27/9/99
Firstly, many thanks to all pilots who flew missions (and those that tried to but couldn't connect) in our first year of the war. You are all a credit to the Squadron and performed magnificently in a period where we're somewhat short-changed as regards aircraft performance. I thought we learned from our initial mistakes very quickly and your choice of tactics has definitely payed off. Please go to the Warroom to view stats of our missions for 1940. We have a controversy on our hands regarding the last mission played by Shredd and Mun. Firstly, the debrief screen read 2 kills to them, 1 to us and said Shredd had died. In actual fact, Mun shot down 1 and Shredd followed the other back to base, and destroyed the 109 on the ground, then flew safely home. NJG 88 have the score of 1-1 on their site for this mission. Shredd, Mun and myself tried in vain to pin the 88 guys down to discuss this last night at Kali, so I'm not sure why they're counting it as 1-1. I don't believe there's anything in the rules against strafing aircraft on the ground and, while some pilots may be against it, a kill is a kill.
Also, I spoke with Oz last night, who was understandably upset when NJG 88 refused to fly with him, Heinzbaby and Dest due to high ping. They have however, flown with Mun on 3 occasions. I fly with these guys a lot and have little problem despite our geographical differences, as do the 88 chaps in 'friendly' matches. We are an international squadron and want all pilots to get their fair share of this war. I have brought this to the attention of Rel and Ice who, once again, are doing a magnificent job of organising this whole thing.
I move house in 4 days and am surrounded by cardboard boxes as I write, the faithful PC being the last vestige of home. Not sure how long until this gets packed, but I wont be online for a while after that. If I don't see you before I move...good luck and watch your 6/12/3/9 and.........all points of the compass really.
Comp. ('VA or bust').
25/9/99
There is some confusion amongst staff as to who will be flying tonights missions, but as I've not heard from White Section regarding this, I will assume its Blue and Black Sections flying our 3 missions. They will take place at 23.00 EST at Kali. I will not be able to make it as we've got a leaving party to go to, but rest assured my thoughts will be with you as you go after the Hun. Please send reports of your missions to me as soon as you can. If you are knocking down bombers, I would advise that you consider using Hurricanes -they're tougher than spits (though slow) and are a fantastic gun platform. Just a thought. Give 'em hell 609.
22/9/99
Well, its that time again...war continues on Friday and Saturday. There is a new instalment of Skipper's Corner regarding this (plus other important stuff), so check it out. Ice has stated that the same sections will fly again for the remainder of the 1940 missions. However, we still have the problem of Green Section, now Frosby has left us. Maddog, can you get four pilots to fly on Saturday? We also have the problem of filling in for the missions not flown last time. These are;
Green Section -2 missions (4 in total on Saturday).
As we discovered, these can be very lengthy affairs, especially if there are connection problems. To that end I would like to propose that Red Section flys 2 of Maddog's team's missions, and that Brown Section help White Section out. Please let me know and confirm that your section and your pilots can definitely make it on the set date as early as possible as I need to get the info up in the War Room. Flight and Section leaders should find substitute pilots or replacements just in case. Could all pilots not officially flying a mission on the weekend but who are prepared to act as stand- ins...please post in Forum as soon as you can.
The meeting last Saturday went well, by all accounts, and hopefully we have sorted out our recent problems. I recieved several letters from pilots concerned that we shouldn't be airing our dirty laundry in the Forum for all to see. I would like to make the suggestion that all such matters in future be kept amongst ourselves by posting to mailbox. I for one, regret my venting in Forum and have learned my lesson. It's important that we present a united front, even if at times, the garden isn't as rosy as we'd like. We really have (through all your hard work and effort) built a reputation as a top notch squadron. Lets continue to grow as we have done and learn by our mistakes. Remember...we're all new at this and theres no real guidelines.
It gives me real pleasure to announce that Kos has fought his way to the top of the EAW Challenge Ladder...quite a feat. Congrats Kos...you're a credit to us all! Rel (currently at the number 3 spot) has challenged him and the Squadron has lined up it's battered armchairs and deckchairs on the grass outside the ops hut ready for the show of tricks...flaps/landing gear/and engine cut-off turns are all expected with baited breath. Rumour has it that the Skipper has set up a bookie's office somewhere. Not sure who's got the odds at the moment but its close...very close.
