Something new, Singapore

[Hard Sarge]

Flying the Mighty Buf over Singapore, what a thankless job this is !

the fighters are quicker then us, and can climb like demons, while we just hang in the air like dieing Pigs, even worse, the Bombers look like that can out climb and out turn us also, beside since they got Alt on us to start with, they same as fast or faster then us also

Scamble, Bombers headed in, take off and stop them !

Betties and Zeroes, what a match, even worse, we have to climb into them

climb in and fire from the front, see strikes on a bomber or two, then try and climb turn back into the bombers

LOOK OUT, ZEROES DIVEING

blares over the radio

the intell boys from HQ say not to mix it up with the Zeroes, as we don't have a chance, but what are we to do ? , if we don't fight, they will shoot us down like ducks in a barrel, if we do fight, we are still sitting ducks, but maybe, just maybe, one of the ducks will have some teeth

still trying to climb into the bombers and have almost no airspeed left, when I spot a Zero coming down on my tail, roll over onto my back and pull the stick into my belly, once I see the ground is not going to end up in my face, I look back over my shoulder and see that the Zero is following my Split S, clear the ground, and pull up into a loop, should be a fools move, or maybe somebody was watching out for me, as the Zero was slow in following, fight the stall at the top of the loop and hammer back down into the dive, the Zero finally wakes up and knows he can't finish his loop in time and tries to roll out of it, my MGs teach him his mistake

(to be fair and honest, I am not totally sure this is the same Zero I started the fight with, as there were more in the close area, under and over me, and right behind me, I could of picked up a new one as I came out and he was making his move on someone else)

[Hard Sarge]

Zeroes all over the place, the Betties are headed away, and we are being swamped, look left and then right, up and down, every where there seems to be pairs of Zeroes, but none that are loose or looking somewhere else, turn the plane, bank for a better view, and there, 2 Zeroes being chased by a Buf

do a quick scan byhind me, and roll into the dive, if I Can close in fast enough, we may get two of the buggers

as I gain speed and close in, I can see the Buf has the wingman pretty much in hand, so I try to target the lead, tricky shot and all

[Hard Sarge]

(ahhh, lost the last post, have to do it again !)

as I start to pull up, I see the other Buf has broken off the attack, I roll to the left, hit flaps and cut the power, and am able to slide right in behind the damaged Zero, close the range and am in prefect firing postion, get a little closer, 10 meters should do it, aim for the top of the engine, and tap the trigger, and see the first rounds pass right where I aimmed, right over the top of the engine, drop my aim and hammer on the trigger, and nothing !, I am out of ammo

oh Crudwell, lift flaps and ram the engine to full power and I bank to the other side, am glad to see that the Zero pilot is also banking away, I think he is just happy to be in one piece still and will think it over once he gets home, hmmm, home, that is the trick now

I see that above and behind me, I have picked up two friends, the unfriendly type and they seems to be interested in me, so all I can do is head home and try and build up enough speed, so I can react when they decide to attack, halfway home, and my neck is getting sore from watching them, when I see them start to make there move, down into a steep dive they both come

just as I am about to start my counter move, I see both of them break off there dives into a Zlip S and head the other way, screaming for the deck, confused I look forward and then up, and there diving down on me, is a flight of very pretty Canes, I waggle my wings and get laff when I see the last man look me over and wave, and then they are past, and chasing the Zeroes

once the battle is over and we get to work with the intell boys, I am able to claim two Zeroes as destroyed, a Betty as damaged and a very lucky Zero who could of been !

that seems to lighten up the mood, until we find out that Johanson, never made it out of his plane

the squadron gets 3 kills, and canes complain, that the flak boys got to claim all of there work, but over all 7 JP Planes are littered over the area, we lost one, but most of our planes took damage during the fight

Day two, another incoming raid (you know, you would think somebody would think about flying some CAP missions around here)

and again we are low and slow and the bombers and fighters are above us, climb into the bombers whole the Oscars just seem to be sleeping ! see smoke bellow out of the bomber I am firing into, try and do a climbing turn, so I Can at least gain a little speed back as I dive in, the gunners score some strikes of there own, but the plane feels fine as I finlly make my turn around

LOL look like the bombers were climbing too, as they are all still above me, then I see one that had broken away and is lower, I dive on him, and he starts to dogfight with me !, fire and see strikes on the right engine and wing, then strikes into the body, flatten out my turn, and see strikes all across the back gunners glass, so close in, finally start to see some smoke from the engine and move my fire in towards the body, suddenly, I can see the back gunner moving, shift my fire and fill the turret with MG rounds, and then he fires, and my engine bursts into flames, I roll over and bail out, on the way down, I am able to study my foe, the rudder has been blown off, the right engine is smokeing and the bomber seems to be loseing alt

all the way down, I watch, be away it flies

I am able to claim one kill, the first bomber burst into flames soon after I attacked it, the 2nd was last seen, damaged but still flying, a maybe

(plane flew all the back to base on one engine and landed safely)

again, the squadron gets 3 kills, and I am the only loss

[Hard Sarge]

Day 3
move it, bombers on the way in (Greesh)

Betties and Oscars to the south of us, climb into them again, starting to get the hang of this, fire into 2nd and then the 4th bomber in the line, as I start to turn around, I see both break away from the formation and start to head away, and the squadron is on them like flies at a cookout

again, the radio blares, BOMBERS

the CO calls in, we on em, then the radio starts to give out vectors, what is he on about, then we see them, another raid coming in from the north, and still more coming from the west, this is going to be a mess

close in and am ready to dive on a bomber when I see tracer fire crossing in front of me, almost fly into a Betty they is headed this way, while I am headed that way, pull my nose up and almost fly into another Berry going someplace else

seems like all 3 raids hit right on time, and it is impossable to attack one group with out flying right into one of the others, yell into the mike for my flight to pull up and climb, we make many runs, but no joy, we get twisted one way when we should of went the other, finally once everything clears up, the bombers are on the way home

