"Ace of Aces" - WWII Challenge!

[grcurmudgeon]

Szt Kozhedub Attempt III met his end on November 8, 1941 on his fourth mission. His first 3 had netted him a pair of 109Fs. For the fourth sortie, he was sent up with 2 other planes on an offensive patrol along the lines. Shortly after the patrol started, they came across a flight of 6 109E-7s. The lead Lt took them in against the odds. Kozhedub managed to get a short burst pilot kill on one, but took some engine and canopy damage from another while doing so. He hit the deck and started running for the emergency field. After outrunning his chaser, he came across a smoking Pe-2 chased by another 109. After a pass on the bomber the 109 circled around behind Kozhedub, but he had enough speed to continue.

 

However, there was a flight of 109Fs approaching the field. Kozhedub started dragging them through the AAA, and after circling back got on the tail of one. A couple of bursts and down it went, exploding on the ground. Unfortunately, there were too many, and the AAA was not up to the task. A moment later and a 109 got a good pass from the side. Szt Attempt was killed instantly, and the plane exploded shortly after from the burst.

 

Maybe a high-speed break for a different field would have worked, but there were a lot of 109s flying around.

 

Have to decide if I want to switch back to the Axis side and fly some 109s for a bit, or continue taking a stab at flying the LaGGs. I don't mind the plane and am doing okay against 109s, but command keeps wanting to send 2 or 3 of us up against much larger forces, and adding extra pilots just seems to get them dead.

[justin_z3r0]

1 hour ago, grcurmudgeon said:

Szt Kozhedub Attempt III met his end on November 8, 1941 on his fourth mission. His first 3 had netted him a pair of 109Fs. For the fourth sortie, he was sent up with 2 other planes on an offensive patrol along the lines. Shortly after the patrol started, they came across a flight of 6 109E-7s. The lead Lt took them in against the odds. Kozhedub managed to get a short burst pilot kill on one, but took some engine and canopy damage from another while doing so. He hit the deck and started running for the emergency field. After outrunning his chaser, he came across a smoking Pe-2 chased by another 109. After a pass on the bomber the 109 circled around behind Kozhedub, but he had enough speed to continue.

 

However, there was a flight of 109Fs approaching the field. Kozhedub started dragging them through the AAA, and after circling back got on the tail of one. A couple of bursts and down it went, exploding on the ground. Unfortunately, there were too many, and the AAA was not up to the task. A moment later and a 109 got a good pass from the side. Szt Attempt was killed instantly, and the plane exploded shortly after from the burst.

 

Maybe a high-speed break for a different field would have worked, but there were a lot of 109s flying around.

 

Have to decide if I want to switch back to the Axis side and fly some 109s for a bit, or continue taking a stab at flying the LaGGs. I don't mind the plane and am doing okay against 109s, but command keeps wanting to send 2 or 3 of us up against much larger forces, and adding extra pilots just seems to get them dead.

definitely hard mode!

[justin_z3r0]

On 8/24/2021 at 11:59 PM, Hastati said:

Well, with the new release of the generator, I'll be starting my attempt to end the Baron's life or beat his record. From the seat of a SPAD in Escadrille 103, at least to start with. Perhaps I'll jump around services on the Allied side as my pilots fall. Going to be especially brutal without parachutes!

I decided to join the cause this evening with Jack Williams of 56 sqn flying the SE5a. Feb 1918.

On his first sortie he downed 2 pfalz. The SE5 handles nice and the horizontal stabilizer trim is a nice feature for WWI. Tricky to aim though.

 

James McCudden was seriously injured and removed from the roster.

 

 

[grcurmudgeon]

Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV made ace on his 6th mission. He and a wingman were sent to attack some armor. After finding no ground units at the target, they went after a flight of 4 110s that was harassing a flight of Pe-2s. Kozhedub got one, then tried to rescue his wingman from the other three. He peeled off and shot down another. While maneuvering for a third, the fourth's gunner got his wingman, then got one good pass in on Kozhedub and did enough damage that he had to head home. Six flights, 5 kills (a Stuka, 2 109s, and the 2 110s), plus one locomotive and all its cars with a pair of well-placed 50kg bombs.

