Operation Chunky Bandit #19 (Air)

All,

It's 1715 on 24 July 1990 in the country of South Leon.  We are with the Cuban Air Force's 301st Tactical Fighter Squadron, deployed to South Leon several months ago.  So far there hasn't been much to do, just some routine Combat Air Patrol (CAP) and close air support missions every now and again for the grunts, but no air-to air engagements to date.  The squadron, also known as "The Flying Boxcars," is led by Major "Viper" Culero, a former US Navy fighter pilot that earned himself four kills and the Estrella de Bronce (Bronze Star with 'V') during the Cuban War of Liberation.  He normally keeps a two-ship CAP up, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but this morning he had bumped it up to four on account of a bunch of chatter about something major going on up North.

What the good Major then found out is that the Communist Army from Federation Socialiste Nationale de Leon (FSNL), South Leon's malignant neighbor to the north, launched an all out invasion of South Leon, and they are rapidly rolling towards that nations capital.  Accompanying them is an all out blitz by FSNL's Air Force, and the Flying Boxcars are now involved in some of the most intense aerial action since WWII.

To kick off their offensive, the FSNL Air Force put 6 x MiG-21s in the air on a classic fighter sweep, looking to clear the skies for follow on strike aircraft, while the Cubans answered with four F-4 Phantoms of their own.  The results were indecisive, with the Communists losing three MiGs and the Cubans losing two Phantoms.

The enemy returned to base and launched a strike force with fighter escort a couple hours later.  Major Culero sent two flights up to meet them.  The Cuban fighter pilots did well, downing three MiG-21s and five Su-22s to only one lost Phantom, but they did allow one enemy bomber through.  The Su-22 bombed the SLA HQ in the nation's capital, causing substantial damage (10/30).

It's a few hours later and the bad guys are keeping up the pressure.  The Cubans scrambled two more flights to meet the enemy strike force.

This is my arena for aerial combat; simple, yet durable and, to me, beautiful (in a simple, durable way).  I'm using tiny aircraft designed by my buddy Thomaston; not sure what size they are, just that they are much smaller than 1/600.  They're 3D printed models that I mounted on cut-down bases from Litko, and I'm using a very simple rules system called "Battle of Britain," which I found for free over on The Miniatures Page (I've already played a good 13 fights with them).  North is left, so the Communist aircraft are there, whilst the Cubans are on the right (south).

This fight, for the Cubans we have, from top:
Boxcar 14 (Rookie)
Boxcar 13, "Hitman," the Flight Leader (Rookie)
Boxcar 15 (Rookie)

Boxcar 17 (Rookie)

Boxcar 16, "Logjam," the Flight Leader (Rookie)

Boxcar 18 (Rookie)

The Communists, from top:
Green 02
      Green 01

Bomber 6                      Bomber 3
                 Bomber 4                        Bomber 1
Bomber 5                      Bomber 2

       Silver 01
Silver 02

All Communist pilots are rated as Regulars.
All fighter aircraft are rated as +1 (no difference between the MiG-21 and F-4 Phantom in these games; you can if you like, I simply have chosen not to.  Perhaps later in the campaign there will be engagements between fighters with different capabilities).  The bombers are Su-22 Fittes; they have three movement points per turn, and can fire defensive fire only.

The situation at the end of Turn 1.  The Cuban Phantoms have covered a lot of ground because they were already in the air and on station, so they got to dive and 'bounce' the enemy formation.

End of Turn 2, Tally Ho!

Silver 02 loiters along, just chillin'.

But is leader, Silver 01, hauls ass, burning straight into the Cubans, very aggressive!

Up top, Green 01 maneuvers his peddles adeptly, going head to head with Boxcar 13.  Missiles leave the rails of both aircraft, but only the Cuban is hit, damaging the big F-4 Phantom.

And then Green 02 swoops in, looking to finish him off!  The Communist fires, but Boxcar 13 is able to avoid the incoming missile, and he pushes past the two MiGs.

As Boxcar 14 cuts left, looking to enter the fray, hoping both MiGs will turn tail to chase Boxcar 13.  Ya gotta know better than that, rookie!

While further south (right), Boxcar 15 loiters, just kinda taking it all in.

As Boxcar 18 shoots past Silver 01, straight and level.

He's joined by Boxcar 17.

While behind them, Boxcar 16 decides he needs to deal with Silver 01, so he turns into him.

And the enemy bomber formation pushes south towards the target area.

Silver 02 decides to get into the fight, so he kicks the throttle up a notch and cuts left, aiming at Boxcar 17 and 18.

**I missed a damn picture: off screen to right, Silver 01 pushes further south, getting behind all the F-4s, which is cool so long as you don't take yourself completely out of the fight.

