Dead is Dead The Thread......

[Emp_Palpatine 501]

Here I am. I've decided to do a "North cape" marathon using the three war scenario in north cape mod. 

I've managed to survive in the Nimitz flight scenario. 

 

 

 

A lot of aces in the squadron. Quite a few dead, as well. 

 

 

This one is won, the Nimitz managed to survive. She was nevertheless severely hit during a soviet attack. I almost lost her. 

 

Don't trust the kill ratio. I actually was shot down twice. Or three time if you count the time I bring the girl above the fleet and bailed out. All three times, I was hit by I.R. missiles. 
Despite the number of kills, it's a hard campaign, especially on "normal" or "hard". You'll learn to fear flankers. Blue death... And to a lesser extent, fulcrums. Especially when like me you suck at dogfighting in a Tomcat.

The first days are hard and the skies are deadly. My first mission ended with an emergency landing in Narvik, out of munition and lightly damaged, wingmen blasted out of the sky.

Somewhat 15-20 kills are Soviet heavies during all-out assaults against Nimitz. 

Also, you have to take very cautious care of your phoenix. Don't run out when the heavies are out in force... But you need them in the first days of war to snipe those flankers from a safe distance!
And yes, I got a friendly tomcat with a sidewinder during a dogfight. To much Fulcrums everywhere, I got a tone, you know the rest. 

Next stop :"return to Norway"!

Edited April 11, 2016 by Emp_Palpatine

[TempestII 262]

I'm going to give DiD another go but on the intriguing Op Stamford Bridge campaign. I'll be modding the excellent Eagle F.1 in rather than the usual Phantoms & Lightnings. I feel far more comfortable in the F-15 & I might actually survive the campaign this way.

 

Settings are as follows...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pete Maddock Diary 21 Mar 1980:

 

I'm certain that when WW3 broke out last summer that no-one expected it to still be going now. Europe is a mess with both NATO & Soviet forces bogged down achieving very little... other than killing each other in higher numbers than either side can afford. The first few weeks of the war were hell; the Soviets mostly caught us off guard & thrust deep into Western Germany. Somehow (still no-one is quite sure how) NATO forces successfully set up a defensive line at the Wesser which stopped Ivan in his tracks. We've launched counter attacks but none have got as far as we'd like. Most of the territory the Soviets have seized is still under their control. Currently the war looks like a modern version of the Great War. The most surprising thing though is that neither side has resorted to nuclear weapons. There's been a few close calls but so far the war has been strictly conventional.

 

It seems like a long time ago that I failed the pilot exam by a few percent & started air traffic controller training instead. That lasted a couple of months before the war broke out & losses of pilots became serve enough me to re-volunteer. After 6 months of abridged training out here in the USA at the new Joint NATO Pilot School then we're being sent into action. The brief we had last week said the US Navy are planning to re-take Iceland in the coming months - that should allow NATO to reinforce with fresh forces who have been training here in the States like me. In other words, it may be enough to swing the pendulum in our favour. However, it appears Ivan isn't going to roll over. The J2/J3 Brief this morning implies the Soviets are planning to throw in all their reserves to take Europe out of the war before the reinforcements arrive, similar to what the Germans tried in the Great War. All the Int seems to suggest the Reds plan to attack Italy & Spain using their bases in South-East Europe but most J2s believe this is nothing more than a "maskirovka" to throw us off the real plan. The real plan, they said, will come from the North via Scandinavian route - if the Soviets can't take Western-Europe before the NATO reinforces then they'll take the next best option: neutralisation of the destination of those convoys - Home.

 

 

Pete Maddock Diary 24 Mar 1980:

 

It's official - we're being sent to Scotland. Ivan will attempt to knock the UK out of the war. Most of the RAF's strength is in Germany & losses have been heavy there. The UK Air Defence squadrons have been depleted & over the last year it's become apparent the Phantoms we use are barely superior to the Soviet aircraft. We've heard there's a Tornado ADV in the works but I get the feeling that'll arrive far too late to help. I just hope Ivan's forces have been weakened after a year of heavy fighting too.

