Share your final flight of 2017 or first flight of 2018

[ShamrockOneFive]

Hey folks,

 

I'm big on first/last sort of stories around the new year's and I thought it'd be fun to share first and last flights of 2017 and 2018 respectively.

 

I hopped on 1CGS EU Normal server this morning for a little bit of fun and I did a write-up and took a ton of screenshots (https://stormbirds.blog/2017/12/31/final-flight-of-2017/). Was flying around in a FW190A-5 and managed two kills (a La-5 and a I-16) before making it back to base and landing. Some tough swirling dogfights going on the whole time.

 

 

How about you guys? Epic campaign mission? Multiplayer success? Hilarious crash? Love to hear about it!

 

Happy New Year!

Edited December 31, 2017 by ShamrockOneFive

[CUJO_1970]

Wow, I've taken a break from that server for a few weeks - good to see Kuban map is now there. Wish I new you were on, I may have been tempted to come out of retirement and wing up with you.

 

From your article: "this player is notorious for disconnecting during a fight" - lol, had to laugh at that.

 

I also recognize that little red I-16  - he is very hard to hit, he is dedicated in it and does a lot of ground attack.

[US63_SpadLivesMatter]

Last Flights of 2017:

 

IL2-BoX:

 

I flew a bf110 to finish off some warehouses. Went in fast and scored a direct hit. On the way back, spotted a flight of four Russians harassing the air corridor just off our nearest airfield.

There was a fight going on, and I noticed a yak that had gotten separated from the rest of the flight. I was fast and had some altitude, so I decided to make a pass on him. Sadly, he spotted me and broke before I could get a shot, so I put myself back into a climb and watched him.

 

To my surprise, he booked it back towards his teammates. I was not expecting a yak to pass on an opportunity to take a bf110 one-on-one.

 

I loitered for a bit to see if I could make anything happen, but it was clear I wasn't going to get anything but the entire crew, so I dived out and landed at our rear airfield.

 

Rise of Flight:

 

Took off in a DVII and fairly quickly ran across a camel manhandling an albratros. Surprised the camel and got some hits on him. He responded with a half-hearted attempt to prop-hang me. Once he failed, I pressed my advantage and made a second great pass on him, before he broke up after a short burst on my third.

[SharpeXB]

Last mission of 2017.

 

 

Next year looks to be a great one for IL-2. Happy New Year!

[ATAG_Flare]

My last flight was in a Spitty IIa out of Eastchurch, flew around between France and England a few times at Angels 18, eventually spotted a 110 lower between Cap Gris Nez and Calais. I bounced him but before I could really get him another Spitty whacked him pretty good. I got in just a quick little burst at the guy. Then a 109 appeared and we dogfought. He got a nice hit on me in a headon and took out my rudder controls and my electrics. No gunsight for me! However I managed to best him and aiming with my tracers in long bursts I managed to hit him good in the belly and vented him. Soon he tried to dive away to escape but it wasn't a good idea for him. His damaged plane didn't pull out of that one and he blew up.

 

Then after witnessing a crippled 110 crash and explode just seconds after crossing back into France (poor guy) I zipped back to England and did some treetop flying back to land at Eastchurch.

 

Pretty successful, I'd say.

 

Video of the kill:

https://streamable.com/01579

 

(Sorry, no sound, gotta fix shadowplay.)

[Alexmarine]

My last sortie was in a Spitfire Mk.V in the southern sector of Finnish server's map.I had to take off in an hurry as we had Fokkers and Bf 110 strafing left and right and bombs going off near our dispersal area. Fortunately I was able to get in the air and immediately started to engage a FW who was going for a pass on the runway. That was actually the last german plane harrassing the field and an allied plane dispatched him (I saw that it was already on his tail and that the german was already slightly damaged so I declined to open fire). I then proceeded to cover up the frontline sector, where our attackers were bombing the enemy tank base, while also waiting for my wingman's LaGG-3. The area was clear of enemy fighters so as soon as I was with my wingman we decided to go on a recon flight towards the nearest german airfield. We were almost in sight of it when my fellow pilot had to leave, and at the same time I spotted an enemy 110 flying towards the frontline. I rapidly changed course and stalked him untill the gunsight told me that he wa right at 750 feet in front of me. As the rear gunner was still silent I let myself getting a little more close before giving in a good 2-second which gave out from both engine some good black smoke. A new 3-second burst while I was overtaking him completaly shattered the canopy area and set the right wing fuel tank on fire. The slight dive angle that he took after the first burst increased sharply and he disappeared under my nose. I kept ths same heading he was following (while checking often around me for any enemy contacts) and I ended up over the previous sector our planes were attacking. As I saw the attack was of lesser intesity now I decided to make a run for some construction I saw near a wood and strafed them in a swift pass. Took some altitude again and went back to base. The entire fligt took no more than 25 minutes I think and earned me an enemy plane and 2 ammo dumps. Cheers and happy new year guys

[Finkeren]

My rig was packed away to clear space for Yule and New Year’s celebrations. My first flight of 2018 is gonna have to wait a couple of days.

