Rolling Thunder (A) - Mission 02

[beachav8r 360]

Let's get down to business!

Our first strike to kick of Rolling Thunder is a short hop from Yankee Station to a coastal target just north of the Ben Hai river/DMZ area. The close proximity to the coast and South Vietnam make this a good kickoff mission since we can beat a hasty retreat to safety. Our target is the Dong Hoi barracks.



For the sake of simplicity, I choose to take a relatively light load of six Mk-83 1000 pounders. I could carry more, but I don't think I'm gonna need it - and I'm going to try to stick to the motto of "One Pass - Haul Ass" if I can keep my virtual fangs in. In retrospect, I could have left behind some gas as well, but I'm still learning fuel consumption rates. (Wish SF2 had tanking!) I forgot to adjust my wingman's load - so he is carrying a standard load of a dozen or so 500 pounders I think.



On the catapult ready for launch...



And we're off..!



The SF2V world is alive with action. Dozens of planes are going about their tasks and the airspace is crowded over the DMZ. The North Vietnamese aren't going to take Rolling Thunder sitting down and they rise up to meet us.. (Anyone else notice the Russian trawler shadowing the carrier group?)



Further inland, Thuds run the ridges on the way to their targets...



At the IP we turn inbound - the ground mapping radar paints the coastline.



I concentrate on looking for the target - which is quite easy to spot since it is a big compound. I let the CAP flights do their thing and catch a glimpse of a few aircraft bursting into flames. No telling if they are friendly or enemy at this point.





We go feet dry and are quickly upon the target area. Flak is sporadic and light as I pull up, keeping the target area in sight out the left side of my window. I gain some altitude, roll over and pull my nose down on the target.



As I'm pulling up I see a shape go whipping by my left side. Oh crap..



..but I'm committed.. The small cross hair is the concession to not having a true bombing system in the SF2 A-6 - it is a psuedo-DIANE that helps get the bombs on the target.



I roll level, a bit shallow, but not much can be fixed at this point..



I pull hard off the target and watch in awe as the stick of thousand pounders rips across the compound.. Woohoo!



Cont..

My wingman - who I've totally forgotten about in the excitement, look down - unimpressed no doubt.



As I pull off and instinctively search for the ocean to point at, I see green balls zip across the top of my canopy. Oh yeah..that guy!



I enter some wild gyrations. I know I have a radio command for my wingman to watch my six - but what is he going to do? No gun - no glory!



I'm just pulling up the menu to request assistance from Red Crown when I see the guy blow apart even as he is spitting bullets my way. Damn! Looks like I owe an F-8 Crusader jockey a case of beer!



Back at the barracks another strike comes down from another flight (Thuds?) and demolishes more of the
compound..



As I flee out over the ocean the smoke billows from the strike location..



In a few minutes the carrier is in sight and I get configured.



I catch what looks to be a 4-wire and come to a halt. I feel bad because I never cut my wingman loose to drop his ordnance, but at least he survived! (Not sure if I need to be concerned with airframe counts in these campaigns - I'll learn more as I go..)



The strike is a success. Sorry Ens. Wilson for the bad stats!



All in all a really great first mission. Completely immersive and exciting with just simple flying and very few button pushes. I'm using the RAZBAM A-6 but I can't figure out why my wingman is sporting the same fuselage number as me - so I wonder if I can fix that.

In short - the mission was all I wanted and expected it to be and I think this is going to be a lot of fun running through this campaign. I'll take all suggestions and advice too!

BeachAV8R
 

[Wrench 9,632]

nice report

 

to answer the question, don't they just have the ONE skin, with everything painted on (ie: no Modex decals)??

[beachav8r 360]

to answer the question, don't they just have the ONE skin, with everything painted on (ie: no Modex decals)??

 

Yeah - I think that is correct. I might be better off just using the cockpit with the stock A-6 3D object perhaps.. That way my aircraft can evolve with the campaigns... Something to consider for sure..

 

 

Regards..

BeachAV8R

Edited November 18, 2013 by beachav8r

[jeanba 1,918]

Excellent report !

[Race 0]

Love it!!

[NIELS 420]

Good stuff! I've always enjoyed reading combat reports from air combat simmers.

 

NIELS

[FalconC45 157]

the ironic part of the debreif is that real pilots *did* bombed metal sheds.... thanks to the heavy control of the White House.

 

Falcon

[Fubar512 1,350]

Beach, check your personal messages.

[+Stary 2,426]

good stuff Beach

 

TimeFuzedExistence on the forum over there..

[Stratos 3,177]

Great AAR!! Thanks for sharing it!