Heroes Over The Kuban Bridgehead

In the wake of the debacle at Stalingrad, the Soviet Red Army had thrust ahead all the way to the Sea of Azov and liberated the city of Rostov-on-Don on its northeast corner. The Axis forces south of this spearhead were cut off from the rest of the Axis front-line troops, with supplies needing to come by way of the strait of Kerch, where the Sea of Azov meets the Black Sea between eastern Crimea and the west end of the Taman Peninsula. With the northern flank of this supply route at risk from Soviet attacks, Germany’s Seventeenth Army was forced to withdraw from the Caucasus region in southern Russia, setting up a defensive perimeter along the Kuban River delta and across the Taman Peninsula in late January 1943. 

It was Hitler’s hope that this bridgehead could be used later as a jumping off point for later advances back into the Caucasus. On the other hand, Stalin saw an opportunity to destroy another German Army. Over the course of the next 9 months, furious battles erupted on the ground and in the air. Several of the pilots involved would become legends; Boris Glinka,  Gerhard Barkhorn, Lydia Litvyak, Walter Krupinski, Alexander Pokryshkin, Gunther Rall, Grigory Rechkalov, and a fledgling young Luftwaffe pilot destined to be the Ace of Aces: Erich Hartmann.  

Side Split: Allies 50% / Axis 50%

Frame 1(April: Malaya Zemlya Bridgehead)

Aircraft Hour 1

Aircraft Hour 2

Frame 2(July: Stalemate at Krymskaya)

Aircraft Hour 1

Aircraft Hour 2

Frame 3 (September: Evacuation from Kuban)

Aircraft Hour 1

Aircraft Hour 2

Ordnance Restrictions:

• All bombs and rockets will be disabled on the 109G-2, 109G-6, La-5, P-39D, P-39Q, and Yak-7b.
• 37mm cannon disabled on the Yak-9T for Frames 1 and 2 to represent the Yak-1b.
• Tu-2 will be limited to only the 2x 500Kg wing bombs to represent the Pe-2. 
• Rockets disabled on the Fw 190F-8.
• B-25C will be limited to only the 8x 250Lb bomb load.
• Ju 88 will be limited to only the 4x 250Kg wing bombs to balance the B-25C.
• 37mm cannon pods are disabled on the IL-2.
• Ju 87D will be limited to the 250Kg GP centerline bomb and 2x 250Kg wing bombs. 
• 20mm gondolas available only in Hour 1 for the Bf 109G-2/G-6.

Event Rules and Clarifications

• Alt Cap is 16K for fighters, 12K for all bomb/rocket carrying aircraft.
• The minimum requirements for aircraft in the same table cell (ex: P-39D/P-39Q) is the combined total of each type in that cell. It is valid to use just one aircraft type from that cell and not the other. 
• Hour 1 target areas must be bombed before T+60 and Hour 1 targets become invalid after T+60.
• Hour 2 targets are only valid for pilots launching a new sortie in Hour 2 or rearming their Hour 1 plane after T+60.
• Fighters may not strafe down target objects. Only bombers, jabos, and solo attackers will score points for destroying target objects. 
• IL-2’s and Stukas will be available in Hour 1(from Hour 1 bases) for pilots shot down early.
• Fw 190F-8, IL-2, and Tu-2 must be used in the ground attack role.
• Fleet targets featured in Frames 1 and 3 are custom that feature a CV and 14 destroyers. The CV’s will be sunk prior to the frame beginning, leaving just the destroyers representing a convoy.
• Hardness of destroyers is set to 500 pounds.
• In Frame 2, each side must assign at least 10 pilots to defense.
• Any non-target object that is destroyed will be restored at the earliest convenience by a CM. 
• Scoring values will be reduced in Hour 2 to compensate for an increased sortie rate. Aircraft on their first sortie will always score full points against enemy aircraft even after the second hour begins. A player's first sortie ends once they rearm, land, or are shot down. This is to prevent a situation where a last minute strike in Hour 1 can award full bombing points while only risking 1/4 points for a death on the way home. 
• IL-2 and Stuka will receive a points bonus on ground targets. The bonus will be that destroyed objects are worth their Hour 1 value if destroyed by an IL-2 or Stuka. 

Scoring

Arena Settings 

- Terrain: Blksea

- Fuel Burn: 0.8 (to ensure all Soviet fighters have over an hour of endurance) 

- Icons: 3K Friendly/Enemy for aircraft.

- Ack: .3

- Object hardness mults[shp]: 1.0

- Object shape settings[de]: .5 

- Fighter and Bomber warning range: 63360 (about 12 miles)

- Tower range set to 63360 (for display only to match the above setting)

- Haze/Fog: 15 miles

- Radar: Off

- Enemy collisions: on

- Friendly collisions: off

- Killshooter: off

- Time: 1100 (11AM) Game Clock

- Clouds: light5k

- Wind: 0K-2K NO WIND

2K-12K: NE TO SW - Speed 5

12K-18K: NE TO SW  - Speed 10

18K+: 45MPH downdraft