Tides of War

Hi there fellow sheep!

I thought last nights euro practice was absolutely superb. Those attending were: myself, Joker, Tbar, Top gun, deathmark, emrys, hotshot and jonny.

We started the practice with some 1 on 1 turn fighting practice. I felt this was really useful as we practiced using combinations of flaps, throttle and brakes to make tight turns. This was a useful practice with only a few pilots but as more turned up it became a bit unmanageable.

We moved to a new team practice room with tbar and joker on one wing and myself, deathmark, top gun and emrys on the other. The idea was to increase experience flying with wingmen and to practice communicating on TS.

Tbar and joker used their experience to good effect and communicated effectively. My wing showed some good fighting skills but were very quiet in calling out information and staying with their wingmen. Again, some familiar problems were evident like several pilots following one aircraft, flying into AA when target fixated and my favourite trying to turn fight in those bloody german planes..doh. But hey, it was great to see so many new BSS pilots giving it a go and we'll get those things sorted with practice!

For the last hour or so we flew in a friendly with warships. The first half was a personal nightmare for me in the 109 but we attempted to fly as a team. Again us less experienced pilots seemed to get dragged into dog fights instead of working to the strengths of the aircraft and BnZ em! As i had to leave before the end of the friendly I don't know how it went and would appreciate someone posting a report later.

Anyway, I had a blast with you guys last night and hope we can get a good turn out next time.

Laterz

Zarn

Zarn,

EXCELLENT REPORT Everyone on our squad should take notice and learn from it. While at work today I had actually wrote about a page and half on this, but the boss came in and asked me to scan some things for him and then e-mail tthem for him. Unfortunately, instead of minimizing my screen I closed it out with out thinking and erased everything.

So, heres the boiled down version.

1 USE TEAM SPEAK EFFECTIVELY!

2 COMMUNICATE YOUR ACTIONS TO YOUR WINGMAN BEFORE YOU COMMIT YOURSELF.

3. THIS IS A TEAM GAME. HIT AND RUN IS THE NAME OF THE GAME. DO AS MUCH DAMAGE ON YOUR FIRST SHOT AND GO ON TO ANOTHER TARGET. COMMUNICATE TO YOUR WING TO PICK UP THE DAMAGED ENEMY. IF YOU FOLLOW AND TRY TO KILL HIM YOU WILL BE KILLED BY YOUR EMENYS WINGMAN!!!!

4. WINGMEN, YOU ARE THE EYES AND EARS OF YOUR WING LEAD. DON'T LEAVE HIM BLIND. TELL HIM BEFORE HE ATTACKS THAT THERE'S A POSSIBLE DANGER CLOSE BY. ( Close by to me is anywhere from 2500 - 5000 feet. By the time you communicate a emeny at 5000 ft away, he has already closed the distance to 1/2 of that. Anything closer is DANGER CLOSE. Avoid and defend yourself)

5. TRY TO ATTACK FROM DIFFERENT ANGLE THAN YOUR WING LEAD.

6. WING LEAD TRY TO GUIDE YOUR WINGMAN INTO POSITION.

7. I WOULD LIKE TO START SCEDULING FRIENDIES WITH SOME OF OUR FELLOW SQUADS, BUT I WON'T DO IT UNTIL I KNOW THAT WE WILL HAVE AT LEAST 4 PILOTS TO FLY THEM. I BELIEVE THIS WILL TEACH US A LOT MORE ABOUT THE COMPETITONS, THAN FLYING AGAINST OURSELVES. IF INTERESTED LET ME KNOW. I'M THINKING MAYBE WEEKENDS ON SUNDAYS BETWEEN NOW AND SEPTEMBER BEFORE THE 2 SQUAD STARTS UP.

In addtion, I owe each and everyone of my team mates and apolygy for my rude and un-called for actions. Yesterday I left the friendly match all p----- off and aggravated near the end of the match. I apoligize for my actions and I will try not to let it happen again.

JoKeR

XO/USA

n addtion, I owe each and everyone of my team mates and apolygy for my rude and un-called for actions. Yesterday I left the friendly match all p----- off and aggravated near the end of the match. I apoligize for my actions and I will try not to let it happen again.

Frustration...

It hapens to me and you guys can really "hear' it in my voice at times .. simple frustration. One day we shall look back and giggle about it.

We are at a point where the transition from complete "noob" to "almost a pilot" is upon us and when we know we can do it ... but seem to be just missing the mark .. then that frustration sneaks up on us.

I know we are alsmost there. I'm not concerned about 'winning'.. never have been. I must admit it would be nice and satisfying if we did 'win' a few now and then .. but what is more important to me .. is that WE as a group never give up .. keep trying .. and mostly have fun and enjoy the company of each other. I feel the bond is happening .. slowly but surely.

Right now the practice we need is "communication". Almost all of you concentrate so hard on your "mark' that you forget there is a team behind you. Its not about the kills you get .. but about the kills the team gets. WE need to learn how to 'set up' the other guys so he gets killed trying to kill us .. we can only do this with 'communication'..

Future practices MUST have the 'chatter' in a proper fashion. We can't 'step' on each other either ..

Future paractices having a short time of ONE on ONE head to head cold pass's are great to teach us to turn fight. We learn a lot from that.. however that does not teach us to 'team fight'.