GMT-West October 2007 DIF Event Debriefing Report  

Here is the DIF recap and results:

A total of 24 participants (just 1 rookie player this time) at various times took part in 55 aerial matches from Thursday-to-Saturday. Although there were times when the DIF table was not busy, we played 10 missions on Thursday, 13 on Friday, 27 on Saturday, and 5 on Sunday. During the 4-days, the Axis Air Forces defeated the Allied Air Forces, 27-to-25 with 3 ties, with a combined score of 1192-to-1062.  The Axis Air Forces shot down 109 fighters, 9 light bombers (1 by flak), 15 medium bombes, and 5 heavy bombers.  The Allied air forces shot down 103 fighters, 3 light bombers, and 16 medium bombers (2 by flak).  Total loses were 212 fighters, 11 light bombers, 32 medium bombers, and 5 heavy bombers shot down from all nations.

Missions by Campaigns Theaters:

• West Front '40 - 4 missions with the Luftwaffe over the French Air Force, 2-1-1, with the Luftwaffe out scoring the French 27-19.
• North Africa Front '41 - 12 missions with the RAF & Axis deadlocked at 6-6 but the Axis out scored the RAF 291-to-214.
• West Front '43 - 6 missions with the Luftwaffe over the US 8th AF, 4-2, with the Luftwaffe out scoring the US 8th AF 274-to-239.
• East Front '43 - 11 missions with the Luftwaffe over VVS, 6-5, with the Luftwaffe out scoring the VVS 247-to-179.
• East Front '44 - 2 missions with the Luftwaffe over VVS, 1-0-1, with the Luftwaffe out scoring the VVS 27-to-10.
• Pacific '43 - 8 missions with the US 5th AF & the Japanese Army deadlocked at 4-4, with the Japanese out scoring the US 67-to-49.
• Pacific '44 - 12 missions with the 5th AF & USN over the combined Japanese Army & Navy Services 7-4-1, with the Americans outscoring the Japanese 352-to-259.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• 7 new aces were created but 4 of the new aces were soon lost. Also, 2 returning aces from other events were lost.
• On Thursday, the all-time Ace, Martin Scott's Japanese Naval 55-kill ace, Shintaro Mendo met his end. Mendo and his entire flight of 6 N1K1-Js were wiped out in a dogfight against 6 P-47Ds.  Mendo got the only P-47D lost while Charles Ryder's Thunderbolt leader, Dan Butler, shot down 3 Georges, including Mendo.  Mendo was the last Japanese plane shot down on the last turn.
• Kevin LeFevre's Pacific P-47D pilot, Dan Leon, was the top returning pilot with 6 kills.  Leon was also the top scoring 5th AF pilot.
• Chris Scott's Japanese N1K1-J pilot, Zensori Bato, was the top brand new pilot with 5 kills.  Bato was also the top scoring Japanese pilot.
• Martin Scott created the second Italian Ace in Aces' history, Angelo Ferrari.
• Jesse Evans created just the fourth Soviet P-39N ace in Aces' History, Raspie Rasputin.
• Nick Markevich 1943 West Front Luftwaffe pilot, Hans Mölder, became the second player to achieve the Bomber-killer ace ability in the Down in Flames Aces' Campaigns and the first Luftwaffe player to achieve the Bomber-killer vs. American heavy bombers ace ability in the Down in Flames Aces' Campaigns.
• Bomber defensive fire was more effective than in previous events with a total of 5 fighters were shot down by bombers.  Mike Lam had 2 fighters shot down by bombers: one of his Yak-9s was shot down by a Ju-88 and a Ki-84 (Frank) was shot down by a TBF.  Rick Young's Tomahawk pilot, Elton John shot down a Heinkel He-111 but at the same time was shot down by the return fire.  And Chris LeFevre & Phil Bradley Luftwaffe pilots were shot down by B-17s.
• Chris LeFevre shot down a fighter with his Bf-110C rear gunner during the tournament semi-finals, the first time this has happened in Aces' history.

• The top Soviet pilot belonged to Kevin LeFevre.  His returning pilot, Alex Koruluk, had 5 kills to increase his total to 16 overall.

• The top RAF pilot belonged to Chris Scott. His Hurricane pilot, Edmund Lennon.  Lennon had 4-kills: 1 Italian & 3 Luftwaffe fighters

• The top American 8th AF pilot belonged to Jerry White. His P-38J pilot, Johnny Bench, shot down 3 Luftwaffe fighters.

• The top American Pacific Navy pilot belonged to Jesse Evans with his Hellcat pilot, Chris Berry, shot down 3 Japanese fighters.

