I'm currently a lone pilot that owns a 315p. I'm looking for any others interested in working together on search and rescue to save as many people as we can during and after the battle. I think it would be good if we could organize a nice small group that people can count on to get them out if things go sour.
Looking forward to hearing from any like minded pilots.

I definitely want in on this! I could actually use my cutlass for its stated "purpose" rather than just raiding. I think a search and rescue team is a very good idea and I would like to join you. If nothing else  I can provide an infil/evac vehicle for small groups of boarders.

I would assume a lot of the big clans will have their own S&R teams though , so we may need to coordinate with them to see where we unaffiliated pilots could help the most. If there are only a few ships in the indy S&R squadron, we may be used in more of a supplemental role, as part of a larger group.

Dunno, there's a lot to get worked out, but HOLY CRAP Im excited to do so!

In the interest of getting all our ducks in a row, I think we should use this thread to organize a semi-official search and rescue squadron, if that's ok with you Chris.

Id like to start getting numbers and ship counts for all the lone wolfs who would like to help with SAR. We will need rescue craft and escorts and I imagine we will be in the thick of the fighting. As we get closer to D-day, we should have a better picture of the overall battle plan, but my suggestion, for what we know now, is to use the LW SAR squadron as a supplemental force that can fill in where it is needed most.

I think a relatively small number of ships, moving quickly can respond where the fighting is heaviest and help support the SAR teams(if any) already on sight. We can be a sort of "force multiplier" for the rescue teams and make any rescue ops more efficient.

Of course, that probably depends on how the indy and lw attack pilots fall into the battle plan. If they are rolling as a unified group in a specific location, our SAR team may be better used following them and providing support to their efforts. But if they are loosely following the main battle group, we might be better off else where. The main battle group should have plenty of SAR support from the big orgs, and our efforts may be better along the fringes that don;t have as much support.

Anyway, i think we really just have to wait and see how certain game mechanics develop before we make a lot of our tactical decisions about. The more ideas we can get out there early though, helps us out later.

Any lone wolves out there interested in helping with SAR, either in a dust off or fighter escort role, I guess can reply here if its ok with you, Chris. If not, we can make a new thread just for squadron organization.

As for ship count, I have a cutlass Ill be flying for this op. I also have a hornet ghost I can lend to anybody that wants to fly escort for the SAR team.

Oh, and my suggestion for a squad name is "Akela Squadron". I know its a little corny, but when I saw lone wolf search adn rescue, its what immediately popped in my head 

I created a post over in the command room concerning our SAR group. Hopefully that thread will allow us to communicate and coordinate with the larger battle group a little better.

https://operationpitchfork.com/forums/index.php?topic=767.0

Hey gang, quick bump to see if any of the new Forkers are interested in joining our indy SAR group. We still need transports and fighter escorts as well as crew for all the ships. I know its still way early, but if you are interested, let us know. The sooner we get a good head count, the sooner we can begin to formulate our tactics and how we are going to mesh with the larger force.

I'd be super happy to be part of this.

I've got a Cutlass ready to go with a tractor beam.

Heads up: I expect a lot more of my org buddies are going to want "in" on OPPF as we get closer to D-Day and I may have to withdraw my SAR registration to go fly with them.  Also, I'm probably not going to be super involved in the Forums until we get closer, so keep me on your radar and contact me again as plans start getting finalized.

I'd definitely be interested in joining this initiative. I currently have a 300i, and I'm seriously considering going for a Cutlass closer to beta time. SAR ops should be entertaining; threading our way through the main fight in small, nimble groups, reacting as quickly as possible to the changing tide of battle to extract downed pilots.

I have an org that may or may not be joining OPPF, so depending on what they decide, there might be a few more ships coming with me. It's also possible that they'll commit to a different part of the op, in which case I've tentatively agreed to act as part of the escort flight for some of our org's larger ships, so I might not always be available for SAR ops.

Welcome to the SAR crew guys! I'll get you added to the list of available SAR pilots for now, if you end up running with your own crews, let me know so I can adjust accordingly.

As it looks right now, based on what we know about the instancing, it looks like a single unified SAR squadron is not going to be feasible. We will most likely need to split all the SAR pilots up and attach them to other units. As with most of OPPF, we really need more information on game systems before we can formulate real, workable ideas, but due to the limited number of ships per instance, we really can't eat up available ship space with too many dedicated SAR units.

I think our best idea, at this point anyway, is to distribute the SAR pilots among the other lone wolf squadrons that are forming up. We can also lend our ships to any orgs or squads that need SAR help. An idea I saw on the command room that was interesting is the thought of holding SAR ships away from the front line and using them to fill in as ships go down in the various instances. Again though, that idea needs more in-game info before it can really be fleshed out.

Anyway, that's kind of where we stand right now, we have a general goal, but not a lot of info on how to accomplish that goal. if ya'll have any ideas you'd like to throw out, feel free. We need all the input we can get right now. There's so much that is up in the air, real strategies will be tough to formulate, but it sure as hell is fun to try! 

I'm interested in getting spaced humans back into their bacon-makers as quickly as possible. While bombing in a Retaliator is likely what I plan to do for as long as I have gunners and a whole ship to do it in, I've got access to an Andromeda/Phoenix and an Aurora LX (that may or may not be cross-chassis'd into something else in the future).

I suspect SAR will be pretty important, and as it seems there hasn't been a lot of interest in this role, I'll put my name down on the volunteer list.

I have a Cutlass Red for SAR ops in OP. I am a member of ATRAX and affiliated with Auxilium. Auxilium is a volunteer org dedicated to SAR.

UPDATE: I see Auxilium has posted over in Joint Ops.