Once Again into the Breach - Mike (J) vs. tc464 (A)

[Mike Solli]

15 Apr 42

Sub War

Remember that TF that dropped off the AS at Buna that was ravaged by the Do-24s? Well, it was composed of 3x xAKs and a Kiso PB escort. The PB was all that was left and it was headed to Rabaul when it ran over the US sub Porpoise. She shot a couple of torpedoes, one hit, and it exploded! Down went the PB. The up side was that 99% of the unit landed safely.

The I-158 was given orders to patrol off the coast of Perth. I suspect there are some TK convoys moving in an out of there. She passed Exmouth heading south today and ran into an xAKL. Two torpedoes later, down went the xAKL.

5 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

Combat over Pt. Moresby cost us 1 Zero and a pilot vs. 2 Kittyhawks shot down and another 3 op losses.

The B-17s visited Lae again. They missed the airfield and apparently one crashed on the way home.

The best part of the day was 30 Betties visiting a TF at Pt. Moresby. They sank an xAKL, the DD Edsall and a large xAP loaded with troops. A lot of non-combat squads and vehicles went down. It had to be some sort of support unit. Banzai!

In the afternoon, another 14 Betties showed up at Pt. Moresby again and this time sank another xAKL.

Philippines

More bombardment today. I’ll DA tomorrow.

China

Nothing new to report.

Burma

One hex north of Katha seems to be the place where the action is. 2E bombers are attacking the force that is crawling toward Imphal, slowing them down further. I only have 10 Zeros that can support that hex, though AS is arriving at other bases in the area and more fighters will be available soon. For the loss of 1 Zero (no pilots lost), I shot down a Hurricane and a bomber, with a couple more Hurricanes lost on the way home. Unfortunately, I need more fighters here because there were 64 bomber sorties flown against this hex today.

SRA

Lots of fuel (180k), oil (80k) and resources (150k+) heading from Singapore to the Home Islands over the next couple of days. It’s piling up at Singapore faster than I can ship it out. I don’t see a solution until late June (first batch of Std- conversions finishing up).

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: xAK Teikin Maru – Gozan Class at Saigon

[Mike Solli]

16 Apr 42

Sub War

The I-158 continued south along the west coast of Australia, headed for Perth, when she found another xAKL and put her under. At this rate, she won’t have many torpedoes left when she arrives at her patrol station. I may start moving another sub down there tomorrow.

I’ve had 2x midget subs patrolling at Christmas Island (South Pacific) for a few weeks. A convoy arrived today and one was sunk by a DD. She didn’t even fire a shot. The other one is still sitting in the hex. We’ll see if she does anything tomorrow.

5 Fleet

I spotted a TF at Kodiak. I’m sending a sub up there to investigate. It’ll get there tomorrow.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

More fun in the skies and on the water in this area again:

Pt. Moresby – One Kittyhawk was shot down for no loss to me.

Gasmata – 27 B-17s visited and opposed by 15 Zeros. There were no losses on either side and no damage to the airfield.

Lae – 3 B-17s were opposed by 5 Zeros. Each side lost 1 plane (no Japanese pilot loss) and no damage was done to the airfield. Lae’s damage is slowly dropping and currently is at 0-29-36 (down from 0-29-42 yesterday).

12 Betties visited Pt. Moresby today and sank 2x xAKs. Very nice.

Rabaul is obviously the key to this area, with the only level 7 airfield available. I want to increase the AS here to 250 in order to allow the maximum amount of planes to fly in and out as needed. It’s not available yet but I’ll continue to ship it here as I can.

Philippines

The DA against Bataan was a nice success. The 2:1 attack reduced the fort level from 1 to 0 and caused 1266(108) Allied losses to 505(6) Japanese losses. In addition, two Allied units were destroyed (a HQ and an engineer). Ted is down to 2 units that are combat effective. At the end of the battle, he was down to 173 raw AV and the 4 Marine Regiment was rendered combat ineffective. I’ll attack again tomorrow. It’s almost done.

China

Nothing new to report.

Burma

Another attack against the Imphal force by 37 2E bomber sorties. One Hurricane was shot down and a Hurricane and Hudson op loss were reported. The additional AS for airfields in the area is arriving (strat mode). They will be offloaded from their trains in the next day or 2 and the Japanese fighter strength able to be brought to bear will increase significantly. Now we’ll see some Allied bombers come down.

Australia

The Darwin invasion forces will have all arrived at Koepang by tomorrow. I’ll reorganize them and send them on their way tomorrow. I don’t see much Allied ground force in the coastal cities. I think he shipped a lot of it to Pt. Moresby this game. I regularly see 40k+ troops there. Interesting.

Other Stuff

The airframe R&D is coming along nicely. Initially, there were 1x60 and 5x30 A6M3 factories. The 60 and 3x30 factories have all fully repaired and have been upgraded to the A6M3a. The two remaining factories need only 1 and 2 repairs to complete and then will upgrade. When the A6M3a comes online, I will allow the 60 and 2x30 become operational and the remaining 4x30 will upgrade to the A6M5.

I had 3x30 R&D Rufe factories before it came online this month. 2x30 upgraded to the A6M5, and are currently working on accelerating that model.

If you recall, the Helen IIa has 3x30 factories fully repaired and has accelerated one month to Aug 42. It is close to accelerating another month.

I’m now thinking about what other models to start accelerating. I have 3x30 each for the Frank and George as well as a couple other single factories for some other models. Gotta think about this a bit more. I think I’m good with the Zero, Tojo and Helen models.

I got an interesting note from Ted with the most recent turn after making a comment to him about his self-sustaining POW camp at Pt. Moresby: “And look at all those troops and airpower you use to contain them. Interesting dilemna…I break, you get PM. You break, Rabaul becomes a relief map of the moon.”

That’s absolutely true. We need to both keep pouring stuff into that area. What Ted doesn’t know is that after Bataan falls, the 5 Air Division will move there, bringing 78 Oscars and 80 more bombers. That’s in addition to what’s currently there: 90 Zeros, 81 Betties and 27 Sallies. Then I’ll be able to start to really pound him. The only issue I will have is the B-17 menace. He sends 25-30 a day against my airfields. On occasion, they cause some moderate damage, but usually the damage is light and easily repaired. Troops? Not much really. AS and engineers are the big two. I’ve got the Gds Bde and 144 Regiment (from 55 Div in Burma) in the area. The 90 Regiment and an SNLF have left the area temporarily to take Ambon a few days ago and are being used against another defended Dutch base. Then they will head back to the SE Fleet area and take Horn Island in the process.

