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CV2 -> RE: AE Air Issues and Air OOB Issues (2/19/2011 3:05:35 AM)
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Guadalcanal for example. I dont remember it all now, I wrote it out in the devs forum years ago but with in a week or 2 tops there were 6 different squadrons operating (I listed the squadrons and dates) - without problems - out of Henderson. No air HQ present, and army, marine, and naval air all operating out of this 1 level 2 airfield. Just 1 example of the pointlessness of the rule. Like I said, Elf himself in the dev forum (which is posted on this board somewhere if you want to look) that the rule was based on nothing more than a whim of his.
Found it: You can see by the "commanders" list at end that there was NO air HQ present. From the operations conducted there was NO admin effect (ie strikes halved) because of "admin stacking". Note also - 30 aircraft flew in from the Long Island. A carrier that in the game can only handle 16.
Operations:
On August 20, Marine pilots from Marine Aircraft Group 23 with eighteen F4F Wildcat fighter planes of VMF-223 led by Major John L. Smith, and a dozen SBD Dauntless dive bombers of VMSB-232 led by Lt. Colonel Richard Mangrum, flying from the escort aircraft carrier USS Long Island, landed at Henderson Field, and these warplanes were conducting combat missions on the next day. They were joined on August 22, by the U.S. Army's 67th Pursuit Squadron, under Major Dale Brannon, with five Army P-400s (an "export" version of the P-39), and on August 24 by eleven SBD dive bombers that came from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise because they were unable to land on their own carrier, with battle damage sustained during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. At the end of August, these warplanes were joined by nineteen more Wildcats from VMF-224 under Major Robert E. Galer, and twelve more SBD dive bombers from VMSB-231, also part of the Marine Air Group 23. This varied assortment of Army, Marine, and Navy pilots and warplanes was the beginnings of the Cactus Air Force.[31]
August 21 brought the first Marine air-to-air combat but it resulted in mixed results. Japanese Zeros from the Tainan Air Group on a bomber escort mission (the bombers were fruitlessly searching for American carriers south of Guadalcanal) passed over Henderson Field Field on their way back to Rabaul, and six of these were met by four Cactus Air Force F4F Wildcats at 14,000 feet (4,300 m). The engagement resulted in Major Smith claiming the first air-to-air victory for the CAF but two of the other pilots crashed while landing their damaged aircraft, with both of the Wildcats deemed a total loss except for salvaged parts. The Japanese actually suffered no losses in this aerial engagement. That same night, an SBD Dauntless blew a tire on take-off, causing it to ground loop and crash for another aircraft loss.[32]
On August 24, during the naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons between aircraft carrier forces of Japan and the U.S. east of the Solomon Islands, Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo sent the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) light carrier Ryūjō ahead of the main Japanese warship force to send an aircraft attack force against Henderson Field. The Ryūjō mission was most likely in response to a request from Nishizo Tsukahara, the naval commander at Rabaul, for help from the Japanese combined fleet in neutralizing Henderson Field.[33] At 12:20 and 200 miles (320 km) northeast of Guadalcanal, the Ryūjō launched six "Kate" bombers and 15 A6M Zero fighters to attack Henderson Field in conjunction with an attack by 24 "Betty" bombers and 14 Zero fighters from Rabaul. Unknown to the Ryūjō force, however, the Rabaul aircraft had encountered severe weather and returned to their base at 11:30. The Ryūjō's aircraft arrived over Henderson Field at 14:23 and tangled with 14 Marine Wildcats and four Army P-400s while bombing the airfield. In the resulting engagement three Kates, three Zeros, and three Marine fighters were shot down and no damage was done to Henderson Field. Two Marine pilots were killed in the engagement as well as eight Japanese aircrewmen. All of these Japanese aircraft were eventually lost because, while they were attacking Henderson Field, the Ryūjō was sunk by aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, forcing the Japanese aircraft to ditch in the ocean upon returning to the previous location of their carrier.[34]
On August 31, the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Since she was forced to return to Pearl Harbor for drydock repairs, most of the Saratoga's aircraft and aircrewmen remained behind at Espiritu Santo. Admiral McCain planned to send some of these aircraft to reinforce the Cactus Air Force at Guadalcanal.[35]
Commanders:
From the time of the first Marine squadron landed on August 20 until August 25 there was no commanding officer for Marine air, which instead reported directly to General Vandegrift. The Marines had not designated an air operations commander, the Army already had a squadron present and the field had already acquired the air of a naval base after having been promised to certain naval units. The first Marine commander was Colonel William W. Wallace but he only retained command temporarily.[17] Cactus Air Force technically was under the command of Rear Admiral John S. McCain, who commanded all land based Allied aircraft in the South Pacific. Vandegrift and his operational commanders, however, exercised local command over the Allied aircraft operating out of Henderson Field.[18]
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