It also gives me great pleasure to announce that we have another ace in the squad. Viper got his fifth kill recently and gets his name in blue on the roster. Great work Viper. Jerry ...watch out.
13/9/99
You're probably all aware of the furore currently taking place in the squad. I have discussed it with some of you and I think I now have a fairly good idea of what's going on. Personally, I think we should have gone with the Wing idea a couple of months ago. It would, in theory, have stopped people from feeling as anonymous as they now do among 30-odd pilots. But remember...YOU didn't want it. I'm sick of all the bitching and moaning. I never heard a thing about the dissatisfaction within the squad until Heat resigned. If the Chain of Command was actually being used then complaints could have been brought up in meetings by Flight Leaders or Section Leaders. If you read the C of C explanation list in Roster, the Rules and Regs etc etc.. you'd know that I have done my best to instigate a structure to facilitate this. If it wasn't working and you had better ideas, I would have tried those. As a squad we have tried to organise things so it didn't come down to "2 or 3 people" (a much used coin of phrase over the last few days). Do people honestly believe we wanted to do all this ourselves? I would suggest you all read the 'News Files' from March to the present day, and make a note of how many times I have requested YOUR input. I have stated again and again that Flights should act as independant bodies and be pretty much self-sufficient. But for the most part this hasn't happened, largely due to laziness within Section/Flight Leadership. Most section leaders never submit anything to the 'Section Reports' page for instance. If you did, it would give a good indication as to what was happening within the squad. The Section Leaders who write are generally those that seem to care about their commands. Maybe the others do too....I have no way of knowing. I cant read minds.
Rel and Ice spent weeks organising this war, which you all wanted. The last family crisis we had, had to do in part with all our training going nowhere. Well consequently, some people worked their arses off to get you a war, and to some of you it's still not good enough. Some didn't even show or have the good manners to write to inform us of their absence. I agree, its frustrating dealing with lag and waiting around for hours but what the hell...thats not the fault of anyone in this squad. If you think you can improve things why not step up and make or send a suggestion. Plenty of people do this...Rel, Oz and Dest are not "The Old Boys Club" but they are prominent members of our squadron. Why is this? They send me stuff and try to improve our lot by regularly having their say. Remember...we are an ONLINE squadron. Unless you make yourself heard, you are just another name on a monitor screen.
I am tired with this squadron. Tired of the sulking, and amount of work. By work I don't mean running this site and posting stuff...thats enjoyable. I mean having to chase people up and do their jobs for them. I feel like I've done my best and it still comes back to all this. I know Icepick is too, as I spoke with him on the phone last week. There are several people 'along for the ride' who rarely show and only seem to make themselves heard when there's something to complain about. The system within 609 is actually fairly simple...you dont like something...tell your commanding officer....he tells his...and then it gets brought to the attention of Staff. It becomes complicated when people wait for things to be done FOR them. If any good comes out of all this, it will be that we resize to a smaller unit and lose the chaff. I am moving house in 2 weeks and will be out of the picture for a while. I hope things work out ok. Its up to you.
New T/O's report in from Rel.
New C Flight Training info from Dest in 'White Section News' (Apologies Dest for this going up late).
Comp.
10/9/99
Middle Wallop is edgy today, and quite frankly, I've been avoiding most of the pilots who are nervy and keen to get at the Hun after all this training. The Photo Recon chaps took some high altitude shots of large enemy formations training over the channel. The Skipper is upping our Section patrols, and word is hush hush as to who's going up. Jerry are getting clever at intercepting our signals and they're well aware of our aces by now. To avoid them sending up the whole of the bloody Luftwaffe against one of our hotshots the Skipper has forbidden us to chat about which sections are going in. All notes regarding this will be posted in The Warroom in HQ. I have reminded the chaps to give me reports after any actions. Its getting late...a gloomy late summer day and I can hear the familiar 'Chunka-Chunk' of the Merlins turning over. Cordite wafts across the base from the Gun Butts as some pilot gets his guns synchronised. As I look out the window (now partly obscured by criss-crosses of tape) I can see some of the lads lounging about in old armchairs and on the grass. The Skipper has just pulled up in his green Morgan...flash git! Tiny comes trotting across the tarmac to greet him and Oz keeps one eye on the brute as he scans the foreign news in the paper. Its funny, but we've really gelled into a family this past eight months. A cackle rises from the lads as one of the trainees bumps down onto the tarmac bounces up again and finally manages to get his wheels on terra firma...."Strewth....makes you wanna weep" mutters Destroyer. "Well....Rel'll get him sorted out later" quips Oz. A moment's silence, then like a whisper from all the lounging pilots..."Takka-Takka-Takka-Takka...".