I need to figure out where they will be stationed and make sure there’s enough AS in the right places. That will be my issue for the foreseeable future.

I’m debating what to do with 14 Army (16 & 48 Divisions and 65 Bde) once Bataan falls. I’m thinking of sending that army to the SE Fleet area and possibly going for Pt. Moresby. I’ll have lots of air support there by the time they make it there. We’ll see….

[Mike Solli]

17 Apr 42

Sub War

The I-158 didn’t find any ships today. She’ll reach her patrol station off the coast of Perth tomorrow.

5 Fleet

The sub is at Kodiak and has found a TF of 2 enemy ships. No contact by either side.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

There was some minor contact between the air forces but no damage done on either side, by fighters or bombers.

The only air base with any damage is Lae, slowly dropping and currently at 0-29-30.

Philippines

Bataan was liberated today! The 2:1 attack netted 13,366(4430) Allies and finished off the Philippine Army.

The 5 Air Division has begun staging to the SE Fleet Area. They are flying through Babeldaob to Rabaul, where they will disperse to various airfields and begin the destruction of Pt. Moresby. I’ll give a more detailed OOB later. The current issue is that there aren’t enough Sallies to upgrade anything so 1x Lily sentai and several 1E bomber units will be participating.

Once they arrive, there will be 78 IJA and 90 IJN fighters and 107 IJA and 81 IJN bombers in this area. The IJA will focus exclusively on Pt. Moresby’s airfield/port and air superiority over Pt. Moresby and the IJN will focus on sweeping the seas of enemy shipping, with some IJN Zeros supporting the air superiority mission and providing CAP.

The victorious 14 Army is currently resting at Bataan. I’ll let them recover for a few days and determine their next objective. I need to sweep the mines out of Bataan harbor and get more shipping for transport of the ground troops. I’m considering using them to sweep SE from Ambon to Horn Island and possibly to Pt. Moresby. We’ll see.

China

Nine of the 10x heavy artillery units have arrived at the terminus of the rail line and are disembarking for the trek to Sian. The army investing Sian will need them. The Chinese have 2400 AV there. Granted they will be isolated soon, but it’s still a huge army.

Burma

The air war in Burma has focused on the airspace over the Imphal invasion force recently. Japanese airfields are beginning to pop up in that region as AS arrives. Soon I will have more fighters over my army to better defend them. Things will only get better as more AS pours into Burma through the port of Rangoon. (An additional 64 AS is about to land there in the next day or so.) I now have 4x sentai of Sallies (up from 3) with a couple more ready to move into Burma. They are focusing on Akyab and will include Chittagong as Ted moves his fighters from there to Imphal to defend that area. Right now, Ted has ~12 Hurricanes defending his 2E bombers at Imphal, with over 50 bombers there. Once I get 30-40 fighters over my invasion force, I’ll start to whittle down his bombers. Right now, I’m averaging 3-5 fighters a day there. For example, today I had 3 Zeros against 6 Hurricanes and 40 Blenheim IVs, the 1 Zero against 12 Hudsons and then an unopposed raid of another 10 bombers. We each lost 1 fighter (but I saved my pilot).

Akyab has been abandoned as an Allied fighter base. There are an estimated 40k Allied troops there, far too many for me to take, but it would be a lot of fun to cut them off. I have a raiding regiment allocated to the Burmese theater, but I’m not sure where to use it. I’m tempted to take an unguarded base near Imphal but I’m not sure it would do any good. I think Cox’s Bazaar is unguarded, but I’m not sure. If it isn’t guarded, I may use the raiders to take it, effectively cutting off Akyab, and the 40k troops there. A little more recon is needed before I make a decision.

I’m going to study the map tonight to see if I can use the raiders to cut off the rail line that runs close to Imphal. If I can, I can then fly in an infantry and engineer regiment (both from 55 Division) to boost the defense and build forts. We’ll see.

SRA

I took Mataram, an island off the southern coast of Java that had a garrison. That eliminated another potential base for the Do-24s. There weren’t any there unfortunately. I do see ground and air units at Merauke, on the SW coast of PNG. That has to be the Do-24s. I have forces headed there to take them out.

Australia

The invasion forces are leaving Koepang today. Two infantry divisions, 2x tank regiments and 2 artillery regiments are headed for Darwin and 1x infantry division and 1x artillery regiment is headed for Pt. Hedland. I have a para-capable SNLF and a raiding regiment that will take the bases in between. I know there are CD guns at Darwin. I’ve been hitting Darwin’s port with Nells in an attempt to knock them back a bit. The Darwin invasion force has a BB attached to soak up some of the CD gun shells. There are two surface TFs as well. The Darwin invasion force has 4 CA and 4 DD escorting it and the Pt. Hedland invasion force has 1 BB, 3 CA, 1 CL and 4 DD escorting it. In addition, MKB is in the vicinity of the Pt. Hedland force.

I have support units in the second wave, to include AS and engineers. They won’t move in until the coast is clear (literally).

Other Stuff

Phase 1 is complete. I’ve cleared the SRA with the exception of a handful of dot hexes scattered around. They are not an issue to security and will fall in time. The only base where I took major damage was at Soerabaja. It’ll take another 4+ months to completely repair, but I can live with that. The only other base that is still repairing is Miri’s oil, which will be complete in about a month and is right on schedule.

Elsewhere….

Burma – I’m doing better here than I’ve ever done in the past. While the RAF is still a potent force, I’ve I’ve dealt it serious fighter losses. The 2E bomber force is relatively intact, but their time will come with the destruction of the remaining fighters of the RAF. I expect the RAF bomber fleet to withdraw to the security of India within a month. Then the Indian frontier will be at the mercy of my bombers, some 200 of them.

My goal in Burma is to take the Imphal complex, to include Ledo. I want to cut off China from aerial supply.

China - My goals are to take Sian and Loyang. That will give me an additional 110 oil facilities to fuel my hungry HI. After that, it’ll be a war of maneuver to cut off and destroy Chinese units.

Australia - I want to take the northern bases between Pt. Hedland and Darwin and hold them through the end of this calendar year. Once I take them, I’ll pull the infantry and armor out. I don’t want to lose them. I’ll replace them with expendable units, garrison forces and Naval Guard units. We’ll see how this works out…..

