Masters of the Air

An Aces High™ Scenario

Version 1.0

Please read “Dates and Times” and “Main Rules” sections.

Dates and Times

Click here for registration. Please register for the event if you can play at least 3 frames.

If you can’t play in at least 3 frames, you can still show up as a walkon (unregistered player) on game day.

Battles/Frames:

February 3rd
February 10th
February 17th
February 24th
March 2nd

Please show up at or before 8 pm US Eastern time in the Special Events 2 arena. (For how that translates to your time, here is a time converter.) End of frame will be nominally at 11:30 pm US Eastern time.

Setting

26,000 crew were killed in action during the 8th Air Force's WWII strategic bombing. To put that in perspective, for all of WWII, the entire Marine Corps suffered 25,000 killed in action. The entire Navy suffered 63,000 killed in action. It was a bloody business.

One Bombardment Group in particular typified that aspect more than most: the 100th Bombardment Group. The Bloody Hundredth.

This year, a long-anticipated miniseries will run from late January into March. A series like Band of Brothers, but about the USAAF. It is based on the best-selling book Masters of the Air, which focuses on the Bloody Hundredth.

And this year, running during the same time span, we will run an Aces High scenario focused on the bombing missions of the Bloody Hundredth.

High-altitude formations of B-17's, sweeping into Germany. Escorted by P-47's and P-51's. Fighting desperately though deadly groups of Bf 109's and FW 190's. Fighting to pound the enemy into submission.

This will be an epic event. Full of glory and excitement.

Masters of the Air: An Aces High Scenario

Main Rules

General:

Level bombers must take off with formations and not intentionally lose drones.
If the only Axis takeoff field hangars are errantly bombed, CMs will restore hangars.

Lives:

Pilots get three lives.
You use up a life if you die, crash, ditch, bail, or exit your plane with anything other than a “landed successfully” message.
At frame end, the logs are closed, and there are no further points awarded or subtracted. Pilots can fly right up until logs are closed, after which they can land as they see fit.
You can man a gun at any time (for bomber or ground gun), and deaths in guns don't count to your life total.

Altitude:
There is a downwind at 30,000 feet. (You can fly into the downwind if you wish, but staying in it will sap your speed.)
Level bombers (B-17G) have a max altitude of 22,000 feet and a minimum altitude of 16,000 feet, except when descending for landing or with dead engine or missing control surfaces.

USAAF Order of Battle

28 Fighters, 19 Bombers; 47 Total

Unit	#	Frame 1	Frame 2	Frame 3	Frame 4	Frame 5
8th Air Force		10-15-44	12-12-44	1-14-45	3-2-45	4-6-45
56th FG	10	P-47D-25	P-47D25	P-47D-25	P-47M	P-47M
4th FG	6	P-51B	P-51B	P-51D	P-51D	P-51D
479th FG	12	P-38J	P–51D	P-51D	P-51D	P-51D
100th BG	19	B-17G	B-17G	B-17G	B-17G	B-17G

Luftwaffe Order of Battle

36 Interceptors; 36 Total

Unit	#	Frame 1	Frame 2	Frame 3	Frame 4	Frame 5
Luftwaffe		10-15-44	12-12-44	1-14-45	3-2-45	4-6-45
II./JG27	14	Bf 109G-14	Bf 109K-4	Bf 109K-4	Bf 109K-4	Bf 109K-4
III./JG54	14	Fw 190D-9	Fw 190D-9	Fw 190D-9	Fw 190D-9	Fw 190D-9
III./JG301	8	Fw 190A-8	Fw 190A-8	Fw 190A-8	Ta 152H-1	Ta 152H-1

Map & Targets

Circles are available airfields for launch. Blast symbols are targets to be attacked. These are “Target Areas”, anything in the area can be attacked. Boxes are 20K Airspawns with denoted field.

*Targets and spawns are subject to slight changes as maps are finalized.

