Canoerebel
Posts: 21100
Joined: 12/14/2002 From: Northwestern Georgia, USA Status: offline
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1/1/43 At Last: John finally sends the massed fighter sweeps over Sabang. Roughly seven groups ranging from 30 to 42 aircraft tangle with the Allied fighters, which are mainly P-40K, P-40E, and F4F, with some P-38G, P-38E and Beaufighters thrown into the mix. Pretty rough day - 1:1 losses (each side around 100 fighters). The Allies lose 21 pilots KIA and 38 WIA, but a surprisingly large number of fighters are out of commission due to damage. It's going to be ugly tomorrow in all probability. I'm not committing my carrier fighters yet, but that's no more than a couple of days away. On the good side, pilot morale and fatigue are excellent. Pools: I have nothing to work with at all. Bear in mind that the Allies, to date, have done well in the air war (meaning the Japanese have suffered 50% higher losses, so it's not like the Allies have frittered away fighters unproductively). Also, we haven't had air combat involving fighters in nearly two months, so the pools have had plenty of time to build if they were going to. But I don't have anything anywhere. The Brits are dry. I have 20 P-40K and 20 F4F in the pools. I don't have any P-39. I have six P-38G. And that's it - zero P-40E, zero P-38F, zero P-38E. On map (at Sabang), I have one squadron of P-38G with 25 aircraft (and, as noted, six in the pools). I have one P-38E squadron there - six aircraft with zero in the pools. I have a handful of P-38E and P-38F squadrons at Seattle and San Fran, but these are permanently restricted. I can't swap out their planes for a lower model (to flush their Lightnings into the pools) because I don't have any aircraft to change them to. Neither can I disband or withdraw - these options result in "planes and pilots lost." The Allies have done well in the air war; the air war hasn't been particularly intense; but there's nothing to fight with. Something seems wrong. I don't know if it's peculiar to the mod or if something is out of whack or if I've overlooked something fundamental. But if I'm right, I don't think even a Japanese player would enjoy a contest this uneven. I'm afraid what's going to happen is that the Allies feed in the carrier fighters in a couple of days, and then that's it. Carriers: No sign of the KB, which I think means it's moved SW out of range of my patrols. Allied carriers are trying to "stay in the shades" within range of Sabang. Elsewhere: Nothing else matters at the moment, though stuff is going on elsewhere.
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