ORIGINAL: crsutton
I am amazed how he throws away aircraft. I only wish my opponent would stack his aircraft like that for me to nail...[:-]
A bloody day in the air in the Solomons...
July 2, 3 1943
The KB comes down again, escorting his CAs at stops near Shortland. At the same time Rader orders a mass attack against my BBs. I've moved them back to Karaikira with a 160 fighter CAP.
For two days a furious battle raged over Karaikira and Lunga skies and it turned to be another Turkey shot.
After the sunset of the second day 235 enemy planes were counted shot down and 35 allied planes didn't come back. 3 pilots are reported KIA and 15 WIA. We have lots of brand new aces among our lines[;)]
He layed mines all over Tulagi with his subs but my AMs are working every day so we managed to detect the minefields and to start cleaning the path.
Now we have to decide what to do. We can push forward and move back our BBs to Tulagi in order to defend against a possible arrival of his CA/BBs (but the presence of the KB so close-by is clearly a problem), or we can wait and set up another good CAP-trap and wait one more turn, so to let him dance to my rithm and not the opposite...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub attack near Attu Island at 146,61
Japanese Ships
AV Kano Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage[8D]
E Matsuwa
Allied Ships
SS S-35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submarine attack near Attu Island at 146,62
Japanese Ships
AV Kano Maru, Torpedo hits 1, on fire, heavy damage *sinks*
Allied Ships
SS Rasher
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Kirakira at 116,140
Weather in hex: Light cloud
Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 45 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 21
A6M3a Zero x 69
D3A1 Val x 12
N1K1-J George x 37
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 11
Hurricane XIIb x 5
P-38G Lightning x 10
P-39D Airacobra x 10
P-40K Warhawk x 17
F6F-3 Hellcat x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 11 destroyed
D3A1 Val: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
D3A1 Val: 3 destroyed by flak
N1K1-J George: 5 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 1 destroyed
Hurricane XIIb: 1 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
CA San Francisco
BB South Dakota
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kirakira at 116,140
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 118 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 41 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 21
G4M1 Betty x 9
N1K1-J George x 9
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 8
Hurricane XIIb x 4
P-38G Lightning x 7
P-39D Airacobra x 7
P-40K Warhawk x 15
F6F-3 Hellcat x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 8 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed, 2 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak
N1K1-J George: 2 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
P-40K Warhawk: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
BB South Dakota
BB Massachusetts
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Lunga at 114,138
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 116 NM, estimated altitude 20,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 43 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M3a Zero x 32
A6M5 Zero x 8
D3A1 Val x 23
N1K1-J George x 9
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 6
Kittyhawk III x 7
Spitfire Vc Trop x 12
Hurricane XIIb x 1
P-38G Lightning x 2
P-40K Warhawk x 2
F4U-1 Corsair x 20
F6F-3 Hellcat x 39
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3a Zero: 13 destroyed
A6M5 Zero: 1 destroyed
D3A1 Val: 9 destroyed
N1K1-J George: 3 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Lunga at 114,138
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 113 NM, estimated altitude 16,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 42 minutes
Japanese aircraft
D3A1 Val x 36
Allied aircraft
Hurricane IIc Trop x 5
Kittyhawk III x 6
Spitfire Vc Trop x 9
Hurricane XIIb x 1
P-38G Lightning x 2
P-39D Airacobra x 2
P-40K Warhawk x 2
F4U-1 Corsair x 17
F6F-3 Hellcat x 29
Japanese aircraft losses
D3A1 Val: 17 destroyed
No Allied losses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Air attack on TF, near Kirakira at 116,140
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 91 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 31 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 3
A6M3a Zero x 25
G4M1 Betty x 9
N1K1-J George x 4
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 11
Hurricane XIIb x 5
P-38G Lightning x 6
P-39D Airacobra x 9
P-40K Warhawk x 15
F6F-3 Hellcat x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 1 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 4 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 6 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 1 destroyed by flak
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed
No Allied losses
Allied Ships
BB South Dakota
BB Massachusetts
CL Raleigh
Aircraft Attacking:
8 x G4M1 Betty launching torpedoes at 200 feet
Naval Attack: 1 x 18in Type 91 Torpedo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Kirakira at 116,140
Weather in hex: Thunderstorms
Raid detected at 116 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 40 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2-N Rufe x 29
A6M3a Zero x 47
G4M1 Betty x 13
N1K1-J George x 33
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 67
Ki-43-IIb Oscar x 52
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 77
Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 53
Allied aircraft
Kittyhawk III x 10
Hurricane XIIb x 5
P-38G Lightning x 6
P-39D Airacobra x 8
P-40K Warhawk x 14
F6F-3 Hellcat x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2-N Rufe: 2 destroyed
A6M3a Zero: 1 destroyed
G4M1 Betty: 4 destroyed, 3 damaged
G4M1 Betty: 2 destroyed by flak
N1K1-J George: 1 destroyed
Ki-43-IIa Oscar: 3 destroyed
Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 2 destroyed
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 2 destroyed
Ki-45 KAIa Nick: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
Kittyhawk III: 2 destroyed
Hurricane XIIb: 2 destroyed
P-39D Airacobra: 1 destroyed
P-40K Warhawk: 3 destroyed
F6F-3 Hellcat: 1 destroyed
Allied Ships
BB South Dakota
[/center]