Frame 1

100th Bomb Group raids Cologne, 10-15-1944

Larger Image Link

Allied Active Fields: A158, A159 (Spawns)

Axis Active Fields: A132, A39 (Spawns)

Targets:

City, Airfield 101 (Vbase) at 7.8.7

AAA, Ammo, Airfield 132 at 7.9.4

AAA, Ammo, Radar, Airfield 131 at 6.10.6

Frame 2

100th Bomb Group raids Darmstadt, 12-12-1944

Larger Image Link

Allied Fields: A155, A157 (Spawns)

Axis Fields: A46 (Spawns)

Targets:

City, AAA, Grunt, Radar in 8.7.2

AAA, Ammo, Grunt, Airfield 134 in 9.7.2

AAA, Fuel, Radar in 9.5.9

Frame 3

100th Bomb Group raids Derben, 1-14-1945

Larger Image Link

Allied Fields: A36, A133 (Spawns)

Axis Fields: A15 (Spawns)

Targets:

AAA, Ammo, Fuel at 13.12.8

AAA, Ammo, Fuel at 14.12.2

Airfield 5 in 13.13.9

Frame 4

100th Bomb Group raids Brunswick, 3-2-1945

Larger Image Link

Allied Fields: A36, A133 (Spawns)

Axis Fields: A129 (Spawns)

Targets:

City, Airfield 69 at 10.13.5

Ammo, Fuel, Grunt, Vehicle Base 70 at 11.13.6

Frame 5

100th Bomb Group raids Leipzig, 4-6-1945

Larger Image Link

Allied Fields: A36, A133 (Spawns)

Axis Fields: A15 (Spawns)

Targets:

AAA, Ammo, Fuel in 14.12.2

AAA, Fuel, Grunt, City, Airfield 14

Victory Conditions

If your side fails to do this within the frame, it will get no points at all for that frame:

Level-bomber groups (B-17s) must Attempt three Bombing Missions.
One “Bombing Mission” is to launch with bombs, travel toward a Target, drop bombs on a Target, and land back at a base if still alive. ‘Attempt’ is to do it or die trying.

Frame points:

Axis:
+1 per kill
+offset (If necessary, see below)
Allies:
+1 per kill
+2.2 per Successful Drop
This offset may be used in the event side ratios are imbalanced, as deemed necessary by the Scenario Team:
offset = 0.03 x [(number of bomber pilots) - 14] x [2.2 x (number of Successful Drops) + (number of kills by bombers)]

Winner of a frame is the side with the most points. Winner of the Scenario is the side that wins the most frames.

Targets

Targets for each side are as follows in the target areas on the map:

bunkers (ammo, fuel, barracks)
hangars (fighter, bomber, vehicle)
Towns
Strat Objects

Note on targets: Downtimes of hangars, bunkers are 30 minutes. Strat Objects and Manned Guns (37mm, 88mm, and 17 lb. AT gun) will remain destroyed for the entire frame. Autoack ground guns (at fields, towns, and flak towers) will respawn in 4 minutes.

Perk Rewards

Top 5 Kills - Escorts - 100 MA Fighter perks per frame per pilot

Top 5 Kills - Interceptors - 100 MA Fighter perks per frame per pilot

Top 5 Drops - Bombers - 100 MA Bomber perks per frame per pilot

20 perks per pilot per frame for participation. Must participate in 'majority' of frame for credit, eg. 2 of 3 sorties. CM Team will check logs for credit.

Aircraft Skins

B-17G

100th BG/351st BS by oboe

P-38J

479th FG/434th FS by Vraciu (823-Z)

479th FG/434th FS by oboe

P-47D-25

56th FG/61st FS by oboe (HV*A)

56th FG/62nd FS by Greebo

56th FG/63rd FS by oboe (UN*V)

P-47M

56th FG/62nd FS by Greebo

56th FG/62nd FS by oboe

56th FG/63rd FS by Greebo

P-51B

4th FG/334th FS by Vraciu (QP*K)

4th FG/336th FS by Vraciu (VF*P)