SE Fleet - I’ve taken all of PNG (other than Merauke and some dot hexes that’ll fall soon) with the important exception of Pt. Moresby. I’ve taken all the bases south of New Britain as well as the Solomons. I’m not interested in going south or east of this. I have a slew of Naval Guard units on their way to this area. I’ll garrison all of the bases where I’m building ports and airfields to slow Ted up. It’s going to be a maze of airfields to slow any attempt to bomb me out of existence with his 4E bombers. Right now he’s got ~30 B-17s that he’s using to go after my airfields in PNG and New Britain, rather unsuccessfully. Ted thinks I’ve sent more fighters here than I wanted to, but I allocated the 23 Air Flotilla from the start of the game (90 Zeros and 81 Betties). In the past, I let this force take the brunt of the fighting here. I’m sending the 5 Air Division to support them this go around. This will allow the IJA to share the wealth (in losses) and do what it does best (bomb things on the ground), leaving the 23 AF to do what it does best, bomb and torpedo things on the water.

I’ve also allocated the 14 Army to this theater for the first time ever. I’m still debating whether or not to go after Pt. Moresby, but it’ll cause a ruckus before it goes back to defend the southern SRA, probably this fall.

4 Fleet - These guys have done all they are scheduled to do. Now they’ve been reinforce with engineers and will dig. Every important base will build level 6 forts.

5 Fleet - I’ve taken Dutch Harbor, another first for me. Umnak Island is garrisoned by an infantry regiment, which is too strong for me to take currently. Another weakness is the lack of air power here. I want the IJNAF to be here, mainly for the torpedo carrying Netties. I’m not sure if that will ever happen. We’ll see.

I’ve recently allocated another Naval Guard unit (the 19th, which starts split into 3 companies) to clean up the western Aleutians. They headed out from Tokyo a couple days ago. They will take the enemy bases and then garrison critical bases. Their job is to die gloriously for the Emperor later in the war up in this frozen wasteland.

Air R&D

Things are coming along nicely for the most part. Here are the highlights:

A6M3: 1 factory at 28(2) – Once this one is completely repaired, it’ll upgrade to the A6M3a. I am not going to build the A6M3. It has a shorter range than the A6M2 and is not significantly better in any of the other stats.

A6M3a: 1x60 & 4x30 (+ the factory above soon) – They will accelerate this model and the 1x60 and 2x30 will become operational. The remaining 3x30 will upgrade to the A6M5. Once the A6M3a becomes operational, I’ll turn off the A6M2s (100 factories total). They eventually upgrade to A6M5 factories.

A6M5: 2x30 – These were previously the Rufe R&D factories. These, along with the 3x30 above will remain R&D and continue to accelerate the Zero line.

Ki-44-IIa – Currently there are 3 factories that are at 25(5) and 2x 24(6). I can’t wait for these to completely repair so I can start accelerating this model. All 3 factories will become operational. I have high hopes for this model in the IJA.

George and Frank – Each has 3 factories that are slowly repairing. It’ll be awhile.

Ki-49-IIa – there are 3x30 factories fully repaired. This model has already accelerated one month to Aug 42. I expect them to be operational in Jun 42. All 3 factories will become operational. This is an important model. It has armor and will allow me to keep my bomber sentai up to strength. Currently, my Sally factory is producing 40 per month and can’t keep up with losses. It’s close, but not enough. Because I don’t want to increase Sally production, I’ve been forced to keep the Lily in production. I’ll most likely keep the Lily in production until the Helen becomes operational. Ultimately, the Helen will be my frontline model with the Sally as an ASW platform and the Lily will become a trainer. I expect to eventually shut off both the Lily and Sally, but we’ll see.

Ki-32 Mary – Why, do you ask, am I even mentioning this plane? Good question! The Mary uses the Kawasaki (early) engine, which has 85 in the pool and no other use. With the PP cost to upgrade most 1E bomber units to 2E bombers, I see this as a blessing in disguise. My 1 E bombers will be relegated to one of 3 roles: frontline in China (temporary), ASW and training. The Mary has a normal range of 5 I believe, so they can be effectively used as an ASW platform. I rarely use ASW farther than 1-2 hexes out, within normal range of the Mary, and the Mary carries a 250 kg bomb at normal range. Perfect. My only issue right now is the lack of a factory to convert to the Mary. I may have to wait until I can convert the Lily factory in Jun 42. Anyway, I’ll most likely convert the Lily factory to a size 30 Mary factory and use up the 85 engines in the pool. That’s a savings of 18*85 = 1530 HI for an effective ASW platform and a potential Kamikaze for use late war. I’ll then convert the factory ~4 months later (around Oct 42) to whatever else I may need. That’ll cost me 30k supply, but I feel it’s worth the cost.

I’ve only begun to look at other airframes that will be needed mid and late war. I’m also thinking of increasing the number of factories for some of the airframes mentioned above. That’s ongoing.

Naval Construction

I accelerate CVs and DDs only. Currently, I have only 1 CV and 2 DDs accelerated. My Naval Ship Point pool is at 54 and increased by 33 today. It dropped dangerously low due to new builds that are starting to suck points. I like to keep the pool at a few hundred, just to prevent a drop from new builds from putting me in the hole. My accelerations fluctuate constantly. I see accelerations increasing soon. I get a sub in a few days freeing up 33 points and the Junyo comes in early May freeing an additional 84. I also get the Yamato in about a month that’ll give me 233 more. Can’t wait!

I also have only halted the Shinano. I keep all my subs building, contrary to many. I like my subs, even the Ro class subs. Ted has mentioned more than once that they are a pain in the ass. Heh, heh, heh…

Merchant Construction

Right now I have not halted anything and am currently accelerating 3x Type-1 TM (8150 capacity) class TKs. One arrives in 4 days and the other 2 arrive in 3 weeks. I have an additional one that was accelerated and arrived a little while ago and will arrive tomorrow at Balikpapan to haul oil to Davao. The other 3 will haul oil/fuel from Davao to the Home Islands. It’s not a lot, but it’ll help get me over the hump until the Std- class upgrade starting in June 42. The other TKs are pretty far out and I haven’t accelerated any of them. The next doesn’t arrive until Sep 42. I may, but I haven’t decided yet. They’re only 12 kt TKs. Pretty slow. I may accelerate some of the faster ones that come later on.

