A Christmas Carol

RSVP: 25 12 18 – 19:30 (please sign-up asap though, as it makes things easier to plan)
Activity: Mission – CAP, Air Interdiction, Strike, Escort
Theatre: Kola
Modules: ANY, but preferably: Spitfire, P51D Mustang, UH-1H Huey, F-4E Phantom II, C-130J, F/A-18C
Prerequisites: Christmas spirit

1 SITUATION

1.1 Overview

Dec 24th 1972

It was a wet and dreary Christmas Eve in Da Nang. Air Force General E Scrooge sat by himself in his office. Well, one would be hard pressed to call the shed an office but it was the most luxurious establishment on the premises. He was finished yelling, or had at least taken a brief pause in yelling, at his subordinates. “Christmas be damned, they still need to sort their shit out” he muttered. Some bourbon had been consumed, not much else available to brighten the day, and cigar smoke filled the room. Planning was underway for the next Linebacker mission which would bring yet more B52-borne death to bear on the North Vietnamese infrastructure. “Humbug!” he shouted to himself. “It won’t do to just run into their SAM-traps again and again”.

Scrooge could have sworn there was no wind but still the cigar fumes started to swirl around the room. Faster and faster until they began to take shape. A familiar one at that. But no, it couldn’t be… In front of him stood his predecessor, General Marley, who had died in the opening months of the war. Scrooge panicked, ran to open a window hoping the wind would dispel the ghostly figure. On opening the window he was shocked to see snow outside! This would in itself have justified another outburst of derogatory comments aimed at some subordinate scumbag of an officer but somehow, having a ghost in the room seemed more important at the time. A gust of cold wind did indeed find its way into the room but Marley just stood there. How miserable he looked.

“Scrooge”, he said, voice much softer now than it was in life. “I am here to tell you what awaits. For years now I have wandered this land, not finding rest. Not experiencing the slightest joy even as afterburners light the skies and the smell of napalm welcomes the morning.”

Marley paused, looking at Scrooge’s mission planning board. “Tonight you will be visited by three spirits. One of Christmas Past, one of Christmas Present and one of Christmas Yet to Come. Listen to them, and you may yet avoid sharing my fate.”

1.2 Area of operations

Northern Norway and Sweden

1.3 Time and weather

* Dec 24th – 1972 (In-game mission date will differ from this, in order to give us some daylight)
* 11:00 local time
* FEW/SCT 8/10, SCT 23/24
* Wind from 230 / 6
* Temp -5°C
* FORCE QNH 2992 / 1013

1.4 Air threats

Bf-109, MiG-21, MiG-29

1.5 Ground threats

AAA, SA-2, SA-6

1.6 Friendly forces

N/A, we are the only blue forces in the AO.

1.7 Civilian/3rd part

N/A

2 MISSION

Ghost of Christmas Past: Protect Bergkompanie 2 and their supply convoy from Luftwaffe harassment as they advance on Alta.

Ghost of Christmas Present: Recon and sanitize the river route towards Enontekio, recon Enontekio Toy Factory, take over Enontekio air base

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come: Destroy the uranium enrichment facility.

3 EXECUTION

3.1 Commander’s intent

This seems like a load of humbug! But all right, let’s see where Marley’s spirits take us.

The three missions will run in parallell, separated by geography.

3.2 Packages

The mission contains 3 packages:

* Christmas Past (P-51)
* Christmas Present (UH-1, C-130, F-4)
* Christmas Yet to Come (F/A-18, F-16, OH-58)

3.3 Order of events

* All flights are free to depart ASAP

* For Package Christmas Yet to Come, the TLAM strike has TOT 11.50.00
* This is also push-time for Arctic1
* And marks weapons free for Indy9 and Blackjack4

3.4 Rules of engagement

ROE: C
As per SPINS

3.5 Acceptable level of risk

ALR: HIGH
As per SPINS

3.6 Package tasking

Ghost of Christmas Past 

Liberation of Norway, Alta-region, 1944. Allied forces lead by the Norwegian 2nd Bergkompanie have pushed southwest towards Alta, finally capturing the city, but are now dangerously low on supplies. A freight convoy has been dispatched and will enter the Alta Fjord around noon. They have no warship escorts and must be protected from Luftwaffe air raids.

 

Ghost of Christmas Present

Marley’s Vietnam jungles have been distorted, turned into some fairy tale winter wonderland. Regardless, the NVA are still out there and INTEL says they’re hard at work building a factory near Enontekio to produce counterfeit toys. If successful, next Christmas will be a nightmare as cheap knock-offs flood the American warehouses and end up under Genuine American Christmas Trees.

The river route towards Enontekio must be cleared of NVA combatants, allowing ground forces to advance on the air base. Wild Weasels locate and destroy SA-2 site believed to be NE of Enontekio. Locate the Factory construction site and determine if there is indeed hostile activity. If so, destroy everything there. Insert troops at Enontekio air base to take over the area.

 

Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

In the barren fjords, the Enemy has secretly built his uranium enrichment facility. Our spies have now returned with indisputable evidence that it will be brought online any day now. The area is heavliy guarded with three major air bases – Andöya, Evenes and Bardufoss – and a frightening number of SA-6 and SA-2 sites. An ingress route has been determined; it’s not guaranteed safe, just the least unsafe option… To improve the odds, a flight of Vipers will provide SEAD and Kiowas will clear the ingress route from AAA threats. Last, but not least, a massive volley of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles will hit the hostile air bases.

