Career mission after action report

[Yardstick]

I thought I would post an after action report of a Kuban campaign mission I flew last night.  I think this really shows off IL-2 Great Battles potential and what the AI can be capable of.

 

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The mission was a fighter sweep (free hunt).  I am currently 2 months into a campaign with JG II.52 flying out of Anapa.  The weather was overcast with 8/10ths cloud cover which had a base at 1,400m and as always seems to be the case, there was a strong off-shore cross/headwind on take-off.  I lead off the 2 plane element of Bf109G-4s just after 9am, climbing out on a heading of 80 degrees, breaking through the cloud at 2,000m.  Topping out at 4,000m, I throttled back to 1.1 ATA and headed towards Krasnodar.  Constantly rubber necking, I caught sight of my wingman trailing 0.5km or so to the rear (the Galland Panzer headrest gives the 109 rewards visibility on a par with any plane).  No EA were spotted over Krasnodar and catching a fleeting glimpse through the cloud of the airfield to the north, there were no signs of activity in the pattern.  We continued west for a further 20 or so km and then headed south as planned towards the airfields SE of Novorossisk Bay.

 

Dipping a wing every 30 seconds or so, through a gap in the undercast, I spotted a lone EA some 3,000m below.  What looked like a Yak was flying in the opposite direction to my flight.  Keeping the EA in sight I overflew him and initiated the bounce with a split-S into a steep dive.  Throttling back, I trimmed for recovery but in doing so lost sight of the EA as I passed through some wispy cloud.  Breaking through the cloud I quickly scanned the horizon as I initiated a shallow zoom climb to the right.  As I broke back above the cloud a quick glance over my shoulder confirmed my worst fears as a saw the unmistakable sight of a Yak on my tail.  Tightening my turn, I spiralled up and executed a hammerhead turn to engage my would be assailant.  This was a huge mistake as the Yak (now confirmed as a 1B) had good energy and as we passed head on, he sprayed me with machine gun fire.  I took a number of hits, the canopy was holed and my altimeter destroyed but a quick scan confirmed that there was no serious damage.  However, the more pressing concern was the Yak which had now re-attached itself to my tail and didn’t appear to have very friendly intentions towards me.  So, throttle to the stops, split-S and spiral dive for the deck.  As I broke through the cloud above the very blue waters of the ‘Black Sea’, I caught sight of tell-tale red tracers 3 km off to starboard – my wingman taking a pasting from a second Yak.  The dive had given me some separation from my pursuer, so I turned towards my wingman intending to help him out.  Just as I did, he was hit by Yak no. 2 which then turned towards me - now I was really in trouble. 

 

Again I used my energy to execute a shallow spiral climb up through the cloud, throttle pushed as far forwards as I dared, engine straining.  I knew I had to draw the Yaks up above the cloud base to give me the room  to manoeuvre.  The Yak1B climbs well but the G-4 should have the edge.  If I could draw the 2 Yaks up then I had a chance of diving, taking a snap shot and using my energy to recover.  I tried this approach a number of times but never managed to get sufficient altitude over the Yaks to get a shot off.  Moreover, every time I dived on one Yak, his wingman would latch onto my tail as I zoomed back up.  After a rather protracted and dangerous game of cat and mouse, where it was debatable whether I was the feline or the rodent, I decided I need to change tactics.  So this time I dived for the deck, hoping to extend the range before executing a shallow zoom climb back to altitude.  As predicted the Yaks took the bait (they always do) and I was able to open out the separation which allowed we to spiral climb up to 4,000m.  

 

I was acutely aware that I had been in combat for about 15 minutes and a glance at my fuel gauge showed that I would soon have to break off for home (still some 70 km to the north).  My engine had also been run pretty hard and I was conscious that I could only push it so far.  By now I had a 1,000 advantage over the Yaks, so I tightened my climbing turn.  As expected they followed and as I kicked my rudder over into a hammerhead, I could see they were both very low on energy.  Giving the 109 a burst of emergency power, I regained full control authority and headed down.  Picking out the trailing and lower Yak, he executed a wing over and dived for the deck.  I quickly switched my attention to his wingman who was now dangerously above me.  However, I had good energy and managed to get onto his 6.  He went into a climbing turn, which I wasn’t expecting (new AI routines?) and then seemed to lose me for a second (again unexpected), I was 300m behind on his low 6 and with a 1 second burst got multiple machine gun hits and at least 1 canon round exploded in his radiator.  He began to stream glycol and fuel.  I quick glance showed my own 6 clear, so I pressed home my attack, knowing I had to take one of these Yaks out of the fight and do it fast.  The EA went into a diving turn to the left and 2 second burst yielded a further 2-3 canon hits.  He was still airworthy but out of the flight. 

 

Breaking off, I firewalled the throttle and went into the trusty spiral climb.  Checking over my shoulder confirmed my fears as Yak 1 was now taking up his familiar position.  A few tracers flashed past my canopy but I was able to evade with relative ease.  Dragging Yak no. 1 up, I open the vertical separation.  Scanning the sky Yak no. 2 was nowhere to be seen (I would later get confirmation that he had bailed after running for home).  Rinse/repeat on the spiral climb, followed by a hammerhead and finally I had the upper hand.  Yak 1 got a canon round into the engine and broke off.  Turning back onto his six a 2 second burst yielded further hits on his tail and wings and I broke for home (again he would crash before making it back to base).  By now I was getting very low on fuel so after a climb back above the cloud base, the throttle was set to 1.0 ATA and I flew the 60 odd km back to Anapa.  Flight time 57 minutes, 2 EAs downed for kills number 187 and 188.

 

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There are occasions when this game and particular the AI decision making can be incredibly frustrating but it is flights like this that really showcase its enormous potential.  I have flow a fair bit on-line over the years (particularly with the old IL-2) but last night’s mission was equal to any flight I have had in 30 years of flight simming.