 

 

Pete Maddock Diary 26 Mar 1980:

 

Thank goodness for the Special Relationship. The PM has used her close relationship with the US President to secure a squadron of F-15A Eagles for the RAF. The USAF has already started issuing F-15Cs to its squadrons but I'll happily take an Alpha model! We've heard about the kill ratios the Eagle has established over Germany with the latest generation of Sidewinder & Sparrow. Some people say we'd have been overrun without it. We've got about a week of Eagle specific training here in the States & then it's back home with our new toys. The Squadron I'm to join is the reformed 111 Sqn which'll be based at Lossiemouth so we're as close to the war as possible. 

 

 

Pete Maddock Diary 02 Apr 1980:

 

Scotland - the weather is just as awful as I remember as a kid. Still, Lossiemouth is a certainly more comfortable than what's left of the bases in Germany (although that may change if the Soviets get their way). The next few days are brief intensive - it's looking likely Ivan will hit us before this week is over so we've got veteran pilots & Int chaps talking tactics with us. The Squadron is mostly made up of guys like me - young & newly trained just out of the Joint School. There are a few experienced pilots as section leaders while the OC started his flying career back in the 60s. There's definitely some apprehension around the base along with a quiet determination. I just hope we pull together when the proverbial hits the fan.

 

 

Edited April 13, 2016 by TempestII

[TempestII 262]

Pete Maddock Diary 05 Apr 1980:

 

Today saw the opening shots of "Operation Stamford Bridge" as it's been called. Ivan sent a couple of Yak-28 & Tu-16s our way strangely without any fighter escort. Maybe they're probing our defences? Anyway, 111 Sqn got off to a bittersweet start - I was tasked in 2 ship Intercept to take town an incoming flight of Yak-28s. The result was 5 enemy aircraft (4 by myself) destroyed for the loss of one of our own. We're not sure what happened to Flt Lt Gleed. His Skyflash took out a Yak but then the next thing I was his aircraft hit a mountain. Until the investigation is complete then we don't know whether it's pilot error or system failure. There was no chute. R.I.P Gleed - he seemed like a decent bloke. I'm happy I got those 4 aircraft but the victory has certainly been soured.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Do335 382]

Nice write up TempestII. What happened to Gleed's 3 skyflashes, none hit yet 1 kill... If it were a mid-air the kill would be credited to weapon "N/A" there. Proximity detonation i guess?..

[TempestII 262]

Nice write up TempestII. What happened to Gleed's 3 skyflashes, none hit yet 1 kill... If it were a mid-air the kill would be credited to weapon "N/A" there. Proximity detonation i guess?..

 

Thanks!

 

How'd I miss that? I didn't see that his Skyflash didn't hit, I just saw the Kill & assumed he'd crashed into a mountain (we were engaging low level in the Scottish highlands). But now I'm not so sure then. I'm not an expert on the SF game engine so it could have been a proxy detonation like you've suggested. What a mystery haha.

[bucklehead101 29]

I was inspired by this thread and thought I'd take to air as a new 2LT with the 67th TFS flying F-15s over Dhimar. Got sidetracked by some heavy bombers. Launched an AIM-7 at one, killed it, lined up for a gun pass on a second one and then exploded. Nasty heater from the rear. After I cycle through some more single missions, I'll gear up for another deployment.

[TempestII 262]

I was inspired by this thread and thought I'd take to air as a new 2LT with the 67th TFS flying F-15s over Dhimar. Got sidetracked by some heavy bombers. Launched an AIM-7 at one, killed it, lined up for a gun pass on a second one and then exploded. Nasty heater from the rear. After I cycle through some more single missions, I'll gear up for another deployment.

Yeah point blank range IRMs are always a concern. I think was kills my DiD pilots most is Naval Strike missions (fly too high and a SAM squats you out of the sky, fly too low and too evasive & hit the sea) and tail gunners. After shooting down a couple of Badgers with missiles earlier I went in for a guns pass but messed up my approach. At that point I figured I'd leave them be as they were secondary targets & I've been killed far too many times before by tail guns.

