Background: Six IAF Mysteres struck the Sargodha airfield in the early morning hours catching the defenders by surprise. One was shot down by AAA and the rest were pursued by an F104 that scrambled after them. The Starfighter pilot was able to easily catch up and pounced the formation downing another Mystere but stayed to dogfight. The Mysteres broke ranks and one latched onto the tail of the energy depleted Starfighter easily matching its moves and shot it down. Luckily the F-104 pilot was able to eject and was subsequently able to reflect on the errors of his tactics. The raid scored mixed results for the IAF. They did little damage to the field (and missed the opurtunity to get Alam on the ground minutes before he took off to wipe out a formation of Hunters), and traded two obsolete jets for one of the PAF's prized interceptors. Maps: From left to right: J,G,H,I Air Field Facilities: As in "30 Seconds Over Sargodha". Except place two F-86 counters in hex G-1014. Game Length: 20 game-turns. Notes: 1. The Mystere's begin unsighted. They are considered detected once the Pakistani AAA units become activated or any Mystere executes an attack of any sort. All aircraft are silver. 2. Pakistani AAA: The AAA units may not fire until activated due to surprise. In the admin phase of each game-turnroll one die. If the result is less than or equal to the current turn number, the AAA units become activated and may be used normally thereafter. 3. Starfighter Scramble: Once any Mystere is detected, the Starfighters may commence their take-off rolls one at a time, meaning one must pass the intersecting runway before the other can start rolling. The take-off is conducted in A/B power. Each turn move the Starfighterone hex down the runway and increase its speed by 0.5 in addition to its normal acceleration. Once it begins a game-turn at or above minimum speed it is considered airborne and may fly normally. 4. The F-86 counters each represent two Sabres on the tarmac. They have a soft defense strength of 3 and a sighting value of 12. Each D hit on a Sabre disables one aircraft. The counter is eliminated after two hits. Each hit is worth 5 V.P.s. 5. Until Airborne, the F-104s are treated as the F-86s, except that if moving in their take-off roll, a plus 1 modifier is applied to any attacks against them. Damage is resolved as follows; a) An "S" result does light damage to the F-104. b) A "D" result= Heavy damage. c) A "2D" result= Cripple damage. d) A "K" result - "A/C destroyed". 6. Aircraft Loads: Each F-104 carries two AIM-9B IRMs. Each Mystere carries two Med. RP with large rockets, and two 600 L FTs. 7. Weather: As in "30 Seconds Over Sargodha". 8. Fuel: F-104 start= 190, bingo= 30. Mystere start= 125, bingo= 90. 9. Pilot Quality: Mysteres= R, N, R, N, R, G. F-1 04s= R, R. Roll for attributes, no characteristics apply. The Mysteres are 3rd World quality for initiative, the PAF are NATO quality. 10. Victory: The side with the most points wins except that the Mysteres must also do at least 10 V.P.s of damage to the airfield to win. (IAF players beware of Flt. Off. Kareem Abdul Top Wop) Back to Table of Contents -- Air Power # 18 Back to Air Power List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by J.D. Webster This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com