Good luck this weekend lads...give 'em bloody hell!
Comp.
8/9/99
Friends and fellow 609ers, I'm back from the labour day weekend and snowed under with e-mails. Therefore I shall keep this as brief as possible. There are several postings from Rel regarding the upcoming war. I hope I managed to get them all in order. The most recent are first;
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Great work chaps. I would like to thank everyone involved in the formulation and organisation of these rules and regs. I know its been a lot of work and has taken up much of your time.
There are three very important documents for all of you to read in HQ...Skipper's Corner and stuff on B n Z tactics from Rel in TO's Report. Also a letter regarding B n Z from Destroyer in 'Mailbox'. These are musts for officers and rankers alike. Ignore at your peril.
We recently won a 'Presidential Unit Citation' on the ladder as we now have 50 kills to our credit as a squadron. Well done chaps! If you're not yet on the ladder....join up and help us to make 100 by Christmas.
I wrote to No609 RAuxAF Association a while ago and recieved this very promising reply recently;
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"Dear Sam, Thanks for your mail, You are not forgotten! You may be aware that 609. like all the Auxiliaries were wound up in 1957, some 42 years ago. All the serving members will be at least 58 now, and that is for the youngest boy entrant groundcrew at the time of closing. As it was an Auxiliary squadron, most members had other jobs, and the average age was closer to 30. This means that the average age of the members must now be close to 72-75. At that age, there are not many with the capacity, or the desire, to own and use a PC There are notable exceptions, one being Jim Earnshaw whose e-mail is on the website. Another is a New Zealander, Dave Linacre, who I met for the first time last month. Charming fellow, his e-mail should be on the contacts/links pages. I will certainly keep who I can abreast of the developments on your site, and would like to ask one question which I have been asked by the 609 members - Why choose 609 (WR) Sqn RAuxAF as your identity?"
Martin Shaw |
I believe that David Linacre lives in Australia and was in correspondance with him a while ago. If any of our Aussie pilots fancy writing to him, go to their website for the address.
Rel has designed a 'skin' for 609 Spit 1a. I tried it out last week and it looked excellent. I got a great close up view of the 'PR' when Rel shot me down!
Congrats to Beef who has passed evaluation and goes to Red Section as Porter's wingee...Flyguy has been posted MIA. Retox goes to White Section. Congrats Retox!
Thats about it for now. I am very busy with moving house and other commitments so I may not be able to fly too much until some time in October. I shall however, be about. See you all soon. Comp.
1/9/99
Well chaps, here we are in September, war just around the corner and Middle Wallop at fever pitch. New pics of Viper looking well warry in a Spit and Rel looking well happy in photo album. I have also started page 3 of the album with a long awaited pic of 'Tiny' our very own mascot. Take a look at the brute by going to Photo Album/page 3.
Rel and Destroyer have both promised to send stuff on countering the dreaded B' n Z ('Bloomin' Zoomer Tactics') so favoured by the Hun. This will make essential reading for you all.
Regsomble has been transfered from Grey Section to White Section as Element Leader as Oz is off to Germany soon. Grey Section has consequently been reassigned to B Flight.
C Flight training will now take place at The Zone at 21.00 Hrs (Timezone ?) Wednesdays.
Flying evenings at Kali has been great fun of late with the arrival of v1.2. P51s are in vogue at present with marathon (1 hour!) contests taking place and baroque kill scores of 10-8 all round. We've also been testing out mission gameplay, and I had the pleasure of going on an intercept last night with Rel and Stretch. I ran out of ammo, Stretch got damaged so we both landed and watched Rel ply his trade for twenty minutes or so via the F9. Quite an education.
Both Oz and Destroyer have set up excellent EAW related sites. They include some great hints on flying tactics from Oz at;
http:www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Metro/8853
and some very informative stuff on Aircraft Performance from Dest at;
http:www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/ring/7507
I won't be able to make training on Saturday as I've got another festival to go to in Maine. The poor car is starting to complain so if the clutch finally gives out, I may be stranded up North for the Winter. Pray for me chaps.
See you all soon. Comp.