P-51D

479th FG/434th FS by Vraciu

4th FG/323rd FS by oboe

4th FG/334th FS by Vraciu

4th FG/336th FS by Vraciu

Bf 109G-14:

6./JG27 by Devil5O5 (Yellow 2)

8./JG27 by Devil5O5 (Blue 11)

Bf 109K-4:

6./JG27 by Devil5O5 (Yellow 24)

12./JG27 by Devil5O5 (Blue 16)

Fw 190A-8:

6./JG301 by Devil5O5 (Red 22)

Fw 190D-9:

10./JG54 by Devil5O5 (Black 12)

12./JG54 by Devil5O5 (Red 9)

Ta 152H:

-Default

-III./JG301 by Devil5O5

Moving Around Pilots

CO's may split groups up into separate flights and send them on separate missions as they see fit.

CO's may assign walkons as they see fit up to the limit of slots available. COs are free to overfill any plane type, except P-47M and Ta 152H.

CO's may move registered pilots to different aircraft if the registered pilots are willing. But if a registered pilot wants to keep the plane he is registered for, he must be allowed to stay in that plane.

Items of Note

Please get your people into the appropriate named squads. Useful squad dot commands that can be used from your text radio buffer:

.sqdaccept [gameID] -- What you type to accept an invite into a squad.
.sqdwithdraw -- What you type to withdraw from whatever squad you are in. Useful to do if you are having problems getting into a new squad. Withdraw, then get a new invite and accept.
.sqddecline [gameID] -- Decline a squad join request.
.sqdeject GameID -- Eject a player from the squad.
.sqdinvite [gameID] -- Sends squad invite while in flight.
.sqdname [SquadName] -- Rename squad, updates the roster. Can be useful to get someone into your sqaud if having trouble.
.sr -- display squad members.

Settings

Disabled weapons

Bombs, air-to-ground, and air-to-air rockets on all fighters.

Details

Terrain: germany (Frames 1, 5) and germanyw (Frames 2, 3, 4)
Wind: SW to NE at 5MPH. 45MPH downwind at 30k.
Clouds: light5kmed15k.awa
Radar and Sector Counters: No radar or sector counters below 1000 ft. Sector counters above 1000 ft.
Ack: Auto ack will be turned way down, to 0.15.

ArenaFlags = 275502
BomberWarningRange = 42,240 (10 miles)
CommunicationFlags = 3
CountryChangeTime = (no changing of countries once started)
ExitWhileMoving = 508
FighterWarningRange = 42,420 (10 miles)
FlightModeFlags = 5248
FogLoFarMiles = 12.0
FogLoNearMiles = 1.0
FuelBurnRateMult = 1.0
GroundAutoLethality[Armored] = 0.10
GroundAutoLethality[Hard] = 0.15
GroundAutoLethality[Soft] = 0.15
RadarMode = 384 (counters above radar, range-based counters)
RadarMode[knights] = 128 (counters above radar) [Note: this gives counters on entire map.]
RadarMode[bishops] = 256 (range-based counters)
RadarUpdateRate = 90
SectorCounterAlt = 1000
SectorCounterRange = 52,800 (10 miles)
TowerBasedRadarRange = 52,800 (10 miles)
StratFlags = 1

Arm auto gun, down time = 600, hardness = 0.02 (gna, ship 5” autoack, flak tower puffy ack)
Auto gun, down time = 4 (gng, ground autoack 30 mm, ship autoack 20 mm)
Bmbr hgr, down time = 30, hardness = 1.0
Bunk ammo, down time = 30
Bunk barracks, down time = 30
Bunk fuel, down time = 30
Bunk radar, down time = 1
Ftr hgr, down time = 30, hardness = 1.0
Gun bat, down time = 600 (bat)
Gun bat armor, down time = 600 (baa)
Gun bat soft, down time = 600 (bas, manned ack ground and ship)
Hard auto gun, down time = 4 (gnh, autoack ship, flak tower normal ack)
Veh hgr, downtime = 30, hardness = 1.0
Town, downtime = 30
Strats, downtime = 30