Ted’s Mistakes

In my opinion, Ted has played well but has made some mistakes. He hasn’t been aggressive with his subs other than around Rabaul early in the war where he sank the Hiryu and badly damaged the Soryu. I haven’t seen a single sub in my sea lanes between Singapore and the Home Islands. Right now, the only place I see a sub is just off Truk. I think he got some intel that KB was there and he’s looking for it to come out and play. (KB is currently at Saipan.)

I have seen exactly one carrier about a month or so ago up around Dutch Harbor and then only briefly. I expected him to do something with them when he knew he took two of KB’s carriers out of commission. He’s been burned in the past using his carriers too early, but I expected him to attempt to ambush KB. I’m not saying this was a mistake, but I am surprised.

He’s allowed a huge chunk of Chinese forces to be surrounded and destroyed. He just did it again at Sian with ~120-130k troops. Yeah, he gets them back at 1/3 strength, but it’ll take a long time to replace those losses. Maybe he has something up his sleeve, but if so, I have no idea what.

He was very aggressive with the RN at the beginning of the war, which slowed me down and damaged or destroyed a number of ships, to include 3 slow AOs. The down side was that he lost most of the RN DDs and a lot of their CLs. That’ll hurt his escort capability. Because of this (I think), there’s been no ship movement at all in the Bay of Bengal. This allowed me to build the base at Pt. Blair up to a level 4 airfield and level 3 port unmolested. I’m starting to work on forts there now.

My Mistakes

First, I lost Hiryu due to not being diligent in my planning. I didn’t see the Dutch and US S class subs in the SRA. I should have figured something was up but didn’t. When I sent KB south of New Britain, I had a bad feeling about putting KB in such a restricted place but ignored my gut. It cost me the Hiryu a month into the war and the Soryu just came back after a lengthly repair.

Because of the loss of the Hiryu, MKB is very weak. I had to pull the Ryujo into KB in order to replace some of the lost air power. I’m probably going to keep the Ryujo with KB. I get the Junyo soon and the Hiyo a little after that, and they will join MKB. Due to their slow speed, I consider them to be the flagships of MKB. It’ll give MKB some staying power.

I didn’t do enough planning for the initial invasion of Malaya. Because of that, Ted drove me nuts with the RN and had me reacting to him instead of the other way around. This allowed him to pull most of the army (and supply) into Singapore for a prolonged siege. My attempt to cut the peninsula early failed.

I’ve thoroughly failed in my attempts to find Ted’s SLOCs. I’ve sunk only 6 TKs. That’s not nearly enough. Ted has boasted about the amount of fuel and supply he’s gotten to Australia. It’s shameful.

Ted’s Accolades

His use of effective subs in the SE Fleet area caused the loss of the Hiryu and severe damage to the Soryu, keeping her out of action for over 3 months. Luckily for me, I’ve had no need for KB to date.

As mentioned above, his use of the RN did have numerous positives for him. Malaya, for one. I expected to have a coup there and take Singapore much sooner than I did. It did cost him much of the RN though. I’m not sure if the net result was good or bad for him.

My Accolades

Not a lot really. I am pleased with my air force’s performance in Burma and SE Fleet areas. I’ve caused heavy Allied fighter losses and my pilot losses have been manageable.

I think I did a decent job figuring out the limits of Japanese economic expansion early in the game. I never was strapped for supply and the economy is booming, for now. We’ll see what it looks like in a couple of years.

[Mike Solli]

18 Apr 42

Sub War

The I-30 found a nice sized xAK and sank her at Kodiak.

5 Fleet

Nothing new to repprt.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

There were no losses in the air war over PM today. But, I lost a Zero and Ted lost 2x B-17s over Gasmata and Lae, with no damage to my airfields.

The 5 Air Division is arriving in this theater. They'll be in action in a couple of days.

China

Nothing new to report.

Burma

The only air combat was over the Imphal assault force. The only loss was a Hurricane.

Australia

The Darwin and Pt. Hedland invasion forces will be in position to invade tomorrow.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: SW Fleet HQ - Soerabaja - It'll stay there. It's simply 240 naval support.

I accelerated 8x Type-1 TL TKs - the 11,600 capacity 18 kt tankers. I should have done that months ago.

[Historiker]

I accelerated 8x Type-1 TL TKs - the 11,600 capacity 18 kt tankers. I should have done that months ago.

AFAIK, the merchent production gets extremely high in 43, far beyond the initial building capacity. Shouldn't it be better to stockpile in time?

[zuluhour]

noob 2 cents: At Imphal I would guess you are only short a Chutai or two. The Mitchells and Blenhiems suffered horrendous losses in my game whenever they were opposed. They only mop up after the Liberators now.

[Mike Solli]

Historiker, I have been. I've got 38k merchant points in the pool right now. It dropped <100 last turn.

I'm working on it zulu.

[Cribtop]

The Magwe flip that caused you difficulty eventually got you into a winning attrition battle there. Now you have prevented the inevitable (loss of Magwe's Oil) and are on the offensive here against an ever weakening RAF. That should be an accolade to you, IMHO.

I strongly recommend going for PM. It will be a thorn in your side, and, even if you fail to take the base, a major effort on your part may cause overcommitment of the USAAF and favorable attrition.

[Mike Solli]

19 Apr 42

Sub War

Well, it was inevitable. I lost the I-121. A couple of weeks ago I sent her to mine Karachi and Ted had mined it for just such an eventuality. Ah well, such is life. It was a fitting end to a minelaying submarine. She didn’t even get to drop her mines.

5 Fleet

74 Regiment is safely at Adak as its garrison.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

Today is the start of what is becoming a very bloody week in the air. The usual places were hit – Pt. Moresby in the air and combinations of Lae, Buna, Milne Bay and/or Gasmata by B-17s.

Over the next few days, I’ll just give the body, I mean, plane count.

5 Zeros shot down + 4 op losses
6 Sallies shot down
1 Betty destroyed on the ground

6 P-40E shot down + 1 op loss
1 B-17E shot down + 1 op loss

The Sallies flew with minimal fighter cover after a small Zero sweep that was throttled by 25 P-40s and 7 Kittyhawks followed by another small sweep.

