Lt. James Cater

Thanks for the info. I've been doing this hard for so long, it's natural by now.

The basic rules are rather loose and simple. One pilot to a campaign. Any year, any game and you declare any really notable MOD you are using. A shot of the debriefing screen is preferable,IRfanview and XNview being the two best programs for that as far as i know(I use XNview). All sorties are end to end although you can Alt N on the way home. Check out the parts of the thread here from Dec 2009 to JAN 2010 and you'll see the most common settings. If you survive a campaign, you can either retire the pilot or keep him flying. Go out and have some fun!

Great news to hear! I'm already three missions into a tough new campaign. Will post reports later on today.

"Cause we need some more warm bodies" bump.

From the looks of things, people seem to have abandoned the DiD challenge. I think i might sign up in various forums and pitch the WO series and see if we can get more pilots involved. As things are now, i can't take flying seriously unless it's DiD. Major Edwin Flowers will fly on!

http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16683-clipboard-c21jpg/ http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16684-clipboard-c22jpg/ http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16685-clipboard-c23jpg/ http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16686-clipboard-c24jpg/ NOV62 The war is over! The West German 2nd Panzer division crushed the Red tank forces in the south captured East Berlin and cut off all enemy forces to the west. The last few days saw heavy fighting in the air. The enemy fought back hard against Allied airstrikes and made some deep attacks of their own, but too little too late. For those of us in the 22nd TFS it is with regret that we should have lost a man at the dawn of victory. 2LT Halbert Cary was shot down strafing an airfield after we had finished bombing a company of Red tanks that ambushed advance unit of the 2nd Panzer. I actually thought it was Capt Shields that went down. It wasn't until i called for them to rejoin that i realized we lost Halbert. So the final toll was two pilots KIA and three F-105s lost. All things considered, it's not as bad as we expected given the aircraft and the things we had to do with it. We must also count our blessings as we suffered the least losses of any Thud squadron. Rather than just fling ourselve at the targets, it was a lot better to use a combination of the aircrafts' strengths and proper route planning and avoiding doing anything really stupid. RIP 2LT Ken Pankhurst RIP 2LT Halbert Cary

http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16680-clipboard-c19jpg/ http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16681-clipboard-c20jpg/ 15NOV62 16NOV62 Looks like we've broken through in the south. US and West German units have made some really big gains. In fact, you can pretty much say that the Red Army has collapsed. Our guys slammed two Corps into the line north and northwest of Erfurt and crushed the enemy. Meanwhile, the Brits have been attacking east of Hamburg. They really haven't made much progress but they are keeping the Reds from reinforcing against the attacks in the south. Right now, the 1st Panzer division is pushing hard towards Berlin. If they take Brandenburg that should be it. Both missions we flew were rather routine. Now that the front has been pushed back we have the advantage of being able to fly at more fuel economical speeds and of being able to get closer to the targets before we know that their radar will pick us up. On both missions MIGs tried to intercept us but it was too late. From the IP we are at full military power and at 20 miles we begin a shallow dive in order to be at our fastest before the actual attack goes in. Once bombs are dropped we head on out at full burner. Unless they manage a perfect intercept, they have no way to real chance to catch us. Had Col Kasler and Capt Craig as wingmen. From now on i'll be using the LTs to get them as much cmbat time as possible.

http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16679-img00668jpg/ Not if i can help it!

http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16580-clipboard-c18jpg/ 13NOV1962 We had a hell of a mission! Took some lumps and gave some out. Everyone came along with 2LT Mosier and myself. Near the IP at Altenburg Nobitz they went looking for targets while we continued towards the primary. Everything was a piece of cake until the egress. We had a MIG21 chasing us at a distance so i figured that we could throw him off with a Rollercoaster. So up we zoomed to 20,000ft and turned towards the front. Sure enough he came up after us so as soon as he was getting within missle range we dropped our noses and headed for the trees. You got to give this guy a lot of credit for trying. He came on down and even fired off a missle at maximum range. Not willing to take a chance of an unlikely fluke hit, we broke into the Mig and the fight was on! It quickly became apparent that we had all the cards. 2V1 at low level, plenty of fuel, guns,and a pair of Sidewinders for each of us vs one missle for him. There was nothing he could do except hope we either crashed or some buddies of his showed up. Anything he tried in order to disengage would have been hazardous to say the least. And that's what finally happened. He avoided a pass by Mosier and was wings level just a bit ahead of me. He hit his burner but it was too late. I got in a good burst and blew off most of his starboard wing. He then snapped inverted and flew into the ground still in full burner. By now, everyone was heading home so we went to altitude and cruised home. Then something unlikely happened. Earlier i sent 3 flight home a bit early since they were going too far north and i didn't want them to run into any MIGs while they were doing their thing. Instead, a MIG21 intercepted them while they were approaching the base and hit 1LT Gerald Mosier's aircraft with 2 Atolls. It's a tribute the the boys at Republic that Gerald was able to land that heavily damaged bird! Well, we wen't too far away and so me and Barton went down to find that MIG. It didn't take much to find him and another fight was on! We had an even bigger advantage this time as We were about 20 miles from home and the MIG had a long way to get to the front lines. Well, i got him. Not with weapons though. I was coming in behind him too fast to get the sights on him so decided to zoom just ove him and set up for another pass.As it turns out, he decided to pull up just as i was going to pass over him. There was a shudder, a flash, and flames in the mirrors. Oh hell, we made contact! I see more flames in the mirrors and check the engine readouts just before getting set to punch out. Damn this bird is smoking heavily, the controls feel funny but nothing seems too critical so i decide to stay put. Trying to land was a hell of a challenge. It took 5 tries and a low fast approach that took virtually the whole runway to slow a stop. What got the MIG was the port stabilator. It broke off hitting him and that's what made it such a pain trying to get the aircraft down. Another great example of the great work by Republic!

http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16572-clipboard-c15jpg/ http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16573-clipboard-c16jpg/ http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16574-clipboard-c17jpg/ NOV62 Nothing really dramatic lately. The Reds have pretty much run out of steam and are being pushed back. In particular there has been a very strong thrust by our ground forces in the south and they've created a sizable salient. If they break out of there they could head towards Berlin without too much trouble. We've been pretty successful with the 105. About the only times we have to worry is if we are intercepted while we are inbound, or if a MIG21 is close enough for a missle shot while we are making a getaway after bomb release. There is nothing made that can catch us down below.

CBUs are THE best thing you can arm your fellow pilots with. At least then they have a more than better chance of actually hitting something. If you ever get the WOV GOLD mod, napalm there works just as advertised.

I agree with everyone here. First fly the stock game some to get used to the feel and controls. Then get the WOV GOLD mod for a much more intense adventure.

http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16569-clipboard-c13jpg/ http://combatace.com/gallery/image/16570-clipboard-c14jpg/ NOV62 Nothing much to report. Both missions were pretty much milk runs. The CAS sortie did have a bit of action. just after we got to work, a flight of MIG19s came into the area so i sent everyone home after deciding to make a quick strafing pass and then run for it. As it turns out, one of the MIGs got onto me and was determined to get me even as i exited the area on full burner. So i decided to make him work for it. Puling up hard, i zoomed the Thud up to 22,000ft and kicked the rudder a bit so i could watch him burning fuel climbing up after me. I was at full throttle and so no way was i an easy target for him. Once he leveled off at about 25,000ft about 1.5 miles back and started coming i got set. When his nose dropped, so did mine. All the way back down to the deck and then full burner. He finally thought better of it and turned away. Too bad i didn't have a missle as he would have made a nice target.