[CanadaOne]

My first flight of 2018 was walking home from a party at 2AM at -25 with a mind full of bourbon.

 

Like flying am I-16 in winter, I suppose.

[katdog5]

last flight of 2017 flew my 1st sortie in an La5 1st time on line w CEM this plane. (just getting started online) attacked a ship with 2 100lb bombs from the sun and manged to get it smoking. didnt get shot down or jumped and had an uneventful and safe flight back to base along the coast on kuban kg200 server. glorious.

 

pervious attack in I16 got blasted out of the sky same ship.

Edited January 1, 2018 by katdog5

[Oubaas]

My first flight of 2018 was a non-combat winter joyride in a whitewashed La-5, just to enjoy the plane and do some flat-hatting.

[ShamrockOneFive]

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories! Love hearing what people are doing, where they are flying, what they are flying... It's why we come here after all (aside from arguing about history and flight models ).

 

Wow, I've taken a break from that server for a few weeks - good to see Kuban map is now there. Wish I new you were on, I may have been tempted to come out of retirement and wing up with you.

 

From your article: "this player is notorious for disconnecting during a fight" - lol, had to laugh at that.

 

I also recognize that little red I-16  - he is very hard to hit, he is dedicated in it and does a lot of ground attack.

 

We'll have to wing up sometime for sure. I've been meaning to play some more multiplayer but time commitments have conspired to keep me away from doing much for more than a few minutes at a time. Should have some more time in this new year.

 

The reputation of the La-5 in the pic apparently preceded him. I figured when I did get him in my gunsights I would make sure that he wasn't just smoking and sure to crash but utterly obliterated. The FW190 is pretty good at making that happen

 

Last Flights of 2017:

IL2-BoX:

I flew a bf110 to finish off some warehouses. Went in fast and scored a direct hit. On the way back, spotted a flight of four Russians harassing the air corridor just off our nearest airfield.
There was a fight going on, and I noticed a yak that had gotten separated from the rest of the flight. I was fast and had some altitude, so I decided to make a pass on him. Sadly, he spotted me and broke before I could get a shot, so I put myself back into a climb and watched him.

To my surprise, he booked it back towards his teammates. I was not expecting a yak to pass on an opportunity to take a bf110 one-on-one.

I loitered for a bit to see if I could make anything happen, but it was clear I wasn't going to get anything but the entire crew, so I dived out and landed at our rear airfield.

Rise of Flight:

Took off in a DVII and fairly quickly ran across a camel manhandling an albratros. Surprised the camel and got some hits on him. He responded with a half-hearted attempt to prop-hang me. Once he failed, I pressed my advantage and made a second great pass on him, before he broke up after a short burst on my third.

 

Love that you got in some Rise of Flight there too. Which servers are good to play on for some reasonably fast action. I want to fly a little more Rise of Flight this year too.

 

Last mission of 2017.

Next year looks to be a great one for IL-2. Happy New Year!

 

Great video and a well fought kill. That 109 made you work for it for sure. I have a question about your rig and performance that I'll PM you about... that's one smooth video.

 

My first flight of 2018 was walking home from a party at 2AM at -25 with a mind full of bourbon.

Like flying am I-16 in winter, I suppose.

 

LOL it's cold to the extreme out there right now. Today it was up to -8c for a bit with snow flying and windchill down into the -16c range. Supposed to drop back below -20 again tonight. Not loving that

[katdog5]

first flight in 2018 was grand on the kg200 again - p40 skipped a 500lb bomb into a ship flew back to our airbase to meetup with wingman - he couldnt see me so a shot a couple red flares (brilliant) + was suddenly bounced by a 190, noticed him in my peripheral 7:00 high then 9:00! looked like he was trying to fly formation with me as he was big as a barn, I did a wild roll and somehow managed behind him to blast some 50 cals into him as he shot by. although he was not going very fast for some reason. i thought maybe he was trying to id me as he was so close, but turn out he shot me too indidnt even notice and crash landed 30 yards from him...50 cals put him down!