• The top Japanese Army pilot was tied with 3 kills between Samantha's Billingley's Ryichi Fuji, and Mike Lam's Hiro Matsuo.

• The top Luftwaffe pilot honors was a 4-way tie with 3-kills.  Nick Markevich had two: George Hauptman (North Africa) and Hans Mölder (West Front).  Kevin LeFevre had Edgar Zapp (West Front) and Rick Young had Wilhelm Klink on the Eastern Front.

• The top Italian pilot belonged to Martin Scott with his MC.202 pilot, Ernest Gallo, who shot down 1 British fighter & 1 bomber.

SPECIAL BOMBER MISSIONS:

No special bomber mission was run this weekend.

TEAM DOUBLES TOURNAMENT:

The first round was a 1943 Pacific match up between the US 5th AF vs. the Imperial Japanese Army. Each dogfight consisted of 1 element each of P-40C & P-40E vs. 1 element each of Ki-61s (Tony) and Ki-43-II (Oscar).  All four top seeded teams easily defeated their first round opponents, 2 games to none, all by at least by a double digit margin.  In round 1, team #1 and the defending champions, Chris & Kevin LeFevre, defeated team #8 of Phil Bradley & Rachel Billingsley.  Team #2 of Jesse Evans & Rick Young defeated team #7of Luke Billingsley and Chris Scott.  Team #3 of the father/daughter team of Gene & Sam Billingsley defeated team #6 of Kevin Melahn and Dave Wesner.  And team #4 of Nick Markevich & Chares Ryder defeated the team #5 of Mike Lam & Martin Scott.

The semi-finals was an early 1940 Battle of France match up.  The Luftwaffe had 1 element of Bf-109E and Bf-110C vs. 1 element of French De.520 and Po.631.  Team #2 Evans/Young defeated team #3 of Gene & Sam Billingsley, 2 games to none.  With the Evans/Young team barely holding on to a 2-0 lead going into the last turn, Jesse Evans blew up Samantha's Billingsley's De.520 leader to seal a 5-0 win.  In the other semi-final match, team #4 of Markevich/Ryder defeated the defending Father/Son champions, Chris & Kevin LeFevre, winning the first game 10-5 and holding on for a 7-7 tie to advance into the Finals.

The Finals was a best of 4 games format. The first match consisted of 1 element each of Fw-190Ds & Fw-190Fs vs. 1 element of Yak-3s and Yak-9Us.  After winning the first final game 17-10 as the Germans and tying the next 10-10, Team #4 of Markevich/Ryder lead team#2 Evans/Young 1 game to none with 1 tie.  Team #2 had to win or tie game 3 to force a 4th game.  The third game took place over the North African desert between 2 elements of Tomahawks II (P-40C) vs. 1 element of MC.202 and Bf-109E.  Team #4 Markevich/Ryder flew the RAF with team #2 of Evans/Young taking the Axis side.  All of the scoring took place during turns 2 & 3.  Charles Ryder scored all of his team's point when he shot down Evans' Bf-109 leader, while Evans and Young each damaged one of the P-40 leaders.  With a 5-4 lead, Nick Markevich and Charles Ryder held off Evans & Young from scoring for the rest of the dogfight to take the deciding game to win the 2007 GMT-WEST 2-man team DIF championships, 2 games to none, with 1 tie. 

As the winning team, Charles Ryder won a copy of the book, "Flying Aces: Aviation Art of WW2" by James H. Kitches & Bernard C. Nalty, while Nick Markevich a copy of the book, "Bomber Missions: Aviation Art of WW2" by G.E. Patrick Murray, both books donated by Mike Lam.  Nick also received a copy of the game MANIFEST DESTINY donated by GMT Games.  Charles left Hanford before getting a game, so he'll have to pick one up next April.

Congratulations to Nick Markevich and Charles Ryder, the first repeat team to win the tournament with a 5-0-2 record. Nick & Charles had previously won the first GMT-West 2-player DIF team tournament back in 2000 when the it was held at the Hanford Mall.  If Nick and Charles 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 2008 they will be seeded as the #2 team.

COMING THIS APRIL:

The 1941 Western Front, the 1943 East Front, the 1943 West Front and the 1944 Pacific campaigns will return. There will be no 2-player team tournament; the tournament will return in October. The special bomber mission is TBD at this time.

I hope all who participated had fun and a good time and I plan to continue the aerial mayhem at next April's GMT-West Weekend, scheduled for April 24-27, 2008 in Hanford.
 

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