I am fustrated, and so pay no attention to the recall, my wingman, slides up and dips his wings and points back towards base, but I make a slashing the throat singal and point at the fleeing bombers and he drops back into his postion, it seems like forever we gave chase, soon our homeland is behind us, soon we are deep into the enemies backyard, I spot the bombers starting to drop to the deck, one big circle of bombers and as they wheel around to make the landing runs

NOW, ATTACK, ATTACK ALL TARGETS

I yell into my mike, as I shove the stick forward and go to full power, maybe my flight was smarter then I, or they had used up more gas on the trip the I had, but as soon as I started my dive, they all turned for home, maybe they thought I was mad, and would never come back

I see two Oscars low and slow and turning right towards me, I lower the nose a little and one short burst later, the wingman is a ball of flames

[Hard Sarge]

I got a good head of steam going from my dive and I am also a little into the red rage, so I pull the Buf up into a loop and snap right on over the top and am back into the chase, the leader is still looking at his crippled wingman as I close in, only when it is too late does he react, he banks to the right just as my shells start to rip into his plane, and then up, right up to the heavens he goes, but I still got enough E to try and follow

my plane wollows at 200 mph, it is a worthless bucket of bolts at 140, but it seems to thrist for the blood of the enemy as much as I do, and it holds to the chase, I see strikes across the engine and that funny double prop comes to a stop

the fighter is not dead, but is out of the fight either way, so down I go, bombers are waiting, and the longer I take, the more of them will get a chance to land

[Hard Sarge]

I pick up speed in my dive back to the attack, and the bombers are right in front of me, doing there lazy cicle as they wait to land

plane number 2, takes hits across the wing and cockpit, smoke soon flows freely from its damaged wing

plane number 4 takes hits, all across the body, up and over I go, soon the gunners on the ground wake up and start to man there guns, the Oscar bellies in short of the landing field and flips on it back, and soon bursts into flames

around and around I go, head on to the bombers each circle, smoke and flames tail from a few, oil and fuel seem to be leaking from most, the gunners are going wild, as are the gunners on the ground, make one last pass, fire into the port engine of the last bomber I see and am rewarded with smoke and I pull up and just miss flying into his wingman

again, my guns are dry, and it is a long way to go until I am home, and I got more holes in my plane they I should, but the blood lust is draining away, I nose over and shake and shimmy my way out of the gunfire and head for home

will never know how much damage I caused, but there is one Squadron, that will always remember the day a Bufflo followed them home to play

[Hard Sarge]

I got 3 kills that mission, my squadron picked off 2 crippled bombers I attacked, one bomber blew up on the runway once it landed, claimed on the map as just Betty shot down, and while it is HARD to see, this is a shot of after the bombers had all landed, two are leaking fuel, while the third one smokes

so lots and lots of damage was done

I am now a Ace, and I even got a medal for my fight, but my Flight, we don't speak any more, they left me to die, and I came back, it don't bother me much, they were right, but it bothers them, we could of all of been heroes, we could of slaughtered that squadron of bombers that has been killing our people, we could of done a lot of things, but they flew off

[Hard Sarge]

Day 4
another raid incomeing, and again it is a 3 axis attack, these can be real fun if you get caught right in the middle as all 3 raids hit the target at the same time

again, climbing head on to the bombers, then try and turn and chase, oh joy, what is the top speed in a Buf flying level ? 180 ????, lol at times 190 in a dive looks good

dive on a Betty only to watch it out dive me, then pull up and out climb me too, just start to get close and take a 20 mmm to the engine, and I am out of the fight, close to the field, so try and be fancy and dead stick the landing

strange, wonder what the bombers have been attacking, the field is nice and clean, and I make a nice two point landing, get half way down the runway when I figure, that maybe I should try to get the tail down too !

oh well, I get the only kill for the day, in 4 missions I have been shot down and deadsticked, and landed a crippled plane the other two times, Life as a Dutch pilot don't seem like it is going to last a long time

Tank, mentioned that the Skins on the Buf are his, and he also did the Objects on the Sinapore map, so next chance I had, I went out looking for some Objects

[Hard Sarge]

Day 5
oh boy we get to leave the base today, and fly what, 3000 miles to watch the Beheims drop some bombs , greeesh but this is a long mission

Silly, let the AI do the flying for most the way, all the twists and turns it does as it excourts the bombers, leaves us some 3-4000 meters behind the bombers when the JP attack

but I get one Zero, number 5 get another in a great shot, as I turn to follow the next Zero, I watch number 5 fly into it !, and both lose a wing and auger in

then there are no JP planes in the area, so down on the deck I go

find some trucks on the road and get 3 on the first pass, and 2 more and a car on the next pass

I pick up something shiny in the vill comeing up, so dive down to check it out, soon a AA gun opens up, and is joined shortly by another one that is close by, so something is there and the JP think it is worth something

a truck park, and now it is a flaming mess !

do a couple of tricks to show off for the gunners and then head out to sea, on the beach there are two ships that looked to be unloading, time for one last pass

looks like I hit the jackpot, trucks blasing left and right and then one of the many AA guns gets lucky, one round into the engine and my engine starts to sputter, head out to sea and hope sea and rescue is in the area

no good, I am lost at sea and my flight all were killed attacking trucks and guns

the bad part, is it didn't even list how many trucks I got !!!

I give up