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Not sure I'd put it all down to luck GJ. He knows you bombard those bases regularly and risked that you wouldn't keep doing so. You made the right move. One caution, though. Be careful about basing too much at Ndeni, especially disbanded in port. As you can see from today's events, the base is still potentially vulnerable to air attack.

Well, was indeed luck in the sense that i couldn't hope to catch all those planes on the ground just when they were warming their engines...
However rader did really played with his fortune...was a gamble and he lost the roll&dice.

We won't get scared and we will keep on pushing.
His BB/CAs remains at Rabaul. I sent more fighters to cover Ndeni and the nearby bases.
However i only had the old Missisipi BB and 10 DDs in port, while the rest of my fleet was divided in TFs and anchored...just not to risk[8D]

We'll now bomb again Thousands with Wichita TF, while our 4Es will visit Russell....while 2 more combat TFs (with BBs in them) will move towards Tulagi.

We're slowly grinding down his air assets...now the KB has lost again a number of pilots and planes...for sure Rader is now struggling with pilots quality...and those 100+ georges caught on the ground are gold in my pockets!

ORIGINAL: Cribtop

Not sure I'd put it all down to luck GJ. He knows you bombard those bases regularly and risked that you wouldn't keep doing so. You made the right move. One caution, though. Be careful about basing too much at Ndeni, especially disbanded in port. As you can see from today's events, the base is still potentially vulnerable to air attack.

IDK Cribtop .. maybe his plan was to use a BB as bait and sucker those Jills into the death [:D] What an air victory!

In few days we'll be able to equip the first USAFF squadrons in the solomons with the P-47D. This, in conjuction with the P-40Ns coming online will give more more power to my air defence so i'll be slowly able to start to move a bit forward our attacks against his bases. The idea is to slowly make his front line bases inoperative and, in the end, useless.

I took a look at the last 2 air battles (Karaikira - few days ago, and Ndeni - today).
In both occasions we achieved an incredible 1-10 kill ratio![X(][&o]

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

I took a look at the last 2 air battles (Karaikira - few days ago, and Ndeni - today).
In both occasions we achieved an incredible 1-10 kill ratio![X(][&o]

Take a look at CombatReporter -- Pilot, and check how many aces were crowned those 2 days ... It would be interesting to know. Also, I understand this kind of kill ratio is only possible with highly trained and experience pilots meet rank amateurs. CT, Nemo, or CR have a comment? This might be the sign of the stress now placed on the IJA & IJN air forces. I have not seen that kind of kill ratio with my 50 exp pilots vs. the KB in 1942. The IJN keeping at 3-1 when he meets my inexperience .. this kill ratio is even worse in reverse . Just my newbie thought .. the Japanese air force is throwing mere boys in to do a man's job ..

Great job GreyJoy!

ORIGINAL: Crackaces

ORIGINAL: GreyJoy

I took a look at the last 2 air battles (Karaikira - few days ago, and Ndeni - today).
In both occasions we achieved an incredible 1-10 kill ratio![X(][&o]

Take a look at CombatReporter -- Pilot, and check how many aces were crowned those 2 days ... It would be interesting to know. Also, I understand this kind of kill ratio is only possible with highly trained and experience pilots meet rank amateurs. CT, Nemo, or CR have a comment? This might be the sign of the stress now placed on the IJA & IJN air forces. I have not seen that kind of kill ratio with my 50 exp pilots vs. the KB in 1942. The IJN keeping at 3-1 when he meets my inexperience .. this kill ratio is even worse in reverse . Just my newbie thought .. the Japanese air force is throwing mere boys in to do a man's job ..

Great job GreyJoy!

The squadrons that were involved in the battle of Ndeni weren't "crack" ones...They were all in their 55 exp, 70> air skill and 60 def (trained in 5/6 months of training) but none of them was an ace. Probably only a couple of them have more than 3 kills.... now we have some 11 new aces and lots of higher experienced pilots. In fact of all the 5 squadrons involved only 5 pilots were KIA![;)]

For sure his KB pilots aren't the pre-war elite ones...pretty sure about that. But it's also sure that my pilots are all very good, even those who are "green", meaning that they haven't seen a real air combat in the whole war....i keep a deep aye in the training thing and when i reach the 70 air skill i always switch them to strafing so that their exp grows and the def skill too

