Monday Night Hops Snowfox Strike Munitions Depot 042522

Post AAR's and video footage of missions and sorties here.

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Bones
Posts: 1512
Joined: 27 Jun 2019, 11:29

Monday Night Hops Snowfox Strike Munitions Depot 042522

Post by Bones »







v6,
boNes
"Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot
Bones
Posts: 1512
Joined: 27 Jun 2019, 11:29

Re: Monday Night Hops Snowfox Strike Munitions Depot 042522

Post by Bones »

OK, so I have to say that even though I got shot down on each of our hops, I have to say that I enjoyed it.

Why?

Well for one, I was for the most part on my game...I mostly got the missiles to work properly, and the aggression tactics too. It was kinda not honorable of me but I killed a couple of F-5s while they were landing too. The only time I got shot down really was when I had no choice and had to face the bandits as they were coming for me and I was low on fuel, too far from the carrier, and down to just a gun. Even then, I got the bandit and just as I thought, "I hope this isn't like in Top Gun when Viper lured Maverick away and Jester snuck up and killed him"--his wingman pulled a Jester on me. But hey, GUNS KILL! Plus I survived the ejection.

The other time I got shot down, I didn't mind so much because I had shot down so many in that sortie alone...but I got complacent. Maybe it was being weary from engagement after engagement, but by the last engagement, I had shot off my Sparrow and was guiding it and was flying right at the bandit at less than 10 nm range and although in my head I was thinking, "He might fire an IR missile at me, I should flare and evade"...I did nothing but flew right at him fat dumb and happy. Sure enough, I got hit. But I survived the ejection again.

But the best part about these sorties was our working together. Xpendable was in a Hornet for the first time in ages and did quite well, even if his loadout was jacked at first. But as we approached the target, Grifter and Xpen covered my strike. There was a bandit group coming right at me from the target area, and a second group at my 11:00 also coming at me. Grifter and Xpen took care of the 11:00 bandits as I took out the ones on my nose. As I made bombing runs on the target, Grifter and Xpen continued to take down bandits. When I determined that Jester does not retain the target that I manually designate from the backseat, thereby trashing the drop, I was forced to drop by CCIP and after review of the video, it looks like my bomb dropped behind the ammo dump instead of on. But being free of groudn ordnance, I quickly switched back to air to air to cover Grifter who took over the bomb run. That was sensational. as Xpen and I held off the bandits, Grif was able to make 2 runs on the target, the second one being successful with a JDAM strike! The Su-30 threatening him got a Phoenix launched at him. As soon as it turned pitbull, I turned 180 degrees and ran for it. While flying away in that other direction, my Phoenix took out the Su-30. How showy!

With that everyone headed for home although they were low on fuel. Grifter was right we probably should have bugged out before then. We hit the target but endangered ourselves by placing us in a position of being low on fuel and ordnance and having to run. Luckily, both Grifter and Xpen made it back alive though they had to divert to Khasab. I didn't make it back being complacent as I explained above, but I lived.

After Grifter and Xpen left, the next target was AAA near the port. I again took a Bombcat and on the way in, killed 2 Fishbeds with working Phoenixes. This time I got Jester to hit the AAA site. I could not get him to hit the remaining one under duress of Jester's limitations and the bandits attacking me, so I bugged out. I was forced to engage with some bandits, but again, tactics were sound and I evaded a missile or two and was able to gain the advantage and kill them promptly. One of the MiG31s actually took a Sidewinder hit from me and survived! He limped away and I finished him off with another Sidewinder. I was chased along the way out and realized I had no choice but to face 2 bandits that were getting too close to me, so I turned on them and killed one with my last Sparrow. I then pounced on his wingman and got him with the gun. No winchster exceept for the gun, I stayed above the waves machbusting the speed of heat until the CBG started picking off the MiGs attacking me. I actually saw a MiG go down while rolling into the groove, that's how close they got.

After a SHB and 2 passes, I was able to put her down for a dirty 2 wire. I realized from this trap that having a LANTIRN pod and a remaining bomb on the right aft of my bird (I realized that the bomb was still there after I trapped) that it really makes the right hand turn tendency pretty bad. I had trimmed out most of it, but had reached the limits of my trim. Made the landing quite challenging. But I was happy as I hit one of the AAA and got 5 kills, including guns kills, all in the same sortie and made it back for a trap on the boat. My tactics in BVR were sound, and even more sound in the merge with the guns kills. All the ACM training and BVR tactics I had been practicing over and over really paid off last night.

v6,
boNes
"Also, I would prefer a back seater over the extra gas any day. I would have 80 pounds of flesh to eat and a pair of glasses to start a fire." --F/A-18 Hornet pilot
Xpendable
Posts: 418
Joined: 07 Apr 2021, 16:40

Re: Monday Night Hops Snowfox Strike Munitions Depot 042522

Post by Xpendable »

I had a lot of fun last night flying the Hornet even though I felt like a fish out of water. The fact that I did not get shot down largely has to do with me getting lucky. I should have died multiple times over, lol! At one point I flew directly across the nose of an F-4 with less than 200 feet between us and he was straight and level. A single squeeze of the gun trigger would have ended me. It was kinda like the F-4 AI wasn't even aware I was there!

I ended up bagging 4 enemy aircraft in that single flight. Three with AIM-120's and 1 with an AIM-9X. I almost bagged another with the remaining sidewinder but he was able to run away from it and it did not have enough energy to catch him. I was really low on fuel by then so could not go burner.

I have not had a chance to watch the Tacview yet but look forward to it.
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