Operation El Dorado Canyon, 1986 (Updated 6-24-2021)

[BeirutDude]

Yeah, OK, that's one of the things I hit before. When the KC-135s refuel the KC-10s they seem to be restricted to 230 mph and drop to the back of the formation. So now that I realize the refuelers are faster at 36 than 26 kft will keep the strikers at 480 mph and then the KC-10s are done refueling kick them up to 520 mph until they lead the formation again. That should give me a good airspeed and allow the formation to sort out for the next refueling north of Algeria.

[BeirutDude]

OK so trying the above idea for the Med. Six Support Missions/Tracks set up with 2-4 KC-10s, 2-4 F-111Fs, and 0-1 EF-111A per Mission/Track.

[BeirutDude]

Setting up for the last refueling before beginning the strike, lead aircraft are the KC-10s followed by the F-111F's and then the Ravens. Three KC-10s have dropped out as they stayed at 230 mph after the refueling despite MULTIPLE attempts to bring them up to mission speed. There is sooooo much micromanaging that I'm playing it in real time. The three don't matter as all five missions have enough refuelers to tank up before the attack. all the KC-10s will go into a holding box west of Sicily. And since it has taken me longer to get the game aircraft here than the real mission I'm calling it a night. Set up the Carrier missions next time. we're 30 minutes from the Carriers aircraft being ready so the timing isn't all that bad after all and I hit the Strait of Gibraltar about Launch +3:10. Did have to send 2 KC-135s to Rota as they got hung up in the Exclusion zone and kept banding their heads into it. Didn't think they had enough fuel left to make England, and I doubt the Spanish would notice two 135s as being out of the ordinary.

So feel pretty good about things right now!

[Kushan04]

ORIGINAL: BeirutDude

Setting up for the last refueling before beginning the strike, lead aircraft are the KC-10s followed by the F-111F's and then the Ravens. Three KC-10s have dropped out as they stayed at 230 mph after the refueling despite MULTIPLE attempts to bring them up to mission speed. There is sooooo much micromanaging that I'm playing it in real time. The three don't matter as all five missions have enough refuelers to tank up before the attack. all the KC-10s will go into a holding box west of Sicily. And since it has taken me longer to get the game aircraft here than the real mission I'm calling it a night. Set up the Carrier missions next time. we're 30 minutes from the Carriers aircraft being ready so the timing isn't all that bad after all and I hit the Strait of Gibraltar about Launch +3:10. Did have to send 2 KC-135s to Rota as they got hung up in the Exclusion zone and kept banding their heads into it. Didn't think they had enough fuel left to make England, and I doubt the Spanish would notice two 135s as being out of the ordinary.

So feel pretty good about things right now!

You look like your ahead of schedule. TOT isn't until 0000 Zulu which is 0200 Libya Time.

[BeirutDude]

Strikes inbound. Think the TOT is way off, but I was going to loose it with the F-111s and fuel. So yes got there too early!

[BeirutDude]

And I lost it. [:(] [X(]

The F-111s turned back just before feet dry for a couple of reasons, one of which was fuel and the other I will keep to myself to avoid a spoiler. I guess they were Bingo for flying all the way back to England even though IMHO they had plenty to get back to the tanker holding box. So they turned back to tank up from the KC-10s with about 50% fuel.

So excellent research, and well done but too much micromanagement for my taste, and apparently skills [X(]. I felt like I was flying each and every plane, which is fine for a smaller scenario but too much for me in this one. Like I said I had to play it on real time just to keep everything in line.

My one suggestion is you might add areas where the F-111s should refuel with locked RPs, I'm pretty sure the air crews would have had that calculated for them. We used to use a flight program for planning that took the forecast winds en route and calculated fuel and refueling points as well as divert fields.

[Kushan04]

ORIGINAL: BeirutDude
Strikes inbound. Think the TOT is way off, but I was going to loose it with the F-111s and fuel. So yes got there too early!

The Zulu time is right, The local Tripoli time is behind an hour. 0000 Zulu should be 0200 Tripoli time but the game doesn't seem to display the 0200 correctly. Seems it doesn't take into account DST.

ORIGINAL: BeirutDude

And I lost it. [:(] [X(]

The F-111s turned back just before feet dry for a couple of reasons, one of which was fuel and the other I will keep to myself to avoid a spoiler. I guess they were Bingo for flying all the way back to England even though IMHO they had plenty to get back to the tanker holding box. So they turned back to tank up from the KC-10s with about 50% fuel.

So excellent research, and well done but too much micromanagement for my taste, and apparently skills [X(]. I felt like I was flying each and every plane, which is fine for a smaller scenario but too much for me in this one. Like I said I had to play it on real time just to keep everything in line.

My one suggestion is you might add areas where the F-111s should refuel with locked RPs, I'm pretty sure the air crews would have had that calculated for them. We used to use a flight program for planning that took the forecast winds en route and calculated fuel and refueling points as well as divert fields.