Good CAP but  those Jill losses are impressive.  For some reason I thought dive bombers had to be above 11,000 feet to dive bomb.  maybe that's that optimal altitude, whatever, his good pilots seem to be gone.If you get get clear of some of his land based air your carriers are more than a match for his.  Nicely done.  A lucky turn maybe, but fourtune favors the well prepared.  I beleive your beating him about 2 to 1 in air losses and you pilots are probably an order of magnitude better than his.  I belive earlier in this AAR you quoted your opponent as saying he could win an air war of attrition.  I wonder if he still feels that way now?  Every one of those aircraft represents resources and fuel to transport them.  Nicely done

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Good CAP but  those Jill losses are impressive.  For some reason I thought dive bombers had to be above 11,000 feet to dive bomb.  maybe that's that optimal altitude, whatever, his good pilots seem to be gone.If you get get clear of some of his land based air your carriers are more than a match for his.  Nicely done.  A lucky turn maybe, but fourtune favors the well prepared.  I beleive your beating him about 2 to 1 in air losses and you pilots are probably an order of magnitude better than his.  I belive earlier in this AAR you quoted your opponent as saying he could win an air war of attrition.  I wonder if he still feels that way now?  Every one of those aircraft represents resources and fuel to transport them.  Nicely done

Yes, we're winning 2-1 in total air losses and in pilots quality, i believe, the difference is evem higher.
My USAFF and USMC squadrons (those involved in India and in the Solomons) are really Top Gunners and at least 6 Australian air groups are achieving the same impressive results, both in terms of kills and in terms of survivability. I tend to be more carefull on how i use my crews...keep the fatigue low and never expose my top-groups to "escort" missions.
Now my Navy pilots are somehow lower in quality cause i never used them extensively....but they are good nonetheless
Not to talk about the brits....i have 100 british pilots that are above the 80 exp level!...and in november i'll start to produce SpitVIIIs again [8D]

ORIGINAL: JohnDillworth

Good CAP but  those Jill losses are impressive.  For some reason I thought dive bombers had to be above 11,000 feet to dive bomb.  maybe that's that optimal altitude, whatever, his good pilots seem to be gone.If you get get clear of some of his land based air your carriers are more than a match for his.  Nicely done.  A lucky turn maybe, but fourtune favors the well prepared.  I beleive your beating him about 2 to 1 in air losses and you pilots are probably an order of magnitude better than his.  I belive earlier in this AAR you quoted your opponent as saying he could win an air war of attrition.  I wonder if he still feels that way now?  Every one of those aircraft represents resources and fuel to transport them.  Nicely done

The Jills are torpedo-bombers, not DBs - so probably 10k is the best altitude for them, as any lower and they'll tend to go in within range of LAA. Judies would probably have been a "better" option, AA aside; they're at least faster than the Wildcats. Not that it'd have helped much, I guess...

The KB retired to lick her wounds...and our subs, put into the right positions, got an unlucky turn....

see u tomorrow for more updates...

night guys

You know, CAP trapping at Ndeni and elsewhere isn't a bad idea, but I'd probably pull the old Mississippi out of the equation and leave him sniping at agile old DDs.

Asked to comment on the air battle, so I will. I think with Greyjoy getting 10-1 kill ratios against KB without using his Allied aces tells you a lot about Rader's pilot quality. You would think that whatever Rader has left in terms of quality would be on KB, and thus that GJ's B team just splattered Rader's A team, surely a good sign.

However, it is possible that Rader has gone so all in on air frames, and thus has such a surplus in planes, that he chose to offload his good pilots, put rookies on the CVs, and send them on this dangerous mission. I wouldn't really rate this as likely, but it is possible.

Bottom line - I think it's safe to say that the Allies have had enough Karachi, Ndeni, and Tulagi Turkey Shoots that Rader must be hurting. If his back isn't broken yet, it will be soon.

great turn. Yea he's got to be hurting in the pilot department. Keep it up GJ, Keep pounding his bush.[:D]

Well done, sir. You've set up a pretty good meatgrinder there in the Solomons. Now if only you had Task Force 58 nearby to put the kibosh on the KB.

Cheers,
CC

Greyjoy, how do you count your killed pilots? Do you just manually scan through the squadrons or what?

