Essex Air Groups in RHS

[el cid again]

Right now all Essex class CV have four squadrons

The original design called for a "half squadron" extra of fighters (i.e. 9 planes) - see The Essex Class Aircraft Carriers (USNI)

What if we put a squadron of night fighters on some ships? It would be 12 planes - 9 from the fighter squadron (reducing it back to 18) and 3 "extra" because the torpedo squadron is "three planes short" of the design - 15 vice 18.

The idea we have night fighter carrier planes - but no carrier qualified squadrons - always felt wrong to me.

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: el cid again

Right now all Essex class CV have four squadrons

The original design called for a "half squadron" extra of fighters (i.e. 9 planes) - see The Essex Class Aircraft Carriers (USNI)

What if we put a squadron of night fighters on some ships? It would be 12 planes - 9 from the fighter squadron (reducing it back to 18) and 3 "extra" because the torpedo squadron is "three planes short" of the design - 15 vice 18.

The idea we have night fighter carrier planes - but no carrier qualified squadrons - always felt wrong to me.

The carrier-based night fighter units operated as 'combined arms' teams. The basic unit was a radar-equipped TBF/TBM and two F6Fs that the TBF controlled. The USN also discovered that it was more efficient to have dedicated night-fighter carriers than to have every carrier running 24-hour operations.

[el cid again]

ORIGINAL: herwin

ORIGINAL: el cid again

Right now all Essex class CV have four squadrons

The original design called for a "half squadron" extra of fighters (i.e. 9 planes) - see The Essex Class Aircraft Carriers (USNI)

What if we put a squadron of night fighters on some ships? It would be 12 planes - 9 from the fighter squadron (reducing it back to 18) and 3 "extra" because the torpedo squadron is "three planes short" of the design - 15 vice 18.

The idea we have night fighter carrier planes - but no carrier qualified squadrons - always felt wrong to me.

The carrier-based night fighter units operated as 'combined arms' teams. The basic unit was a radar-equipped TBF/TBM and two F6Fs that the TBF controlled. The USN also discovered that it was more efficient to have dedicated night-fighter carriers than to have every carrier running 24-hour operations.

Presumably that means at first they tried detachments. Apparently there were only a tiny number of the first night fighters (F4U-2) built - later they built a different kind (F6F-5N) in larger numbers. We might run the F4U-2 units as extra squadrons on carriers - and the F6F units on dedicated carriers - if we can identify which carriers. Any idea?

[el cid again]

I have found (in the CHS/RHS data set) that F6F night fighters are assigned to squadrons paired with TBFs - supporting the above information. These include VFN-41 (paired with VTN-41) and VFN-90 (paired with VTN-90). Our data set has only one F4U night fighter unit - VFN-101 - and it is not paired with a VTN squadron - supporting my speculation above.
The dates seem wrong for it, however.

Edit: The first VFN was 75 - and it had only 32 planes. VFN-101 is a detachment of it. These corsairs had radar right in the wings. They operated in detachments on either USS Enterprise or USS Independence. VFN-75 was operational from October 1943.

VFN-41 operated on USS Independence - so did VTN-41.

VFN-90 operated on USS Enterprise - so did VTN-90.

Pretty clearly we should put VFN-41 and VTN-41 on USS Independence.

Pretty clearly we have a problem with VFN-75/101. It needs to be split into land and sea units I think. And the sea unit needs to go on an Essex - the nearest possible to October 1943.

Pretty clearly VFN/VTN 90 are also a problem. The original Enterprise cannot operate them. So we probably put them on another Independence.

I also found evidence of a VFN-103 - possibly VFN-101, 102 and 103 are detachments of VFN-75????


Turns out we have a VFN-75 - ashore as it should be - but in San Francisco vice San Diego.

[el cid again]

First Compromise: VFN-41 and VTN-41 become the air group of USS Cowpens - because it appears on the date the aircraft become available (9/43). The VFN unit has 20 aircraft and the VTN unit has 10 aircraft - to preserve the 2:1 ratio described above.