When and were was the final refueling? The final refueling off of Algeria should have given you enough fuel to strike and get back. May also have been a speed issue. 350-400kts is generally what I use for cruising. I find it also helps to make sure if your using a strike mission to make sure the "RTB when Bingo" ROE is unchecked.

Out of curiosity, how many aircraft had to turn back due to the spoiler? Just a number will be fine, although anyone who reads the briefing should be able to figure it out

I haven't found a way past the micromanagement issue. I struggle with it myself. I normally speed up between refueling points and slow down as I approach the next one. Never going over 2x or 5x time compression.

Reference points for the approximate refueling areas are going to be in the next version.

Thank you for the feedback! I really appreciate it.

[BeirutDude]

EDIT: So before you read the rest, I have found the Time Warp! I actually saved Monday night under a different file name than I did on Sunday night and forgot about that ("Fog of COVID") so I can actually go back and fix last night's mistakes!!!!! I almost feel like James T Kirk here! [:D]


1. I tanked them up off eastern Algeria and northern Tunisia, fuel shouldn't have been the issue.

2. I did move the aircraft too fast. Maybe I missed it in the side briefing, but you might suggest an average aircraft speed of 350-400 if I did. I was averaging more around 440-480 mph, so yeah got there ahead of schedule.

3. Will PM you with why some of the RTBs occurred. EDIT: check your inbox

4. Now to be honest, my wife and I are both fighting COVID-19 (with my wife being much worse them myself). I was really having problems concentrating last night and was really, really agitated. I looked over the situation this morning (luckily I saved and stopped as soon as the F-111s turned back) and I think it is more than salvageable. I need to go in and turn off the Bingo Fuel as you pointed out and break up a few aircraft groups. Actually this may resolve the TOT issues. I have my KC-10s in groups of 2 with one single aircraft. I'm going to use the single KC-10 to refuel as many of the KC-10 groups as it can and send to Rota (I think that is in the spirit of Rota's intended use, and emergency base. And again really, would the Spanish have looked twice at a single tanker????).

[Kushan04]

ORIGINAL: BeirutDude
2. I did move the aircraft too fast. Maybe I missed it in the side briefing, but you might suggest an average aircraft speed of 350-400 if I did. I was averaging more around 440-480 mph, so yeah got there ahead of schedule.

Concept of Operations Section 5

{5} OVERFLIGHT OF FRANCE AND SPAIN WAS REQUESTED BUT DENIED. AIR FORCE STRIKE FORCE WILL PROCEED AT LOW LEVEL AROUND THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. PLANNED ALTITUDE AND SPEED IS 360 AGL AT 400 KTS.

Hope you and your wife make fully recoveries BeiruteDude.

[BeirutDude]

{5} OVERFLIGHT OF FRANCE AND SPAIN WAS REQUESTED BUT DENIED. AIR FORCE STRIKE FORCE WILL PROCEED AT LOW LEVEL AROUND THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. PLANNED ALTITUDE AND SPEED IS 360 AGL AT 400 KTS.

Ooooops!

[BeirutDude]

OK, now we're inbound. Aircraft are all individual flights and each aircraft has it's RTB Doctrine set to no.

[Kushan04]

SEAD strike might be a little behind the F-111s.

[BeirutDude]

Feet Dry (Does the USAF use that terminology?).

[BeirutDude]

They are! TOT is totally blown but I have faith the Ravens will jam the older Soviet radars! [:D] I'll answer to NCA when we get home! [X(]

Bombs away!

[BeirutDude]

HARMs and Shrikes inbound but lost 2 F-111s so far LUJAC 21 & 22

[BeirutDude]

Four Aardvarks down, Three aircrew ejected one over land and two over the water. Might be able to recover the ones over the water but Puffy 12 is going to be on CNN tomorrow! [X(] [:@]

[Kushan04]

ORIGINAL: BeirutDude

Four Aardvarks down, Three aircrew ejected one over land and two over the water. Might be able to recover the ones over the water but Puffy 12 is going to be on CNN tomorrow! [X(] [:@]

I lost 10 A-6s over downtown Benghazi. Think I had 4-5 were the aircrews ejected. I did not try and recover them given the SAM threat.

[BeirutDude]

So the F-111Fs were an utter disaster. Lost 5 Aardvarks and now the Navy is going in. That said, I'm going down in flames with this scenario. As luck would have it the only strike that went off well was the Tripoli Military Terminal and I got five Candids, but trading 5 Candids for 5 Aardvaks is hardly a fair trade! That and the captured aircrew on CNN and yup I below it!

[BeirutDude]

Well final evaluation, I suck! [:D] [:)] [8D]

Definitely a well researched and challenging scenario, apparently too challenging for my CMO skills! I need to go back and watch the SEAD videos on YouTube!

[BeirutDude]

I lost 10 A-6s over downtown Benghazi. Think I had 4-5 were the aircrews ejected. I did not try and recover them given the SAM threat.

That makes me feel a little bit better! I invested so much time on the USAF strike the USN missions were on autopilot and kind of anticlimactic.