The VA-25 and A-1J are back! Hopefully this theater and conflict will better suit the A-1's strengths...



Our first mission is CAS in the vicinity of Da Nang. We'll take a mixed load of rockets and Snakes.


Shortly after take off, #2 reports engine problems and returns to the carrier. Looks like it's just me.


Crossing the coast.


After checking in with the FAC, I spot my target and make a pass with my LAU-10's. The rockets go right where they're supposed to.


I make 2 more passes with my LAU-3's. You can see Da Nang airfield in the background of this one. Not sure what the boys at Da Nang were so busy with that they couldn't handle this themselves!


The final pass has me so low, I damn near clip some roof tops coming off of the target!


I make two more passes with Snakes.


And then finally, some gun runs.


Once I was guns dry, I headed back to the carrier. Someone managed to get this great shot:

... right before I boltered!

WOV + YAP, I presume.

Landing a tailwheeler on a carrier is tough. I know why I stay away from the Pacific campaigns in IL-2.

Actually, SF2:V plus the free SF2V Air and Ground Expansion Pack from Combatace.

But, yeah, catching the 3 wire in an A-1 is tough!

Does that include scripted missions?

Because I've never seen a wingie turn back for technical problems. Or were you just covering for a bug/AI dumbness?

I was covering for me accidentally telling him to RTB after launching!!!

Cool AAR. The accidental RTB for the wingie is actually a great idea to spice up the AAR.

SF2V is great on its own, but I can't wait for it to get the YAP treatment.

*Chuckle*

Considering the (air) combat effectiveness of your wingies, it might be worth it ordering every single one of them to RTB right after take-off and do your mission on your own.

Finally got around to mission number 2. It was very uneventful, so therefore the AAR will be pretty short.

Today’s mission:


Wingman and I on the catapults ready for launch, each with a full load of M117’s.


Formed up over South Vietnam:


The ingress was very uneventful. I picked up some A-4’s over the radio working in the area before we got there. I’m not sure if they were hitting guns before we got there, or working some other nearby targets.


Once the A-4’s cleared the area, I circled our target from a safe altitude to get a good look. I kept waiting to see tracers or maybe some small caliber flak coming up, but I never saw anything. Perhaps the A-4’s took out the guns before we got there.


I rolled in from my high orbit and pickled all 8 of my M117’s off over the target. Shack! Still no AAA.


I pulled off target and circled, checking back again for any AAA. Still none. I picked out a truck still in the target area and ordered #2 to hit it. Here is a shot I took while waiting for #2 to drop. You can see that I actually still had ordinance coming off the racks when I pulled out of my dive during the bomb run. Those 5 bombs ended up being flung off into the jungle well past the target! I forgot that on the ingress I had set my ripple interval to 500ms, which meant the bomb releases were spaced well apart instead of coming off almost all at once (which is what I thought was going to happen when I rolled in on the target).


#2 nailed the target area as well. We formed up and head back out over the water.


Carrier in sight:


BDA revealed that we decimated the target area. Lots of trucks, fuel tanks, and other light targets destroyed:

Very, very cool. Enjoyed that.

Looking forward to Mission 3.


Wheels