Some Tiny Air Combat at Koepang, DEI

[Just Jack]

Thomaston – Campaign casualties is the short answer.  Since my Chickenhawks are down to 12 fighters, I’m running the Japanese in three flights:
1. six Vals and two Zeroes
2.  three Vals, three Kates, and three Zeroes
3.  six Kates and four Zeroes
Everything against four P-40s, so that all 12 pilots get another sortie.  Which is a bit unfair to the US Navy and Marines as I’ve been rolling for their sorties.  Have ta even that out 😉

John – Yeah, you’ll soon see the danger in going after the bombers without dealing with the fighters…

V/R,
Jack

[Just Jack]

All,

It’s 1000 on 19 February 1942, in Darwin, Australia, and a massive air raid by Japanese carrier aircraft is inbound. The Chickenhawks are down to 12 pilots and aircraft, but they scramble everyone, four pilots in three successive flights, rising to defend the myriad ships docked in the bay, nearly defenseless against the coming onslaught.

Lt Kimble already led one flight into combat, downing one Zero and four Vals without loss, though two Vals entered the harbor. Captain Jordan is leading the second flight into action now.

It’s an aerial melee, falling shell casings and falling planes, plumes of smoke leading down to the warm, blue waters below. To see how Captain Jordan became an ace, please check the blog at:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2018/12/chickenhawks-in-darwin-2.html

Next fight is coming right up, Captain Biasucci leading a four-ship flight up to meet six Kate torpedo bombers escorted by four Zeros. Yes, four P-40s vs four Zeros, to get at the six Kates, should be interesting!

V/R,
Jack

[Deleted User]

The Army pilots actually did better than the Navy. They’re pretty low on aircraft though.

[kyoteblue]

Some of the photos didn’t load, Jack. But it was a good fight.

[Just Jack]

Thomaston – You’ve got a certain subversive element about ya, rooting for the Japanese tail gunners, pointing out the Army is scoring better than the Navy.  You weren’t Army, were ya? 😉

Kyote – I’m not sure why photos aren’t loading for you, I haven’t done anything different.  Whirlwind John was having problems with Darwin #1, and now you’re having problems with Darwin #2, this kinda sucks…

V/R,
Jack

[Just Jack]

All,

It’s 1000 on 19 February 1942, in Darwin, Australia, and a massive air raid by Japanese carrier aircraft is inbound. The Chickenhawks are down to 12 pilots and aircraft, but they scramble everyone, four pilots in three successive flights, rising to defend the myriad ships docked in the bay, nearly defenseless against the coming onslaught.

Lt Kimble already led one flight into combat, downing one Zero and four Vals without loss, though two Vals entered the harbor. Captain Jordan is leading the second flight into action now.

Major Jordan led another flight into combat, downing two Zeroes, two Vals, and two Kates, at the loss of two P-40s.

Captain Biasucci runs straight in, breaking up the formation of torpedo bombers.

But the Zeroes are swarming all over the flight of P-40s, which probably should have spent a little more effort in dealing with the escorts. To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2018/12/chickenhawks-in-darwin-3.html

I’ve also posted new squadron rosters:
US Marine “Dirt Divers”
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2018/12/dirt-divers-roster.html

US Navy “Killer Pelicans”
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2018/12/killer-pelicans-roster.html

US Army Air Force “Chickenhawks”
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2018/12/chickenhawks-roster.html

And in order to track the accomplishments of the three squadrons, and rank them against each other, I have introduced the ‘scorecard,’ tracking sorties, kills, losses, and awards:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2018/12/air-war-n-pacific-scorecard.html

So more to come, probably going back to the Killer Pelicans for the two Coral Sea battles, and then Midway, then probably a few missions for the Chickenhawks running out of northern Australia, up to New Guinea. And don’t worry about the Dirt Divers, once Guadalcanal kicks off and Henderson Field is operational, they’re going to be in for quire a period of sustained combat.

I hope you’re enjoying these as much as I (and my kid) are, it’s been a blast on this end and I can’t see us not playing a lot more of these. As a matter of fact, I’ve just purchased a bunch more aircraft, so soon the Battle of Britain shall begin!

V/R,
Jack

[kyoteblue]

Damn..those poor army pilots got hammered.

[Deleted User]

Mwahahaha, I like this battle the most, no one can deny the superiority of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Arms.
Army pilots are racking up a lot of kills but also a LOT of WIA. Remaining pilots are on their way to becoming Aces though.

Feel free to ignore this but you could have the Marines fly a mission at Midway and transfer the survivors (or some, randomly) to the Dirt Divers.

[kyoteblue]

You could have some Marines at Midway. Or even some B-17’s!!

[Just Jack]

“Mwahahaha, I like this battle the most, no one can deny the superiority of the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Arms.”
Bastard!!! 😉  At this point I’m still not using any sort of modifiers for pilot skill, everyone is equal, so the guys making it to Ace are doing it simply via attrition and luck in survival.

For you and Kyote, I’d thought about putting the Dirt Divers at Midway (I don’t mind changing history to have their Wildcats there, rather than just Brewster Buffaloes!), but I’m going to stick with just the Killer Pelicans, because the Marines are going to get PLENTY of work at Guadalcanal.  When Henderson Field stands up they’re going to be the only show in town, and those dogfights (in real life) were pretty much every single day.

So the Chickenhawks will get the odd mission over New Guinea now and again, and the Killer Pelicans will take part in the naval battles of the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz, but the Dirt Divers will be pounding it out every single day for quite awhile.  Yes, I’m being careful not to trap myself into overcommitting to something ungodly, like “…dogfight every day for three months…”

In any case, it’s going to be really cool as there will come a time when the Marines are at Henderson, the Chickenhawks move there from New Guinea, and the Killer Pelicans are based out of there for a bit when their carrier is damaged/sunk, so all three squadrons will be co-located.  Using the Battle of Britain game set up (rolling D6s to see what aircraft are in the fight), I plan on running games where the three squadrons have joint intercepts.

And sorry John, no B-17s, but I do have B-25s.

V/R,
Jack

[kyoteblue]

Woo Hoo !!! That all sounds great Jack!!

[kyoteblue]

Anything new Jack??

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