[CKY_86]

After the bombing of Smolensk, everyone on base was eager to know how much damage the bombers did to the bolsheviks factory's. Some new recruits arived last night, I was in need of a new flight, so the decision was made to kill three birds with one stone. I was given the command of the rookies and was to get them in the air imidiatlly with a recon flight to Smolensk.

These guys had just come from fighter school so I wasn't expecting great things from them. We lined up on the runway an at about 0800 hours the order to take off was given.



After take off I circled around the base a few times to give the recruits time to form up. Once they were in the air we then headed in the direction of Smolensk. I ordered the flight to form a right echoln formation, wich they did beautiully. I was very impressed. They held the formation right up untill we reached Smolensk.



The bombers had last night targeted the factory complexes & the fires were still burning bright this morning. The smoke an flames could be seen for smole miles away. As we got nearer to the bombed out factory complex the radio was full of awes an gasps. This is the first time these guys had seen the destructive power war has, it proberly won't be the last time either. Factorys were now gutted out shells still ablaze. A bridge carrying a rail line to Smolensk station was destroyed in the attack also, ''at least that will hopefully stop a majority of arms getting into the city'' I thought to myself.



Observing the damage done to the factorys I caught sight of something moving over to my left. It was out old friend the I-16. I shouted to the flight that theere was an enemy fighter an the group broke formation an climbed. The I-16 tried climbing for me, I performed a loop an ended up on the hunting end of things. The enemy went down in a steep dive to try an evade me. I followed him down, my engine meanwhile howling as I opened the throttle fully. I gave a quick glance behind. The new recruits were doing very well. My wingman was behind me following my moves while Osaka 3 & 4 were covering high above. The I-16 had pulled out of the dive now an tried to get away in a climbing turn to the right. I closed on him quicklly an fired my guns. machine gun an cannon rounds slammed into his plane. The I-16 then blew up in front of my aircraft. I couldnt turn away in time so I had to fly through the debris. Luckilly my plane didn't suffer any damage.



When I emerged from the fireball the recruts filled with radio with whoops, well dones an the odd ''one more bolshevik down''. I told them I was very impressed with the way they handeld the situation, what they did was not something the average rookie would do. The flight formed up then we continued our observation of the bombed out factorys. Again I caight the sight of something moving in a northwards direction. I kept high an closed in on it. It turned out to be an I-153. he hadnt seen us at all, he was proberlly busy doing what we were doing. Observing the damage that had been done. I told the flight of my plan: ''Osaka flight, we are going to take this one by suprise. Osaka 2 you stay on my tail an engage him if I get in to a turn fight with him. Osaka 3 & 4, stay high and observe what's going on. If things go in favour for our friend, dive down on him. Ok, lets go.'' Osaka 3 and 4 climbed whilst me and my wingman dived down on the un-suspecting victim. The enemy grew bigger an bigger in my sights, I had my finger on the trigger ready to fire when the enemy threw his plane to the left in the tightist turn ive ever seen a bi-plane perform. Blast it! The only thing I could do was use the speed I had gained out of the dive to climb. I did so whilst performing a turn to the left. He was directlly below an to my left, I dived down on him. He put his plane in a climb. As I dived down I fired a couple of shots at him an observed some hitting his wing. I looped my plane over an was onto his six in a few short seconds. I was in a firing position an just as I pressed the trigger, he rolled away to the right. Crafty basterd! As I turned my plane around I saw Osaka 3 & 4 dive down on him. They fired off a few shots but none hit. I had managed to latch onto him once more, he tried all sorts of moves to try unstick me. We went into a climbing scissors wich unstuck me an gave him the perfect chance to shoot. He fired off a few shots that passed very close to my plane.



The enemy had now latched onto me. I treid a few tight low level turns with the assistance of lowering my flaps a little, but to no avale. That I-153 was still there behind me. I decided the best cause of action would be to try outrun him. I brought my plane level an put it in a shallow dive to try gain speed. bullets started to whizz just above the cockpit of my plane, I put my aircraft into a steeper dive an turned away to the left. Behind me I saw the enemy still there on my tail when my wingman latched onto the Russian an fired at him. He broke away in a rolling dive to the right. I turned my plane round to get back onto him, he was now making a climbing right turn, going after Osaka 2. I got in close an fired all three guns at him. I saw a cannon round hit quite close to the cockpit. The enemy plane then became un-responsive, it dived down towards the earth an crashed on a riverbank. The cannon round must have killed the pilot. I called the flight to re-group in formation. Circiling above the crash site I called into ground control to tell them the success of the mission. I led the flight onto the vector for home. Stranglly not a word was said during the flight.



It was only when we were landing that Osaka 3 spoke up. ''Good kills Osaka 1''. Once we were all down on the ground we retreted back to the crew room to celebrate the victorys of the day with the new Osaka flight.