This one's going to be a very short and to the point post as I've forgotten most of the battle details (I played this game in September and am only just now getting to posting it).
I solo-gamed an Israeli Air Force raid on two Egyptian bridgeheads over the Suez Canal, testing out SAMs. Let me tell you - SAMs can be deadly, especially volley-fired SA-6 Gainfuls. The Israeli aircraft clearly need more decoy dispensers if they're going to survive more of these bombing raids!
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| The set-up. |
Following on from my last AirwWar C21 post, Major Pushkin, a Russian ace sent to assist the Egyptians, did in fact get a new wingman, the skilled but ill-fated Lt. Hosni Samy. The Israelis again had a pair of Mirage IIIs and a pair of A-4 Skyhawks loaded up with Mk 82s and hoping to smash the pontoon bridges and maybe any tanks or other vehicles moving across.
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| Close-in dogfight right over the northern bridge. |
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| Shahak 1 flown by Capt Weiss shoots down Maj Pushkin. |
Captain Weiss shot down Major Pushkin's MiG-21 with a Shafrir 2 heat-seeking missile after he failed yet another complex manoeuvre. He did not manage to eject. That's right - Major Yevgeni Pushkin, Soviet ace, connoisseur of vodka, dead at the age of 50-something.
Pushkin's wingman, Lt Samy, messed up a very tight low-altitude turn and hit the ground. KIA.
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| Mirages overfly the bridges, past a wrecked MiG. |
Casualties for the Israelis were high too. While Capt Weiss got away with his kill his wingman
Lt Shmuel Zahav was hit by an SA-6 SAM. Lt Zahav was seen to safely eject but landed close to the Egyptian-held target area. He is now listed as Missing.
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| SAM! Dead ahead! |
The leader of the bomber flight Captain Sharbal Golan was killed instantly in a huge explosion when his loaded plane was hit by three SA-6s (total damage 12, and the Skyhawk only had 5 to begin with!)
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| Lt Moshe escapes a SAM after destroying the north bridge. |
Hero of the day though was the wingman of the Skyhawk flight, Lt. Elias Moshe, who dodged MiG-21s, SAMs and ZSU gunfire to deliver his bombs right on target, destroying the northern bridge. and an SA-6 battery as well.
The results were pretty much a tie - Egyptian forces lost two fighters, two pilots, an SA-6 batter and one of the vital bridges. Israeli forces lost two planes, two pilots and failed to destroy the other bridge. Their enemy's advance into the Sinai will continue, but at a slower pace.
Lessons learned - SAMs are deadly and make it hard to line up for a bomb-run (you really want to be break-turning as well as dumping countermeasures).
Next time Israelis will take more precautions, and the Egyptians need some more planes (I have some MiG-17s and a Tu-16 Badger...)
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| SAMs floating past harmlessly, like clouds... |