This displaces VF-25 and VT-25. It also strips USS Didrickson Bay of an air group.

In EOS - with the extra Independence class conversions - we can assign VF-25 and VT-25 to USS Reprisal - which also appears in 9/43. This also fixes problems with the Reprisal air group - which had only one squadron which was a duplicate unit! This isn't quite right - apparently both VF-25 and VT-25 served on the Cowpens - while VFN-41 and VTN-41 served on Independence - which itself had both VF-22 and VT-22. But the night fighters involved were an earlier version - and our VFN-41 does not appear until later. Either way - VF and VFN units must have rotatated between ships. We can only assign one. So we will do it this way. I think this is our model - and we will do something similar for VFN-90.
But what about Didrickson Bay??? EDIT It is better simply to swap air groups between Cowpens and Didrickson Bay.
We need to do something else about Reprisal - but only in EOS. Hmmm- seems we somehow lost VCF and VCT 17 - so that works.

Looks like it should have VCF-82 and VTF-82.

We can do something similar with USS Langley and VFN-90/VTN-90. It appears within 8 days of the squadron historical founding - Dec 24 1944. That would displace VF-28 and VT-28. In EOS these can equip USS Kaasan Bay, the CVE that formerly had VFN/VTN-90 - and IRL was a ferry carrier. Since we cannot put the units on USS Enterprise - this may be as good a solution as we can get.

I am going to validate this stuff in tests. I have noted VFN-41 and VTN-41 with the suffix (NFTR) to help players notice them. I disarmed VTN planes of torpedoes - and gave them AI radar. I am going to try something more radical - call them true night fighters. We will see if this works?

[el cid again]

Turns out that the night fighter situation on the Essex is complex. A number of units

including VFN-76, 77 and 78

operated off two to five carriers in detachments - all Essex class apparently.

In addition, a larger number of day squadrons had flights of night fighters - and operated of the same ships as their parent squadrons.

The original practice was to put detachments of 4 night fighters on each Essex.

To complicate matters further, the Bon Homme Richard operated an all night air group - and had an entire squadron of night fighters - VFN - 91.

Then there was VMFN-532 - operating F4U night fighters - apparently ashore.

[el cid again]

The first F4U Night Fighter squadron - VFN-75 - is land based - and appears in the summer of 1943 (it technically formed in June) and is rated low experience.

Its derivitive squadrons appear as attachments of 4 planes on Essex class carriers from Dec 1943 on (Intrepid in the RHS naming scheme). The first three are VFN-101 and are also F4Us - but upgrade to F6Fs. Later units start with F6Fs.

IRL these detachments moved from ship to ship - and served on earlier ships. We cannot have a unit appear at a different time than the ship - so we will have it appear from the ship it served on.

There also are the two Independence class ships with all night fighter groups - and we will have Valley Forge appear with the entire VFN-91 on her - she is a dedicated night ops carrier and had more than a detachment of night fighters - this squadron in fact - but IRL she was called Bon Homme Richard. Also IRL that name was first allocated to a different Essex class ship, and that ship gets the name in RHS. The day fighter squadron will also be on board, but be reduced in size.

The Marine night fighter units remain ashore - and some start rather early with Ventura and one unit of F4Us.

[herwin]

The Enterprise also operated as a night carrier, and there was another large carrier whose name I've forgotten.

[el cid again]

It was Bon Homme Richard (= Valley Forge in RHS) - although you have not quite got her right: she operated as an "all night" carrier - but not "all night fighter" carrier. Her bombers also specialized in night work, apparently.

Enterprise is a problem - we cannot change air groups in mid game automatically. But players can! I give you the units - you can move em to Enterprise. But the units must appear at the moment their carrier does, to be carrier qualified. I cannot make a unit appear on a carrier later.