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ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

Night fighters can allegedly sweep, but I'm not sure I ever got any of them to ever fly. Likewise for nighttime LRCAP, at least in terms of effectiveness.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

I've never had a Night Fighter squadron fly a sweep or strafe mission. Not one.

They'll quite happily mount airbase attack missions at 100 ft. All indications from the manual are that they should be able to perform sweep missions, but from my initial testing I've not seen it happen.

It may be the case that the manual isn't accurate, but more likely it's just difficult to get NF's to perform a sweep. At any rate, it's not as it should be, as the Allied NF intruder missions over Germany should be repeatable in the Pacific.

Curious you don't have any luck with it ... hmmm

From my most recent turn vs AI (26March1945):


Night Air attack on Hiroshima/Kure , at 106,58

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-Sa Irving x 7

Allied aircraft
F6F-5N Hellcat x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-5N Hellcat: 2 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x F6F-5N Hellcat bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 1000 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
210 Ku S-3 with J1N1-Sa Irving (1 airborne, 2 on standby, 1 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 30610.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes
S-851 Hikotai with J1N1-Sa Irving (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 6000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 6000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 3 minutes

Some CAP have air radar

ORIGINAL: MBF

Curious you don't have any luck with it ... hmmm

From my most recent turn vs AI (26March1945):


Night Air attack on Hiroshima/Kure , at 106,58

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-Sa Irving x 7

Allied aircraft
F6F-5N Hellcat x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-5N Hellcat: 2 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x F6F-5N Hellcat bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 1000 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
210 Ku S-3 with J1N1-Sa Irving (1 airborne, 2 on standby, 1 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 30610.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes
S-851 Hikotai with J1N1-Sa Irving (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 6000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 6000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 3 minutes

Some CAP have air radar

Those are bombing not sweeping.

Ahhh - that may be what I am seeing - those night fighters with bombs will sometimes engage and/or attack the airfields - I'll keep an eye out to see if I ever get any sweeps to work but as pointed out I was doing an airfield attack

Dropped in to say Thanks for the AAR!

ORIGINAL: MBF

Ahhh - that may be what I am seeing - those night fighters with bombs will sometimes engage and/or attack the airfields - I'll keep an eye out to see if I ever get any sweeps to work but as pointed out I was doing an airfield attack

Ahhh - that may be what I am seeing - those night fighters with bombs will sometimes engage and/or attack the airfields - I'll keep an eye out to see if I ever get any sweeps to work but as pointed out I was doing an airfield attack

Interesting though. Dan, what about night bombing airfields with 1 and 2 engine bombers? Yon have some hellcats and probably TBF's that are night equipet, no?

We have a house rule that limits the number of night bombers to 50 per airfield (I don't know whether that means 50 coming from any particular friendly airfield or 50 targeting any particular enemy airfield).

I've tried a variety of night bombing missions against ports and airfields, basically with no success at all. I especially like using the British 4EB, of which I have 4 or 5 squadrons at Shikuka. They never do anything, so I only try it rarely.

Damaging enemy aircraft doesn't accomplish much either. Erik simply rail transports them to another base, and they're back online in a couple of days, even with high service ratings.

When the Bihoro campaign is completed, I'll have a good rail network that will allow me to use aircraft forward and rail the damaged ones to more remote fields. I'll also have proximity to his big bases from Tokyo north, allowing Allied fighters to sweep or escort. So I'll be trying a variety of strategies, hoping to find something that works and hoping to learn that Erik is suddenly (and unexpectedly, from my perspective) having some trouble maintaining good CAP over all the potential targets. Night bombing will be employed too.

ORIGINAL: Bearcat2
Dropped in to say Thanks for the AAR!

Thanks for reading, Bearcat (and all you other gentlemen). I read everything posted here.

ORIGINAL: tarkalak

ORIGINAL: MBF

Curious you don't have any luck with it ... hmmm

From my most recent turn vs AI (26March1945):


Night Air attack on Hiroshima/Kure , at 106,58

Weather in hex: Heavy cloud

Raid detected at 34 NM, estimated altitude 9,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes

Japanese aircraft
J1N1-Sa Irving x 7

Allied aircraft
F6F-5N Hellcat x 6

No Japanese losses

Allied aircraft losses
F6F-5N Hellcat: 2 damaged

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x F6F-5N Hellcat bombing from 6000 feet
Airfield Attack: 2 x 1000 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
210 Ku S-3 with J1N1-Sa Irving (1 airborne, 2 on standby, 1 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 10000 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 30610.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 21 minutes
S-851 Hikotai with J1N1-Sa Irving (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 6000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 6000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 3 minutes

Some CAP have air radar

Those are bombing not sweeping.

Yeah, there seems to be something that makes NF fighter sweep very elusive. Night airfield attacks are fine, but I'm not sure about naval or ground attack.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

We have a house rule that limits the number of night bombers to 50 per airfield (I don't know whether that means 50 coming from any particular friendly airfield or 50 targeting any particular enemy airfield).