[TempestII 262]

Pete Maddock Diary 06 Apr 1980:

 

The last two missions came thick & fast - Ivan is obviously testing us. But so far I'd like to think we've handled what they've sent! 111 Sqn has certainly given the Soviets a bloody nose: 22 enemy aircraft shot down for only one of our own. I'm now sitting pretty on 13 air to air kills which has earned me a few bevvies in the squadron bar. I'm not the only Ace though, Dougie Cross has shot down 7!

The CAP which took place yesterday evening again involved Yak-28s & Tu-16s but this time Ivan sent in his Tu-128s. The Yak-28s weren't difficult to take out but I went Winchester engaging the Badgers. I did manage a guns kill but it was then Red Crown gave us a heads-up about four Fiddlers - they were bearing straight for us & almost immediately they began rippling missiles off at our flight. While the rest of my flight kept on the remaining bombers, I dropped my tanks, switched on my ECM and punched into reheat to close the distance. I may have been out of missiles but I fancied my chances in a turning fight. My RWR lit up & I toggled my radar to get a lock - they were now within 10 miles just below the cloudbase. As we merged I concentrated on avoiding a mid-air; I knew that after the merge I'd have the advantage due to the Eagle's agility.

 

 

The 9G turn I pulled to come around wasn't fun but it put me exactly where I wanted to be. The Tu-128 pulled up above the clouds but I easily matched him as I closed in for a guns kill.

 

 

The Russian didn't make it easy however - even though a couple of my 20mm shells hit, he kept flying.

 

 

As I prepared for a re-attack, I heard a call of "Fox 2" & about the same time my RWR chirped once again. Before I start an evasive maneuver to clear my six, the 128 was blown apart by Sqn Ldr Duke's AIM-9L.

 

 

I quickly punched back into reheat & pulled another high G turn to get a visual on the 128 that had locked onto me. It took a few seconds but I got on his 6 & closed the gap as he tried to climb - this time my Vulcan worked as advertised:

 

 

I had no time to congratulate myself as my RWR was already going off again. I once again turned as tight as I could but as I started to black-out I heard the "Missile-Launch!" call out shortly followed by "Fox 2" & my RWR went crazy. I dropped chaff & started to reverse my turn hoping to shake off the missile while silently cursing - but within a few seconds I heard one of my colleagues exclaim "Splash one!" followed by my RWR going silent. I'm not sure I've ever been so relieved! By now 3 of the Fiddlers were down. the last one was taken out by another member of the flight shortly after.

It turned out a couple of Tu-16s had slipped past us but by that point I was low on cannon rounds & my fuel wasn't great either as I'd been using reheat a lot during the knife fight. It was certainly time for us to go home.

 

One of my wingmen (they vowed not to tell me which one even in the bar after) nominated me for the DFC which was a welcome surprise. After the sheer excitement mixed with the terror of my first furball I was just glad to get home with all the flight still intact.

 

 

 

 

 

The Intercept we carried out earlier today wasn't quite as exciting - we engaged Soviet Badgers at angels 20 & made short work of them. None of them escaped this time. Red Crown then vectored us onto a flight of Yak-28s on a recce mission. We hit them from behind & only one of them got away. Once again I was now Winchester so we turned north for the journey back to Lossie. It quickly became apparent that Ivan hadn't finished with us though - we began getting hits on our RWRs. We turned in that direction & fired back up our radars. Sure enough, a pair of Fiddlers were inbound over the North Sea & we within missile range. Ideally I'd have preferred to make a break for home but as my flight still had weapons left we turned to engage. At about 10 miles out both sides fired - I had to pull hard & deploy chaff once again as a Soviet missile came my way. I successfully evaded the attack & shortly after my wingman destroyed the 128. As I turned to line up on the final Fiddler, another member of my flight erased him. (J2 aren't sure whether the ambush by the Soviet fighters was a deliberate set-up or whether we were simply a target of opportunity. It could well be that their commanders see our squadron as the biggest aerial threat.)

