well the balloon has gone up, we ( 26 squadron, flying GR1A's) have urgently deployed to the gulf, dhimar has come under attack and the UN has intervened although it seems so far its just us and the yanks that have joined in.

On arrival, we have been immediately tasked with a recon mission, not too happy to be "spotting" targets for others to get the glory but never mind. As usual its a clear sunny day as we ( myself and freddy my wingman) head off




we soon learn over the radio ( and from our pre briefing) both the US marines and navy will be up, flying air defense, they were both able to deploy rapidly from the fleet in the medit. Makes me feel a lot happier, the air is thick with phantoms





a few minutes later, get a call which makes us very glad we have friends in the air, some nasties are heading our way



looks like the marines get bragging rights, first kill of the campaign and cleared a path for us.



the dhimar boys are also in the action, their skyhawks giving the lads some ground supression. Both sides hit the battlefield at the same time with ground attack missions, wouldnt like to have been sitting in that armor.





our mission was uneventfull, except a few AAA peashooters as we pulled off "target". Home in one piece.



I think our next mission will get hot, i'll report back then

Nice one - I enjoy reading your AARs digger!

For some reason, the F-4 Phantom always looks like it means business. Awesome shots!

Very nice, love the Harrier!

A Phantom in Jolly Rogers livery? That's as awesome as it gets.

Oh, and Harriers are cool, too.

The new desert terrain is excellent.

mission 2 - we have our first ground attack mission. The enemy's armor is making a push north west and our job is to stop them in their tracks ( no pun intended). Freddy's with me again plus 2 more from our squadron. The USAF has joined the fight alongside their navy and marines so even more crowded skies with phantoms.

Whilst the rest of the squad will take an all rockets attack pack, ive gone for a mixed load of rockets and cluster munitions.

Another clear and hot day in the gulf, some of our boys are going as red as beetroots from the sun.

Anyway I digress.

Off we go,


the lads formed up around me

By the time we are formed up, both sides already have heavy hitters in the air



USAF



NAVY


Some heavy ordnance from the "dark side"


Even before we were anywhere near the target, on our radios we could hear the air battle quickly escalating



Pretty soon we heard what we were dreading, our allies first loss of the day



Quickly the fight turned into a "liverpool bar brawl"




The one advantage for us was like any good bar brawl, if we stayed down and "crawled under the tables" we could make it to the bar, and here we are giving those tanks a good rogering


myself pulling off target for the first run in. Lots of scrap metal from the tank battle as well as our contribution



freddy's second run

After 2 runs we turned tail and "got the hell out of dodge"
Above us and around us the fight continued



The dogfight and a lonely death of a mig



On the way back , someone took a pot shot at us but we all dived and evaded but not before my intestines did a backflip

At our debrief afterwards we learnt that the armor thrust had run out of steam ( the good news) however despite gain 3 to 4 to 1 kill ratios the phantoms lost pilots today. Made us all think of our families back home.

Oh well, in time honored brit. tradition,time for a brew up

I enjoyed reading both AAR's and getting up to speed with this career. I will be watching for more updates.


Wheels

Very nice AAR. Did you get home before you ran out of fuel?