Gadje some time ago wrote:In past wars it was ruled out because of the progressively bad feelings between teams it generated. Some fighter squads did little else than sit out of range of base flak and wait for landing planes at the end of the mission. Forums then filled with hate.
Seems you predicted it correctly...
I did not witness the incident but later I was told by the pilot who shot you on the ground that this was 'by accident'. He said he mistook you for a static plane plane - while he was strafing, he saw the engine starting...
The rest of this incident: 2 Friedrichs sitting over an airfield is really bad news. Was this a short attack (i.e. did you get killed, spawned directly and get killed again...) or were they sitting there for a while, sieging the airfield?
Sieging is a really bad thing and makes everyone a sad panda. This is for sure and you already got that right some months ago, Gadje.
However: Problem is, airfields are important targets in this campaign. They are often also way points and must be captured by ground forces.
Considering the recent advances of the front line, more and more red airfields are directly at the front and become more and more important targets.
So even sieging an airfield might be ok if it is done to to clear the path for ground attackers who themselves are paving a way for tanks.
Gadje wrote:Perhaps a step back and some rethinking is required before we continue?
Yes.
Although blue is still some big steps away from victory, the situation for red is stressful at least. With the advancing front line blue gathers more and more resources, reducing the red ground force while multiplying their own. Plus red has less airfields to choose from and many of those fields are in danger of being overrun.
While some weeks ago I was hell-bent on finishing this campaign one way or the other, I can see now how this might not be the best experience for all pilots.
There is this stupid little feeling of fecklessness that will arise...and since there is no quick victory in this campaign, it will stay a while.
I experienced something similar in a campaign organized by the guys from KV13. As there were plenty of blue pilots, we joined red. Being outnumbered we suffered losses. Those losses led to downgrades and at the end we were flying early Hurricanes with their useless flashlights against numerically superior 109.
Just a really bad experience over all and nothing that needs repetition.
So yeah...more thinking needs to be done about the future of the Moscow Campaign.
We enjoy flying with you guys and would obviously like you to have a good time as well (even so some actions might look different...
)
Talking about 'over the top actions': Last mission a concrete bird aka IL-2 attacked our airfield at Uvarovhka. I took off with a fighter to get it - which I luckily did. After shooting most of its elevators it went down. Then 2 more 109s popped up and and also placed some lead markings on its rear end, even though it was obviously going down (at least it looked like this to me).
So I thought to myself 'Hell no, this one is mine!' and attacked the plane again even though it was at this time already successfully sitting on its belly in beautiful countryside.
I took a while for me to realize how this must have felt for the red pilot...being shot down, attacked 2 times while practically crashing
and then attacked even after the crash...
Poor guy probably thought I would be trying to kill the pilot...
I think the pilot was Sneaky.
Sorry sir...I just lost it and got way over the top.
Sadly stuff like this happens sometimes in the heat of the moment. Please take no personal offense.
Additionally I blame those stupid statistics for making me a close-fisted kill gatherer...
Cheers!
GZ