A Marauder heavy bomber bombs an ork forge on the mining moon of Hegira.

“Enemy aircraft! Enemy aircraft! Eleven o’clock, bearing 240 degrees! Scat Six and Seven, push high, push high! The rest of you idiots follow me. We’re going right down their throats.”—Vox chatter from the 2,192nd Fighter Group.

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IMPERIAL VOXCAST (HEGIRA)—More than 200 Imperial Navy bombers and fighters yesterday attacked a sizable ork manufactorum to the east of the ork-held Barad Mine, causing significant damage to the greenskin war effort to seize the mining moon of Hegira in the Sculptor System.

In the pre-dawn hours of 6 771 746.M41, the 149th and1,273rd Bomber Groups, supported by the 2,192nd and 1,833rd Fighter Groups, launched from the airfields of Susa City and made the nine-hour flight to the sprawling greenskin manufacturing center located in the middle of the desert east of the Barad Mine.

According to Imperial authorities, Imperial Navy aircraft dropped 205,000 kilograms of high explosives on two of three designated targets over the course of 90 minutes of flying through heavy anti-air fire and repeated attacks by ork fighter craft.

Largest raid in years

Although far smaller than the 1,000-aircraft aerial raid on the Barad Mine two years ago, the 207 fighters and bombers that struck the ork forges yesterday formed the largest aerial mission conducted by the Imperial Navy in the past year.

According to Imperial authorities, orbital reconnaissance revealed that the orks had established a number of primitive forges  in deep gullies in the desert, possibly in the hopes that building new industry into the walls of these gullies would shield the workshops from Imperial view, .

Imperial military policy demands that any concentration of ork manufacturing be destroyed—a measure designed to limit the greenskin’s ability to supply their armies. Once strategists identified the targets, a request for a bombing run was made, and a multi-air group assault was approved. Three forges, in three different gullies, were targeted.

The mission was designated: Operation Animus.

Ork aircraft fly over the ork forges in a bid to intercept the Imperial bombing attack.

Initial dogfight

Approximately 170 ork aircraft intercepted the Imperial attacking force. The 2,192nd and 1,833rd Fighter Groups, consisting of Thunderbolt heavy fighters and Avenger strike fighters, deployed in a defensive screen and provided a physical shield to the bombers.

Although outnumbered, the two fighter wings managed to engage the majority of ork aircraft. Ork pilots, eager to engage, repeatedly focused on the closer, attacking fighters and largely ignored the Imperial bombers to the rear.

Over the next 15 minutes, Imperial and ork pilots engaged in a confused and intense dogfight, with four Imperial aircraft and 17 ork aircraft shot down.

As the Imperial bomber wings approached their targets, they split into two groups: the 149th Bomber Group targeting the northernmost forge, and the 1,273rd Bomber Group turned toward the center forge, leaving the southernmost forge as a secondary target.

The fighter groups also split, each serving as a screen for one bomber group.

A Thunderbolt heavy fighter leads a Marauder bomber toward its target, as enemy aircraft approach.

Initial bombing run

Both bomber groups failed in their initial bombing runs. In the center the 149th Bombing Group was targeted by 50 ork Dakkajets and Fighta-Bommers. The 2,192nd Fighter Group aggressively defended the Imperial bombers, but six bombers were shot down—two by suicidal crashes by ork pilots.

The actual bombing run over the central target lasted only five minutes, but Imperial pilots were forced to maintain a steady velocity and direction as they braved heavy anti-aircraft fire, losing eight Maurader heavy bombers to flak.

Unfortunately, the nearby 1,273rd Bomber Group was forced to divert course over its target to avoid collisions between dog-fighting fighter craft, said Captain Daxtan Grytt. public liaison officer for Imperial Navy ground assets.

“As a result, the 1,273rd’s bombers approached their target a severe angle, crossing the target gully more to the perpendicular rather than following the gully along its length.”

The result, Grytt said, was that “bombs drop along a line, and instead of falling down the length of the gully, they fell as they crossed the narrow facing, so many bombs fell in the desert to either side of the gully. Little damage was done to the ork facilities.”

A different challenge confronted the 149th Bomber Group. Although its approach to the target followed the gully’s path, there was a thick cloud of black smoke rising from the forge site, and the lead bombardier was forced to abort the run.

“Visibility was very poor,” Grytt explained. “It is common for a scrubbed bombing run to divert to a secondary target or jettison its bombs, as landing a plane with a full load of bombs is too dangerous.”

“Unwilling to waste the lives of those who’d already died in the fighting, the lead bombardier recommended a second attempt on the target—and the group commander agreed.”

Click here to read the conclusion of this battle.

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The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our hobby adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.