[PatrickAWlson]

14 hours ago, grcurmudgeon said:

Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV made ace on his 6th mission. He and a wingman were sent to attack some armor. After finding no ground units at the target, they went after a flight of 4 110s that was harassing a flight of Pe-2s. Kozhedub got one, then tried to rescue his wingman from the other three. He peeled off and shot down another. While maneuvering for a third, the fourth's gunner got his wingman, then got one good pass in on Kozhedub and did enough damage that he had to head home. Six flights, 5 kills (a Stuka, 2 109s, and the 2 110s), plus one locomotive and all its cars with a pair of well-placed 50kg bombs.

 

Nice work on the locomotive.  I usually need a 500kg bomb and even then I usually don't get the engine   

[grcurmudgeon]

1 hour ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

Nice work on the locomotive.  I usually need a 500kg bomb and even then I usually don't get the engine   

I dropped them just right, running along the tracks, one in the middle and one at the locomotive. I was also shocked when I got kills on the whole thing - 1 train, 6 "ground targets". I'm usually lucky to get one car, the number of times I've seen the locomotive still chugging along in the background can get very annoying...

[grcurmudgeon]

Mission 7 was a nice one for Kozhedub. He was wingman in a 2-ship flight that was flying cap over friendly troops. In came a flight of 6 109s, and in the two LaGGs went. These 109s didn't seem to care much, though, they flew like Stukas in nice slow turns. Szt Attempt learned that low six shots on 109s is the way to get to the fuel tank: 2 blew up in nice fireballs, and 1 broke apart from a small explosion (although somehow its pilot escaped with light wounds). Kozhedub's flight leader apparently went after a flight of Ju-87s and got one kill instead of helping with the turkey shoot, so eventually someone got rounds on Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV who then headed for home and landed the 3 kills.

 

Now up to 8 flights, 8 kills.

[Hartsblade]

Hey folks. Haven't had a chance to fly lately, so sorry for the drop out of posts.

 

Hope to get back into the competition soon!

 

Great work by everyone so far!

[Varibraun]

On 9/11/2021 at 8:19 AM, Hartsblade said:

Hey folks. Haven't had a chance to fly lately, so sorry for the drop out of posts.

 

Hope to get back into the competition soon!

 

Uri has had RL ground him for a while too.  Hope to see him flying some more missions soon too. 

 

Calling all PWCG pilots - we need to get those remaining rewards out to the community!  The following are still awaiting their virtual Aces:

 

-Spit V (Beurling)

-Hurricane (Johnson)

-BoK Premium (Bong)

-BoBp Premium (Kozhedub)

-GB title of Ace's Choice (Hartmann)

[chrisnj96]

Flt Andrew Ott hasn't flown in a while! I haven't been flying at all, hope to get back to it soon and se if Ott can outdo Bong in the P-38.  

[justin_z3r0]

7 hours ago, Varibraun said:

 

Uri has had RL ground him for a while too.  Hope to see him flying some more missions soon too. 

 

Calling all PWCG pilots - we need to get those remaining rewards out to the community!  The following are still awaiting their virtual Aces:

 

-Spit V (Beurling)

-Hurricane (Johnson)

-BoK Premium (Bong)

-BoBp Premium (Kozhedub)

-GB title of Ace's Choice (Hartmann)

I've taken a bit of a break from the competition. But still flying PWCG with one of my older Eastern front campaigns (from before the challenge). I like writing the updates but didnt want to hijack / clutter the thread with my unrelated material.

 

I just go my main pilot Hptmn Hans Orange (my 2yr daughter chose the last name). He just reached 100 air victories in 1/JG 51. Hes now into July 1942 on the Kuban Front. He recently lost his long time wingman Sepp Deutsch of 34 victories to a Pe-2 gunner of all things... Hans is taking a break to grieve. His leadership owes that much to him given his high tally.

