Op Centurion 3

[Flyco]

I regret that I have not been able to update our routing for this evening's sortie. We will just have to pretend we are flying Hunters relying on the good old compass, watch and map. The map is attached.

The route outbound will be pretty much as before; taking off on Runway 25, as two flights with a 2 min separation. We will climb to 7,000 ft amd then cruise at 240 kias to our 'Turn On'. These are shown on the attached map. I will have co-ordinates for these, but they will not be inputted into the A-10 system.

We will fence in as we coast out, setting Mavs initially, At the Turn On point, we will reduce to 2oo kts and start searching for targets on the coast ahead. The initial targets will be mobile SAMs and AAA, and they should become identifiable on the RWR as * (SA-8), (SA-19), or 'A'. The SAMs have a range of up to 5 nm, so we will need to lock on and fire before that range.

Boar Flt will search the area between "Tgt Start Pt" and "Tgt N", and Hawg will search the area South of "Tgt N". The targets will all be on the road close to the coast. When lock on is achieved, fire at least 2 Mavs in quick succession - these SAMs have the ability to take Mavs down, but have problems with 2 or more in quick succession. With missiles fired, turn out (Boar turn Left, Hawg turn Right), for further runs. If necessary, hold inbound on track to your respective IP.

Once all SAMs are destroyed, flights will be clear to continue attacks on other military vehicles on that route. The Reference Pts all preceded by the prefix "Tgt" should be self explanatory. Additionally there is a single unguided AAA located as shown on the map; this is not radar controlled but is effective to 7,000 ft and around 2 nm so it too should be destroyed.

From then on it becomes a little easier, but there will be 5-6 A-10s looking for glory, so keep your ears and eyes working, and try and minimise unnecessary chatter. Flt Ldrs will decide when to switch individual's 'Hunting grounds'.

Please let me have any initial questions and listen out on tonight's brief.

[Flyco]

Grid Refs for points shown on the target map are as follows:

Ref Pt Co-ordinates

BOAR
Boar Turn On FH 450 450
Boar IP FH 500 540
Tgt Start Pt FH 5894 6642

HAWG
Hawg Turn On FH 500 400
Hog IP FH 550 492
Tgt N FH 673 618

ALL
Tgt W FH 619 623
Tgt N FH 673 618
Tgt MID FH 6970 5776
Tgt S FH 7236 5448
Tgt Dest FH 737 550

ZSU 57-2 FH 6878 5893

[Paul(Dragon)0043]

Alan is that grid 37T or 38T?

Paul

[Flyco]

Sorry, Paul. All are Grid 37 T. We take off in 38T but enter 37T before we coast out.

[Paul(Dragon)0043]

Rgr that, thanks, Alan.

Paul

[Flyco]

Sorry about tonight gents. My mic appeared to be working but any noise it made was clearly not being sent. I tried my spare headset with the same result. I decided to stick with you to give the rest of my system a run. I was hearing you fine, and found it very frustrating not to be able to reply.

On the taxi, on the runway, and in flight there were problems with the famous 'jumping aircraft' syndrome. Was anyone else experiencing it?

I decided to stick along and see what happened. I even set up my weapons system and activated my Mavericks. However, the sound gradually got worse, with lots of crackles and drop-outs. Then I lost all electrics - the aircraft was controllable but all the lights went out, but the 'steam-driven' basic instruments were working. There was also a lot of stuttering in theplay.

At that stage everything started to play up - with frozen periods of several seconds. In addition I was getting a great deal of noise in my 'phones, so I decided to call it a day. As I exited it all fell apart and lots of Windows 11 (allegedly helpful) notices appeared telling me I was having trouble!!

Restarted and was able to watch what was left of the lads. Richard was nowhere to be seen and Tempest appeared lost some miles to the East. Paul was still knocking down the SAMs, but I looked away and when I got back his Port engine was well alight. I kept shouting 'Bale out' but he ignored me and a turned away so that I would not need to watch the inevitable. By that time Tempest had also disappeared. But, as they said in some crappy war film I saw "You can't kill a Squadron'.

I would welcome any feedback - was I the only one seeing the jumps for example?

Oh well, lots of work for me trying to tie down the problems. I get the impression almost that several of the sub-programs are capturing the main server. For example when I used the SRS and Teamspeak on one of my subsidiary screens, I lost focus on the main screen and had to click the mouse back on the main screen to get it to reacts again. Bloody Windows 11.

Oh, one last rant, my Security system (Norton 360) is continually interrupting me with screens proudly telling me that it has "checked millions of threats and really tidied up my PC for me - and can it have a biscuit." just like a dog! (I exagerrated the bit about the biscuit and the dog.

One final thing, we need to practice the "Speechless Procedure" - I haven't used that for 40-50 years, when we only had one, very crummy radio!

[0405 Andrew]

Sorry to hear that Alan, thanks for planning the mission and I hope you get your system sorted soon.

[Paul(Dragon)0043]

Hi Alan, firstly thanks again for planning this one. No problems my end, no warping or anything odd happening. Bad night for me, my head was just not in the flight. Managed to kill a couple of Shilka's with Mav-D's, till I got hit by an SA-8 Missile, both engine's took out, so hit admiral's doorbell and glided a few miles south where I successfully ejected at 500ft. As for Richard, he got kicked off the server, and it wouldn't let him re-join. Jamie managed to kill the SA-19 with a Mav, till he had a disagreement with a Shilka and the inevitable happened.

[Flyco]

I need to get into my PC’s innards, and disable lots of stuff!

[Flyco]

Don't want to teach mother to suck eggs, but take the dangerous one's out first. The SA-8 and the SA-19 were the ones that could kill you at above 2 miles, and all of them have an RWR signature. Take your time to find them, and kill them with Maverick. Then you can set about the (relatively) harmless ones, with LGB rockets and bombs.

Difficult in this case with the poor intel and no decent fixed points.

Take your time - Softly, softly catchee monkey.