FeurerKrieg -> October 2nd, 1943 - Air battle at Meiktila (8/19/2009 5:15:02 AM)
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October 2nd, 1943 It was quiet everywhere except Burma today. It has been almost a month since a major air battle, but the Allies finally came back to tangle in the air again. It was bloody, and with the help of their new generation of fighters, the Allies are doing better than previously. That being said, our boys performed well and those who didn't make it will be missed. The first wave consisted of a sweep by 41 P-38G Lightnings, 36 P-38J, 14 P-47C Thunderbolts and 13 P-47D. Against this we had up 8 N1K1-J Georges, 72 J2M Jacks, 33 Tojos, and 27 Tonys. We lost 4 George, 9 Jack, 13 Tojo and 18 Tony on this one, but took down 24 P-38G, 24 P-38J, 12 P-47C and 11 P-47D. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/meiktila9.jpg[/image] Enemy sweep comes in first Weakened by that attack, our resistance against the next wave was much less. 59 B-24D and 51 B-24Js, escorted by 26 Kittyhawk III and 21 P-38Gs flew in to bomb the airfields. We took down 16 Kittyhawks, 13 P-38Gs, 3 B-24D and 1 B-24J, but lost 4 jacks, 4 Tojos and 8 Tonys. The bombers wrecked the airfield badly. [image]http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj283/bfeurer/meiktila8.jpg[/image] Then an escorted bomber run For the next wave our fighter defense was unable to return to the air due to the damage to the airfield, so 98 Liberator III and 57 B-17E had a free ride in to further damage the airfield. Overall stats of the battle at Meiktila today: Japanese Losses: A2A(Ground) J2M Jack: 13 (41) Ki-61-1b Tony: 26 (4) Ki-44-IIb Tojo: 17 (10) N1K1-J George: 4 (0) Total: 60 (55) Allied Losses: (all A2A) P-38G Lightning: 37 P-38J Lightning: 24 Kittyhawk III: 16 P-47C Thunderbolt: 12 P-47D Thunderbolt: 11 B-24D Liberator: 3 B-24J Liberator: 1 Total: 104 Our pilots losses are estimated at 13 Naval pilots and 29 Army pilots. So while the Allies took some good losses, we lost nearly a month worth of trained pilots in this fight. We will pull our fighters back to Rangoon, Moulmein, Raheng, Bangkok and Hanoi for now. If the enemy begins to regularly bomb our airbases, then maybe I can set up some ambushes now and then. But given the range of the P-47D and P-38G/J, we need to make them fly a long way so we can get some advantage over them. If the enemy begins a ground offensive in Burma, we may also return to these frontline bases.
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