Wednesday March 18th Blue Team Challenge Coordination

[InvaderZim]

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN FLYING BLUE SIGN UP ON THIS THREAD.

From this chalange thead:http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16355

Wednesday March 18th Blue Team Prep:

Looking to form 2 bomb groups of 8 A/C each, Player dependent of course.

Bomb Group #1 = Heavies, 88s and 111s X 8 A/C Will decide which A/C depending on map.

Need 1 more lead, Give me a name that can lead and level bomb___ATAG_Freya__________________

Bomb Group #2 = Fast movers, 110s and 87s X 8 A/C

Need a lead, give me a name___ GF Actual___________________

Flight #1 Combat Air Patrol (CAP) for homeland costal defense/ Allied bomber stop

8 Fighter A/C to be decided by lead.

Need a Lead, give me a name______Reinhart__________________

Flight #2
6-8 Escort for Bomb group #1 HEAVIES

Need a Lead, give me a name_____ATAG_Lolsav__________________

Flight #3
6-8 Escort for bomb group #2 Medium fast movers (110s and 87s)

Need a Lead, give me a name___ATAG_BKellum_____________________

[ATAG_Freya]

BG 1 or 2 for me please, wherever needed. Thanks Zim!

:salute:

[InvaderZim]

Bomb Group #1 Flight 2 Lead = ATAG_Freya

[Chuck_Owl]

No prep thread for the reds?

[InvaderZim]

No prep thread for the reds?

:) Find a willing coordinator/leader for them. This is where we do it. I plan to do the final hash in cooperation with the blue leads input ASAP (when I have some) PM or just prior to pre game start. I figure we see what map ATAG serves up and take it from there, many in the blue cadre are far better than I at their respective skill sets. I will call on our brightest and best for input.

Step up and give them Reds a prod in the right direction Chuck. Somebody has to do it!:D

Ya wanted a fight night, so here we go. It's on. In the western US we have a saying -" You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." :)

Seriously, best to the Red cadre.:salute:

[InvaderZim]

BLUE, I need leads please!

[Logan]

I wonder can we request a certain map/ mission to load at 2100? Or just roll with what's there at the time.

[III./ZG76_Saipan]

offline until friday...looks like fun though

[ATAG_Lolsav]

Wednesday... i should be on. Sign me up.

P.S. For european is really late, a 2 hours early for the next time should grant us a couple more.

[InvaderZim]

offline until friday...looks like fun though

BUMMA! Thx Siapan. see ya when ya get back.

[InvaderZim]

I wonder can we request a certain map/ mission to load at 2100? Or just roll with what's there at the time.

Maybe. What did you have in mind? A random map at ATAG discretion seems fair but the boffins may be able to accommodate. I can ask for a judgment.

[Chuck_Owl]

Knowing the map in advance might help the bomber leads to plan ahead. The more people we get, the more important planning actually becomes.

[InvaderZim]

Knowing the map in advance might help the bomber leads to plan ahead. The more people we get, the more important planning actually becomes.

COPY, will check.

[ATAG_Freya]

It could be like herding cats too though, best bet is to be on the server and pick up whoever we can, then go over the details. Interested players should plan to be on TS 1/2 hour early if possible. Coordinators (ie you guys) should be able to fire up a plan PDQ then give the rest of us our jobs. As you will have something cooking already, no doubt. Important thing is which map and how much time left. Mayyybbeee we could sweet talk Colander into putting up a fresh one? my 2 cents...

[InvaderZim]

Sent Colander a PM today, no reply yet. And YES, 30 minutes early is best. We will be on TS trying to pull everybody together around then.

[Logan]

It could be like herding cats too though, best bet is to be on the server and pick up whoever we can, then go over the details. Interested players should plan to be on TS 1/2 hour early if possible. Coordinators (ie you guys) should be able to fire up a plan PDQ then give the rest of us our jobs. As you will have something cooking already, no doubt. Important thing is which map and how much time left. Mayyybbeee we could sweet talk Colander into putting up a fresh one? my 2 cents...
Other than planning a route (we can do that on the fly if we have too) Time was my thought as well. I'd hate to log in start the mission only to have the map roll after 15 minutes. The more guys we get the more I'd like sometime to work out what's what and who goes where before muster. As I'm sure the dark side would want to plan as well.:D

[xvii-Hardegen]

Most probably I'll be around also if here it's very late ( 2 am in the morning ).
Can you please confirm that the meeting is planned for 1:00 am GMT? (I'm GMT +1 here )
I can be assigned as Bf 110 or 109 depending on where is needed. ;)

[InvaderZim]

Other than planning a route (we can do that on the fly if we have too) Time was my thought as well. I'd hate to log in start the mission only to have the map roll after 15 minutes. The more guys we get the more I'd like sometime to work out what's what and who goes where before muster. As I'm sure the dark side would want to plan as well.:D

Yes ATAG usually do start a new map at requested time for events. I already have the request in.

