Without wanting to put a spanner in the works, we are going to try an experiment over the next couple of weeks.
Next Tuesday will be a planning night, with Squadrons putting up 2 members for a pre-mission planning session so we can co-ordinate all activities and all sing off the same hymnsheet. This will be pretty brief, and we will provide all the necessary briefing sheets etc. 15 minutes tops we hope.
The following Tuesday will be a re-run of Op Oh-Man, with no pre-flight briefing (Squadrons will have all that in hand after the planning session, and will brief their own crews for the whole mission. We will therefore be able to get more flying in, with chocks out at 19:45.
We hope we can get things onto a much more realistic footing, with more SA, more co-operation between Squadrons, and we will have a mission commander for the night, which we intend to rotate on a fortnightly basis.
The added benefit to flying more relevant missions will be less pressure on mission writers to design, brief and get flak for failures of what ought to be lower level planning.
22nd June Operation Oh Man!
- Neil Willis
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Re: 22nd June Operation Oh Man!
Group Captain Neil Willis - RAF Air UK
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Re: 22nd June Operation Oh Man!
That sounds great.
What is the plan for Tuesday missions now?
Is the plan to have them weekly, 3 weeks on 1 off or this new approach with general missions in between?
What is the plan for Tuesday missions now?
Is the plan to have them weekly, 3 weeks on 1 off or this new approach with general missions in between?
0405 ANDREW
Tuesday Mission group lead
"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
Tuesday Mission group lead
"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
- Neil Willis
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Re: 22nd June Operation Oh Man!
We'll have a discussion about going forwards at the planning session. It might be possible to have a 30 minute planning session prior to say an 8:30 sortie on the one Tuesday with a less demanding set of objectives, followed by the full mission, having taken care of all the niceties like briefings in the week leading up to the sortie on a Squadron based system, so we can just jump in, and get going right away.
The aim of all this is to have a better co-ordinated plan together with Squadrons having more information at hand about what other squadrons will be up to, timings, objectives, and an overall mission commander calling the shots or making changes to the plan on the fly as the evening develops.
We can also incorporate recce flights over potential targets after the planning session, JTAC use, Buddy lasing etc etc. Hopefully we can widen everyone's benefits.
The aim of all this is to have a better co-ordinated plan together with Squadrons having more information at hand about what other squadrons will be up to, timings, objectives, and an overall mission commander calling the shots or making changes to the plan on the fly as the evening develops.
We can also incorporate recce flights over potential targets after the planning session, JTAC use, Buddy lasing etc etc. Hopefully we can widen everyone's benefits.
Group Captain Neil Willis - RAF Air UK
Re: 22nd June Operation Oh Man!
A good basis to work on, Neil. This should avoid complaints about short-notice and inadequate briefings (who from? I hear you ask). And, as you say, allow us to get airborne on time (perhaps).
Wing Commander Alan Johnson - RAFAir UK
Re: 22nd June Operation Oh Man!
After Action Report 11Sqdn:
We started with 4 pilots and by the time we got on deck we could only muster 3, this was due to Cactus's computer saying NO. There was then a brief spell of hanging for Alien who had to reboot, meanwhile Funky & Boos managed to get airborne and make their way to WP3, Approx 60 miles or so out the first bandits appeared on Funky's TID and the engagement started.
Boos and Funky engaged and Alien continued to and went CAP at WP1.
Funky got hit with a PH54 from an Iranian F14, Boos continued the engagement, Alien was having a very quiet time at WP1 and decided that Boos could probably do with abit of support at WP3, during the transit to WP3 Alien had an F14 on his six, got into a flat spin and then the screen hung, after 20 secs ish, the screen came back to life and Alien was a splash in the aqua.
Funky had respawned and rejoined Boos and continued to engage, Alien respawned and headed for WP3. some low flying F 14'S were taken down, our secondary target being the Hercs was strafed multiple times but they appeared to be bullet proof.
All in all not a bad sortie with 9 enemy aircraft taken down, however with only 3 a/c I'm not 100% that we fully fulfilled our role of CAP with regards to protecting other friendly assets.
We started with 4 pilots and by the time we got on deck we could only muster 3, this was due to Cactus's computer saying NO. There was then a brief spell of hanging for Alien who had to reboot, meanwhile Funky & Boos managed to get airborne and make their way to WP3, Approx 60 miles or so out the first bandits appeared on Funky's TID and the engagement started.
Boos and Funky engaged and Alien continued to and went CAP at WP1.
Funky got hit with a PH54 from an Iranian F14, Boos continued the engagement, Alien was having a very quiet time at WP1 and decided that Boos could probably do with abit of support at WP3, during the transit to WP3 Alien had an F14 on his six, got into a flat spin and then the screen hung, after 20 secs ish, the screen came back to life and Alien was a splash in the aqua.
Funky had respawned and rejoined Boos and continued to engage, Alien respawned and headed for WP3. some low flying F 14'S were taken down, our secondary target being the Hercs was strafed multiple times but they appeared to be bullet proof.
All in all not a bad sortie with 9 enemy aircraft taken down, however with only 3 a/c I'm not 100% that we fully fulfilled our role of CAP with regards to protecting other friendly assets.
Shane Cowan callsign: 'ALIEN' - RAF Air UK
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Re: 22nd June Operation Oh Man!
Nice one Alien, how different was it going against f5s and f14s? Do I need to make any adjustments for future missions?
0405 ANDREW
Tuesday Mission group lead
"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
Tuesday Mission group lead
"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
Re: 22nd June Operation Oh Man!
Seeing other f14's on your TID did make us step up our SA, and of course having the same BVR missiles as us makes it more of a game changer, I don't think you need change anything mate tbh.
We enjoyed it.
We enjoyed it.
Shane Cowan callsign: 'ALIEN' - RAF Air UK
Re: 22nd June Operation Oh Man!
There was no complaint from the A10s about fighter cover that I heard, nor any that was apparent from the Tacview. If anything there was a lack of much 'pucker-factor' among us - I have even given 50% of my flying pay back as a result.
Wing Commander Alan Johnson - RAFAir UK
- 0405 Andrew
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Re: 22nd June Operation Oh Man!
Which squadron said they had taken out the drone base?
Just off the coast of Oman.
Just off the coast of Oman.
0405 ANDREW
Tuesday Mission group lead
"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
Tuesday Mission group lead
"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50