Philippines

This is probably the last entry for this area for a couple of game years. The 5 Air Division aircraft are almost all in the SE Fleet area and will enter combat soon. There are a couple of recon chutai in other areas along the fringe of the SRA doing their thing, mainly Naval Search using pilots who have completed that training. The 5 Air Division HQ will head to SE Fleet area also. That will give me 3 air HQs there: 11 Air Fleet, 23 Air Flotilla and 5 Air Division.

The 14 Army is still here resting. I suspect they will rest for a week or so. Their next mission is to clear out Merauke (the last Do-24 nest) and Horn Island, then on to Pt. Moresby. I’ve decided to follow Cribtop’s suggestion and go for that place. I’ll discuss that operation below. I will need a suitable name for the operation, so suggestions are welcome. At any rate, minesweepers are enroute to Bataan and transports are enroute as well.

China

All that heavy artillery is enroute. It’ll be awhile. The Chinese Army that is 5/6 surrounded in Sian has 2400 AV. This will probably take a while. I am building a suitable airfield so I can use some CEA air power against this base to help it along.

Burma

More bad news here. Today, Oscars covered the Imphal invasion force and lost 3 of their number for no enemy losses. I guess I’m getting a taste of what is to come. Things will get better, right?

SRA

Drill baby drill!

Australia

I really screwed up here. I mixed up the Pt. Hedland and Darwin invasion forces. Darwin has 1x division and Pt. Hedland has 1x division, 2x tank regiments and artillery. Sheesh. The Darwin force landed. I’ll try a DA tomorrow to see how that fares. I divided up the Pt. Hedland force. One tank regiment will land there, one tank regiment will land at Broome and the rest will head to Darwin, along with the reserve division. That’ll take a few days though.

Other Stuff

The PM Op – I agree Cribtop, PM is already a thorn in my side. I need to take it. Unfortunately, it’s not the only thorn in my side in this area. The B-17s (usually 25-30 per day) are a pain that is originating from Australia and not easily attacked on the ground and taking PM will not change that. Taking PM will push his fighters farther out though. At any rate, I am going to attempt to take PM. Assuming I am successful, the rather large PM garrison will end up festering in the jungle. Then I can use the 5 Air Division to bomb them to oblivion. Here is the preliminary OOB for this operation:

14 Army HQ
16 Division
48 Division
65 Brigade
Gds Brigade
90 Infantry Regiment
144 Infantry Regiment
~10 Artillery Units

My biggest concern is mines at PM. I’m going to include 6 DMS in the invasion force. I expect to lose a fair number of transports so I’m still debating what I should use. Aden class? I have a lot of them (170+) and a lot of them sit in port a fair amount of time. I think I’ll convert some to the troop carrying version and use them. If I have to lose some ships, they’re the ones I can most easily live without.

I know Ted has a few subs in the area but not a lot. I won’t need KB to support them because of the 23 Air Flotilla but I’ll keep it handy, just in case. I can see Ted sending his CVs in to disrupt the invasion. If he wants a carrier battle within my LBA, bring it on! I’ll do that any day. I have the ability to use the 5 Air Division for invasion support and the 23 Air Flotilla for naval support.

I will have substantial naval support as well. I still have 2 BB and 2 CL (Kitakami and Oi) at Rabaul and all 19 Fubuki DDs at Truk and the surface forces at Darwin will be available. Ted told me yesterday that he’s not defending northern Australia this go around. Excellent! That’ll give me 2 BB, 4 CA, 8 DD and MKB if needed to augment the invasion. I still have to determine how I’ll use them but there is a substantial force available. The fast replenishment fleet just dropped its fuel at Truk (now over 100k fuel) and the slow replenishment fleet is at Koepang at ~95% capacity. The fast replenishment fleet is on its way to Hong Kong to refuel. I also have 2 AKE, 1 AR, 1AD, 1 AS at Rabaul and the same ships at Koepang. I’ll move them east should that be necessary. We’ll see how this works.

[Mike Solli]

20 Apr 12

Sub War

The sub war was pretty exciting today…

The I-158 was hanging out near Horn Island guarding that strait against an incursion against the Darwin invasion force. She happened upon a lone xAP and sank her. She was loaded. Oops. Well, minus one transport and one land unit.

The Ro-64 took a depth charge hit off Pt. Moresby. Her damage is survivable at 26-48(36)-0-0. She’s limping to Rabaul for repairs.

The Ro-61 was hanging around off the coast of Cairns and spotted a ship I thought I had sunk, the xAK Tantalus. Well, 2 additional torpedo hits later, down she went.

I got word that the Dutch sub KVII sank from old damage. Must have been very old since I don’t remember it happening. A mine maybe? I don’t recall hearing about that and I didn’t check to see what caused the damage.

5 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

More carnage…

The 5 Air Division Oscars are getting into the fray now.

8 Zeros shot down + 1 op loss
1 Oscar destroyed on the ground + 2 op losses
2 Sallies shot down

1 P-40E shot down + 1 op loss
1 Kittyhawk op loss
2 B-17E op losses

The saving grace was that I lost only a couple of pilots. I still don’t like the ratio though.

China

Nothing new to report.

Burma

More carnage here too…

5 Oscars shot down
1 Tojo op loss (just a couple left)

5 Hurricane IIb Trop shot down + 1 op loss
6 Blenheim IV shot down

SRA

Nothing new to report.

Australia

The Darwin invasion force landed today. One xAK was sunk and 3 more xAKs were damaged to varying degrees. I’ll try a DA tomorrow.

The other invasion forces will land in the next day or two.

[Mike Solli]

21 Apr 42

Sub War

Nothing happened for a change.

5 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

Guess what? More carnage…

6 Zeros shot down + 1 op loss

2 P-40E shot down + 1 op loss
3 Kittyhawk shot down
2 B-17E shot down

Pilot losses were heavier today. I think this is heavy. Gotta get used to it because it’ll get a lot worse later.

China

Nothing new to report.

Burma

Air combat has moved to Cox’s Bazaar now. I continue to bomb Akyab in an attempt to the airfield damaged and have begun bombing Cox’s Bazaar now as well. In retrospect, that was a mistake. It diluted my bombers and sent those bombers against a base that gets fighter support from Chittagong. The net result was brutal:

5 Oscars shot down in a sweep (a couple of pilots lost).
5 Sallies shot down in an unescorted bombing mission (all crews lost).

SRA

Nothing new to report.