[InvaderZim]

Most probably I'll be around also if here it's very late ( 2 am in the morning ).
Can you please confirm that the meeting is planned for 1:00 am GMT? (I'm GMT +1 here )
I can be assigned as Bf 110 or 109 depending on where is needed. ;)

Ya Hardegen, CONFIRMED. Sorry this one is inconvenient for your Time Zone this time out. We tried to accommodate EU last event. Please be in channel at least 15 min early. I hope to hear you there my friend. We need an Ace 110 driver on board.:thumbsup:

[xvii-Hardegen]

Ok thanks!I should be online well before the start! ;) S!
I've also posted the event on our Unit forums so maybe also someone else of us can possibly join. ;)

[Logan]

Yes ATAG usually do start a new map at requested time for events. I already have the request in.
Good. That will work. Thanks for doing that. Pulling this together at the last minute is fun , right? hehe
A random map seems fair to me. We will just have to work fast at load up to get a plan going for both sides.

[9./JG52 Reinhart]

Leutnant Reinhart signing up as Flight #1 Combat Air Patrol (CAP) for homeland costal defense/ Allied bomber stop.

[3./JG51_Heiden]

Zim, I want to thank you for the very gracious invitation to lead one of the fighter flights. Unfortunately, the time won't work for me because I have to work that day. I am in the United States Pacific time zone. I wish you all the best of luck on your mission! You can be sure I would be in attendance if I didn't have to work at that time.

[xvii-Dietrich]

-

[InvaderZim]

Ok thanks!I should be online well before the start! ;) S!
I've also posted the event on our Unit forums so maybe also someone else of us can possibly join. ;)

Thank you sir.:salute:

[InvaderZim]

Zim, I want to thank you for the very gracious invitation to lead one of the fighter flights. Unfortunately, the time won't work for me because I have to work that day. I am in the United States Pacific time zone. I wish you all the best of luck on your mission! You can be sure I would be in attendance if I didn't have to work at that time.

Damn bad luck for us.Thanks and see you next time.

Z

[InvaderZim]

Flight leads feel free to start PMing/cherry picking your flight members.

Need 1 more escort flight lead please.:recon:

[BKellem]

This sounds like a lot of fun. I want to fly escort with the bombers :thumbsup:

[InvaderZim]

This sounds like a lot of fun. I want to fly escort with the bombers :thumbsup:

DONE! You are Fighter Escort Lead Group 2 for Medium bombers 110s and 87s.

Tanks!

ZIM

[xvii-Hardegen]

Sorry guys but in GMT times the event will be on 19 March 2015 at 1:00 am ( and not 18 as indicated ).
I've joined this night at 1:00 am GMT but no one around... :)

[InvaderZim]

Sorry guys but in GMT times the event will be on 19 March 2015 at 1:00 am ( and not 18 as indicated ).
I've joined this night at 1:00 am GMT but no one around... :)

Sorry Hardegan, ugly american InvaderZims Fault. I am correcting original post now. Thank you.

[InvaderZim]

Mission brief (as it is) sent to leads. Channels set up in TS. Just want to know if fighter escorts would just rather be in the channel of the bomb group they are escorting rather than their own channel? Either way they are set up in TS.
Am I way overboard?

[xvii-Hardegen]

Sorry Hardegan, ugly american InvaderZims Fault. I am correcting original post now. Thank you.

Absolutely no problem!See you this night! ;)

[InvaderZim]

We will have a map restart with the map being at the digression of the server admin. This way we all have to adjust and make decisions post haste.

Viel Glück

[Godfather Actual]

I nominate Hardegen for my XO! What do you think Hardegen! Flying those 110s!

[InvaderZim]

DEBRIEF:

Like a coach analyzing a lost game in order to not make the same mistakes, I broke out the tracks from the bomber night to see what happened.

1st - I heard a member of the group say they felt they had somehow messed up by not staying tight with the bomber formation or some such. Hogwash! 1st, you showed up! Thank you! You did your best to stay with the formation and played to the best of your ability. That’s what counts. Just keep practicing in the 88. She is a hard mistress to master. You did good!

2nd - The biggest error was my overestimation of how many players would show up on a weeknight. From the tracks I saw that at best we had 4 88s in play. I take it God Father was having the same difficulty with 110s.

Lesson learned:

I should have asked for a count from the bomb groups before takeoff. If we only had 8 bombers total, it would have just been better to consolidate all we had in one group of 8 and do the best we could by target hopping. I did not realize how thin our numbers were. This was my bust. In the future all bomber leads should take that into account and report their numbers. This way if we have to consolidate resources we can. Many fighter pilots also fly 88s. We could have asked the escorts to give up 2 and had a group of 10 88s.

