It a holiday here in Canada as we celebrate Canada Day! I thought that I would fly a CF-18, between BBQ’s and hiking, to help send out the day. I decided to pick up where I left off with Sedlo’s excellent Eastern Friendship campaign for DCS World and the DCS: F/A-18C Hornet (though it looks a lot like a CF-18 here).

You are Colt 5-1

You fly the Eastern Friendship campaign as a French-Canadian fighter pilot (complete with authentic Quebecois accent) assigned to Kutaisi Airbase in northern Georgia as the situation along the Georgian-Russian border turns hot. The scenario is purely fictional but it feels authentic enough and features a join-NATO force taking control during a tense scenario.

The missions in the campaign feature a mix of American, Canadian, French and other Allied forces arrayed against separatist troops and later a pesky ELINT aircraft.

In the third mission we take-off and meet with a tanker for an exercise before being diverted to intercept a Russian ELINT aircraft that has crossed the border. Things get hot when you’re ordered to splash the aircraft and a fight breaks out between a pair of MiG-29s and Colt flight.

I’m not good enough at this yet

Despite over a year of practice I’m still stuck on this mission. Once things turn hot with the MiG-29s I always find myself getting splashed. In the first scenario I popped off a AIM-7 while the MiG-29 pressed his attack – the AIM-7 missed and we ended up low in the valley. He spotted me first and got off an AA-11 before I could figure out what was going on.

Boom.

Repeat the mission and I end up in a better situation once the MiG-29s cross the border. My AIM-7 trackes most of the way to target and forces one of the two MiG-29s to turn cold. A follow up AIM-9 shot takes him out… but the celebration is short lived as Colt 5-2 struggles with the MiG-29s wingman and I die instantly from another short range IR missile.

Boom.

I’ve got some work to do here still. One day I will pass this mission intact and with a couple of kills hopefully!

Happy Canada Day!

To my Canadian readers out there I want to wish you a Happy Canada Day! If you’re a fan of flying the Hornet I highly recommend Sedlo’s Eastern Friendship campaign. The first couple of missions warm you up for the big time with mission 3… maybe you’ll have more luck than me!