Mi-8MTV2 Magnificent Eight - Spring Tension Campaign AAR
Part 1 - Icing on the cake
Part 2 - It weighs heavy on me
Part 4 - This time we go north
I think everyone of us knows how to fire a rocket in DCS World. Most of us will have tried our luck in the A-10C/A or perhaps the Frogfoot. The more adventurous types among us will probably have given rockets a spin in the Ka-50. Fun, isnt it?
Well, it’s fun when you have a fancy HUD that gives you ranging and predicted impact zone based on a series of inputs.
Such fancy methods do not exist in the trusty “Hip”. In Mi-8MTV2 and in the UH-1H we have to use our eyes to gauge ranging, drift and target identification. This makes delivering rockets on target a bit harder, especially if the target can bite back.
And this is what I have spent quite a bit of time doing. Mission 3 in the “Spring Tension” campaign features a weapon-range exercise in which you have to make 3 passes. No more, no less. The first pass is a mock attack run to understand the direction, time, altitude and speed. The second run is a rocket run on a tank placed in front of white container, and the third run being a ‘simple’ gun run on a lonely truck placed on the hillside.
I present you, the plan, we take off from Java, go south, then north and down the valley until we reach the range.
And the chart we shall use to fly the range up and down. It’s simple but effective.
Once more we depart at 0900 on a light breeze coming in from the west. I am rather positive that this is a bug in the campaign or DCS 1.5.3, time will tell.
Cool Glasses gives me his best poker look as I step in the running machine, he’s obviously a bit peeved that I used my captain’s rank to delay the flight a bit for the complimentary lavatory stop in the morning! I quickly get on with dialling the correct sight elevation and adjust the comfy chair(it’s a bit too low for a attack run when you need to look through the sight). Soon enough we find ourselves on the way with the S-8 rockets and a gunpod
I still find the view extremely enjoyable despite suffering from the freakishly stable climate! Soon enough we find ourselves turning east at waypoint 1.
A short talk with Buran clears up the situation, range control will allow us 3 passes with the first being a used for gauging the ranges. I mentally prepare myself one last time, run over the settings dialed in on the rocket pods and on the gunsight and off we go!
See if you can spot both the tank and the truck!
A short burst later the first rockets start impacting
Well, that went better then expected, quite chuffed with myself now I start turning right for the second run. Guns guns guns this time! A few flops and flips later in the cockpit and all the switches are set for the gun. I’ve opted to go with the heavier 12.7mm MG instead of the 7.92mm machine guns. The pod that I am sporting today has both of them mounted in a single pod. In the center is a single 12.7mm with the 7.92mm on either side of it. Making for a total of 6 MG’s!
I hope the 12.7 will make quite work of the truck, I have no desire to fail this mission once more!
The guns splatter the target in a haze have of ricocheting bits of metal. It has a certain poetic beauty.
The truck kindly decides to roll over and explode whilst I make a cool bank right. how did that song go? I think it was something along the lines of “Cool guys don’t look at explosion”. I hope Cool Glasses is happy now, maybe I should buy him a drink in the messhall?
I’ve had to play this mission a total of 3 times, with a day or so of practice with the Mi-8 inbetween. As it turned out gunnery with the Hip isn’t easy at all! Fortunately the manual is filled with useful tables that tell you how to set the gunsight. besides, a certain margin is expected when firing anything from this platform, it’s a bit of a “I fart in your general direction” situation.
One last screenshot!
Behold, the glorious table!
Awesome… Looks like you are really becoming an expert in the Mi-8 systems… I’d be completely lost in that bird.