I thought I would just leave the Thirdwire series alone for the next few weeks (months?) until F-14 was released, but then there is still so many planes I haven't gotten familiar with. Especially the crowdpleasing A-10 Thunderbolt2. I always thought it was a cool plane, but I've never been very interested in fixed-wing ground attack. Sure, I've taken the A-10 on some single missions now and again, but to really get to know a plane, you need to fly it thru a campaign. So I loaded up my work-in-progress Desert Fury2 1981 campaign and selected to fly with the 390th TFS Wild Boars from a forward airbase in southern Dhimar. The first mission I am tasked with is, unsuprisingly a CAS sortie, over Najahafi.
Taking a careful look around the pit, I notice some attention to detail and functionality that I was really not expecting. For instance, the bomb count and ripple timer numerals are actually functional. I think it is a very good looking pit for a lite sim that covers 4 decades and 30+ planes.
Myself and 3 wingmen to to the sky and begin our (very) slow ingress. The last campaign I flew was in the Mirage5BA, so the A-10 feels about as sporty as my 12 year old Ford Focus. But similarly, it will turn on a dime at low speeds.
Thankfully we have plenty of friendly aircover in the sky with us this morning. USAF and Dhimari F-16A overhead are making me feel less uncomfortable about having a top speed of about 400kts.
Enemies are sortieing as well, and the Libyans are out in force. If I was in a Falcon on a CAS, I would at least try to get off a sidewinder or 2 at those Blinders. And the Mirage5, well I dare it to try anything stupid. I got 1000 big ol' bullets and 2 AIM-9L to boot. It passes way overhead, must be on a recon mission.
Arriving at the target area, we stand off while scanning for AA elements. I find 2 Shilka, and take out one myself, and assign the other to my wingy. Mavericks keep me out of harms way.
We're then free to move in with Rockeyes and the big gun...
Strafing can be pretty fun.
After we mop up every last Parani tank, my flight turns north to head home, and notice enemy planes converging. Ground attack MiG-23s. They seem to have no desire to engage us, but are strafing friendly positions. Keeping them at bay is all we can do as they zoom around us like we're sitting still.
Some MiG-21 have shown up as well, and they are ready to play. I call for help, as those new bis models are nothing to take lightly, even for a modern fighter.
A large squadron of Dhimari MirageIII fly down from up North and overwhelm the MiGs with sheer numbers. One of my wingmen actually gets a kill against a MiG-21 before we bug out.
After flying a few missions, I still can't enjoy ground pounding in a Hog as much as dueling MiGs in a sleek, silver Mirage, but it is a nice change once in a while.