I've tried a variety of night bombing missions against ports and airfields, basically with no success at all. I especially like using the British 4EB, of which I have 4 or 5 squadrons at Shikuka. They never do anything, so I only try it rarely.

Damaging enemy aircraft doesn't accomplish much either. Erik simply rail transports them to another base, and they're back online in a couple of days, even with high service ratings.

When the Bihoro campaign is completed, I'll have a good rail network that will allow me to use aircraft forward and rail the damaged ones to more remote fields. I'll also have proximity to his big bases from Tokyo north, allowing Allied fighters to sweep or escort. So I'll be trying a variety of strategies, hoping to find something that works and hoping to learn that Erik is suddenly (and unexpectedly, from my perspective) having some trouble maintaining good CAP over all the potential targets. Night bombing will be employed too.

IMO, the purpose of night airbase bombing isn't focused on destroying or damaging planes. It's a nice bonus, but the big win is the morale of air groups.

A serious night bombing raid on a large airbase sends the morale of the squadrons stationed at that base into the dirt. Sure, you might only destroy or damage ten or twenty planes, but if there's ten squadrons that have their morale knocked back less than fifty, that's a lot of combat effectiveness lost. It works very well in a one-two combo with daytime sweeps. Send in the night bombers to plaster the base, send in the sweepers to maul the demoralized leftovers.

This is a large part of why I strongly dislike house rules, especially regarding night bombing. There's a lot of tactical flexibility that's just waved away as "Oh, we don't do that here.". The arguments about night bombing being broken just don't stand up to close scrutiny.

The trick to good night bombing raids is mass. If you send five hundred bombers at a target at night, mabye half get lost, but even then you've still 250 bombers smashing the target.

The trick to good night bombing raids is mass.

"Use mass not driblets" Heinz, or he said something like that.

Me: "Why use a little hammer if you have a big one!"

Of course, using Hellcat NFs from the DS would open up a lot of new targets for you, either now or later.

Targeting every possible target with 50 bombers at night might be tedious but it would show up the vulnerable targets. But when the HR is 50 bombers per target, that would not include fighters at night, would it? A lot of your fighters do carry a decent bomb load even if they are not that effective as fighters during the day.

I also read from someone that when he transferred NFs that they did not seem to fly their first night. So bouncing from target to target in disparate areas could work nicely if the defender reacts to defend what you just targeted. So if there was little to no defensive NFs for that target, maybe target for a second night but no more.

It's the Mahan doctrine but for air power, which is itself just a restatement of a gazillion other military theorists on the concentration of power vs. splitting it.

Erik sent a courtesy note that he's still mulling over this turn - that it might be a few more days before he sends it. He mentioned something vague about evaluating things or taking stock of things. I don't know if something happened that has him muttering dark things, if he's trying to take stock of the overall situation, or if it's something else. You'll know when I do (or perhaps before, if he's addressing it in his AAR).

In the main forum Nemo reappeared and after some discussion, indicated he was interested in looking at some late-game PBEMs from the Japanese side. One of the AARs suggested to him was Obvert's. There could be some "collusion" going on! [:D]

That would be nightmarish. Erik's doing well enough without turning into the Hulk.

You should try NF in LRCAP role to support your Night bombers. We do know the NFs work in CAP role. And those equipped with radar should at least disrupt enemy NF force. This would however work only on short range.

Night bombing even if limited to 50 bombers per target can affect enemy air unit morale - even without single plane destroyed. Being bombed at airfield isn't good for daylight fighter jockeys Targeting airfields on Hokkaido each night will eventually drive enemy air unit morale down.

Do not hesitate to use British night bombers in the role - they are lightly armed for daylight fight anyway and usually carried more bombs than their daylight counterparts (hint here - look for UK planes in BLACK underside camouflage and "B." in name - those white with "GR." are really a Naval Search/ASW Coastal Command type planes).

BTW.. to decrease your fighter ops losses in the current fight - you should fly shortest possible range, not long range sweeps. Even few squadrons based on Wakkanai/Kushiro sweeping enemy CAP would suffer less losses to OPS than the same squadrons flying all the way from Shikuka/Toyohara.

Still no word from Erik.

Three days, no turn. That's hard, so I've filled the time by auditioning for The Nutcracker. I'm aiming for the role of the guy who wears tights and prances about the stage.

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Still no word from Erik.

Three days, no turn. That's hard, so I've filled the time by auditioning for The Nutcracker. I'm aiming for the role of the guy who wears tights and prances about the stage.

THE guy? [:'(]

This guy.

Well the legs look like a mountain-hiker's, but I think you need to insist they let you wear your Confederate pea-jacket and boots.

Erik sent the turn yesterday evening but offered no explanation as to what had prompted him to push the pause button for a few days. I'll run the turn today.