Up top, Green 01 pulls up and right, across Boxcar 15's face.  No respect...

*Another missed pic: Green 02 (top left) splits between Boxcars 13 and 14, a bit too conservative.

So Boxcar 14 says 'hell with him' and cuts left to get at the bombers.

As does Boxcar 13, but a bit too lackadaisical, and he's gotten into a bad position, too close.

Further back, Boxcar 15 now finds himself all alone with Green 02 (top left) and Green 01 (bottom center); he doesn't know what to do, so he just cruises straight and level and hopes nobody notices him.

Boxcar 17 decides it's time to get to work, so he charges straight in on Bomber 2.  Both aircraft fire...

And both miss, but he shoots past and now goes head-to head with Bomber 5.  Again both aircraft fire, but this time both missiles score!  The Su-22 is damaged, and Boxcar 17 can't believe his poor luck as he's drifting safely down to earth beneath a silk canopy.  He was able to safely make his way back to base in a couple hours.

**Regarding the rules, it just occurred to me: why the hell am I giving these modern day jets rear defensive fire!!!???  Obviously this is necessary for bombers with tail gunners, but Su-22s DO NOT have tail gunners.  No more rear defensive fire...

Further west, Boxcar 18 jinks over and goes head to head with Silver 02; both pilots launch missiles

And both missiles miss as Boxcar 18 cuts right towards the bombers (far left, missed ANOTHER picture!  What the heck is going on?) as Boxcar 16 pushes past Silver 01 and goes at Silver 02.

And the bombers push south...

Green 01 pulls right and heads west (down) to hunt some Cubans.

As his partner, Green 02, cuts right into Boxcar 15.  Can't get a shot, but he's in good shape to get a tailing position.

As Silver 01 makes a long, lazy turn to port, scanning the battleground.

And Silver 02 makes a lazy turn to starboard, splitting Boxcars 18 (left) and 16 (right).

Up top, Boxcar 13 pulls off an impressive maneuver, sifting through traffic to end up on the tail of Bomber 01.  He quickly lines up the shot and fires...

He coasts up, "Splash one bomber!"

Boxcar 14 wants some of that action, so he loops around behind the formation and pops up on Bomber 4's tail, where he lines up his own shot and fires: "Splash two bombers!"

Box 18 gets in on the action, too, pulling a high-G turn to get a perfect tailshot.  "Fox One!"

"Splash three bombers!" as he pulls up next to Boxcar 14.

It would appear the Communist fighter escorts have been a bit to conservative, setting the foxes loose in the henhouse.

At the bottom, Boxcar 16 cuts hard right, behind Silver 02 and looking at the bombers.  "Save some for me, guys!"

While up top, Boxcar 15 knows he's in danger but doesn't know what to do, so he slams on the brakes right in front of Green 02, might just work.

As the remnants of the bomber formation push south, down 50% and a long way from the target area.

Green 01 is flummoxed; all their fighters are still in the air, but they're not taking any shots and bombers are dropping like flies.  He cruises straight and level, surveying the battlefield.  The bad guy fighter commander definitely sent up the 'B' team today...

Up top, Green 02 can't unravel the enigma that is Boxcar 15; all he can do is turn hard, pulling inside the big Phantom, hoping to pressure the Cuban rookie pilot into a mistake.

As Silver 01 reverses course, looking for targets.  "Somebody do something, these Cubans are eating our lunch!"  And with that, Silver 02 (bottom left) jumps into action.

Exposing himself to Boxcar 16, he cuts hard left and fires on Boxcar 18...

Boxcar 18 is hit and going down as Silver 02 shoots past.  Boxcar 18 is able to bail out, but he's injured and will be out of action for about a month.

Boxcar 16 wants revenge and moves to take it, chasing Silver 02 down and firing, damaging the enemy MiG.

But Boxcar 14 is distracted by the skirmish behind him and doesn't manage to run down any bombers...

Boxcar 13 makes a great move, cutting hard right across the formation to line up a great shot on Green 01, but he misses!!!

For a moment Boxcar 15 forgets he's in a life and death knife fight with Green 02 (top center), and he cuts left and fires on Bomber 03, damaging the Sukhoi.

Then zooming past, hopefully far enough that Green 02 can't come get him.

And then the bombers push south.

Nope, not far enough, but in Green 02's haste to give chase he catches up but is unable to line up a shot Boxcar 15.  This guy's got a horseshoe crammed up his ass...

Silver 01 cuts hard right to get into position to protect the bombers.  Yeah, things were looking pretty dim for the Commies, but all of a sudden it's looking like they could actually get the rest of their formation to the target area.

