Operation Shield, 1st February

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0405 Andrew
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by 0405 Andrew »

Duke wrote: 02 Feb 2022, 07:18 I felt truly embarrassed to be the flight lead if honest, big thanks to Andrew, Boos and Smokie for doing everything correctly unlike me
Absolutely not right, the flight leading was very good. Radio calls, positioning etc all very clear and made it simple to follow, thanks Duke. You made it an enjoyable evening.
0405 ANDREW

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"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
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Alien
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by Alien »

AAR 11F

11F Got off to a good start by managing to all spawn onto the Teddy without bursting into flames only for FC to have a comms problem which required him to reboot but we had plenty of time so no issue in the grand scheme of things, Funky and Scooby were the first flight to depart followed by Alien and FC.
Funky and Scooby made there way to WP1 which was in fact CAP Loc 1 where we were to orbit and wait for AWACS / our AWG 9 / TID to give us the latest on the bombers which we knew were going to be headed in the direction of ROTA, as Uzi flight 1 went into orbit AWACS made the call that bombers were inbound @angels 20, flight 1 left their orbit to head off on 310 @ angels 25 to intercept ? and engage, meanwhile Uzi flight 2 Alien and FC were still on route to WP1 CAP Loc 1 where we too went into a left hand orbit and waited until flight 1 had released x 2 54A's from each aircraft, once they went cold flight 2 engaged per the same.
Due to some remodelling of our beloved Phoenix Missiles we achieved a 50% hit rate, 3 or 4 went off into the Ulu and did their own thing, eventually all of the bombers were taken down.

Once both flights had cleaned up the airspace of bombers we headed off to WP2 CAP Loc 2 West of Saipan to take on any other air threats, these did arrive en mass and turned out to be SU 33'S from the Kuznetsov. This engagement became something of a party mix where we had 14's 16's & 18's participating in some AIR to AIR practice, all hostiles were taken down in fairly quick time.

Having looked at TV and prior to the above engagement I had unleashed a 54 at what was given on my TID as a hostile, it turns out that it was indeed and F16 Spyker who's quick reaction prevented a Blue on Blue, my apologies Spyker, and my thanks for taking a SU33 off my 6 which I had got too close too when I decided to disengage, however a second or two to being hit the SU33 managed to get one off which found it's way to my bottom.

Once that engagement was over and air superiority was achieved it was time to RTB.
Carrier landings never fail to throw up a laugh or two, suffice to say we all made it onto the deck bar one F18, Just a little reminder for mission planners, we don't mind abit of crosswind but we really do like to be able to see the information on our HUDS albeit the F14's is useless I / We still use it, so if we are going to have a nice sunny day with a late afternoon sun , could we have it behind us when coming into trap please. our Raybans weren't up to the task unfortunately. :lol:

Great job Boos, well done mate

Apparently our aircraft parking attendant was stuck in the HEADS so we just decided to put them anywhere :lol:
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Shane Cowan callsign: 'ALIEN' - RAF Air UK
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309 Geoff
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by 309 Geoff »

Here is the 97Sqn debrief from last night. Apologies for the length. Thoroughly enjoyable Boos. Thank you.

97Sqn Debrief - Op Shield

Paul asked myself to lead this mission. I hadn’t flown, in anger, for over 6 weeks. Muscle memory was fine so expecting to really enjoy this mission. I designed the flight plan, strategy, tactics, and circulated the miz and brief to 97Sqn and Boos in good time. Comments reviewed, and changes made to accommodate other flight members.

We had 3 moving convoys. All protected with a ZSU. Cloud base allowed plans to attack above the danger. Good. All Squadrons had TOTs for their different targets. I decided to spit the flight, so we could attack all 3 convoys at the same TOT.

The issue with a moving target with a TOT, means you need to know it’s accurate location, to achieve your TOT. In real life, I prided myself on hitting all my TOTs within +-10secs. That was without a computer system, doing it all mentally. It was fine with stationary targets.

I once put a singleton mission together, flying the Bucc, to hit a train, in a Station, in Scotland. I had to take a time stamped photo of the train, to prove mission success. Planning start point was the British Rail timetable. You guessed it. Image was captured over the Station, on time, but no Train. The moral of this story is moving targets and TOTs do not work. They will work if you can ident your target from, say 80nm, know their accurate speed, and use dead reckoning to calculate their TOT location. That may give you enough time to increase speed to hit them on time. Losing time is easy. It was impossible on this map due to the trees to ident convoys from this distance.

I spent several hours testing, to work out the 3 convoy TOT positions. Planning worked and I could hit them on time. I felt confident, and was ready for the flight.

Briefing completed, we climbed into our aircraft and started up. I called for check-in on 128.3 at 2000Z. SRS looked good. I could see the flight on 128.3, and heard Ford on 250.1. My SRS transmit failed. SRS restarted. Still no good. Now had to rely on TS, and asking my No2, Richard, to forward my TS messages to Ford, and Overlord. Confidence took a hit.

I thought it strange that during testing, I always started up in the dark. This was different. I should have given it more thought. I paid the price later.

Flight taxied at 2014Z, and took off at 2021Z, with 20sec spacing, as briefed. We climbed to 9000ft, in trail. Frequency changed to 251.0 when No4, Alan cleared Anderson AFB.

At our Fence In WP, timed at 2032Z, I was expecting to hear Ford transmit “Casanova”, meaning we were safe to continue. On TS, I asked flight if any had heard the call. Replies came back No. No2 asked to speak to Ford, on 251, for SA11 update. Ford responded the call had been made. We were now safe to continue.

Flight separated, and adjusted speed for our synchronized TOT. All looked good. All I had to do was find my convoy. I checked with flight that their TOTs had been entered correctly, and their TOT speed was as expected.