The ball is now with Szt Dimitri Tsvetkov (also started before the challenge) who flies with the 157th in Hurricanes. He recently landed his new title as ace of 5 kills. Leadership gave him a brand new MkIIC with the Hispanos to field test. On his first sortie with it he managed to down 1 Macci and 3 x Ju-87s. The Hispanos provide soo much more hurt than the .303s.

The .303s even with 12 guns and extra ammo require me to spend it all on one BF 109... and even then its a toss up whether it will go down or not. Pair that with the hurricanes slow speed - its a challenge..  Perhaps different technique / skill required? Such a contrast to the 109 and then 190 speed and armament I got used to with Hans. 

The new Hispano equipped Hurri should change things now though.

 

[grcurmudgeon]

Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV got a pair of Stukas to bring his total to 10. Still getting my flights in, but soccer season for my son is reducing my time to post stories.

[grcurmudgeon]

So, down to 5 pilots in the squadron, all of us are sent to attack transportation assets behind the lines. We form up with our escort and head in. On the way the escort goes after some 109s, we continue, reach the target, drop bombs getting some AAA and halftracks, then turn for home. I'm a bit ahead so I don't see the group turn around, but notice after a bit and turn after them. About 10 km south of the target my flight is making passes at a flight of Stukas. I join in, and of course am quickly alone with the Stukas. Assuming my flight headed home, I make 2 passes, get wounded by a gunner, shoot down 2 of them, and head for my lines 40 km away. I get a bit too close to the target and take 2 more flak hits, now my engine is damaged behind the lines, and it starts overheating. I nurse it all the way to the lines and end up ditching in no-man's land.

 

2 Stukas for Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV, a near-death experience, and the other four planes apparently all went down behind the lines, to what I have no idea (AAA? gas?), and Szt Attempt needs a week off to recover from wounds, all by himself at the airbase.

 

14 missions, 14 kills, alone in the squadron.

[justin_z3r0]

11 hours ago, grcurmudgeon said:

So, down to 5 pilots in the squadron, all of us are sent to attack transportation assets behind the lines. We form up with our escort and head in. On the way the escort goes after some 109s, we continue, reach the target, drop bombs getting some AAA and halftracks, then turn for home. I'm a bit ahead so I don't see the group turn around, but notice after a bit and turn after them. About 10 km south of the target my flight is making passes at a flight of Stukas. I join in, and of course am quickly alone with the Stukas. Assuming my flight headed home, I make 2 passes, get wounded by a gunner, shoot down 2 of them, and head for my lines 40 km away. I get a bit too close to the target and take 2 more flak hits, now my engine is damaged behind the lines, and it starts overheating. I nurse it all the way to the lines and end up ditching in no-man's land.

 

2 Stukas for Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV, a near-death experience, and the other four planes apparently all went down behind the lines, to what I have no idea (AAA? gas?), and Szt Attempt needs a week off to recover from wounds, all by himself at the airbase.

 

14 missions, 14 kills, alone in the squadron.

Wow - That's a rough go. You'll have to bring up a whole crew of rookies once you are healed up.

 

[PatrickAWlson]

@grcurmudgeon There is an emergency resupply capability that will restock units.

[Varibraun]

14 hours ago, grcurmudgeon said:

all went down behind the lines, to what I have no idea (AAA? gas?), and Szt Attempt needs a week off to recover from wounds, all by himself at the airbase.

 

Well...on the bright side, Szt Attempt will take squadron command early!  (I am allowing my squadron commander pilot to use @PatrickAWlson's new mission type selection tool...great incentive for pilot promotion adding even more RP in PWCG - thanks Pat!). 

 

On my own Kozhedub attempt, I finally managed to get back into the cockpit with Uri again for the first time in almost a month yesterday (stupid RL).  I was shocked how rusty I was with that much time away. 