Green 01 pulls right, trying to shake Boxcar 13.

As Silver 02 pulls right, trying to shake Boxcar 16 and still stay in the fight.

Boxcar 14 jinks into a not so great shot on Green 02...

But he pulls it off, splashing the MiG and moving up into position to chase some bombers!

Boxcar 15 sputters ahead as he's struggling to look behind him to find Green 02, unaware Boxcar 14 just splashed him...

Green 01's gambit worked, Boxcar 13 forgets about him and cuts left to go after the bombers.

But Boxcar 16 DID NOT forget about Silver 02, climbing right up his butt to slam a missile into him at point blank range...

Then cutting right to get after the bombers.

But the Communist fighters have accomplished something with all that getting shot down, some real space has opened up between the bombers and the Cubans.

And they're not done: Green 01 cuts hard right into Boxcar 15 and fires, but he misses.

As Silver 01 cuts left to take the same shot on Boxcar 14, but this time the Cuban jet is damaged.

But Boxcar 14 is unfazed; he charges straight in on Bomber 06 and fires, damaging it.

After getting his kill, Boxcar 16 is loooost in spaaaaace…

Boxcar cuts hard left and takes a great shot on Silver 01, but he misses somehow!

Then, out of nowhere, Boxcar 15 pulls an Immelman out of his ass, putting himself in great shape to tail Green 01, who's pilot just began sobbing...

But those bombers are still pushing south.

Green 01 wipes away the tears and settles down: "C'mon, you know that rookie sucks, quit messing around and get back in the fight!"  He weaves through some seriously congested airspace and lines up a great shot on Boxcar 14.  He smiles as he fires, then cringes as the missile goes flying off into the wild blue yonder.

Boxcar 16 has been screwing around too long and is about to pay for it: Silver 01 zooms in on his tail and fires...

Boxcar 16 ejects as Silver 01 pulls right to find his next victim.  Boxcar 16 bailed out, but no one has seen him since, he's listed as Missing In Action.

As Boxcar 15 looks to cut him (Silver 01 at top center) off.

Boxcar 13 pulls hard right onto Green 01's tail and smites him from the sky.

Which allows Boxcar 14 to run onto Bomber 06's tail worry free.  He fires at the damaged bomber...

And misses, but shoots past onto Bomber 03's tail.  He successfully dodges defensive fire from Bomber 06 and lays into 03, splashing him.

The last two bombers push south, nearing the finish line.

Silver 01 hooks right, looking to get back into the fight, but not really wanting to die.

Boxcar 14 gets another shot at Bomber 06, and this time he doesn't miss, "Splash five bombers."

He pulls right and takes a shot at the last bomber, but misses...

Boxcar 13 cuts left into Silver 01, looking to shield Boxcar 14 so he can get that last bomber.

Last bomber is on the doorstep, last chance.

Quite amazingly, Silver 01 cuts hard right into Boxcar 13 and takes a bad shot, but it hits the F-4 Phantom, which immediately begins coming apart!  Boxcar 13 bails out and makes his way back to base.

Boxcar 15 screams "Nooooooooooooooooo!!!" as he harmlessly flies past Silver 01...

It's all down to this: Boxcar 14 swoops onto Bomber 02's tail, perfect position.  "Good tone, Fox One!"

The Sukhoi is damaged, but survives to carry out his bombing run!  He makes a fairly successful bombing run on the SLA Headquarters, adding another 9 points of damage, bringing the total to 19/30.

Quite a tussle, and successful in the overall scheme of things, but sure did hurt to allow a single bomber to survive and rough up the SLA HQ.  The Communists lost a total of three MiG-21s and five Su-22s, while the Cubans lost four of their six F-4s committed.  More importantly, they lost a pilot MIA, and another for about a month due to wounds.  But Boxcar 14 was on fire, racking up four kills and being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Here's what happened in terms of pilots:

Boxcar 13, "Hitman," two Kills, shot down but bailed out and okay, moves from Rookie to Regular

Boxcar 14, four Kills, awarded the Cruz de Distinguidado Servicio, promoted to 1st Lieutenant, moves from Rookie to Veteran
Boxcar 15, no Kills, moves from Rookie to Regular

Boxcar 16, "Logjam," one Kill, shot down and MIA
Boxcar 17, no Kills, shot down but bailed out and okay, remains a Rookie

Boxcar 18, one Kill, awarded Corazon de Purpura, moves from Rookie to Regular, but shot down and WIA, return 1 Sept 1990

This is the last of the three fights I played Saturday morning.  I'm playing and posting more as soon as I can, stay tuned.

V/R,

Jack