Strike Mission with Su-7BMK

[harryleith 12]

I do a lot of air-to-mud work and I flew a mission this afternoon which shows how far I've come since buying this game last Christmas.

 

I flew a single mission strike over Libya terrain in an Su-7BMK FitterA. The target was a warehouse on the docks. Enemy air defenses and air activity were set to random. My two-ship flight was loaded with four 250kg FAB unguided bombs each.

 

As we flew into the target area, I started getting RWR warnings from HAWK SAM radars, so I dove for the deck. Getting low and hiding in the ground returns was the only defensive tactic I could think of because the Fitter isn't equipped with any onboard ECM or chaff. The chirping of the RWR changed to an urgent tone as the HAWK batteries locked onto us and started guidance tracking. Looking towards the coast I could see the smoke plumes and trails of several SAM launches and I deepened my dive angle, looking to get under 100 metres altitude to try and break the radar lock in the clutter from the sea.

 

I could see the smoke trails curving towards us as the missiles tracked our aircraft. From the way the missiles moved it was obvious they were definitely locked on and heading our way. I watched my altitude winding down as the SAMs streaked towards us, hoping I was going to make it to the deck in time. As they came closer I could see the missiles at the head of the smoke trails. They flashed past me - passing close over my canopy and nailing my wingman, who had been slower to start to dive. He took at least 3 direct hits and it was just debris that came out of the explosion - no ejection and no chute. That just left me to continue the mission.

 

I leveled off at 60m AGL and heard the search radars lose me. There weren't any fighters that I could see, but I wasn't willing to wait around and find out. I pushed the throttle up to full military power and streaked towards the target and the coast. Sun glittered off the waves as as I tore past past them - they were so close!

 

At about 6 miles, I could see a number of ships, mainly tankers, docked in the harbour, and identified my target just beyond them. I nudged the stick and pushed the pedals to line up on the target and then pulled the stick sharply back and climbed. As I gained altitude the RWR came alive again, telling me the SAM search radars were still active and looking. Some light AAA also started to fire as I closed on the target and I saw a couple of lines of tracers arc up towards me from the docks. I couldn't jink to avoid the incoming fire because I had leveled off was lining up the sight on the target, but I was moving fast and the tracers curved away behind me.

 

I selected the bombs on the weapons panel and set the ripple release to 2, flicked the Master Arm switch to arm the releases and nosed over onto the bombing run. The warehouse was right there in the front panel of my canopy - right where it as supposed to be. The bomb-sight marks were displayed on my HUD and as the target drifted into the sight reticle I pressed the pickle once, then again a fraction of a second later. I felt the weight of the bombs come off the aircraft as all four of the 250kg bombs separated cleanly.

 

I pulled out of the dive of my bomb run and rolled right just as the shadow of a SAM flicked over my cockpit and some more tracers arced past my wing. I pulled around in a hard bank over the docks and started losing altitude again, heading for the safety of the deck. Flicking an eye back over my shoulder (Thank you, TrackIR) I just caught a glimpse of the warehouse before it was obscured by the dock cranes and tankers - it was a blazing ruin. I must have scored a direct hit!

 

The HAWK tracking radars lost me again as I dropped to the water and the warnings from the RWR stopped. I advanced the throttle, streaking for home over the wavetops. Mission complete!

 

It used to be I couldn't even hit the target on a run with dumb bombs - let alone fight my way in against enemy air defenses and performing a pop-up bomb run. I guess all that practice is starting to pay off.

 

 

Banking away from the coast and hugging the water on the run for home in my Su-7BMK FitterA after completing a successful strike mission.

Edited October 9, 2010 by harryleith

[JediMaster 451]

Cool. It might be nice to include which sim/terrain or mods you used at the end or start as well.

[+Jug 99]

The real Peruvian AF acquired several of the Su-7s and found that they could not get off the only runway long enough in the high altitude South American country for the jet with a full fuel load and any ordinance at all!!! The Su-7 is, evidently, grossly overweight and under-powered (reminds me of me).

 

Soviets are still counting their profits and laughing about that one.