 

It was an intercept mission with Uri leading the Mig squadron and we had to climb through a thick cloud layer.  I fly in VR and lost orientation several times in a vertical engagement with 109s.  I kept coming back to the instruments, but was flying so erratically that sometimes it was hard to figure out what they were telling me...I was pretty sure poor Uri was a goner at least once and it took full nose up trim and stick to pull out just above the trees.  At the end of it all, managed to score one 109 and then ground looped the Mig on landing.  But, Uri lives on with 21...whew!  (I will do a few practice flights before I risk him again).

 

3 hours ago, justin_z3r0 said:

Wow - That's a rough go. You'll have to bring up a whole crew of rookies once you are healed up.

 

Agreed and pretty much the story for early war Soviet pilots even without the brand new rookies showing up.  Uri's 233rd finally managed to get one veteran trained, those guys are precious assets in the Soviet squadrons!

[grcurmudgeon]

When I recovered after a week I had more pilots and planes, it was just a lonely week. In fact, one of the new pilots apparently got himself shot down and seriously wounded before I even got to fly with him...

[grcurmudgeon]

Command sent 5 of us off just behind enemy lines to strike some infantry. There was also a nearby airfield. We had our strike flight, some Mig-3s on top cover, a flight of Pe-2s in the area, and ran into some 109s near the target. We dropped, and while turning the 109s dropped in, then I spotted some 110s and He-111s that looked like a returning strike package with their escort. The 111s were trying to land, and there were fighters everywhere. 2 of us made it away from the fight in one piece, but he made for an emergency field and got bounced by a pair of 109s before he could get home. The flight got 7 kills plus some ground targets (Szt Kozhedub got a pair of 110s) but lost 4 pilots. Luckily there are still a few others in the squadron. The debrief was long, lots of planes on both sides down. The losses were a real shame, though, some novices about to become veterans gone.

 

18 sorties, 19 kills now.

[grcurmudgeon]

Mission 20 was a 2-ship escort flight, meeting up with some P-40s to cover them on a ground strike. Before we get to the P-40s we get bounced by a pair of 109s. Szt Kozhedub's wingman tangles with one and gets shot down, while Kozhedub ends up in a long, winding fight. Kozhedub does manage to get on his opponent's six, but is limited to snapshots. He finally gets some white smoke coming from the 109, but whittles his way down to 5 MG rounds. On the last pass, he misjudges his opponent's speed and the two aircraft slam into each other. Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV is killed after 20 missions with 21 kills. Somehow his opponent survived, although his war is over?

Quote

On 15/12/1941 near Reshetnikovo.
A Bf 109 F-4 of II./JG51 was brought down by Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV of 11th Fighter Air Regiment.
OFw Armin Dalman was seriously wounded
Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV was flying a LaGG-3 ser.29.

On 15/12/1941 near Reshetnikovo.
A LaGG-3 ser.29 of 11th Fighter Air Regiment was brought down by OFw Armin Dalman of II./JG51.
Szt Kozhedub Attempt IV was killed in action
OFw Armin Dalman was flying a Bf 109 F-4.
 

I've seen that a few times now, AI pilots "seriously wounded" by mid-air collisions or ground collisions instead of killed.

[grcurmudgeon]

Quote

1. Fixed the inevitable death of the pilot while ramming another plane;

Maybe I should have waited for the hot fix ?

 

Still deciding if I want to try again with Kozhedub, or go after one of the other open aces for a break. Might try RAF / RCAF, not sure.

[grcurmudgeon]

I'll probably regret switching away from the LaGG now that I'm getting used to it, but I need a change of scenery. Warrant Officer Buerling Attempt reporting for duty with 403 Squadron flying Spit IXs. We'll get back to Kozhedub Attempt V later.

[Varibraun]

Kap Uri Chebykin (Kozhedub attempt #3) scored his 33rd victory after a transfer to take command of the 273rd Fighter Air Regiment as the Germans began their spring 42 offensive.   Uri's transfer was ordered when the 273rd lost their beloved Squadron Commander Maj Roman Chelomy, the only surviving original Soviet Squadron Commander from the beginning of the war.  Division HQ felt transferring the leading Soviet ace to the 273rd would bolster the morale of the first Soviet unit to receive the new Yak-1.69 fighter. 