Now we really could Foxtrot Oscar back home & we were all in high spirits until we heard an encounter between a Nimrod & Yak-38 fighters. It turned out the Soviet Fleet had been found heading south. The Nimrod successfully reported their position & made a run for the coast with a pair of Yak-38s in tail. Unfortunately the Harriers that had been protecting it had turned back due to low fuel. The heat-seekers fired at the Nimrod all missed & you heard the crew's relief over the radio. However their joy was short lived when a 38 unloaded several cannon shells into them. My biggest regret was not having a couple of missiles left - I'd have gone full burner to interdict and be damned with the consequences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The missions keep coming, the UK air defence squadrons haven't seen intensity like this since the summer of 1940. So far 111 Sqn is doing superbly but the Soviet forces have landed on the Faeroe islands & their fleet is now well into the North Sea. There's already talk of using the Eagles in the naval strike role which seems crazy. It shows how much we've sent to Germany. I've heard rumors that the MOD have somehow acquired Exocet missiles off the French that were originally due for South America. The techies have been playing around with hardpoints whenever we're back on the ASP so maybe this rumor is actually true.

 

On the bright side, I've been promoted to Flying Officer & I'm now up to 25 Kills which is the most any pilot in the RAF has achieved since the Second World War.

Edited April 14, 2016 by TempestII

[TempestII 262]

Pete Maddock Diary 06 Apr 1980:

(I think my campaign date may be glitched as it's been the 6th of Apr for about 5 missions now haha)

 

This afternoon saw our first mission failure. As the rumormill predicted we were sent on a naval strike using the hijacked Exocet shipment. Our target was a a trio of Soviet ships heading towards Vaga Floghavn delivering reinforcements & supplies to a landing force. On paper it looked quite straight forward: the plan was to go in with 12 Eagles at low level, launch the Exocets & then Foxtrot Oscar before SAMs engaged us. The problem was that within minutes of taking off a group of a MiG-27s & a separate group MiG-23s appeared almost out of nowhere. Red Crown only warned us just before they came into firing range. Survival became the number one priority & it really did turn into a furball. How all of us made it out alive I don't know. In the excitement I completely forgot to drop my fuel tanks & air to surface weps but luckily it was of no consequence. 

After the cluster***k that occurred, I was the only one with my Exocets left. Nonetheless we carried on to the firing point where the rest of the squadron engaged a pair of Tu-128s while I fired my two missiles. The Soviet ships didn't actually engage us but I assume they shot down the Exocets as the post mission debrief showed the transport ship was totally undamaged. It also turns out the MiG-27s hit Lossiemouth but the damage was very minor thankfully.

Our mission was a relative milk run compared to the RAF strike on the Kiev though: the debrief said that all 4 Buccaneers tasked with SEAD, all 8 Phantom FGR.2s carrying out the strike & 2 out of the 4 Lightnings on escort duty were torn apart by the Kiev group's SAM network. Apparently they damaged the carrier but it's unlikely to prohibit Soviet air ops. 

 

The big question: is Operation Stamford Bridge in danger of failing? If we have another set of sorties like this then we'd be on our knees. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TeargasHorse 287]

In Viet Nam, and any theater, the failure of the AIM-9B as anything more than a tactic to induce NVA to turn into my guns is prevelent...unless a US aircraft is in the picture.  I have often given the AIM-9B a 5-second lock-on count to really have a track on the target, only to have my quarry turn as soon as I fire it, thus defeating it. The unreliability of the 9B (and Shafir-1) has lead to many friendly fire incidents, yet very very few NME kills. For some unknown reason, the 9B will not track NMEs, but will indiscriminately destroy friendlies without fail. It has come to the point where I will carry Falcons instead because, even though it is not a "close in weapon", I can launch and know I can get that commie-tard 80% of the time compared to 0% of the 9B.

I hereby accept the responsibility for downing an American aircraft's crew, even as the fate of the crew is unknown to me. My sincere condolences to the family, if the crew was lost, and will accept court-martial with only a guilty plea. The unreliability of the AIM-9B Sidewinder has rendered me a murderer of friendly airmen, even without my direct motive to do so. 

