March 17, 1943
So I sent in my B-17Es at 5000 feet. Xargun asked me about it, we have no house rules but I have been keeping my 4 engine bombers at 10,000 feet
or higher until now. The funny thing is he complained about how many fighters he lost, not the small amount of shipping.
According to tracker, he lost 11 A6M2 and 8 Tojo in air-2-air combat and 6 of each due to ops.
I lost 7 B-17Es, 1 air-2-air, 4 flak, and 2 ops.
Too many flak losses so I will move them back up to 8,000 feet to avoid the 25mm flak.
I did hit some ships in port, but not that many.
Here are all 9 of the attacks
Night Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 32 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 22
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 21
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 12
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed by flak
Port hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
11 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
CAP engaged:
284 Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (5 airborne, 15 on standby, 2 scrambling)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 9000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 37 minutes
997th Ku S-1 with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (6 airborne, 14 on standby, 1 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 11000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes
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Night Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 25 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 7 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 18
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 19
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 6
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 3 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged
B-17E Fortress: 1 destroyed by flak
Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
CAP engaged:
284 Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (16 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
16 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 9000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 46 minutes
997th Ku S-1 with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (18 airborne, 0 on standby, 1 scrambling)
18 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 11000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 31 minutes
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Night Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 13 NM, estimated altitude 10,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 3 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 12
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 5 damaged
Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
CAP engaged:
997th Ku S-1 with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (11 airborne, 0 on standby, 1 scrambling)
11 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 5000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 49 minutes
284 Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (11 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
11 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 9000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 42 minutes
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Night Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 31 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 9 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 13
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 7
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 4
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
No Allied losses
Aircraft Attacking:
4 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
CAP engaged:
284 Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (11 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
11 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 9000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 28 minutes
997th Ku S-1 with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (6 airborne, 0 on standby, 1 scrambling)
6 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 4000 and 5000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes
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Night Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 12 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 10
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 5
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 6
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 2 destroyed
Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 3 damaged
Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
CAP engaged:
284 Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (8 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
8 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 5000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 39 minutes
997th Ku S-1 with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 1 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 5000
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes
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Night Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid detected at 49 NM, estimated altitude 7,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 15 minutes
Japanese aircraft
A6M2 Zero x 6
Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 2
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 5
Japanese aircraft losses
A6M2 Zero: 1 destroyed
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 2 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAK Toei Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
CAP engaged:
284 Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 2 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 9000 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 4000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes
997th Ku S-1 with Ki-44-IIc Tojo (2 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
2 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 5000 , scrambling fighters between 0 and 5000.
Raid is overhead
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Night Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 46 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 13 minutes
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 7
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 1 damaged
Japanese Ships
PB Kyo Maru #6, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
PB Kyo Maru #7, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
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Night Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 35 NM, estimated altitude 6,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 10 minutes
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 5
No Allied losses
Japanese Ships
AMc Tama Maru #3, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
xAK Otake Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire
PB Takunan Maru #2, Bomb hits 1, heavy damage
DD Kuretake, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
xAK Sakido Maru, Bomb hits 1, on fire, heavy damage
Port hits 1
Port supply hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
5 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
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Night Air attack on Truk , at 112,108
Weather in hex: Light rain
Raid spotted at 37 NM, estimated altitude 8,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 11 minutes
Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 7
Allied aircraft losses
B-17E Fortress: 5 damaged
Japanese Ships
xAK Toei Maru, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
DD Wakatake, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
SS I-172, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires, heavy damage
SS I-1, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires
Port hits 1
Aircraft Attacking:
7 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 5000 feet
Port Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
I also had SS S-34 hit a PB at Woleai with a Mk-10
2 heavy naval bombardments at Woodlark Island, the Australian 2/9th Armoured Regiment landed at Woodlark.
Bombing of the troops on Woodlark Island