 

Uri was sad to leave the 233rd and the little Migs behind, but he had heard good things about the Yak and he was eager to test it's maneuverability.  It didn't disappoint on his first mission, with his 32nd and 33rd victory bringing him within only a few victories of the Luftwaffe's best - Rall and Graf.

 

[Varibraun]

Greetings SP pilots,

 

Let's see if we can get these remaining rewards out to the community by broadening the pool of challengers to the in game Career.  See the original post with how to enter.  The following rewards are still awaiting their virtual Aces:

 

-Spit V (Beurling - 32)

-Hurricane (Johnson - 39)

-BoK Premium (Bong - 41)

-BoBp Premium (Kozhedub - 67)

-GB title of Ace's Choice (Hartmann - 353)

*I will also add a "Steel Birds" (or any Scripted Campaign of your choice) to our very first Ironman Career Mode virtual Ace of Aces.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Varibraun

[kozmo514]

Rival: Johnson (UK Ace of Aces)

PWCG Category: Royal Air Force

Ace of Aces Score (+1 above historical): 39

Reward: Hurricane

 

Count me in for some public humiliation! ?

 

Just got my new trackir set up so that should compensate for my lousy marksmanship!

[Varibraun]

1 hour ago, kozmo514 said:

Count me in for some public humiliation! ?

 

Just got my new trackir set up so that should compensate for my lousy marksmanship!

 

Welcome aboard Kozmo!  Good luck and congrats on the Trackir - glad to see it will be put to good use. 

[grcurmudgeon]

Got sidetracked with a few things, but Warrant Officer Buerling Attempt has so far managed to down 3 FW-190As in 3 sorties. The Spit IX firepower is fun, watched the last 190 fold in on itself when one of the wings separated from a short burst.

[grcurmudgeon]

Warrant Office Buerling Attempt made ace on mission number 4. Asked to recon the front lines at dawn, he had an uneventful flight right up until the end. There he came across a flight of Ju-88s returning from a raid on the coast, and could not resist the opportunity. Four passes later, two were down and a third was smoking heavily.

 

Flight number 5 was far more interesting. Buerling Attempt was #4 in a 4-ship flight tasked with hitting transportation assets in Eindhoven. As they approached the rendezvous, their escorting P-51s and a couple of Spit IXs from 66 squadron were tangling with some 190s. One of the 190s got a bit close as Buerling was closing with his flight's formation, so he fired off the rockets and dove in. The other Spits got 2 of the 190s, a pair of the escorting P-51s went down to AAA, and Buerling got 3 of them. One was a pilot kill, two others were low-alt maneuverability kills that forced the pilots to bail out. This one lost his vertical stabilizer.

 

Five missions, 8 kills, loving the Spit IX.

[kozmo514]

Just completed mission 10 of my "best JE Johnson, RAF".    This is my first time playing ironman and it adds such a great new element to how I fly!   We are flying a lot of ground attack missions in the Spit IX so I think getting to the finish line against Johnson will take some time...if I make it.

 

 5 kills so far (1 damaged - yeah i know it doesn't count), all FW 190s.

 

On the last mission, I took a deflection shot from a passing 190 just as I finished my attack on another FW.  Wounded.  Damaged my engine and I decided to belly in while I still had power.  I would have normally run the engine hard until it died and take my chances.  touched down a little fast and my pilot was seriously wounded.  The new update makes a crash landing so much more stressful!  Really fun!

[kozmo514]

Completed mission 15 earlier today.  That was humbling and nerve wracking at the same time!  

 

We had a routine railway depot bomb mission.  Most of our escort was occupied elsewhere as we headed away from the bombed target towards our lines.   Just over the MLR 3 FW's jump our group.  I joined 2 of our escorts (none of the bomb-tasked spits took part) to engage the 190s.   I shot one down easily and found myself all alone, so resumed the direction home.   I then spotted another ac off to my rear left and turned in to it as it appeared to be coming on quickly. 

