16/5/99
First of all, congratulations to Oz, Shredd, Methats and B Lacksky who all passed evaluation today. We now have a complete A Flight of twelve pilots, and are well on our way to filling B Flight. Methats has been made Flt Lt of our new European Orange Section, and I'm sure he'll do an excellent job. And talking of excellent jobs, I really have to (again) commend White Section on their obvious enthusiasm and commitment to themselves and the squadron. There is always a real sense of a team between these guys. I watched them come out of training flights today and discuss tactics, flying distances, wingman/leader manouevres...the whole nine yards. They seem to be the only section that has really got this esprit de corps, and embody everything we're trying to do with this squadron. Destroyer and White Section...good job. Everybody else...look and learn. White Section leader Destroyer has written a letter which touches on this and its up in the 'Mailbox' section of HQ. Once again, feel free to send me stuff for this. Its your chance to comment on tactics, organisation and general internal squadron matters. Your voice and your suggestions are important as to how this squadron operates. See you all soon. Comp.
14/5/99
Slow going on the roster updates...but they're done now. Apologies and congratulations Dupradier, Ghost and Viper. I still need to know which sections these pilots are going to be in however. We have six new pilots from all over the world on our books. Please make them welcome. Comp.
8/5/99
I'm still recovering from the humiliation of going into two tailspins in a Spit 1a last night, much to the amusement of our training officer! I chased him into an Immelmann, which would normally have been OK in a MkIX, but the prop seized at the top of the loop and my aeroplane plummeted earthwards at 9000 ft, arse first. As I tried unsuccessfully to wrench the nose down, Kos typed in 'Wheeee!' and down I went, eventually disappearing beneath the waves. A cautionary tale indeed. The MkI ain't anything like the MkIX. There was another amusing incident where Oz, Mun, Kos and myself were all engaged in one of those slow, balletic affairs at low level. Eventually Kos was chasing Oz and I was chasing Kos...all at about 100 mph. Oz slowed down to nothing, Kos plowed into him and then I chewed up his tail with my prop. We all ended up in the drink with bits of wings flying everywhere. If only we could see it in replay. If Microprose ever do any add-ons I'd prefer a Gloscester Gladiator for this kind of fight...
We have two new trainees from Australia...'Rim 55' and 'Hunkiller'. I don't know if these guys were recruited by White Section, but good work! Our Antipodean section is really pulling it's weight in terms of enthusiasm and ideas. By the way...I have a fine photo of Des Sheen in his Spit with trademark boomerang on the side. If any of you White Section regulars ( or anyone else) would like a pic for photo album, send me some snaps of yourself. (See files for details of what you need to send). Its nice to see what we all look like, and it gives a bit of background to what we all do in Civvie St. It'd be nice to have some photos of our European pilots too. Despite many promises, I've yet to get any portraits from you...and you know who you are.
Sadly, I wont be able to make training this Saturday, but its the first one I've missed since joining, so I reckon I deserve a weekend pass. I believe that several pilots will be up for review on their evaluation status this weekend. To those of you...good luck. The Roster updates'll be a couple of days late as I don't get back 'til Sunday...so hang in there!
T's & B's ...Comp.
3/5/99
Here is the adjutant's report which contains some important news, both good and bad. A small portion of the report had to be omitted from our public page due to squadron secrecy. See the full report in H.Q.;
|
1/5/99
Here we are in May, so I thought I'd start with a fresh page. The news files for March/April can be accessed at the bottom of this page. Our meeting today went very well. Here are the minutes;
10.30am(EST)
The Skipper started by implementing an 'Officer of the Day' (OOD) at saturday training. His role will be to ensure that all 609 members stick to the training schedule and to inform others that 609 is in training and is not available for scraps. The post of Officer of the Day will be rotated each week amongst 609 officers. The OOD will not fly from 10.00-12.00 EST.
He continued by emphasising that the training schedule is there to be followed, and all information regarding this can be found on the homepage. Failure to comply with the training schedule may lead to dismissal from the squadron. The Skipper also stated that section leaders will be responsible for the men in their section. Likewise element leaders for their partners. The chain of command is there to be used.
He reminded us that No609 has a great reputation amongst the gaming community, and that our name has carried beyond the confines of EAW. We have been contacted by people who have not even bought the game yet. We were reminded that each of us carries the good name of the Squadron on his shoulders, and to remain honourable in combat and out.
The floor was then declared open to questions;
Methats asked what was the best way to deal with disruptive types online, whilst remaining honourable. The general consensus was to ignore these people as best you can, not to rise to the bait and they will invariably go away. {I know how hard this can be, but I've never seen the same troublemaker online twice -Comp.}
OzZiggy enquired as to the official saturday training schedule for new pilots -specifically, who they will be trained by. Although there is no official programme for this, it usually works out that there are several 'spare' pilots from the regular sections, and everyone seems to find someone to fly with. Kos is also available for training instruction and made the point that he'd like to evaluate each new pilot's flying abilities before they pass.
Methats brought up the subject (based on previous experience) that sections need to know each other better for combat purposes. He stated the opinion that you have to know one another's moves in combat. Kos suggested getting ICQ as a convenient means of staying in touch off the field of battle.
Dupradier asked about the lesser status of a wingman. It was agreed that this is a fairly fluid term which can refer to either a Leader or his No.2. (This will all be explained in HQ when you get there). He also complained of being shot by his wingman at the end of 2 v 2 Mayhems when the other side had left the game or had come down to 3 players. There is no official policy for this, though it is considered good manners to announce the fact that you're going to kill your pal before you do it! He also asked as to whether new pilots under evaluation were considered 'official'. The answer was 'no', as we brought in the 3 week evaluation as a means of determining which pilots were keen enough to show up. In the past we assigned anyone who was vaguely interested to a section immediately, many of whom were never seen. It became hard to determine how many pilots we really had in the squadron. Every pilot now officially placed in a section is someone who turns up every week and is a dependable flyer.
IcePick finished off the meeting by naming the pilots who had passed evaluation this weekend. Rookie has been assigned to red section as Porter's wingman. Destroyer has been made Flt Lt of our new Antipodean section, and Munster has been made 2nd element leader of same and promoted to Pilot Officer. Veteran 609er Shap has been promoted to Pilot Officer. There followed many shouts, cheers, hats thrown into the air and slaps on the back, and three cheers for the Skipper. The meeting was dismissed at 12.00pm after the Squadron Salute.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|