SUXORS and my campaign is over.

[Padre 13]

New Pilot, "Jack Lasiter" 1955.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bMIbI1jpvc

 

[Carter28 92]

Got into action before supplying pilot information, etc. I'll go into much more detail next time as i just wanted to get things going. First sortie was a milk run. Only drew some 57mm fire when i cleared the mountains and went down to mission altitude and some 14.5 mm over the target area. 

[Carter28 92]

I'm Gene Hornwell. I'm a pilot in the United States Air Force. Aged 24.

I'm from Albuquerque, New Mexico, though i was born in New York City. My father moved us down here after the war. He was here during the war too. First training as a Bombardier and then as an instructor when he came back from England. We are about the same age when we first stated flying in combat, though i do have to say that his debut being in the famous Ploesti raid does have my experience beat by far. 

When i was 15 i decided i wanted to fly jets and so here i am. After UM, OTS, BFT and the rest. Got honed at the 29th TRS (Photo-Jet) flying the Long Nose recce bird and then it was orders overseas to Thailand. 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Carter28

[Carter28 92]

Udorn AB, Thailand.

Someone, somewhere came up with a hell of a doozie. The primary was over Haiphong, but get this, they wanted it at night! Could you imagine that? Somehow i got involved in all of this and when i took a look at the track that was involved, i fought like hell to do it solo. I was to come in from over the hills at 5000 ft, then pass south of Hanoi, cross the Red River, turn SE and fly over Hai Durong and Haiphong before heading SW over Thai Binh and heading back over the hills passing N of Ninh Binh. 

They said something about not much to worry about AAA at night. 

The only good advice i got was from a Major that had experience in Korea. It was "Don't worry about tracers unless they are coming from right on your nose."

Ok, Sir.

I took my time getting things just right as i drifted down from the heights to mission altitude and then went to full military power to begin the run just past the hills. It seems like scarcely that i did so when the AAA started coming up. I knew it had the potential to be rough but it went past that in an instant. The ground fire was thick and heavy, lots of 57mm in particular. It was so bad, that i was easily able to read the instrument panel from the light of the shell bursts. For any gunner along the flight path, it couldn't have been too hard not to know some aircraft was coming along soon due to all the flashes. 

As bad as it all seemed, it was fine (all things considered) until the aircraft was S of Hanoi in the vicinity of Bach Mai. 57mm tracer from 11 o'clock coming virtually straight up just missed the cockpit and then the port wing was hit short seconds after. As I went through the systems checks, another hit on the port side came about 30 seconds after. By then the Master Caution was on and i had to decide on a course of action after overflying the primary. Everyone wants to win the big one but my bird was already hurt and i haven't even made the main leg yet. 

That came soon after. In all that time the groundfire barely skipped a beat. Over Hai Durong the possibility of an emergency deviation from the plan became a reality. Too much  AAA, bird hit twice that i know of, Master Caution is telling me something, etc, etc. So i zoomed over Haiphong and just kept right on going on the current heading until i was feet wet. Even then i was still drawing fire from Cat Ba but it wasn't as bad. 

Even under those lasts bursts of fire i knew exactly what to do. Once a decent distance offshore was achieved , it was then a matter of turning S and getting some altitude. Compared to all the action earlier it might have seemed anti-climatic, but one never knows in these situations. I heard two calls on the radio of other planes going down when all should have been out of relative danger. So i kept flying S until i was sure i was past Vihn then turned W to pass over this area called "The Garden" and get back over the hills in the direction of home. All was quiet and calm except i noticed the bird had problems holding a fixed altitude. To make a long story short, it was just a matter of cutting back on the throttles and putting the nose slightly down and losing altitude enough to get situated for landing in a handy manner.
 

Edited July 14, 2021 by Carter28

[Carter28 92]

Udorn AB, Thailand.

