Lt. James Cater

So far we've been doing with the AIM9 as no other missile has been supplied to us yet. The rocket/tank pod should come in handy provided the Beagles aren't too far away from our base. The funny thing is seeing successes with the Sidewinder vs Migs, but only a single kill of a bomber.

So i got going in my new campaign... The pilot is David DePaul. Flying a Mirage IIIc with the EC 1/13 "Artois" Squadron of the Armee de l'Air of France. I will make this brief since i am about to go on another mission. So far things seem to be alright as far as the aircraft goes. It flys great and is extremely fast compared to some of the other aircraft availabe. So far the only drawback is the incredibly unreliable AIM-9Bs and the limited 30mm ammo. Both victories so far (Beagles) have been achieved by guns. My wingman are a mixed lot as their gunnery during intercepts is quite poor and so they are falling victim to the gunners. On every intercept now i wonder how many will go down. A2A we got 4 MIG-17s on our first mission. I just hope we ca avoid the 19s for a while until we get more experience. Action began on 26OCT1962 and we are baseed at Neuburg, West Germany.

Took this advice on a whim and did two missions. So far it's been good as far as fighter vs fighter, our losses (4 Mirages) have been to Iron Beagle tail gunners. Will do AARs when i get home from work in the morning.

Fighter ops are such a drag sometimes with CAP and Sweeps. It's almost impossible to know what are the priority targets at the moment and you just can't ingore other enemy planes just to wait around to see if something "special" will show up. In the past, i've changed Recce to a decent percentage and used them as fighter sweeps. At least then you can plan a route and roam around looking for action. I've done a mission flying an F-111 during Linebacker II but it was just a bit too blase and going low made my computer chug unacceptably. Guess i'll go back and fly SPADS again, i wanted to fly a Thud in Rolling Thunder badly but the spike situation would make it impossible to take wingmen along with you.

I remember watching a flight of A-10s get shot down one after another when they flew by a fuel depot and then just after flew right over an air base. Sorta reminded me of the Canberra death rides i saw so many times in WOV.

26OCT62 1st mission wasn't bad even if we didn't accomplish our primary goal. The distance we had to fly was ridiculous and the timings were a given were a joke. Nonetheless we took off and did battle. The only problem i see is that the pilots in this squadron don't seem very agressive. To compensate, i'm putting the shooters in first two flights. Anyways, it was a wild fight and we got three Mig 17s and a Mig 19. I got the 19 with a burst from about 800 meters out. He made the mistake of trying to run for it and stayed wings level just a bit two long. The 17 was defensive as two of us had him. I got him with a deflection shot when he was forced to become predicable for a few seconds. All to soon the calls of "bingo" came about and we had to race away with some Migs chasing us. Luckily everyone got away. Edit-Flew a second mission but didn't feel the Buzz i need. Also, the AI of the Squadron is so pitiful that it's virtually suicide to take them out with me in F-100s. Campaign abandoned.

Here's my new pilot... Jean Lefevre Campaign-WOE Red Thunder Unit-EC 2/3 Champagne, Armee de l'Air Start Date-26OCT62 Aircraft-North American F-100D Super Sabre

Something i thought of a lot when doing my recent DiD campaign. We all like being in planes that can give out punishment. How about a plane that could take it? In the A-1 you are certainly going to have a good chance to be able to keep in the fight and live to brag at the O club later. The amount of damage that plane can absorb is jaw dropping to say the least. I know of about four ocasions when i thought i was a goner but made it home despite the aircraft being absolutly shot to pieces. IIRC, the record for surviving hits was 23 14.5mm hits. Engine hit and smoking, cockpit area hit on both sides, aileron shot away, flap gone, rudder blown off and yet still made it home. All that was on a single pass over a target area. Missions when i didn't take damage were the unusual ones. I haven't used the A-10 enough to compare but the ground fire in WOE is laughable compared to the almighty frightenly intense flak storms that the WOV GOLD mod conjures up. We all have seen planes the were shot up but still flying, but what plane have we flown enough to give an honest opinion on? A-1H Skyraider>Everything else in the sim.

