Op Ellac, Tuesday 27th July

[Flyco]

Generally a sound, if undemanding, sortie. I will review the Tacview and debrief further later.

[Flyco]

A bit of bother with runway access and taxi times initially, which was resolved very amicably. As it was we were about a minute early getting airborne and about 2 mins early hitting the target. Not critical, but I am a bit pissed off with myself.

Nos 5 and 6 had a 'thing' and were therefore late - probably not their fault, but let us not excuse them because of that (Notice that I didn't mention LMF). The transit went OK, apart from one of our number who was so keen to get into the action that they finished up leading for a time. The initial runs seemed to work OK, with Nos 1 and 2 seeming to get off three shots on each run. One of mine missed (don't know why), and came to earth very close to a Blue tank just beyond. I had not taken on board that there were friendlies that close to our targets. All of the first 4 A-10s got some kills, albeit we had to transfer ac from some targets to others. I have no observations about any other aspects of the first wave, which, Tacview says, hit around 36 blue AFVs and ZSUs.

Nos 5 and 6 arrived late to the party, but entered into things with gusto, taking out 11 targets between them. Paul got hit by groundfire, after deciding to attack from N to S, right over a defended red airfield! Richard moved across and took out some of the remaining Artillery, while I concentrated on the remaining AFVs. In total I counted 52 kills recorded for us on Tacview, which is a little strange since there were only 44 targets in total, and 4 remained alive at the end!

Then came Nemesis! The Red F-16 took out 3 A-10s and badly damaged a fourth. There was not much we could have done about that. I assume we all though it was one of ours, and as it was above the cloud we never got to see it. I certainly took the Missile warnings as relating to our rockets, but had we been more savvy we should have seen that we were (presumably) locked up before the bugger fired - although it is not unusual to be locked up by Blue F-16s, F-14s or F-15s. It took out the first 3 A-10s within 30 seconds and the fourth about 30 seconds after that, although Richard managed to stagger home.

All in all a success right up to when it stopped being a success. I felt our targets were a little benign - almost to the point of boredom. (Presumably this explains Paul's hunting on the wrong side of the tracks). Clearly, we shouldn't assume that top cover is impenetrable and learn to use our defensive systems a bit more. And some of us (me included) could do with smartening up our A-G buttonry.

Thanks all, sorry some of you didn't make it back! I must program a button for my Seat!

[309 Geoff]

Nos 5 and 6 had a 'thing' and were therefore late - probably not their fault, but let us not excuse them because of that (Notice that I didn't mention LMF).

Alan,
Have you seen the 90sec youtube I posted? See bottom of page 3. We did have a "thing".
After 5 & 6 restarted, I had problems getting my APU above 60%. Decided to quit, and start again, after releasing Paul to attack artillery at WP10, ARTY 1.
Restart went fine, and by the time I began my first attack run to ARTY 2, Paul informed me that all ARTY 1 had been destroyed. He was invited to join me at ARTY 2, at 7000ft. I climbed to 7500. Paul took a hit, and ejected. You then dispatched Pontiac 2, Richard to ARTY 2. He destroyed one Artillery with a salvo of rockets. I killed the remaining 4 units.
An F16 started to lock me up, and I made made several "buddy spike" calls, flaring at the same time.
By now, I think only 2*A10s were airborne. Myself, plus Richard trying to RTB for a wheels up landing on the grass.
After a brief call to you on TS, I diverted to WP7, and found 3 targets. On my attack run, I made another "buddy spike" call. "Cactus⁰" informed me that it could be a RED F16. I decided to RTB, descended to LL, and headed West.
I landed last, allowing all the fighters to touch down first.

I enjoyed the mission. Thank you Ade and Andrew. Our targets may have been tame, but that's how I like it.