3rd - I saw in the tracks that our largest group was 8, 110s when we did consolidate and lifted from calis Mark. I had to abandon mine due to stuck landing gear. So now we were at 7 110s. Of the 7, one 110 strayed off on their own instead of staying with the group. Also later an 88 pilot abandon the group for a 109.

Lesson learned:

Everybody request that straying pilots stay with the group. When numbers are thin, every pilot counts.

Lastly, escorts saw the groups were thin and said nothing. Escorts should report what they see. Particularly if they saw the brief and knew the bomb group expected 6 to 10 in a group and saw we were nowhere near that. Again we could have consolidated if we knew the situation. The military calls that situational awareness. It takes into account communication and deviation from planning.

This was my take away from the experience.

All that said, everyone who participated did an outstanding job and we did pretty well for being outnumbered. If we had the numbers that RED Team was able to pull together we would have had the upper hand.

I will try and do better at my communication and organization skills in the future.

Cheers,

Zim

[InvaderZim]

As an after thought, I could have asked all bombers to drop to flight 1 and taken a head count before take off and then gotten fighters involved later. I will work on that.:salute:

[Logan]

Zim, I thought you guys did great. I saw the messages that your bombers were hitting targets as we were inbound to our target. Awesome scramble there! Fighters got a few of us, and I thought ya'll did a bang up job hitting us on the low mission. I had to swim home! :D
S! Lets do it again sometime.

[Chuck_Owl]

If we had the numbers that RED Team was able to pull together we would have had the upper hand.

Maybe. Maybe not. :D

[9./JG52 Reinhart]

I showed up a bit late and witnessed Chuck Owl and his mighty formation of Blennies bomb Calais-Marck to bits... too late to catch up to their altitude...

The next raid we intercepted mid-channel, Got good hits on 2 Blennies and minor hits on quite a few more before I was hit (see the first scene in Chuck Owl's video, that was me :getaway:) and made a very hairy crash landing at Oye Plague. Needless to say, the Blenheims got through again.

All in all I was blown away at the amount of coordination the Red side had, and the accuracy of those bombs was nothing short of amazing. Was probably one of the most exciting sorties I've ever embarked on and I'd love it if we'd make this a regular thing. If numbers are short on some days, no matter! It's the thought that counts and the amount of teamwork involved that made that night the epitome of what Cliffs of Dover should be.

End rant, Gute Nacht.

:salute:

[InvaderZim]

Maybe. Maybe not. :D

roflmao You are Consummate player to the end Mr. Owl!:)

[InvaderZim]

Reinhart, Thanks for the assist, hope to see you on the next one.:thumbsup:

[9./JG52 Reinhart]

Reinhart, Thanks for the assist, hope to see you on the next one.:thumbsup:

I think we should all be thanking you... that was the most fun I've had in a LONG time!

[RCAF Rob]

The next raid we intercepted mid-channel, Got good hits on 2 Blennies and minor hits on quite a few more before I was hit (see the first scene in Chuck Owl's video, that was me :getaway:)

:salute:

And that was me chewing up your tail. I don't know how you slipped into the formation but our high cover missed you and suddenly you were diving into the bombers and I was trying to catch up. someone, my wingman BigJ I think had already hit your rad I think by the time I caught you.

I thought your interception was going to be the end of that raid, well done.

[Logan]

I showed up a bit late and witnessed Chuck Owl and his mighty formation of Blennies bomb Calais-Marck to bits... too late to catch up to their altitude...

The next raid we intercepted mid-channel, Got good hits on 2 Blennies and minor hits on quite a few more before I was hit (see the first scene in Chuck Owl's video, that was me :getaway:) and made a very hairy crash landing at Oye Plague. Needless to say, the Blenheims got through again.

All in all I was blown away at the amount of coordination the Red side had, and the accuracy of those bombs was nothing short of amazing. Was probably one of the most exciting sorties I've ever embarked on and I'd love it if we'd make this a regular thing. If numbers are short on some days, no matter! It's the thought that counts and the amount of teamwork involved that made that night the epitome of what Cliffs of Dover should be.

End rant, Gute Nacht.

:salute:
So that was you I was calling out "fighters in the group" Good job hitting us! I'd love to make it a regular night in ATAG. Squad or no squad just come in and fly for the night. I'm sure we will do it again soon.

[9./JG52 Reinhart]

Thanks guys! :)

Good job protecting the Blennies and staying with them, after I was attacked I saw him let me go and head back for the bombers, that was pretty cool to see him keep his eyes on the greater prize.


I actually have a video from my perspective, now that I have some free time I'll upload it tonight!