What i should have done was stay up and and pickled the Rockeyes as i overflew the gun. Judging from the explosion, a shell must have hit the ordnance i was carrying. Oh well..... Learned a lot about going low and slow in horrible weather conditions in terrain that would be considered impossible to fly a plane around. Also survived in a putt putt antique in places that would have destroyed any jet you could name. Anone who wants a long life should fly a SPAD. For my next attempt i will be revisiting an old campaign of mine in WOE. I had a French F-100 pilot who racked up 59 kills before going down. I'm going to see if i can beat his record.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14May72 Mission #45 I was killed today. Should have been a routine mission but i got disgusted at the meager targets around and so went hunting for a bit more before going home. The endpoint came when i knocked out a 57mm gun that had shot down my wingman and tore up my #4 at a scarcely defended base. I went in and got the 57mm in two passes. Swinging around after that kill i thought i'd drop some Rockeyes on a 23mm emplacement and head on home.

13May72 I feel sick. Decided to take two flights on a Recce In Force. When near the target area i spotted some trucks and ordered everyone to attack and went in myself. By the time i realized what was happening, five of my men had crashed to their deaths. 3 and 4 of my flight and 1,3 and 4 of the second. With recent casualties, this spells the end of any missions in numbers greater than a flight until some replacements show up.

11MAY72 Had one hell of a fight on this mission. Seeing that Chan Hoa was up for us i decided to continue stepping on target areas so we went out 3 flights strong again. That something was unusual was apparent by the lack of ground fire to those that ventured into the target area ahead of us. Gopher flight (a pair of F-4s) didn't even find anything to attack. Neither did a pair of Marine A-4s which flew somewhere else to find targets. As we closed in, prople began spiking and it was quite a task to hold them until the proper moment. About 7 miles out i let everyone loose and the fight was on. I angled us slightly between Chan Hoa and the airfield at Dong Hoi and it was a good thing as lots of triple A opened us on us. I myself, had it tough in the initial moments with fire that was close and relentless. I know that there were Firecans in the area and it was showing. LT Atterbery made a determined run and dropped EVERYTHING. Can you imagine what 4 MK117s and 10 Rockeyes look like when they go off right after each other? That was my cue and so i manages to avaoid the fire just long enough to make a run at the base. My bombs added nicely to the conflagration and now it was open hunting for me also. We went on a tear but the enemy wasn't exactly asleep. As i started my run, MAJ Jasperson was hit and went down. So the battle went on. I found myself attacking targets at Quang Khe. As much as i hate dueling with guns, there were some juicy targets in the area and so the guns had to be suppressed. The cost was steep, LT Atterbery was shot down near the river mouth. I found myself stalking and taking out the guns that got Atterbery. It took multiple passes but they were wiped out by us. In between, i hit one of the river ladings with a pair of Rockeyes and caused witnessed multiple secondaries from trucks that were waiting to cross the river. By the time the last guns on the river were destroyed i figured that enough was enough and gathered everyone together for the flight home. The attacks stretched from Dong Hoi to the Arrowhead. Enemy fire was intense to say the least but we overcame the defense. Maj Francis Jasperson has been declared MIA since no one saw what became of him after he was hit. 2LT Karl Atterberry bailed out but was taken POW. I really thought he could have made a run for it but he must have been injured. If Jasperson made it out his aircraft in one piece, he stands a good chance since the hills weren't too far away from where he went down. I intend to put up LT Atterberry for some high decoration since his initial attack destroyed no fewer than 18! vehicles, including 3 SAM transporters and a BDRM. Damn, i really regret their loss.

USA 5-3 over Canada in hockey? Wow, gave me the same shock as seeing the result of the US dispatching Spain in the Confederations Cup.

14APR72 Had a Recce mison and so decided to take a long a few friends. 3 flights worth of em to be exact. As far as i'm concerned, everyone's along for the ride just in case the enemy fires upon my number two and me. Then we can do the natural thing and protect ourselves. Instead of going right at them, i figured that there just might be some defenses that we don't know about somewhere over the Ho Chi Mihn trail. The usual long flight to the Ubon area was called for and it was hoped that the somewhat cloudy condition would cover us from any guns we would overfly on the flight over Laos. The only thing of note on the ingress was a warning from Red Crown. Gopher flight, a pair of F-4s on patrol intercepted the bogey and it turned out to be a lousy AN-2. What a laugh! Gopher two got it and i bet it went over in their O'club after they landed. Still, a kill is a kill. Well, we came in on Khe Phat and from 10 miles out, i led everyone down through the clouds and sure enough we drew fire as we closed in. The rest was a foregone conclusion. My term for these missions is "Stepping" because that's what we do to an area, we STEP on it. Khe Phat was utterly denuded of defenses after we were done. We could have done more but the boys were getting too agressive and were out to hit places were we are going to take care of in the future.