July 8, 9, 10, 11 1943
 
So as the KB retires towards Truk and Rader's BBs remain at Rabaul, or campaign of terror against his front line bases continues.
On the night of the 8th we naval bombed again Thousands Ships Bay, while on the day of the 9th our 4Es, despite a stiff resistance by 100 of his fighters on LRCAP, mauled back Russell Is.
 
On the night of the 10th the allies put a little further the line of fire, hitting hard Rekata Bay. It's the first time we hit this very important base (AF 7) and the first time our bombardment groups go beyond the Russell-Thousands-Auki line.
On the very same night another lighter bombing group made a bombing passage on Auki.
 
AFTER ACTION REPORTS FOR Jul 10, 43
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Rekata Bay at 113,134
 
Japanese aircraft
      no flights
 
Japanese aircraft losses
      A6M3a Zero: 36 damaged
      A6M3a Zero: 10 destroyed on ground
      Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 105 damaged
      Ki-43-IIb Oscar: 15 destroyed on ground
      A6M5 Zero: 88 damaged
      A6M5 Zero: 8 destroyed on ground
      E13A1 Jake: 3 damaged
 
Allied Ships
      BB Massachusetts
      BB South Dakota
      BB North Carolina
      CA San Francisco
      CL Denver
      CL Columbia
      CL Detroit
      CL Raleigh
      DD Jarvis
      DD Blue
      DD Monssen
      DD Grayson
      DD Gwin
      DD Bache
      DD Aulick
      DD Abbot
 
Japanese ground losses:
      343 casualties reported
         Squads: 1 destroyed, 0 disabled
         Non Combat: 37 destroyed, 26 disabled
         Engineers: 9 destroyed, 5 disabled
      Guns lost 5 (5 destroyed, 0 disabled)
      Vehicles lost 15 (5 destroyed, 10 disabled)
 
 
 
Airbase hits 19
Airbase supply hits 13
Runway hits 82
Port hits 27
Port supply hits 4
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Night Naval bombardment of Auki at 115,136
 
Allied Ships
      CL Montpelier
      CL Leander
      DD Lamson
      DD Cummings
      DD Dunlap
      DD O'Brien
      DD Hammann
      DD Woodworth
      DD Duncan
      DD Eaton
      DD Beale
      DD Fletcher
 
Japanese ground losses:
      52 casualties reported
         Squads: 0 destroyed, 2 disabled
         Non Combat: 0 destroyed, 10 disabled
         Engineers: 0 destroyed, 5 disabled
 
 
 
Airbase hits 27
Airbase supply hits 6
Runway hits 56
Port hits 25
Port supply hits 7
 
 
Now, on the day of the 12th, Rader has finally moved one of his SAG TF (seems to be composed by BBs) to Vella la Vella. I don't know if it's his usual movement of deception or if this time he will try to engage at Tulagi...we will be ready anyway.
In order to prevent any surprise, we've moved the TF that bombed Rekata Bay to Lunga (with an AKE that is supposed to rearm the 16inch guns, while all other guns have already been rearmed at Tulagi this turn), supported by a TF led by CL Montpellier and CL Leander. At Tulagi will wait another BB TF, composed by 2 modern BBs, CA Hawkins (recently returned to service after the battles of early june) and Witchita, 3 Cleveland Class CLs and some 9 Fletcher Class DDs, along with an Heavy Cruiser TF (5 old CAs + 10 old DDs) and another TF composed by BB Missisipi, 3 Old CAs and 8 DDs.
CAP will be provided by 170 Crack fighters based at Tulagi (Range 0), 280 fighters based at Lunga (Range 1) and 160 based at Karaikira (Range 3).
150 Liberators will bomb Thousands Ships Bay just in case.
Subs all around the possible access to the TLT area.
Heavy night naval search ordered.
 
Interesting to note that the first P-38H squadron is now operative on Karaikira, while another one is arriving at PH in these days.
 
 

 

ORIGINAL: String

Greyjoy, how do you count your killed pilots? Do you just manually scan through the squadrons or what?

Yes mate. Usually i take first a look at the air losses and see what kind of plane has been involved. Then, knowing which squadron was operating, i check every single squadron and see if a KIA/WIA/MIA is reported.
Obviously i'm doing this only for the fighter squadrons....whi cares about the transport plane guys??? [:D]

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String: An easier, although less informative, way is to see how many MIAs, WIAs and KIAs you have for the turn on the Top Pilots page at the bottom.

Cheers,
CC