 

Thus ensued a real dogfight with a very capable FW 190 pilot.   I just could not get behind this guy as we turned, rolled, weaved and descended to the deck.

 

I really wish I'd thought to record this as I'm sure I would learn from this flight.  I haven't had an AI pilot fly like this in a while and I was starting to panic after the last time he turned in to me and got off a shot as I tried to bring my nose around and under him.   So I disengaged and ran! lol.    I'm guessing this is more likely what might have happened in real life, but I definitely felt like I was running with my tail between my legs. 

 

He finally gave up and turned for home, but he was way faster and gave me some anxious moments - just not enough speed or altitude for my comfort. 

What's interesting is that my roll-of-the-dice before the mission had me select easy difficulty.  Does that setting make me the easy target for the enemy!?

 

[Varibraun]

20 hours ago, kozmo514 said:

Thus ensued a real dogfight with a very capable FW 190 pilot.   I just could not get behind this guy as we turned, rolled, weaved and descended to the deck.

 

I really wish I'd thought to record this as I'm sure I would learn from this flight.  I haven't had an AI pilot fly like this in a while and I was starting to panic after the last time he turned in to me and got off a shot as I tried to bring my nose around and under him.   So I disengaged and ran! lol.    I'm guessing this is more likely what might have happened in real life, but I definitely felt like I was running with my tail between my legs. 

 

He finally gave up and turned for home, but he was way faster and gave me some anxious moments - just not enough speed or altitude for my comfort. 

What's interesting is that my roll-of-the-dice before the mission had me select easy difficulty.  Does that setting make me the easy target for the enemy!?

 

That's a really interesting encounter, especially on the easy setting.  @LukeFF might have some better insight, but I always thought that in Career mode the difficulty setting controlled ALL of the enemy AI pilots level (so in Easy, they should all be Novice level).  It would be great if some randomness is being thrown in under the hood, I would love to think you could encounter an Ace occasionally on any setting. 

 

So, I hope your fight with that 190 shows I am wrong about the uniformity of the Career AI, because I play both Career and PWCG and the 2 biggest things I would change in Career have always been: #1) At least what I thought are the same uniform enemy level AI depending on the difficulty setting, and 2) the inability to join a new pilot into the same squadron (with the same squadron members) when your Ironman pilot dies.  

 

On 10/2/2021 at 1:12 PM, kozmo514 said:

This is my first time playing ironman and it adds such a great new element to how I fly! 

 

21 hours ago, kozmo514 said:

So I disengaged and ran! lol.    I'm guessing this is more likely what might have happened in real life, but I definitely felt like I was running with my tail between my legs. 

 

Yes, at least for me, it changes the whole game when you care about surviving.  When playing Dead is Dead, I literally remind myself as I begin the takeoff roll on every mission, that fighting another day is more important than getting the kill.  So, bravo on disengaging!

 

Speaking of which, Uri lives on in my own Kozhedub challenge run.  He is up to 48 victories and was just promoted to Major.  Finally passing Rall, he is the 2nd leading Ace overall, but Graf has been scoring a lot lately and holds a comfortable lead at 69.  Case Blue (Blau) has just begun and the 6th Army is advancing toward Stalingrad in Jun 42.  So there will plenty of action for Uri to survive in an attempt to catch Graf (and thereby surpass the future score of Kozhedub) over these next few months.  Current Aces Board:

 

[LukeFF]

Just now, Varibraun said:

That's a really interesting encounter, especially on the easy setting.  @LukeFF might have some better insight, but I always thought that in Career mode the difficulty setting controlled ALL of the enemy AI pilots level (so in Easy, they should all be Novice level).  It would be great if some randomness is being thrown in under the hood, I would love to think you could encounter an Ace occasionally on any setting. 