Australia

I attacked Darwin today. In retrospect I probably shouldn’t have, but my losses weren’t bad so I got lucky. The division’s fatigue is now at 70 though. I suspect it was high when I started the attack but I neglected to check it. At any rate, the 1:2 attack against level 3 forts caused 349(5) Aussie casualties vs. 679(2) Japanese losses. I’ll rest them until the remainder of the force lands.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: TK Akane Maru, a Type-1 TM tanker, 8150 capacity, 12 kts. She’ll head to Davao to haul oil from there to the Home Islands. In a couple of weeks, two more of the same type TK arrive and will join her for the same mission. Currently there is >60k oil sitting at Davao.

[Mike Solli]

22 Apr 42

Sub War

The Ha-5, one of two remaining midget subs sitting at Christmas Island (south Pacific) was sunk by an enemy DD. They did nothing. I think they were drinking sake.

5 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

Even more carnage:

6 Zeros shot down (4 pilots lost) + 2 op losses

5 Kittyhawks shot down
1 B-17E shot down

China

The last surrounded stack (1 HQ & 2 Corps) was attacked by the Japanese army that has liquidated the other stacks. The 4:1 attack destroyed 477(4) Chinese to 244(0) Japanese losses. So it begins. Another attack is scheduled for tomorrow. They’re getting sufficient supply now because I just finished offloading 66k supply at Shanghai. One or two more offloads and China should be good to go for a while.

Burma

More brutality in the air. Who will cry uncle first?

3 Oscars shot down + 3 op losses
4 Sallies shot down + 2 op losses

4 P-40E shot down + 3 op losses
1 Hurricane IIb Trop shot down

Pilot losses were relatively heavy, but I can afford it in the IJAAF. Right now I have 77 fighter and 40 bomber pilots in the pool. I also have 100+ Oscars in the pool but the Sallies get used as fast as they are produced. With only 40 Sallies being produced a month, I can’t keep up. The 34 Lilies are helping somewhat, but still not enough. Once the 90 Helen IIa becomes operational (should be Jun 42, 5 weeks away), I should be good to go. Then the Lilies get converted to Mary (for ASW). I’ll produce 85 Marys and then have an extra airframe factory to play with.

One note: I’m down to 54 Nates in the pool. Once they are used up in new training units, I’ll use the Ki-43-Ia and Ib models for training. Eventually, the Ic will get sucked into the training program but by that time I’ll have the Tojo IIa in production.

On the ground, new forces continue to arrive at Rangoon. I just got another tank regiment. The tank regiments are nice because they move (marginally) faster than the infantry. I’ll give the current OOB in Burma next time I have a chance to tally it.

SRA

Nothing new to report.

Australia

A tank regiment landed at Port Hedland, which is defended and the other tank regiment landed at Broome, which is not defended. Both will attack tomorrow. The division is attempting to rest at Darwin, unsuccessfully. The other two divisions and artillery will land soon.

Two more xAKs sank from damage sustained. The last one will make it to port.

Other Stuff

I’m attempting to keep an estimate of critical Allied airframes available. Here’s what I have (based on reinforcements and replacements through 30 Apr 42):

34 Kittyhawk I (Aussie)
64 Hurricane IIb Trop (Brit)
166 P-40E (US)
80 Hudson I (Aussie)
21 Wellington Ic (Brit – haven’t seen any yet)
28 Blenheim IV (Brit)
110 B-17E (US – Sheesh)

It looks like the Kittyhawk menace is dwindling. He gets 15 replacements a month. I will most definitely kill more than 1 every other day. The reinforcements end in Sep 42, but in Oct 42 he begins to get 18 Kittyhawk IIIs. A new menace, but fortunately, I expect to have PM by then and he won’t have an effective use for them other than shipping them to Burma.

Hurricane IIb – He gets 16 replacements a month so this model is dwindling as well. Unfortunately, he’ll start to get the IIc model in Jun 42 and gets 36 replacements a month. I need to burn out the IIb model before then so he’ll be forced to use the IIc in small amounts, which I should be able to handle. If I can put some ground pressure on Imphal, I will force Ted to push the RAF to the breaking point.

P-40E – There are still 166 and Ted gets 35 a month through Oct 42. In Sep 42, he begins to get 65 P-40Ks a month so the P-40 menace won’t go away any time soon. This will be an issue forever….

Hudson I – He’s out of replacements for this aircraft. It’s an obsolete model that dies when caught by my fighters. By the end of May 42, he’ll have 90 Hudson III (LR), which I see infrequently. I suspect I’ll see them more often as the Hudson I fleet dwindles. The Aussie bomber fleet is destined to go the way of the Dodo, unless he wants to use the Wirraway. He gets a handful of several models through the end of the year, but not enough to matter.

Wellington Ic – A replacement rate of 6 per month doesn’t give Ted much in the way of a Wellington bomber fleet. He’ll have 1-2 squadrons at any given time, I suspect. If they’re similar to WitP, they’ll die when unescorted. Not an issue for me.

Blenheim IV – This was the mainstay of the British bomber fleet for the start of the war. He’s lost a lot of them (which is to be expected) and only gets 12 a month through Nov 42. Target practice.

B-17E – This is the problem. Of the 110 currently in the inventory, ~30 are operational against the SE Fleet airbases. He gets 15 a month through Jun 42 and then starts getting 15 B-24Ds a month the next month. I don’t have a very effective weapon against them right now. I have high hopes for the Tojo to be more effective against this monster. The first B-17s appeared over PNG on 6 Apr 42. Through today, here are the losses:

5 Zeros shot down
2 Zeros destroyed on ground
1 Oscar destroyed on ground
3 Sallies destroyed on ground
4 Betties destroyed on ground

-vs-

15 B-17s destroyed from all causes

So, that’s 15 B-17s lost in 17 days of combat, almost 1 a day. He’s lost a month’s worth of replacements in 17 days for the loss of 5 Zeros shot down and 10 various planes destroyed on the ground and minor damage to airfields, usually only one airfield having damage at a time and none being shut down. Hmm…

1943 will be a different matter, but I expect to have some improved models as well before then.

Here is what I expect to see:

The Ki-49-IIa will become operational in Jun 42 at 90 per month. This will be the primary frontline IJA bomber. It has armor, which will increase crew survivability.

The Ki-44-IIa will become operational approximately Jul 42 at 90 per month. This will be the primary IJA frontline fighter, supplemented by the Ki-43-Ic (and the Ki-43-IIa soon after). I have high hopes for the ability of this fighter to ravage the Allied bomber corps. The first unit upgraded will be in the SE Fleet AO.