Just thought i'd update this a bit since WOV GOLD brought in a few more aircraft to general use. A-1H Skyraider...Pros-Tremendous load hauling capability, very rugged, unmatchable fuel endurance. Cons-Slow, effectively obsolete, vunerable in high threat areas Unmatchable ground attack/CAS aircraft. Nothing in the WO* series can do it like the SPAD, especially in poor weather/ difficult terrain situations. Capable of hauling virtually anything and everything it makes for a deadly attack plane. Being piston engined it is rather slow and so pilots are at risk in areas of heavy AA. Thankfully, it can absorb damage that would drop any jet out of the sky.

Husker Du-The Living End

The great things about the SPAD will become apparent the first time you have to do a CAS or Armed Recce mission in truly lousy weather. Sometimes slow and low is the best!

The beginning of the end for the Luftwaffe in the West.

Damn, one Gold in 30 years?!?! I could have sworn the UK had came out on top in something over the years at the Winter Olympics. I always figured that the Brecon Beacons would make a pretty good spot for working out snowboarding and if anything, you could have some quality hockey players if you encourage those hardcase nutters from Glasgow to have a go at it. Think of it as football on ice!

Corpsevomit-Raping The Ears Of Those Above.

12APR72 Old target but new approach and diffrent defenses to cope with. Due to the weather and anticipating the possibility of a SAM site being in the area, dive bombing was out of the question so we decided on low level with High Drag MK117s. The takeoff and initial approach was usual with the exception of being in instrument conditions and our northeast flight path taking us up towards RPs 3 and 4. Care was taken not to be in to quick but by the time we wee at the IP i knew we were running late. About 20 miles out, other strikes were in the area and the worst possible thing happened. SAM LAUNCH, SAM LAUNCH!! Oh Damn! I ordered LT Lang to hit the target and i manuvered to put myself in a better spot vis a vis the SAM. Another SAM site came up fireing. To our luck they seemed to be ignoring us and the swing in from the northwest gave us a backdoor approach. I bet who ever laid out the defenses never thought that someone would come in low from our bearing. Lang seemed to be having trouble because he was going really slow. no matter what he could not (or would not) go any faster. Man he was really a sitting duck. Anyway, some Navy A-7s were also taked with a target at the POL site and they blew away our primary along with theirs. Oh well, might as well bore in and get something else. I saw something for Lang to hit and concentrated on my own attack. I could see the buildings and some surviving oil tanks so i angled the aircraft a bit in order to get the most advantageous drop. It was about as fine a bomb run as i ever will make. The closest thing to perfection i will ever achieve. It was soo good that even the flight path just right. A little right rudder and full speed for the GArden just like old times. Forget about our planned and briefed egress route, we're out of here! Except that Lang was still moving at a crawl and swiftly becoming one of the few aircraft in the area seeing as mostly everone was on the way out by now. So i turned around and went to help. Seems he was lost a bit so i ordered him onto another target as i got the guns ready. I shot up the most convenient thing i could find, the POL site. From about .8 of a mile out i hosed down the area and saw multiple explosions where the tracers were hitting. Zoomed low over the smoke and flames with some light AA shooting at me but no joy for them. Lang finally made his attack (and missed!) ans so we were back to our planned egress sseing as i was heading in the right direction. Ordering the LT to close up, it was back to the hills and clouds, with the knowledge that SAM could come up and swat us down at any moment. with that in mind i kept the engine going all out until i was sure that we were out of range. Was a hairy flight and Lang is now officially in the Doghouse! He is on every tough mission until he shows better performance.

Hey Mike, once you get your head wrapped around how to be one with the SPAD you'll be in for some truly amazing times. I don't think i've ever flown anything that can do what the A-1 does time and time again.

Thanks for the vid The funny thing is that i've seen many beatdowns where older cats just wiped out young trash talking punks. What a lot of people don't realize on a street level, the older they are more dangerous they actually become because they just don't give a @%&% anymore.

10APR72 Mission 40! Another mik run LT Hill and i had it easy today. No ground fire and all our bombs fell within the area of a football field. Seems like the enemy is breaking.