Lt. James Cater

http://forum.combatace.com/uploads/1268336756/gallery_18150_399_79913.jpg http://forum.combatace.com/uploads/1268336756/gallery_18150_399_83223.jpg 19/20OCT86 Looks like things have kicked off and so we are in business! The first mission took me and my back seater Timmy the Comp, on our way to Czechoslovakia. Ivan picked the right waether to lauch an offensive because it is truly lousy weather to fly in. Rain, clouds and zero visibility in some areas. We took off and made our way towards Neuburg at 20,000ft. We knew this would probaly entail lots of low level flying so we also carried a 600gallon tank in addition to he usual wing tanks. Once past the nav point we veered south east and began the long flight to the IP climing to 25,000 to get a little more fuel endurance just in case. By now we had hear reports from action going on over the central area of the front. Seems that the Soviets were up in force and came for a fight! For Timmy and me, it was a matter of keeping watch on the RWR and our fuel gauges. The closer we got to the IP the more we noticed a indication that certainly meant a early warning radar had us and certainly were letting someone know where we were going along with all kinds of info about us as well. About 35 miles from the IP we noticed that the RWR flickered a few times as if something out there was trying to lock us at long range. It was getting rather persistent, so 20 miles from the IP we went on down. When we hit the IP and turned towards the target area i noted with dismay that a radar still had us. To us, that indicated that something was at altitude with a look down capability. Hoping against my worst fears we flew on. No matter what, we could not escape the tracking and all we could hope was that there were no SAMs in the area. At 15 miles out the worst became reality. It came out of the clouds ahead of us at 11 0'clock and we got a perfect view as it flew past us. MIG-29!!!!!!! Damn if we didn't run into the best thing Ivan had to get us! At least we had the satisfaction of knowing he would take him a bit to turn on our 6 so we got straight and level at 1,0000ft and hit full burners. By now we realized that there were no sams but lots of guns se we lit up the ECM and pumped out chaff as we overflew the target and took our photos. Now the trip home was going to be interesting! Full bore and back on our route. Sure enough the MIG was right on us. Timmy could see him when i was jinking and dodging trying to keep him from getting a lock on us for a missle shot. Damn was he fast! I always wished they could have made made a photo version of a F-105. I've always heard the Vietnam guys tell me that there was nothing faster ever made for low level work and now i really wanted to be in one badly. The weather and terrain both helped and hindered. The German/Czech border is pretty hilly and so was made for low level flyers. The problem was sometimes not seeing a bit of dirst and trusting to the instruments and the terrain aviodance feature on our radar. When the MIG fired the first missle, i knew we would have to do something more desperate. Rolling left, i pulled for all we were worth and broke all the way into the bastard. Bet he wasn't expecting that! Pulled hard again, back onto course and full burners to get the speed up. This went on a few more times, i almost killed us when i broke into a missle that was coming and when past the Mig, i rolled us onto oue backs intending to immelman and dive to get more speed. What i didn't anticipate was getting disorientated. Forget about it, i lost all track of up down the ground, our course, the MIG,...EVERYTHING! By chance saw a pactch of ground and figured it all out. Timmy was in as bad a shape as i was and to make it worse, we had more company. The RWR showed that two more were out there on us. Oh well, if we are going to be a victory marker on some plane, let's make the pilot work for it. Every few seconds i would check our fuel and we seemed to have plenty, but how long before we had to make a straight line run and be predictable? Finally we got a real break. Pulling hard once again i began what was to be a horizontal figure 8 pattern and sure enough the MIG went on by us. I saw a large flash and thought it was a missle shot but lo and behold! THE MIG-29 HIT THE DIRT!!!!! We were so happy! Back onto course and a few manuvers later we learned that our new pursuers were Mig-23s. Now i felt really confident about getting away, now way is that Russkie hunk of junk catching us now. and sure enough, they broke off soon after. So back to Neuburg at low level we went. Zooming over the base at about 100 ft i then pulled the stick back and full burneres to the heavens. It was nice to see the sun again! Our second mission was a bit easier. Our flight path actually took us BEHIND a large mass of enemy fighters and so we got in and out with no problems. The only hassle was heading home. We were flying at 30,000 heading parallel to the front lines, a MIG-23 came up from our 9 and tried to set up on us. Yeah right! We broke into him and played chicken then split S'ed back onto our original flight path on full burners. He got the hint and decided to go home. You better be riding something better than that to catch us!

Ok, my last pilot just crashed because i was so busy trying to take care of my wingmwn instead of just running for safety. I'm not even going to bother declaring him because even on the first mission it was apparent that it would be a sick joke in the end So i decided that if i'm going into harms way, i'm going to do it on my own. Thomas Simmons 38TH TRS USAF RF4-C 19OCT86 WOE PS-Glad to see you Macelena. Pick a pilot, plane, campaign and go for it!