The Ki-43-IIa will become operational approximately Aug-Sep 42 to supplement the Ki-44-IIa at 128 per month. When this model becomes operational, the Ki-43-Ic will be withdrawn from frontline service and be used as a training model.

The A6M3a will become operational approximately Aug-Sep 42 to replace the A6M2 for frontline service at 90-120 per month (Not sure yet). This model will replace all carrier fighters first, to be followed by fighters in SE Fleet area, Burma and all other areas. The A6M2 will be relegated to backwater areas and eventually used as a trainer to supplement the A5M4. Note that the factories currently producing 100 A6M2 per month will be shut off until the Sen Baku becomes operational. Some Sen Baku may be produced (I’ll decide when the time comes). When the A6M5 becomes operational, these factories will be upgraded to produce this model.

Right now I have 120 (to be 180 in a few days) R&D factories researching the A6M3a and 60 R&D factories researching the A6M5. When the M3a nears becoming operational, I’ll upgrade some of the 180 factories to the M5. I do have a dilemma though. Here’s the timelines and factories:

A6M2 – operational – 100 factories – upgrades to A6M2 Sen Baku FB in Feb 42 which upgrades to the A6M5. These 100 factories are destined to upgrade to the A6M5 in Feb 44 when the Sen Baku becomes operational. Keep that in mind.

The A6M3a has 180 R&D factories which should accelerate it to Jul 42.
The A6M5 has 60 R&D factories currently which should accelerate it to ????

The dilemma is, how many of the 180 factories do I let become operational A6M3a and how many do I upgrade to the A6M5 to join the 60 currently researching that model? I’m thinking 60 and 120. Why? The A6M3a isn’t much better than the A6M2, but the A6M5 is. As I upgrade carrier/frontline units, the A6M2 pool will be replenished to keep the A6M2 units in planes. Also, and more importantly, the faster I get the A6M5, the better for the IJNAF. With 120 added to the current 60 researching the A6M5, that’ll give me 2 months acceleration every month. I should get the A6M5 around Dec 42! Then, the next dilemma is how many of the 180 R&D factories do I let become operational. I’m thinking of letting 60 become operational and 120 remain R&D to upgrade to the next model. That’ll give me 120 operational with the ability of increasing that by another 100 in Feb 44 (the current A6M2 to Sen Baku to A6M5).

If the A6M5 really does become operational in Dec 42, I may upgrade some or all of the A6M2 factories to the A6M5. I’ll look at the supply situation at that time as well as the current IJNAF fighter consumption rate.

Just some babbling. These are the things that keep me awake at night.

[Cribtop]

As for PM, how about: "Operation Why Did I Take That Fool Cribtop's Advice?" [:D]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
...I have high hopes for the Tojo to be more effective against this monster.

....I have high hopes for the ability of this fighter to ravage the Allied bomber corps.

Nothin' wrong with high hopes, mate.

I certainly don't want to feed your insomnia, but this ain't goin' to cut it against B-17Es and later models. Oh, sure, it's better than Oscar-Ic s, but you won't be downing many B-17s with this model.

The Tojo-IIc will fare much better with its four HMGs, and later models of the Tony look good too. For bomber killers, you're looking for the N1K1-J and N1K2-KAI Georges, Franks and (maybe) late model Tonys and J2Ms.

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
...I have high hopes for the Tojo to be more effective against this monster.

....I have high hopes for the ability of this fighter to ravage the Allied bomber corps.

Nothin' wrong with high hopes, mate.

I certainly don't want to feed your insomnia, but this ain't goin' to cut it against B-17Es and later models. Oh, sure, it's better than Oscar-Ic s, but you won't be downing many B-17s with this model.

The Tojo-IIc will fare much better with its four HMGs, and later models of the Tony look good too. For bomber killers, you're looking for the N1K1-J and N1K2-KAI Georges, Franks and (maybe) late model Tonys and J2Ms.

+1

George is the best until you get to really late war stuff like the J7W Shinden .... I actually have better success with Zeros than with Tojo's against 4E's. The real problem is that the 4E's will shoot down so many fighters .... until you get armor .... again, George is your best early solution. Sadly, it takes a lot of effort to get groups to upgrade to it.

[Yaab]

^

[koniu]

ORIGINAL: PaxMondo

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Mike Solli
...I have high hopes for the Tojo to be more effective against this monster.

....I have high hopes for the ability of this fighter to ravage the Allied bomber corps.

Nothin' wrong with high hopes, mate.

I certainly don't want to feed your insomnia, but this ain't goin' to cut it against B-17Es and later models. Oh, sure, it's better than Oscar-Ic s, but you won't be downing many B-17s with this model.

The Tojo-IIc will fare much better with its four HMGs, and later models of the Tony look good too. For bomber killers, you're looking for the N1K1-J and N1K2-KAI Georges, Franks and (maybe) late model Tonys and J2Ms.

+1

George is the best until you get to really late war stuff like the J7W Shinden .... I actually have better success with Zeros than with Tojo's against 4E's. The real problem is that the 4E's will shoot down so many fighters .... until you get armor .... again, George is your best early solution. Sadly, it takes a lot of effort to get groups to upgrade to it.

Biggest problem with Tojo is firepower. After he get armor he is scoring many hits to enemy bombers without losing many planes but without guns he is not able to shot down them.
Zero is doing much more better job because of guns, but bad side of using Zero vs enemy bombers is losing many good pilots that way because of lack of armor in first few versions on zero.

And George. It is plane you want. ASAP and as many as you can.

[Mike Solli]

Morning guys. It's been over a month since I've been here. Wow, how time flies. I started my new job 5 weeks ago and left for military duty 3 weeks ago. No internet there so no ability to do anything fun. [8|] I'm officially on the bench for the next mobilization in Apr 13. That means that if someone with any of my military skills drops off the mob, I could go. That also means that I need to do all of the pre-mob training, just in case. Should I not mob, I'm retiring from the military in Apr 13. If I do mob, then I retire 90 days after I return, around July 14. Just bringing you guys up on life in the Solli household.....

Now, I have been playing as I can and am up to 6 May 42. I'll post reports as I can. That should be easier over the next week. My family left for Myrtle Beach yesterday and will be gone for the week. I'm stuck at home and work that week. Not enough vacation yet. Gotta look on the bright side though. I'll have evenings for AE! Time to post one, then off to church.