3.6 Flight tasking

Package CHRISTMAS PAST (Lead: DOLLAR11)

DOLLAR1
* Depart Banak
* Check in with LONGBOW for air picture
* Protect convoy entering the Alta Fjord

Loadout: FL decides

Package CHRISTMAS PRESENT (Lead: MIGHTY11)

MIGHTY1
* Depart Kallax
* Deploy FARP supplies for NITRO5
* Determine NAUGHTY or NICE at Enontekio Humbug factory
* Destroy factory if determined NAUGHTY
* Land in hot LZ Enontekio, deploy troops

Loadout: FL decides

Waypoints:
1. FARP B

NITRO5
* Depart FARP ALPHA
* Recon river NW towards Enontekio
* Neutralize enemy combatants encountered
* Rearm/refuel at FARP BRAVO deployed by MIGHTY1
* Recon Enontekio and disable as many hostiles as possible in preparation for MIGHTY1 landing

Loadout: FL decides

Waypoints:
N/A

BANSHEE2

* Depart Kiruna
* Locate and destroy SA-2 Enontekio
* Hit targets of opportunity at Enontekio with emphasis on AAA
* Expect to land at Enontekio after friendly forces have secured the base

Loadout: FL decides

Waypoints:
1. Tanker TEXACO4
2. Enontekio (middle of runway)
3. Suspected SA-2 site NE Enontekio

Package CHRISTMAS YET TO COME (Lead: ARCTIC11)

ARCTIC1
* Depart Mother
* Hold at HOTEL (WP1) at 5000’
* Push at 11.50 (Also time on target for Tomahawk Strike)
* Follow pre-planned low level ingress to target
* Destroy Uranium Enrichment Facility NE of Bardufoss
* Return via same route
* Beware of hostile fighters, no dedicated CAP available

Loadout: FL decides (target will require bunker penetrating munitions)

Waypoints:
1. HOTEL
2-21 Ingress route
22-24 Target buildings
25-27 Egress route back to the fjord
17-2 Egress route home

INDY9
* Depart Kiruna
* Gather intel on hostile SAM-sites, staying at least 30 nm S of Bardufoss
* From 11.50 onwards, destroy as many SAM-sites as possible
* Coordinate with BLACKJACK4 to destroy targets of opportunity near Bardufoss
* Beware of hostile fighters, no dedicated CAP available

Loadout: FL decides

Waypoints:
1. Hold
2-10 Approx ingress route for Arctic1
5. TRP1
6. TRP2
7. TRP3
8. TRP4
11. Uranium enrichment facility

BLACKJACK4

* Depart FARP North (Kilpisjärvi)
* Recon ingress/egress route for ARCTIC1 near Bardufoss
* From 11.50 onwards WPNS FREE on all hostiles
* From 12.00 onwards, expect strike support from INDY9

Loadout: FL decides

Waypoints:
1. FARP North
2. Hold
3-8 Ingress valley for Arctic1
9. FARP North

4 ADMINISTRATION AND LOGISTICS

4.1 Airfield operations

Banak
Runway in use: 16
TCN: 47X

Kallax
Runway in use: 32
TCN: 98X

Kiruna
Runway in use: 21
TCN: 99X

4.2 Carrier operations

CASE I
BRC: 265
TCN: 72X
Departure time: FL decides
Charlie time: FL decides

As per Carrier Ops SPINS

4.3 Tankers

As per Aerial Refueling SOP

5 COMMAND AND CONTROL

5.1 Commander

TBA

5.2 Frequencies

Three radio channels will be available, providing thematic music for the forces

• AM 140.00 MHz: BBC General Forces Radio – Holiday Special
• AM 141.00 MHz: Radio Saigon
• AM 142.00 MHz: Radio Mighty Wings

Package Christmas Past will use CAP A #5 (254.00)
Package Christmas Present will use Mission #13 (269.00)
Package Christmas Yet to Come will use Tactical #3 (265.00)

5.3 Authentication

RAMROD: BAHHUMBUG
As per Authentication SOP

5.4 Freq flow

Pkg Christmas Past
* Contact LONGBOW on #5 (254.00) when ready to depart Banak

Pkg Christmas Present
* Kiruna flights – TWR #7 (270.00), expect push Mission #13 (269.00)
* Kallax flight – Traffic Freq 271.00, when airborne push Mission #13 (269.00)
* FARP flight – Push Mission #13 (269.00) when ready to depart

Pkg Christmas Yet to Come
* Carrier flight – Remain on #1 during departure, push Tactical #3 (265.00) when flight has left the Carrier control zone
* Kiruna flight – TWR #7 (270.00), expect push to Tactical #3 (265.00)
* FARP flight – contact Tactical #3 (265.00) when ready to depart

5.6 Brevity

N/A

5.7 Bullseye

Enontekio N68°21.49′ E23°25.35′

6 ANNEXES

Overview of the AO

 

Bardufoss AO

 

Uranium enrichment facility N69° 29.32′ E19° 49.78′ elev 1258 feet

Blackjack4 recon zone

Dollar1 AO and supply convoy route

 

Enontekio AO with Nitro5 recon route

 

Enontekio area

 

Humbug factory N68°21.37′ E23°28.09′ elev 946 feet