Already flew a mission with my new pilot. Will give details when i get back from work. With this one, i know that i'm going to go all the way! Just have to keep from doing stupid things!

http://forum.combatace.com/uploads/1267839458/gallery_18150_399_52631.jpg http://forum.combatace.com/uploads/1267839458/gallery_18150_399_77110.jpg 24AUG68 Alas, was on the way back from a succesfull strike when we got word of some enemy near of flight path. They turned out to be IL-28s and so i sent my wingman home and attacked. Took multiple hits and exploded. Too bad, i was growing rather fond of David. Ended his career with 26 kills. 24 in a Mirage, 2 in the F-100. I'll have new info later and will start a new pilot tommorrow.

If a MIG breaks on you either go vertical and high speed yo yo (takes some practice) to cut the corner or pull to the outside of the curve and lag pursuit them. If your speed drops too much and you have sufficent altitude, drop the nose and use your engines to disengage. If at all possible, don't get into extended turning engagements in F-4s.

First two missions were rather exciting. 21Aug68 The first one could have ended worse. We had a rather milk run strike mission and were on our way home when just ahead of us two AN-12s were crossing our path. I then ordered my flight to get them and went after one. I got him with a few quick bursts and and went after the second. My wingman seemed to have trouble so i bore in firing. I got him and he got me also! I forgot all about the rear guns. Well, i was virtually out of control and smoking heavily. I pulled back on the throttle and hoped to make it a little farther but flames suddenly appeared in the mirror. FIRE! For a moment i rode the doomed aircraft. Better to perish than bail out and be taken prisoner. Finally the survival instinct took over and i punched out. Damn it! Shot down for the first time and by some danm fool gunner in a cargo plane! Luckily, i went down near enough to the front that an Ami helicopter that was rescuing a crew from a shot down F-4 saw me going down and picked me up after recovering the Phantom guys. Got a few scratches from the shootdown but nothing serious. 23AUG68 A smashing success! Took off into some lousy weather to help out an armor unit that was under attack. We got to their location a little too late, but we had large numbers of enemy tanks under us and plenty of fuel and ordnance. When all was said and done we accounted for 20 tanks! I do believe that this F-100 is a fine aircraft provided that you pay strict attention to it's advantages and limitations. As long as we don't over extend ourselve, we should be able to come through this fine. PS-As soon as i conquer the latest quota problem, i'll post screenshots again.

Instead of a new pilot ive decided to keep going with David DePaul. After the war, the political situation sends him into exile and after some wanderings, ends up in Denmark. Due to his past, he ends up flying F-100s instead of the latest hot plane, the F-104. In August 1968, the situation turns threatening once again and Depaul flies back into battle with ESK 730.

Flying F-100s will be a source of frustration because even if you score well, your squadron will be decimated quickly. Early Mirages are a bit better but the AIM9s will drive you crazy. The F-102 can be a suprise at times but you really have to be on your toes to keep losses down. The Sabre varients are the best dogfighters hands down. Intercepts can be a hassle due to lousy missles but the .50s make up for it. It also has a really good range as well. F-4s make for a nice challenge as you will get a mix of missions to perform. AI F-104s pilots are basically fodder for MIGs so if you don't care about casualties you can have a nice time. The TEEN series of fighters tend to be UBER. F-15s in particular tear through the enemy. The F-5 is overlooked. I've been thinking about that one myself. Of the strike aircraft, the Gina really makes for a challenge. It's so small that fuel VS payload is a constant thought. The later A-7 campign is really something due to the ever present SAM threat. Same goes for the Jaguar. In WOE the only things i've flown are F-111s, RF-4Cs and a EF-111. The Strike and Recce missions are awe inspiringly difficult!

Yes Cliff, SAM can really ruin your day! All things considered it's probaly the worst thing we have to deal with. 10NOV62 Interesting mission to say the least! Had an intercept of Reds heading to Ramstein and scored big this time. Took only a single wingman and away we went. Got to them about 30 miles from the target and waded into them. Turns out the bomb carriers were Mig-21s and so we didn't have to worry about gunners. My wingman got one before being shot down by the escorts, i got four before running out of gun ammo. Of course the missles failed again. And it looks like that's the end of my campaign. I've just run into the infamous unfixed "WOE campaign fail bug" that comes with one of the later patches. It's the third time it's happened to me and i wonder if i'll ever do this in WOE again. Ended up with 24 kills, 22 via gun. So much for "Modern" weapons.

Funny enough, right at the time of the original post of this topic i was on a Beer run! Six 24 oz bottles of Samuel Adams to reinforce those i already had in my fridge.

Blasphemy-Gods Of War

Sometimes, the basics are just a bit too advanced for some!

