Operation Early Bird

Operation: Early Bird was an assault by ISAF aircraft on Erusea's petrochemical complex nearby Comberth Harbor as part of the Usean Continental War in 2004.

Prelude
This was the second part of a three-part operation to immobilize Erusea's powerful Aegir Fleet to prevent them from invading North Point and destroying the GHQ. The fleet's supply chain was cut off previously in Operation: Hunting Hawk, and now ISAF had to destroy the petrochemical complex providing fuel for the ships. With this complex destroyed, the fleet would be completely vulnerable.

Summary
In the early hours of November 19th, ISAF's pilots entered the complex's airspace. They split up into two groups: one to destroy the refinery, and one to destroy the oilrig. The refinery had little anti-air defenses, so the bombing operation there went on without a hitch. The oilrig was a different problem; the targets were on the rig platforms, which were littered with anti-air guns and SAMs. However, with careful tactical bombing, the attack on the oilrig succeeded as well. There were many bandits in the airspace as well, but a couple of planes flying top cover took care of them as well.

However, out of nowhere, the complex's call for reinforcements was answered. A squadron of Su-37 Terminators showed up. One of the ISAF pilots got a tally-ho and realized it was five members of the infamous Yellow Squadron. Sky Eye ordered all planes to return to base immediately to prevent any losses. Not every plane made it, but ISAF didn't suffer too many losses to Yellow Squadron.

Result
This battle, coupled with Operation: Hunting Hawk, dealt a decisive blow to the Aegir Fleet. They were now stuck at Comberth Harbor with nowhere to go, and they were ripe for the picking. ISAF was prepared to launch an attack.

Trivia

 * This is the first time Yellow Squadron has shown up after ISAF's mass evacuation. This is also one of their first long-distance missions.
 * No matter how many of them tried, none of the ISAF pilots were able to shoot down a single Yellow.