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Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 8:07 pm
by Smoove_B
Well...we had a good run. Flak. What a crappy way to go.

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 8:15 pm
by $iljanus
Yeah. Was close to re-rolling but so many bomber crews met the same fate and they had no do overs so I let it stand. Also rolling for a successful bailout when your plane is classified as uncontrollable really sucked with roll after roll resulting in a failure. Was happy that at least one person survived.

I’ll have some final thoughts in a bit.

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 8:18 pm
by Blackhawk
Here's to you, boys. :obscene-drinkingcheers:

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 8:30 pm
by Isgrimnur

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 9:10 pm
by dbt1949
CURSE YOU RED BARON!!!!!!

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:17 pm
by Zenn7
<Day after bombing run 1>
Dear Diary,

We finished our first mission and we all lived. The bombedier won't be going on, but we got a new guy, Gbasden - seems like he'll be doing more work, less sleeping. Hope he fairs better.

I didn't do so well in terms of kills, but I got part of 1. Isgrimnur and Hentzau came away the winners of this round, vying to be the first to be an ace gunner.

<Day before bombing run 2>

Took a while, but we'll be doing our next bombing run tomorrow. We won't be in the same position this time, we'll be lower in the formation, get to see more of that color flak up close... <shudder>

<Day of doom>
Dear Diary,

I got some kill credit, we've been shooting a little better but we're taking a lot of hits.

OMG!!! That last fighter hit the radio compartment. TheMix looks bad... not even sure if he's still alive. Poor kid...

The oxygen's been hit! We're diving down out of formation. Gotta put this down for now...

Dear Diary,

We got our bombs away. Hopefully we hit some of those kraut fighters so we'll have a little less company on the way home.

We shot up some more planes on the way home. Looks like there's another bomber shadowing us. Acting kinda weird though.

FLAK INCOMING!!! The wing's just completely gone!!! We're all gonna d <blood smears the whole page>

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 12:09 am
by dbt1949
I know the last thing I wrote in my diary was....AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 7:25 am
by LawBeefaroni
War is hell. We sleep with the Hellcat Agnes now.

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 9:29 am
by AWS260
Well, at least no one had to wash hentzau out of the turret with a hose.

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 12:07 pm
by $iljanus
So thanks to everyone for participating and indulging my inner narrator. I had hoped for a less lethal outcome but I hope everyone enjoyed the ride! If anyone is interested in some good source books on the air war I strongly recommend two books. The first is Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller. I've read this book twice and it's a pretty in depth analysis of the European air war centered around the 8th Air Force. The book goes into technology, strategy, tactics, along with plenty of interviews which put a human face on the young crews that fought over the skies in Europe. It's not a dry retelling of the history, especially when you get to the chapters covering the early days when bomber attrition was the highest, or the stories of POWs or the moral questions of bombing cities since the theory of "precision bombing" didn't hold up to the reality. The second book which I'm in the middle of reading is Deadly Sky by John C. McManus which covers the air war in both Europe and Asia from the perspective of bomber and fighter pilots. This is chock full of personal accounts covering all aspects of the experience of a soldier in the air war.

I do have other games to play but again this game might be pulling me back in because I feel there's some unfinished business and I really want to get to 25 missions. So perhaps in the very near future I'll put out another call for a brave crew to man another bomber.

Oh, as for the bomb result from the Paris mission:

Due to the bomber flying out of formation, the inexperience of the bombardier, and the target was obscured the percentage of bombs that hit the target was...0%. :(

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 12:20 pm
by Smoove_B
$iljanus wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 12:07 pm I had hoped for a less lethal outcome
Quote of the year. :D

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 3:34 pm
by raydude
Thanks for putting me on the initial crew. That must have been sorely tempting to re-roll the flak hit. It will be interesting to see how far the next bomber crew will get.

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 6:24 pm
by Isgrimnur
Hey, guys! I found the ground!

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 6:26 pm
by Blackhawk
raydude wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 3:34 pm That must have been sorely tempting to re-roll the flak hit.
I'm glad he didn't. That element is necessary.

Unless he did reroll it because he got sick of us. ;)

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 7:48 pm
by dbt1949
Well, at least we don't have to live with the consequences.

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sat Oct 19, 2019 8:03 pm
by $iljanus
Blackhawk wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 6:26 pm
raydude wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 3:34 pm That must have been sorely tempting to re-roll the flak hit.
I'm glad he didn't. That element is necessary.

Unless he did reroll it because he got sick of us. ;)
Oh Blackhawk, Blackhawk, Blackhawk. If I were really sick of you lugs I would have rolled this result and saved me a lot of work!

4-6 ...Bomber cleared the runway and crashes beyond the perimeter fence. Bombs explode. Bomber is destroyed and all aboard are KIA.
:P

Re: The Flight of the Hellcat Agnes (Target for Today)

Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2019 6:56 pm
by gbasden
Hi guys! This is going to be great! I can't wait to .......