It must have been a reward for that night time craziness that i got tasked with a quick one over Thanh Hoa. Just a quick dip at speed down the Song Hieu river, over the primary then swing SW before turning to head for the hills again. Drew some stiff ground fire at the mouth of the valley so there must be something of interest there. It was less intense over the primary but perhaps they were distracted by some F-105s that were working over something just to the north. As it is the flak bagged one of the Thuds. I heard the radio call and soon after looked out the starboard side to see a fireball trailing thick black smoke arcing earthbound near the bridge. Didn't see a chute but if he did manage to get out it was impossible to call for rescue as he went down virtually right over the area he had been bombing. Hopefully he makes it to a POW camp in one piece.

[Carter28 92]

Udorn AB, Thailand.

Drew Haiphong again. Except this time it was with Capt. Brown and in daylight. Some strikes were going in and they needed some pre photos.

Takeoff and the outbound flight was routine. The action began as we came down to mission altitude and broke out of the hills SW of Ninh Binh. By now i'm firmly convinced that there are AA emplacements virtually everywhere east of the hills N of Vinh. We were already being tracked by a Firecan before we even set for our run and as soon as we got past the last hill the ground fire opened up. Not bad at first but from the Ninh Binh to Nam Dinh it was very brisk. 

There was a lull as we passed Thai Binh. That was good for us as by then we got settled in for the pass on the primary and hit the burners enough to get us up past the mach. And it was a good thing that it was a supersonic pass as the groundfire was of such volume and accuracy that i'm positive the aircraft would have been hit. So we zoomed over the primary and kept on past the ridge N of there. The area N of the ridge was completely devoid of defenses. We swung NW and went on our way, passing on the far side of Kep and Thai Nguyen, keeping an eye on the scope the whole way. 

Midway along the passage we went to altitude to see if SAM would come up but from some checking us out with their radars, nothing happened. As it stayed that way all the way up and until we headed out N of Yen Bai. There was some meager AAA but the scope was indicating that at least three sites were looking at us. So maybe we were just out of their range or they were reloading after engaging earlier strikes. Guess we'll find out sometime soon.  

Edited July 16, 2021 by Carter28

[Carter28 92]

2LT Eugene Hornwell was on his photo run flying through heavy AAA fire when his aircraft was hit and went down just short of the primary target over Hanoi. No chute was seen

[Carter28 92]

I should be starting a new campaign soon. I'm working things out with the aircraft and squadron i'm going to use. Absolutely guaranteed no one has ever don't DiD with this plane and in a single mission test flight, it's going to be a really big challenge.

[Carter28 92]

Somebody is out of their $^%&ing mind!

How the %&$# do they expect us to do this %&*% with this airplane?

So the Air Force has this new thing they are doing and somehow, someone piped up along the lines of "the Navy can help a bit". So they pick us. Of every squadron in SE Asia, they pick VP-2. Notice there isn't an A or an F infront of the number. We fly patrol aircraft, for Christ's sake. We are an anti-submarine outfit. What the hell do we know about finding and bombing VC? Nothing that i know of, but they figured we fired ordnance before so we must be qualified for the job. So as i barely get my feet on the ground in Da Nang after getting in country, they cut a bunch of orders and move us all they way here in the middle of nowhere, absolutely nowhere near the sea. 

Yeah i remember what my dad and uncle said when i told them i'd be flying a Neptune. They were Marines in World War 2, y'know? They saw everybody and everything getting blown to hell on island after island across the pacific and they saw the guys in planes flying patrols, taking vacations in comparison. 

Oh hell. 

I need a drink.

I'm David Esposito. I'm a Naval Aviator.   

Edited July 18, 2021 by Carter28

[Carter28 92]

BTW. I was going through the process of changing things up to fly out of Da Nang but figured let me not screw things up. Anyway, who would expect a Navy squadron to be based in the Central Highlands?

[Carter28 92]

APR65 Pleiku, South Vietnam.