Having upload quota hassles AND WOE failed on me before i as i was acceptin the results of a mission. Luckily, the results stood or i would have been just a bit upset! On 8 and 9 November we did did another intercept that we failed and a succesful fighter sweep over the Berlin area. The intercept was much the usual....Missles failing, resorting to guns, running out of ammo, and then fleeing from the enemy fighters lost a Mirage on that one. Unfortunatly, a Mig 21 got him since he made a feeble attempt to reach altitude instead of standing the plane on it's nose and climbing like a rocket. The Berlin mission was both wonderful and frustrating. Wonderful in that the Reds lost heavily in some massive brawls, frustrating in that NATO headquarters waited until we are at such a condition before agressively taking the fight to the enemy. 1LT Denis Moret and myself were all that could be sent and so off we went. After join up we went high to save fuel and give us the the advantage of speed at altitude. The number of flights checking in with control was staggering. If only we did this every time! Well, there was a big fight going on northeast of Berlin and cantrol was giving us multiple options as who we wanted to go after because the enemy was everywhere from the ground to 30,000ft. Where the radar contacts were most is where we went! Closing in we dropped tanks and dove down into the maelstrom. Sure enough we found a Mig-17 on the fringes of the action and engaged him. This Red was a real artist, flying his aircraft in such a way as to only give us the most difficult shots. Everytime he straightened out long enough to get a proper aim or to even considering using a missle, he pulled his plane around in a manner that just had to be admired. He had a wingman in the fight also, but there is no way that he could have gotten a shot off with all the manuvering Moret and i were pulling off. Finally, the artist made an error. Perhaps he decided to run for it or who knows the reason, but he went all out and tried to run for it. I decided to chance a missle and so switched to one and quickly got a good tone and about one and a half miles and closing fast. Moret was coming in from his six high just as i released the weapon. It tracked true but i was worried about Moret when the Mig went into a dive, perhaps reacting to Denis's attack. Too late! Our attention then turned towards his wingman. His skill wasn't that of his lead and Moret dispatched him with a cannon burst quickly after i missed with a poor missle shot. There were more enemy in the vicinity but we did our jobs and did not want to over stay our welcome. As soon as i had us pointed in the right direction, high up we went and home. Many Migs had a chance at us but none could match or climb or speed at altitude.

Just how to go about getting them on aircraft. I know they appear on USAF F-4s and French F-100s since i've flown those in campaigns and you see them on AI F-15s as well. I could have sworn Mig-17s also had them in one of the past mods i had for a while. Can anyone clue me into where to look to to see if i can figure out a way to get them onto other planes? Thanks

Thanks for the heads up, Wrench! I'll go tracking down the tutorial in a while.

6/7NOV/62 We fight on even as the endpoint is near. During these two days we lost five pilots dead. Capt Henri Gras, 1LT Aldo Gouby ,and 2LTs Jehan Iribarne, Michel Chesani and Alexandre Armarger. There are only five of us left able to fly. Major Joire got made ace, for what it's worth. The enemy now swarms over us and area is virtually defenseless. They are at the doors of Bonn, already having taken Hamburg in the north. One more push and they will overrun the most important remaining bases in the central sector. After that it is a mere formality. I find myself increasingly looking over the maps and seeing where i should take the plane to keep it and myself from falling into the hands of the enemy. I strongly doubt that they would have any leniency towards one who has destroyed a number of their aircraft.

5NOV62 A rather routine intercept except for the fact that there were only a pair of unescorted IL28s. Shot down one, damaged the other and as soon we got the call from control we went into our new evasion tactic. Turn due west and flee at top speed while climbing up to at least 30,000ft as soon as possible. Up there we can outrun anything the enemy has until they have to turn back from lack of fuel. As noted before, when at altitude we are more than a match for the foe, but getting to them high up is the problem. The Reds love to be near the earth where their turning performance is superior. Interesting thing we found out from Intelligence. Apparently, a Mig 19 i shot down a while ago was piloted by one of their aces, a Major Vishnyakov. The interesting part is of his kills, four of them were from our squadron. Too bad i didn't kill him since he scored duel victories both times we've we met and he seems to have an extraordinary feel for his aircraft. In a wild scrum, i would hate to have him show up.

Late OCT to early NOV62 It's been nonstop flying and fighting. We are lucky not to be having men dead seeing as some of them now have more time in the silk than some paratroopers. The war is going badly. The Russians have got the front virtually cut in half with a massive salient. All our gestures seem useless. We received some supplies and a number of air to ground weapons are now available. Are things so bad that we are now going to be used for bombing? The enemy has a brilliant strategy of making those incessent low level raids. Our aircraft are limited in their performance near the ground. Up high we can fight, but the Reds rarely fly higher than the trees. No matter, we are betrayed by the makers of that putrid Aim-9. If it worked as it was advertised, we should have triple the kills at least. Now they are virtually dead weight with success far and in between. I will continue to do my duty to France, but i have no hope in victory. All i can do is to shoot down as many of the enemy as i can before the end. As of this moment my score is at 13.

The funny thing is i was considering the same thing. Doing it in WOE is something else, but in the ODS mod it's in a class of it's own when it comes down to a sheer challenge.

Looks like your 82 kills is the mark to beat for fighters! Glad you made it through the campaign in one piece!