Confidence took another hit. I couldn’t find my convoy. Strange, I’d done it before. No2 Richard, and No3, Paul found their convoys easily.

Richard fired a Mav first, followed by Paul. Their ZSUs were both destroyed within 40secs. I could not calculate how close to the TOT of 2046Z. The time on Tacview was misleading. It didn’t match Zulu, or Local.

Using DCS replay, Richards mav impacted at 204525Z, and Pauls mav at 204605Z. That’s 30sec separation. Well done guys. Pauls convoy was already at the a’ field

Only 1 ZSU remained. Mine. I destroyed my ZSU 8 mins later with a CBU105. Now my convoy was on the airfield. Richard’s remaining convoy were still hiding in the trees. They arrived at the a ‘field 10mins later.

It appeared now that all the convoys were well ahead of timetable. Poor intel. I should have guessed, following the daylight start-up.

The 4 of us now went to work on the convoys, using our briefed offset corridors. Paul asked was it safe to attack low level. I was concerned with unplanned changes to the miz, because of the timings. I answered “at your own risk”. Attacks continued with clusters, mavs, laser rockets, and guns, some from low level. All the ZSUs had been destroyed, but Tacview showed the T55s opening fire on us.

A brief conversation followed on SRS with Ford, re our secondary targets. Paul had already asked for permission, and was authorised to separate from the flight. It didn’t go well. He took hits from a ZSU, and had to RTB. I put a pic up on the 97Sqn Op Shield forum. He asked for a steer, but then discovered his tacan was working. Well done Paul for walking back to the crew room.

Alan lost concentration for a few secs, and paid the price. He forgot his FTFA. His words. Not mine.

Myself and Richard carried on mopping up the few vehicle and tanks left. Richard reached BINGO, and returned as a singleton, leaving me a tank and vehicle.

All destroyed, I set course for Anderson. I could see 2 F16s in my 6o’clock, jettisoned my weapons, and went full throttle. They decided to escort me back to base, hence my speed increase. I’ve posted pics in the Screenies forum.

I couldn't communicate with Ford, so Richard obliged, passing on my TS calls

Return to Anderson went well for myself and my escort. Paul was punished for damaging his aircraft by the Station CO, and had to act as ATC Controller in the Tower. His radio calls on SRS and TS were perfect, with us all landing safely on both runways.

Thank you Boos for a fantastic, mission. Greatly appreciated.
Flt Lt Geoff Mansfield RAF Air UK
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john (scooby)
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by john (scooby) »

loved the british rail story geoff :lol: tbh im surprised you didnt know better :lol:
and hitting every tot you had within 10 seconds is fantastic mate!
Sqn Ldr (Scooby) Burton RAF Air UK
XI(F) Sqn 2ic
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0405 Andrew
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by 0405 Andrew »

Yes, great write up Geoff. I love the dedication to the planning, you do mission designers proud!
The A10 is really a great machine.
0405 ANDREW

Tuesday Mission group lead
"Andrew, you are right"
Flyco: 28 Jul 2021, 12:50
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Wee Neal 0414
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by Wee Neal 0414 »

It’s not a machine, its a chariot of the Gods!
Squadron Leader Wee Neal 0414
CO 60 Squadron

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Boos
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by Boos »

Great mission guys, I would call that a success. All target hit to my satisfaction.

Learned some lessons for the next one. Sorry about the F10, just kept it through testing and forgot to set it back before the mission.

I think 1(F) had some problems with the Hermes, not sure what caused it. I believe some of the slots were take off from runway and some where from parking.

Alien, I will remember that for next time but I felt we did pretty good. 8-)



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Daniel callsign: 'Boos' - RAF Air UK
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Matt
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by Matt »

1(F) AAR

A small spawning issue on the Hermes which affected only two jets (strange) all the rest were okay....but unlucky for Hendo he had to drop out with control input issues, so all we still had four jets airborne.

We split in to two pairs (one lead by Chocks engaging the ships and the second by myself conducting CAS on the beach)

Overall a success from 1(F) all targets but 1x BMP killed on the beachhead and one tanker left operation however requiring substantial repairs (after our second sortie we had very flying 2 and a half hours so decided against another sortie)

Many thanks to 3(F) dor a superb SEAD strike on the Sa11 site close by and also to 11(F) for great work clearing the skies, my spike call was quickly cleared up by I believe uzi 4? So great work all involved!

Well done Boos!
Air Commodore Matt Purnell - RAF Air UK
CO 1(F) Squadron
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john (scooby)
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by john (scooby) »

Matt wrote: 02 Feb 2022, 19:53 1(F) AAR

A small spawning issue on the Hermes which affected only two jets (strange) all the rest were okay....but unlucky for Hendo he had to drop out with control input issues, so all we still had four jets airborne.

We split in to two pairs (one lead by Chocks engaging the ships and the second by myself conducting CAS on the beach)

Overall a success from 1(F) all targets but 1x BMP killed on the beachhead and one tanker left operation however requiring substantial repairs (after our second sortie we had very flying 2 and a half hours so decided against another sortie)

Many thanks to 3(F) dor a superb SEAD strike on the Sa11 site close by and also to 11(F) for great work clearing the skies, my spike call was quickly cleared up by I believe uzi 4? So great work all involved!

Well done Boos!
uzi 3 and 4 were inbound to your threat, no idea who (if either of us) cleared it up, there were alot of friendlies around
Sqn Ldr (Scooby) Burton RAF Air UK
XI(F) Sqn 2ic
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Matt
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Re: Operation Shield, 1st February

Post by Matt »

Yeah bud, after the call it was cleared from my perspective shorty after, so I assumed one of you guys did!

Great work regardless
Air Commodore Matt Purnell - RAF Air UK
CO 1(F) Squadron
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