Surrounded by danger, surviving by surprise
While rolling nearly upside down at tree top level to dive down a steep hill while a stream of tracers and a cloud of 'flak' chasing me, I felt like I was in more danger than I ever had been in Digital Combat Simulator. Even more danger than the familiar duels I have had against SA-11 Buk surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites. You would think multi-million dollar missiles streaking across the sky would be more dangerous than anti-aircraft fire, but it is all about the context.
Skyward Flight Media's latest mission in development is set in the mid-Cold War era focused on air strikes against a military base at the top of a mountain in the middle of an island. The entire island is bristling with a dense amount of anti-aircraft guns of various calibers. A nearby SAM site and a squadron of MiG-19P fighters also protect the military base making operations at medium and high altitudes difficult.
To test the difficulty of the mission and challenge myself, I have primarily been flying with the Aermacchi MB-339A. If you can do it in something like the "Macchi", you can do it in almost anything. After all, it is a military jet trainer / light attacker with no onboard radar, no radar warning receiver, and no countermeasure suite to ward off guided missiles. Fuel tanks, gun pods, rockets and unguided bombs are its loadout selections. It is a straight wing, sub-sonic aircraft not capable of exceeding the speed of sound to outrun high level threats. Flying the MB-339A in a legitimately contested air space is not ideal. It can be done under one condition though.
Terrain masking. Nap of the earth flying. Flying so low the aircraft is hard to detect with radar or visually and is difficult to target because of hills, mountains and trees that the aircraft is flying behind. In this scenario, even much more combat capable aircraft like the AJS-37 Viggen and Mirage F1 benefit from low-altitude attack approaches. Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media, Santiago "Cubeboy" Cuberos, frequently demonstrated bold low altitude attacks in the F-4E Phantom II with its massive thrust allowing it to streak past a majority of AA guns that even attempt to look at it.
Me in the MB-339A? That is a different story. Approaching the island at low altitude to avoid being detected early and attacked over the open ocean. Nearing the island, the gradual increase of 100mm, 57mm and 23mm fire rapidly increases - the visual of so much incoming AAA fire naturally makes a pilot want to increase altitude to get away from it, but with a SAM site just a stone's throw away from the base, the only option is to start flying evasively or go lower.
Weaving through the cannon fire and flak bursts while avoiding terrain, rapidly inputting pitch, roll and yaw, it is easy to lose navigation cues to the target. This is an inherent part of flying low altitude in combat like this. Even with an aircraft that has a state-of-the-art GPS navigation system, there is no time to be constantly checking whether or not you are on course as planned. Flying the MB-339 up the side of the mountain, still attempting to hug the treetops, there are only seconds to search for the military base, pick out a target, commit to the attack.
Even during the run-up to the attack, the defenders scramble to bring their guns to bare on my MB-339 forcing me to stay evasive while attacking or risking a precious few seconds to fly straight and level to let high-drag bombs leave the aircraft. With only a gunsight that is set manually with mildots according to the aircraft's kneeboard documentation per weapon type, speed and dive angle; attacking the military base in such a short window relies on being as effective as possible in a single pass.
Either with a battle damage aircraft or slipping away unscathed, even the egress from the target involves the same level of danger. To the point that even when diving into the trees, tracer fire can still streak through the treetops as anti-aircraft gunners attempt to lead their fire on you while egressing.
The past few days of mission development have been full of these types of sorties with my friends and I pushing to pop up attack the military base, search out specific flak units, try to catch MiG-19s while parked on the apron and recklessly approaching the SAM site. Each of them resulting in some of the most brief, but intense moments of combat I've had in DCS for quite some time. There are more daring missions in the humble MB-339 in my near future. Expect to see some interesting gifs and videos on our social media in the near future.
About the Writer
Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.
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