 

As I recall, these are the AI fighter settings (excluding the player's squadron):

 

Easy: enemy Normal, friendly Ace

Moderate: enemy Normal, friendly Veteran

Hard: enemy Veteran, friendly Normal

[grcurmudgeon]

Warrant Officer Buerling Attempt's 9th mission was much more interesting than he would have preferred. Operation Market Garden is in full swing, and he was #2 in a 2-ship flight of Spit IXs tasked with hitting armor just outside Nijmegen. There were planes everywhere just south of the target, and the escorting P-47s mixed it up with Ju-88s and escorting 110s. Meanwhile the 403 Squadron planes rolled into Nijmegen and dropped, with the flight lead nailing a Stug on the ground. As they tried to exit the area a flight of 6 FW-190s tried to stop them. Buerling got an A8, but instead of extending the flight lead circled back in, and Buerling decided to give him support. He was set on fire while trying to get the two that were on Flight Officer Trenowyth's six. Just too many enemies, the flight should have headed home. Both pilots were forced to bail out over Nijmegen, but fortunately landed inside friendly lines to fight another day.

 

9 sorties, 11 kills.

[kozmo514]

Interesting indeed. The first 190 performed a basic right hand turn which held constant for about two turns. I easily turned inside him on a lag turn and pulled a few degrees lead to shoot him down with one burst.

 

He performed as I would expect a novice or lightly trained pilot to do. The second pilot did not. He was using the vertical as well as maximizing the roll rate of the FW. Honestly, at one point I thought it was a human pilot that dropped in to my "session".

 

@LukeFF

Does the campaign insert random aces/veterans regardless of the general difficulty selection of the campaign mission?

2 hours ago, grcurmudgeon said:

Warrant Officer Buerling Attempt's 9th mission was much more interesting than he would have preferred. Operation Market Garden is in full swing, and he was #2 in a 2-ship flight of Spit IXs tasked with hitting armor just outside Nijmegen. There were planes everywhere just south of the target, and the escorting P-47s mixed it up with Ju-88s and escorting 110s. Meanwhile the 403 Squadron planes rolled into Nijmegen and dropped, with the flight lead nailing a Stug on the ground. As they tried to exit the area a flight of 6 FW-190s tried to stop them. Buerling got an A8, but instead of extending the flight lead circled back in, and Buerling decided to give him support. He was set on fire while trying to get the two that were on Flight Officer Trenowyth's six. Just too many enemies, the flight should have headed home. Both pilots were forced to bail out over Nijmegen, but fortunately landed inside friendly lines to fight another day.

 

9 sorties, 11 kills.

I'm flying against Johnson's score in the same AO. It's early November 44 so I'm a little later on. Probably fighting the same I./JG 26 Focke-wulfs.  Save some for me or I'll never catch Johnny J!

Edited October 4, 2021 by kozmo514

[LukeFF]

18 minutes ago, kozmo514 said:

Does the campaign insert random aces/veterans regardless of the general difficulty selection of the campaign mission?

 

No, it does not. 

[Varibraun]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

1 hour ago, kozmo514 said:

Does the campaign insert random aces/veterans regardless of the general difficulty selection of the campaign mission?

 

No, it does not. 

 

Thanks Luke for clarifying, looks like we may need to all keep checking our 6 in SP since Kozmo's new intel may indicate we are starting to face a "Westworld" AI situation!  Also, while we have you here, let me say we really appreciate all of your deep historical work over the years with the squadrons and theater background information fleshing out the Career mode.  I look forward to seeing it all come to fruition again in Flying Circus too.  Thank you! 

 

4 hours ago, grcurmudgeon said:

Both pilots were forced to bail out over Nijmegen, but fortunately landed inside friendly lines to fight another day.

 

9 sorties, 11 kills.

 

Any mission you return from is a good one...right!? 

[Requiem]

I jumped back into PWCG and started a Cooperative MP campaign for RAF 66 Squadron...will see how long "Herring Wood" lasts. Two missions in and 3 kills so far. Still trying to tweak the config settings as I seem to get the "server overload" error pretty frequently and my PC is pretty capable.