 

So we got off to a quick start. First was basically a stroll away not too far from base. An enemy base camp so we loaded up with a lot of rockets and WP,  except for our plane as they had us lugging four 500lb bombs. How they expected us to deliver them with any kind of accuracy was beyond us but i wasn't in the mood to argue. So three of us went on the mission. To cut a long story, we found some trucks moving under some sparse tree cover and attacked. First pass, two bombs off the wings, scratch one truck. Talk about a lucky drop because that's what it was, pure luck. So we spot another truck and what do you know? Same result. Two bombs, another truck.  So by now everyone really has their eyes open (with Williamson on the scope) but no joy. After a few minutes of circling around some we decided to overfly the area real low but then we remembered some A4s were coming to hit the camp so we climbed and waited to get a visual on them. Guns first saw them from the back so we lined up and maneuvered to get a good sight on their drop. Sure enough, after they dropped we went straight in and as we dipped in to take a look, Surfer in the nose spotted a truck. A bit of a climb then another dip and in we went. Sprayed the area with rocket fire and we got that truck. We were pretty sure there was more down there but why press our luck (and strain the airframe) so back to base it went.

 

Next mission was a quick step over the DMZ to check out something someone saw recently. The flight up there was nice and quiet. At least for us, the Air Force B-57 flight that was supposed to hit what we found flew over some VC position and their leader was shot down!. Oh well. It was an easy check ride up until AAA opened up on us. We were at 8500ft so we figured it should be too bad but it soon got pretty lively. As me and Kenny put the aircraft through some evasive action, Surfer saw something of interest at 11 low so as we broke to take a look, a very apparent base was seen by all.  Even though we had the ordnance, our orders were just to take a look and anyways, the fire was getting pretty bad. So as a grand evasive method, me and Kenny decided to dive in over them and drop some WP so we could fix the location. So that's what we did. Except the AAA was so bad we actually circled back towards the base in our evasion. Seeing as we had climbed at a good rate, it was time for a go to hell move. So that's what we did. Back down we went with rockets flying. I didn't aim at anything, just fired as many down among them.  As we were heading back over the hills now, we really went through some contortions but we got out of there in a hurry. All in all it was good that we only had some very minor holes from the whole affair.  Could have been worse, those Air Force guys had another B-57 hit over the base and had to bail out on the way home due to the damage. 

Edited July 19, 2021 by Carter28
spelling errors

[Carter28 92]

Just been busy with things. I'll be back soon.

[Carter28 92]

Just getting ready to get back in the cockpit. Esposito and his crew were shot down on a recce mission over N. Vietnam. I'm working on my next pilot already.

[Carter28 92]

Ok, i'm back in action.

[Carter28 92]

2MAR65

The weather was as fine can be for a mission. 

Orders were to get some pictures of what was left of a fuel depot after the Air Force hit it so we could send a mop up strike if needed. Also need to see what kind of AAA reaction there might be but it really shouldn't be too much. 

Launched at 1330 then turned onto course while gaining altitude. The plan being to give the Air Force guys a good head start and let them get in ahead before i made my move. So it was up to 20,000ft and wait for the right time. Everything was just like training so far, even if all i was doing was circling about 30 miles of the NV coast. It wasn't too much time before it was my turn. Nose down, throttle back, aiming for the right moment, distance, altitude and speed according to plan. Letting the plane go down until it was truely time for business. 

It was quite surprising to see just how sudden the NV reacted. As soon as i went feet dry SW of Haiphong they were already shooting. Sparse and inaccurate, but still coming up. As i neared Haiphong more AAA was being fired but it wasn't really bad, mainly low and behind, 37mm for the most part, some 85mm and a few 57mm tracers were seen. The turn towards the primary leg really had them missing badly and over the primary it wasn't bad at all even though they were blasting away. Speaking of the primary, on the way towards the target zero smoke was observed nor was any kind of fire as i closed in. Looks like the Air Force missed. 

Throughout my time over NV MIGs were up but they were no threat all all. I was moving too fast and low and for the most part, the AAA fire would have discouraged any threat from 6 o'clock for much of the mission. 

The final leg SW of Hanoi to the the sea was a snap. Was in the vicinity of multiple MIGs but they were onto the Air Force heading outbound down at three low mostly to my track so they were no threat. 

Finally it was feet wet SE of Thai Binh and back home with the film. All things considered, it was as smooth a mission as one could ask for.