FIF AAR from 9/30/15 9pm est.

Salute to all flyers, friend & foe, who are flying in Flanders in Flames on Rise of Flight!

Common sight over the lines:

Last night's mission (at least for me) was quite a show and our best score yet this round.  I wanted to share with you some of the actions/engagements I witnessed
(to the best of my memory) and tip my cap to the lads who racked up 9 of 10 objectives, falling short of the last objective in a pitched struggle in the south.  
I didn't take notes, so going from memory, this is my "un-official-ade" flavored report: (FEEL FREE to add details, side points/corrections)
Wednesday, Sept. 30th
Pre-Flight Assignments handed out by Mueller:

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Sortie 1
Takeoff:  9:00pm ET
Blue-Flight: Northern Fighter Base (2 N17s + S16s,
[Rooster, Jenks, Hawg, Skeeter, ??])
Task: Escort Trench Mapping (Fe2b -Gamecock(Pilot),Joker_BR(gunner)
Flight Plan: Rondeavue South of North field; Ingress from center trench area, Egress from North after completing Obj.
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Rooster and I took N17s ahead and above the S16s for high cover.  
Around 15mins into our sortie as we crossed the lines, Rooster called out 3 contacts from 12oc level, from a German Balloon:  FokkerE3s.
I moved to the right, Rooster to the left, and set-up to bracket their approach and split their attack.[/b]
Lead Fokker began level attack on Rooster, trailing pair of Fokkers moved against me.
As we merged, Hawg from the S16 element called out additional inbound enemy (Halberstadts) and moved to assist.  Too late to turn back.

Incredibly, both Rooster and I suffered engine damage, almost simultaneously, in the first head-on pass and began oil leaks.
The S16s arrived as the Halbs did and within 20 seconds of our meeting, over 10 aircraft were in a fur ball.
I managed to hole up one of my combatants, but losing oil disengaged and put down along our trench-line.  
Rooster, managed to disengage and RTB!  Hawg suffered a head-on collision with a HalbD2, and Survived!  
Skeeter i believe was killed in the combat.  Overall, we lost the engagement.

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Sortie 2
Takeoff:  9:25pm ET
Blue-Flight: Northern Fighter Base Hawg (N17) & Jenks.
Task: Escort Trench Mapping (Fe2b -Gamecock(Pilot),Joker_BR(gunner)
Flight Plan: Re-run Sortie 1
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Hawg and I left out climbing south to meet *Gamecock.
Joker_BR had jumped into his gunner seat (his first time ever, unbeknownst to *Game)

Then ... It Happened:

Hawg pursued one of the wounded Rolands, smoking black from Gamecock & Joker, whom I formed up with.  
I watched for a short time, until I saw an aircraft diving in on Hawg; turned out to be Rooster back up, and went down to cover him.
It was then i turned to look north and got a surprise.

Surprise!:

As we got near the starting grid for the trench map, 4 Fokker E3s approached Gamecock's FE2 from 3o'clock,
out in front of me enough I couldn't interdict.  I called them out to Game & Joker, who once again, had no way to flee, so boldy turned to attack!

Then...It Happened .... Again..:

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Sortie 3
Takeoff:  9:50-10:00?pm ET
Remaining Fighters: Northern Fighter Base Jenks, joined by Furious Meow and Cuban
Task: Escort Trench Mapping (Fe2b -Gamecock(Pilot),Joker_BR(gunner)
Flight Plan: Re-run Sortie 1, Approaching from N instead of S.

After a brief discussion with Game, we agreed a Northern approach was in order.
Once in from the North, the mission went like a dream.  We saw a few flak bursts, nothing more.  
There was a moment of  pause when Gamecock reached 30% but got no completion message(came after a moment).  
Escorted Game back to our lines;

Re-Tasked: Defensive patrol behind friendly lines to rear 2-seater field.

Mueller Reassigned Furious Meow and Cuban (finished up bombing targets) as fighters and we flew out to patrol the back fields.  
Mid way to the rear airbase, balloon flares on two balloons at our lines.  
Assuming eminent contact we turned to investigate.  
No sign after several minutes so we begin turning back.  
Radio from Mueller, head out to escort, you guessed it, Gamecock and Joker, head out as a follow up for a bombing mission.

RE-Re-Tasked: Escort Fe2 to final target.

An FE was en-route to attack the target, as well as Wrongway & Gamecock.
As we neared the lines, Cuban attached two enemy balloons singly, downing them alone.  Making way for Gamecock to sneak in.
Around then we received word the FE had been flak'd, and Game & Wrongway proceeded in.  
The timing is a bit fuzzy, but the end of this match was a doozey:  very hectic, very courageous flying, and down literally to the last second.  
The last target was placed , oddly on a hill,sloping to one side.  Not long after crossing the lines, Meow spotted an E3 coming directly at him off our right side.  
We had to get to the target let him loose and he quickly shot down the E3.  In the distance ahead, near the target, someone on the ground was shooting flares.  
Turned out to be an E3 that tangled with Wrongway and was vectoring in help.   We then received a call and Flare for friendly craft under attack.  
Cuban was ahead of us and took upon an E3 that was attacking an Fe2(Wrongway).

Most hilariously, after shooting down the balloons, Cuban ran out of ammunition mid fight, the E3 smoking.  He continued to press his attack to draw the E3 away
from Wrongway, and in maneuvering, forced the E3 to crash.  Great show Cuban!  Soon another E3 and a Roland Arrived and were attacking Wrongway's FE.  
While Meow and Cuban were dealing with them in very low level combat, I noticed a Halb D2 making a diving pass at Wrongway.  He was booming & Zooming,
using rudder to roll over and re-attack (immelman).  I caught him on his third pass, blip-switch, rudder hard, fell quite nearly close behind him, and shot him down
in quick succession.  Enemy were pouring in from nearby airbases and were also actively pursuing our bombers just a mile away at the target.  
However so much was going on it was a real cluster and got quite confusing.  By the hostilities end, I could still see 3 FokkerE3s.
I missed/forget the details of the final moments of the bombing mission, but I know it was very close.  

Score was 10-9, Them.  Congrats to all for a well flown fight, and for reading through to the end of this messy AAR.
I've been flying tournaments since the old Red Baron II days, and Flanders in Flames is truly one of the greatest thrills and
challenges out there, bar none.  I'm a competent flyer, and can just fly casually in regular servers, but there is a huge rush after
finding a contact, sometimes after over an hour of flight, and having the drop on them and shooting them down before they
knew they were under attack.  2 minutes of stalking and 4 seconds of shooting beats hours of isnta-flight&fight play...or sneaking in
to hit the target and getting bounced just as you are approaching.  It gets the old ticker going unlike anything else.  
There is nothing quite like it.
Good Hunting.

Jenks

Thank you Jenks... well-done