 lbs. of fuel. Mutual support saved both of us and netted us an A/A kill. It just doesn't get better than that.........

[+Crusader 2,101]

Very cool story Ruggbutt!

[Guest 531_Ghost]

I would say my most memorable would be about 18 months back. I was a member of VFA-14 tophatters flying Jane's F/A-18 on hyperlobby.

 

There I was minding my own business and this guy from the 169th came in and starts bad mouthing my mother, my squad and me. So me being the alligator mouth and canary behind type guy that I am give it back and challenge them to a dog fight 4v4

 

So we go into game and get setup for a 4v4 fight with guns and heaters. After a click of a mouse we are on the tarmac calling BTC's. Spike, Prowler, Jar and Myself lined up in pairs ready to roll. Spike calls 1 rolling and we all release brakes.

 

Gear up and feet wet we transition in to the hunt. Radar off and ECM on ESM listening and there is the spike. I call spike 12 o'clock. the flight splits into two pairs. we dive for the deck and spread to 5 miles. I call to jar to bracket low as i stay a little higher to troll for a radar hit and visual.......

 

I have a target. I uncage my aim-9s and start a hard port turn. Jar is engaging my contact, I am turning to come in on my wingy's 6. He pickles his first 9 and it flies wide and misses. in the mean time spike and prowler are closing our position to assist. Jar is continuing to follow and pickles number two. at this point spike is now passing head to head of the engaged bogey. and kaboom jar has just shot down spike. prowler starts a loop and comes around nose first on the bogey and opens up with his guns and flames #1.

 

Jar is now engaged with #2 and i have sorted to #3 with #4 on prowlers 6.

 

I pickle a 9 and kaboom my bogey is down. I am now following prowler and almost simultaneously both bogeys are gone. I should say at this point that regen is on and the first guy has respawned and is enroute.

 

All four decide to foul mouth us and quit.... The satisfaction of that moment was unlike anyother.... VFA-14 has been and probably will always be the best online pilots on the net....

 

Thanks for the memories fellas.

 

Gator

 

 

Gator! You learned to spell (kinda)!

 

I'd have to say the mission I got my callsign in. At that point I was flying with Gator, 2Wire, Raptor and a few more of the ol' 531 crew. I got my callsign as a result of I'm guessing a bad install of Janes F/A18. I couldn't see anybody, and they couldn't see me. It was as if I were a Ghost! That was a fun mission.

[xclusiv8 35]

The most memorable mission i had was in SF2E. Me and my wingman were flying A10s at the time. It was supposed to be an easy Armed Recon mission they said. Get in, take out the convoy and get out. Why doesnt it ever go as they say it will?

We left the runway behind us and flew towards the target area. Everything went perfectly and 10 miles out from the target area i see the convoy in front of me. I select my mavericks and start targeting them one at a time. I got all of my missiles of the rails and they hit beautifuly in a perfect line. But there were more targets so we decided to strafe them. What we didnt know was that the nearby enemy airfield had scrambled 2 Mig-21s. Me and my wingman lined our selfs up for the strafing when i look to my left and i see a huge fireball. My nr 2 got hit and i immediatly hit the throttle to 100% and hit the deck. I started scanning the area and what do you know, a Mig in my six trying to line up for a shot. I put the throttle on 0% and kick in the airbrake. He overshoots me and i pull up and put my 2 sidewinders in his ass Best kill EVER!

The remaining Mig tryed chasing me but i was flying so low that he got scared and bugged out.

[nm22395 0]

I had a pretty memorable one in SF2E with NF4+ add on, 1986. I was flying a strike mission on a bridge with 2 flights of F 16s. I sent everyone in, took out the bridge and got ready to go home. Then my RWR came on. I told everyone to engage and found a target - a Mig 29 Ace. i fired all 4 of my Sidewinders at him, but he evaded them all. We got into a chase and after about 3 minutes I got close enough for a cannon shot. Right then, he went into a cloud. I fired a burst and heard an explosion. I flew through the cloud and saw the Mig in flames. After I got back, I found out we had lost 3 F16s, but took out 7 Migs and the bridge.

Edited November 28, 2009 by nm22395

[Charlemagne 0]

I flew an interesting mission a while back.

 

I was in a single player campaign mission in WOE when my flight of four F-15s was tasked with intersepting a formation of eight Soviet bombers. I thought they were MiG 27s as usual, but as I approached them I saw 8 TU22s and 8 MiG 23s flying escort.

 

Crap.

 

I loaded Aim-4 Falcon missiles instead of the usual aim-9s because my squadron was running low on Sidewinders. Anyone who has ever tried using aim-4s would understand my problem. Anyways, I switched to Sparrows and engaged the escorts. Before long, I was out of Sparrows, but 3 MiGs were down. Frustrated, I planted my fighter on the closest TU22's tail and fired a Falcon. I was surprised when it hit. I was even more surprised when a huge yellow shockwave expanded rapidly, turning all the Soviets to dust. Shocked, I turned around and RTBed. Later, I found out that I had mistakenly loaded aim-4 NUCLEAR Falcons instead of the normal ones. I had a big laugh after that.