[Mike Solli]

23 Apr 12

Sub War

Nothing new to report.

5 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

4 Fleet

Nothing new to report.

SE Fleet

I stood down my sweeps today to give my Zeros a break here. I kept CAP up everywhere and it’s a good thing I did. The B-17s came again. Basically, they took a bit of damage and damaged the airfields a bit, but it was easily repaired. Lae is the only airfield here that has damage, and it is slowly repairing.

China

I attacked the last surrounded Chinese again. Losses were 232(2) Japanese to 845(8) Chinese with a lot of Chinese disruptions. The Japanese will rest a day to recover supplies and the go at it again.

Burma

I stood down my fighters here as well. Ted’s bombers attacked my Imphal invasion force and again, no real damage to either side. The only plane lost on either side was an obsolete Allied training plane.

SRA

Nothing new to report

Australia

Broom fell today to the victorious Japanese. Now I control Broom and Wyndham with forces at Pt. Hedland and Darwin and more arriving at Darwin tomorrow. The division at Darwin had its fatigue reduced from 74 to 59. By the time the reinforcements unload, they’ll be ready to take the place.

The tank regiment at Broome began movement to Derby to liberate that town.

The tank regiment at Pt. Hedland will attack tomorrow.

Pt. Moresby Invasion

I have ~20 Adens converting to the increased troop capacity for the invasion of Aden. It’ll take 5 days. Then they’ll head to the Philippines to pick up the 14 Army and start heading east. The invasion is tentatively scheduled for mid-May 42. I expect Darwin and all of northern Australia to be secured by that time so that I can move most of the combat shipping and MKB to support it.

I am also going to force the Allied fighters to flee or die over Pt. Moresby before mid-May. I’ll give the 23 Air Flotilla and 5 Air Division a couple more days to replace planes and pilots and then begin the air operation in earnest. There are 2x sentai of Oscars, 2x daitai of Zeros and 4x chutai of Zeros who will rotate constantly to keep fresh units in the fray. That takes more time, but it is necessary to keep your air force from burning out. My airfields are doing well. Only Buna is not yet level 2, and it’s getting there.

Other Stuff

Reinforcement: xAK Teiren Maru – Akasi class at Saigon. It’ll load resources and move to join the rest of the Akasis in the Hakodate – Ominato resource run. I need to find more xAKs to put into this run. There are 2 million resources in Hokkaido, almost a quarter of all the resources on the map.

The Aichi Ha-60 R&D engine factory accelerated to Jul 42. Those engines will be needed for the Judy series DB, R and NF.

I converted 3 factories to the Ki-43-IIa and increased their size to 0(30). I need to accelerate that model to eventually replace the Ki-43-Ic, currently the frontline model for the IJAAF. These three factories will remain in R&D and will move up the Oscar upgrade path accelerating each successive model in turn.

I was using the Ki-43-Ib in China and just upgraded those units to the Ic. I also had a sentai (from 3 Air Division) still flying the Ki-43-Ia training pilots. I just converted them to the Ic as well. That unit is headed to Burma now. The Ia and Ib models will supplement the Nate as a training platform.

I am scheduled to get the Ki-45 KAIa Nick FB in May. The R&D factory is at 13(0) right now. It upgrades to the KAIb in Dec 42. Tonight I’m going to compare both models and decide whether to take the KAIa in May or convert the R&D factory and accelerate the KAIb a month or so. I’ll probably take it now and keep one unit flying Nicks but we’ll see. I do need an IJAAF FB, so this is it.

I’m looking at some other down the road models I’d like to use that will need R&D factories (ie. they don’t have an upgrade to them). Here’s a tentative list:

Ki-61-Ia Tony – Feb 43 (to get to the Ki-100-I Tony)
D4Y1 Judy – Apr 43 – (1x 30 factory currently repairing)
B6N1 Jill – May 43
J2M2 Jack – Sep 43
P1Y1 Frances – Nov 43
Ki-67-Ia Peggy – Apr 44
Ki-67-Ia (T) Peggy – Sep 44
P1Y2 Frances – Nov 44
B7A2 Grace – Dec 44 – (1x 30 factory currently repairing)
Ki-102a Randy – Mar 45
A7M2 Zero – May 45
J7W1 Shinden – Dec 45
J8M1 Shusei – Dec 45


Obviously, I’m not going to R&D all of them, but I need to come up with a firm list and start the process, at least with the ones that are coming up within the next 6-9 months. When I say I want to “R&D a model”, I’m thinking at least 3x30 factories.

I still am waiting for an operational airframe factory to free up to produce the 85 Marys for ASW. Now I’m eyeing the B5N1 Kate factory that has been producing since the start of the war. There are just a handful of engines left for that airframe. When the engines are gone I’ll convert it to Mary production. Hopefully, it’ll happen within a month.

I get the G3M3 Nell in May as well. Currently, I have all of my Nell units at full strength and 100 more in the pool. I guess it’ll be awhile before I produce any M3 models. Nell losses have been far lower than expected. That’s probably because the Allied navy hasn’t reared its ugly head at all in the past few months.

Looking to June, I get the A6M3 (which I am not producing) and the H6K5 Mavis. I have a handful of spare H6K4 Mavis in the pool right now. The transition to the K5 will be perfect.

In July, I get the H8K1 Emily. I’ll probably convert the Mavis to Emily and finish the war with just the Emily. The Mavis uses the Ha-33 engine and the Emily uses the Ha-32 engine. I’ll see what the ramifications are and decide later. We’re talking 10 planes a month or 40 engines.

On to August – The D3A2 Val comes along. I’m not producing this model. I also get the Ki-49-IIa Helen, which I expect to get in June due to acceleration. I’ll get 90 per month and they will be my primary IJAAF bomber, with armor, which is a novelty in the Japanese arsenal.

Finally, in September I get 3 different airframes. I’ll get the H6K4-L, an upgraded IJNAF flying boat transport. I have a single 6 plane unit. I’ll upgrade the current factory that produces 2 a month to this model. I also get the Ki-44, which I am not producing and the Ki-44-IIa, which I am attempting to accelerate. I have 3x30 R&D factories, none of which are fully repaired yet. I hope to accelerate this plane by 2 months, but we’ll see. The sooner the better.

[zuluhour]

Great to see you back Mike.