[Varibraun]

44 minutes ago, Requiem said:

I jumped back into PWCG and started a Cooperative MP campaign for RAF 66 Squadron...will see how long "Herring Wood" lasts. Two missions in and 3 kills so far. Still trying to tweak the config settings as I seem to get the "server overload" error pretty frequently and my PC is pretty capable.

 

Welcome @Requiem!  Honored to have our sim community Flight Instructor* aboard.  With the RAF, just let us know if Herring wants to challenge Johnston or Beurling (we haven't heard from @Hartsblade lately, so you are probably on equal footing if you chose Beurling).

 

Regarding settings, I have an i9-9900KF/2080ti and running in VR I have both Ground Density and Structures set to Low in Simple Config since those seem to have the most impact on my performance.  Good luck! 

 

*Note - Marshal Ivan Kozhedub spent almost 2 years as a Soviet flight instructor before his first victory in July '43, no pressure...

[Hartsblade]

1 hour ago, Varibraun said:

 

Welcome @Requiem!  Honored to have our sim community Flight Instructor* aboard.  With the RAF, just let us know if Herring wants to challenge Johnston or Beurling (we haven't heard from @Hartsblade lately, so you are probably on equal footing if you chose Beurling).

 

Regarding settings, I have an i9-9900KF/2080ti and running in VR I have both Ground Density and Structures set to Low in Simple Config since those seem to have the most impact on my performance.  Good luck! 

 

*Note - Marshal Ivan Kozhedub spent almost 2 years as a Soviet flight instructor before his first victory in July '43, no pressure...

I'm still here!! Just swamped in real life. I'm planning on making attempt #2 this week.

 

Nice to see @Requiem join the fray...always good to see the "old timers".

[Eisenfaustus]

On 20th of february 1945 the freshly promoted Hauptmann Hans von Wolfenstein died in combat.

Attacking Tempests and Thunderbolts that were slaughtering two Messerschmidt he narrowly overshot a P-47 that he just damaged before. The American pilot tried to roll away and an ellipic wing struck the Dora 9. Von Wolfenstein - as his American adversary - died during this crash.

The I./JG 27 lost that day a 125 victory ace.

Due to the failing Reichspost it will be Octobre when Anneliese von Wolfenstein, Hans' mother, recieves this letter:

"Sehr geehrte Frau von Wolfenstein,

in deep regret I have to inform you, that your son, Hauptmann Hans von Wolfenstein, fell yesterday while leading his Staffel against the enemy. His demise rips a hole in my Gruppe that can't be filled. Your son was not only an excellent fighter pilot whose skills in the air time and again saved the lives of many of us - mine included. He also was a good and reliable comrade, a competent leader and foremost a just and honest man. These attributes - far more than his impressive tally - made him a role model for his fellow soldiers. Whatever peace might bring - Germany would have needed your son.

Yours sincerely,

Wahl, Armin

Major und Gruppenkommandeur

Krefeld-Linn, 21.02.1945"
 

Oh man - I really liked playing Hans. Had to pause that career because I was playing with new toys (thanks again - I love the Typhoon and the Spit XIV!), did a family vcation and hadan intese period at work...

Maybe I should have done more warming up before continueing Hans Story

[Requiem]

4 hours ago, Varibraun said:

 

Welcome @Requiem!  Honored to have our sim community Flight Instructor* aboard.  With the RAF, just let us know if Herring wants to challenge Johnston or Beurling (we haven't heard from @Hartsblade lately, so you are probably on equal footing if you chose Beurling).

 

Regarding settings, I have an i9-9900KF/2080ti and running in VR I have both Ground Density and Structures set to Low in Simple Config since those seem to have the most impact on my performance.  Good luck! 

 

*Note - Marshal Ivan Kozhedub spent almost 2 years as a Soviet flight instructor before his first victory in July '43, no pressure...

I'll go up against Johnson...he's the squadron leader of the squadron I'm flying for, so we'll see if I can somehow overtake him LOL

If by some miracle that happens he can transfer me (ie - kick me out) of the squadron.