GMT-West
2005 DIF Event
Debriefing Report
Here is the DIF recap and results:
A total of 20 participants at various times took part in 57 aerial matches from
Thursday-to-Saturday. The DIF table was busy for all three days, with 16
missions on Thursday, 18 on Friday and 23 on Saturday. During the 3-days, a
total of 200 fighters, 9 light bombers, 9 medium bombers, and 5 heavy bombers
were shot down from all nations.
Missions by Campaigns Theaters:
Some highlights: 12 new aces were created but 5 were also lost (one was a double
ace). Nick Markevich's P-47 combo of Clark Gable & Kirk Douglas each made ace on
the same mission, and both were lost on their next mission. In an eerie
coincidence, Mike Lam named three of his 1942 P-40E wingmen after the Apollo 1
astronauts. And each one of them were shot down on their only mission by the
"Exploding Fuel Tank" attack. And the last one managed to avoid one "Exploding
Fuel Tank" early in his mission only to meet his fate on the last turn. Mike was
also a victim of an "Exploding fuel tank" from a Betty's defensive fire.
The top ace of the weekend went to 13-year old Kevin Lefevre from Chandler, Az,
with 6-kills by his East Front German Bf-109 pilot, Siegfried Mayer. Kevin's
also was the top 1943 Luftwaffe player on the Western Front. His Bf-109 pilot,
Lothar Klein, had 3-kills, including 2 B-17s in one mission. Kevin won the book
"Luftwaffe Aces" by Franz Kurowski.
The top American P-47 8th AF ace belonged to Jesse Evans. His pilot, John Dough,
claimed 5 Luftwaffe fighters. Jesse won the book "8th AF Aces". It should
be noted Jesse achieved acehood without being shot down as we were using the new
Campaign's rule that any US pilot shot down over Europe would be considered
lost. Jesse also had the top 1941 RAF pilot, Clive Owen, with 3 kills, winning
the book "Spitfire - Flying Legend" by John Dibbs & Tony Holmes.
The top 1941 Luftwaffe pilot belonged to Kevin's dad, Chris, with 4 kills by his
pilot Santa Klaus (who knew that Father Christmas flew for the Germans?).
Chris also had the top Russian pilot, Nikolai Pinchuk, a La-5FN pilot
with 5 kills. Chris was also the top USAAF pilot in the 1944 Pacific campaign
with his P-38 pilot, C.S. Bumslinger, scoring 4 kills.
Doug Sun's Imperial Japanese Army Ki-84-1a (Frank) pilot, Akima Toriyama, with
4-kills took home top honors in the 1944 Pacific campaign. Doug won the book "Aces
of the Rising Sun: 1937-1945" by Henry Sakaida.
Honors for the top US P-40 pilot in the 1942 Pacific campaign was a 3-way tie
between Martin Scott, Chris Lefevre, and Mike Lam with 2 A6M2 Zekes apiece.
And Nick Markevich's 1942 Japanese 20-kill Zeke ace, Takeo Sashimi, added
another 5 Curtiss P-40E Warhawks to his career total.
SPECIAL BOMBER MISSIONS:
The special 1941 Western Front bomber mission was won by the RAF escorts (Martin
Scott, Jesse Evans & Charles Ryder) led by Wing Commander Douglas Bader played
by Nick Markevich over the Luftwaffe interceptors (Chris & Kevin Lefevre) led by
JG-26 Kommodore Adolf Galland played by Doug Sun. The RAF won by not losing
Bader and shooting down more Germans (4) than they lost (1). The Germans
achieved only two of their three victory conditions (shooting down at least 3
Blenheims, and they did not lose Galland) but they lost more fighters than the
British. During the battle, Kevin Lefevre's leader met an inglorious end when a
Blenheim shot him down with the "Exploding Fuel Tank" card.
TEAM
DOUBLES TOURNAMENT:
The 2-man team tournament drew only 6 teams, allowing a bye for the top two
seeds of Markevich/Ryder (1) and Lam/M. Scott (2). In round 1, Chris Scott
(Martin's 13-yr old son) & Kurt Gallessich (team#6) defeated the #3 team of Jim
Jones & Doug Sun, 2 games to 1. The #5 team of Evans & Mark Aasted defeated the
dad-son team of Chris & Kevin Lefevre (team#4), 2 games to none.
In the semi-finals, team #5 Evans/Aasted defeated team #1 of Markevich/Ryder, 2
games to 1. It the other semi-final match, it was tied at one game apiece and
the deciding game was tied 10-10 at the end of regulation (turn 6). It took an
extra turn (overtime) for the Lam/M. Scott team to defeat the C. Scott/Gallessich,
team 12-to-10 to advance to the finals.
After winning two close finals' games 10-7 and 5-4, Jesse Evans and Mark Aasted
easily took the deciding game 20-5, to win the 2005 GMT-WEST 2-man team DIF
championships, 3 games to none. The deciding game saw both of Martin Scott's
fighters knocked out even before he took a turn! Aasted's Ta-152H leader quickly
took out Scott's P-47N wingman with the "Exploding Fuel tank" and Evans' Ta-152
leader followed up by shooting down Scott's P-47 leader. Lam's element managed
to take out Aasted's Ta-152 wingman before his P-47Ns were shot down ending
the match on turn 5. As the winning team, both Jesse & Mark received a copy of
ZERO donated by GMT games, a copy of the book "Fighter Aces: Aviation
Art of WW2" by James H. Kitches & Bernard C. Nalty donated by Mike Lam and a
"Rise of the Luftwaffe" poster autographed by Rodger MacGowan.
Congratulations to Jesse Evans and Mark Aasted, the 8th different DIF doubles
team who ended the tournament with a 7-1 record. If Jesse and Mark return and
pair up again in the team doubles tournament, they will be the #1 seed. And if
the 2004 winners, the Mull brothers, return in 2006 they will be seeded as the
#2 team.
I hope all who participated had fun and a good time and I plan to continue the
aerial mayhem at next year's GMT-West Weekend.