Orient Express

With a full bombload, one would expect that you'd have air cover and SEAD clearing the way for you . . . no such luck.

Flying Officer Frank Donatella takes off behind his wingman. Two bandits are already in the air, and the F16s are heading away from the threat. Of course, even as poorly under-armed as he is, it is not in Hornet Two's nature to hang around and wait for them . . .

So Donatella shadows his wingman towards the enemy, and waits for him to initiate the engagement. Note the tactics here - the lead MiG has no chance. After firing, the second MiG is already in range, and Donatella fires his second AMRAAM. He evades the incoming shot, then makes a tactical error and looses a 'winder at the same target - who is already smoking.

Two more blips appear on the radar . . . this is serious as the two Hornets now have only one missile between them and the F16s are still well behind. Donatella lights the fires and hits the deck. MiG number 3 lets off a missile at Hornet 2, and then gets a nasty surprise as our hero lets him have it on the nose.

By now, the fourth MiG has locked up Hornet 2 and is firing. He has not seen Donatella, who is bearing down like an avenging angel. Keeping away from the AA at Hyon NI he checks that his wingman is OK and engages the bandit in a turning fight, resulting in a perfect rear-aspect kill. At last, here are the F16s, heading towards the railyard AA . . .

The rest of the mission is routine, apart from F/O Donatella's inability to target Walleyes. . .

Orient Express

Difficulty at max, weapon lethality 2 above normal.

Enjoy!