Cuttlefish
Posts: 2454
Joined: 1/24/2007 From: Oregon, USA Status: offline
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Good to know about the SBDs. He had lost between 20 and 30 of them a couple of weeks earlier so with maybe 75 shot down in two weeks that might hurt some. A note about the air battle: all Zero units, carrier and land-based, were at 40% CAP, no other orders. The carrier planes were at an average of 16,000 feet and the land-based planes were at 22,000. All Q-Ball's raids were detected by radar and the initial CAP of a couple dozen planes was augmented to 120 to 180 planes (the number declined as the day went on) by the end of combat. The combat report from the first attack is a pretty good example of all of them. Note that out of 25 Dauntlesses 14 of them made their attack runs. At least half his dive-bomber losses this round came in the post-attack combat phase. --- Morning Air attack on TF, near Makassar at 64,106 Weather in hex: Heavy cloud Raid detected at 40 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 15 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M2 Zero x 179 Allied aircraft F4F-3 Wildcat x 17 F4F-4 Wildcat x 20 SBD-2 Dauntless x 11 SBD-3 Dauntless x 14 No Japanese losses Allied aircraft losses F4F-3 Wildcat: 4 destroyed F4F-4 Wildcat: 2 destroyed SBD-2 Dauntless: 3 destroyed, 5 damaged SBD-3 Dauntless: 4 destroyed, 5 damaged Japanese Ships CV Kaga, Bomb hits 1, on fire CA Mikuma CV Hiyo Aircraft Attacking: 2 x SBD-3 Dauntless diving from 2000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 4 x SBD-2 Dauntless diving from 5000' * Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb 4 x SBD-3 Dauntless diving from 3000' Naval Attack: 1 x 1000 lb SAP Bomb 4 x SBD-2 Dauntless diving from 4000' * Naval Attack: 1 x 500 lb SAP Bomb CAP engaged: 253 Ku S-1 with A6M2 Zero (7 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling) (7 plane(s) diverted to support CAP in hex.) 7 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 22000 Raid is overhead 5 planes vectored on to bombers Akagi-1 with A6M2 Zero (2 airborne, 5 on standby, 10 scrambling) 2 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 16000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 49 minutes 14 planes vectored on to bombers Kaga-1 with A6M2 Zero (2 airborne, 5 on standby, 10 scrambling) 2 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 17000 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 17000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes 11 planes vectored on to bombers Soryu-1 with A6M2 Zero (2 airborne, 5 on standby, 11 scrambling) 2 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 17000 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 17000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes 16 planes vectored on to bombers Hiryu-1 with A6M2 Zero (2 airborne, 5 on standby, 10 scrambling) 2 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 15000 , scrambling fighters between 7000 and 15000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 48 minutes 15 planes vectored on to bombers Shokaku-1 with A6M2 Zero (2 airborne, 5 on standby, 10 scrambling) 2 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 18000 , scrambling fighters between 11000 and 16000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 43 minutes 11 planes vectored on to bombers Zuikaku-1 with A6M2 Zero (2 airborne, 5 on standby, 11 scrambling) 2 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 14000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 14000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 39 minutes 13 planes vectored on to bombers Ryujo-1 with A6M2 Zero (1 airborne, 4 on standby, 7 scrambling) 1 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 17000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 13000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes 8 planes vectored on to bombers Junyo-1 with A6M2 Zero (2 airborne, 4 on standby, 9 scrambling) 2 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 21000 , scrambling fighters between 7000 and 21000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes 9 planes vectored on to bombers Hiyo-1 with A6M2 Zero (2 airborne, 5 on standby, 10 scrambling) 2 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters between 7000 and 16000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 30 minutes 9 planes vectored on to bombers Shoho-1 with A6M2 Zero (0 airborne, 4 on standby, 7 scrambling) 0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact. Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 16000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 48 minutes 10 planes vectored on to bombers Zuiho-1 with A6M2 Zero (1 airborne, 4 on standby, 7 scrambling) 1 plane(s) intercepting now. Group patrol altitude is 16000 , scrambling fighters between 8000 and 14000. Time for all group planes to reach interception is 32 minutes 9 planes vectored on to bombers
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