Spidery
Posts: 1821
Joined: 10/6/2012 From: Hampshire, UK Status: offline
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April 1st 1943 Air Losses: 22 Japanese, 22 Allied, 18 Pilots Japanese occupy: Allies occupy: Japanese land at: Allies land at: Subs During the night, SS Grouper attacks AO Kokuyo Maru heading back to Balikpapan. It scores two hits but one is a dud. Unfortunately, the DD escorting only have type 95 DC and can't reach sub depth. SS Grouper makes two more attempts, the first is screened off but the second scores two more hits, one of which explodes and sinks the oiler. During the day, SS Finback makes another attack on the same convoy but is screened off and misses the shot at DD Tsuta. Marshalls Quiet Solomons, etc. I must be doing something wrong. In the morning N1K1-J sweep Buin and easily brush aside the Wildcats on CAP. In the afternoon the bombers arrive on naval strike, some CAP is back up but all the strikes have escorts and keep the fighters from getting through to the bombers: Combat 1: quote:
Afternoon Air attack on TF, near Buin at 109,131 Weather in hex: Overcast Raid detected at 93 NM, estimated altitude 17,000 feet. Estimated time to target is 37 minutes Japanese aircraft A6M5 Zero x 45 G3M2 Nell x 30 G3M3 Nell x 16 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 41 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 15 Japanese aircraft losses G3M2 Nell: 14 damaged G3M2 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak G3M3 Nell: 6 damaged G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak Ki-44-IIc Tojo: 1 destroyed Allied aircraft losses F4F-4 Wildcat: 1 destroyed Allied Ships CA Quincy CA San Francisco DD Gridley, Bomb hits 1, heavy fires CA Astoria CA Vincennes DD McCall Aircraft Attacking: 29 x G3M2 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp 7 x Ki-44-IIc Tojo sweeping at 14000 feet 4 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp 6 x G3M3 Nell bombing from 14000 feet Naval Attack: 2 x 250 kg SAP Bomb, 4 x 60 kg GP Bomb 5 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp 6 x Ki-44-IIc Tojo sweeping at 1000 feet 30 x A6M5 Zero sweeping at 14000 feet 3 x Ki-44-IIc Tojo sweeping at 14000 feet So 6 Nell used bombs for some reason and managed to score a hit on a DD from 14000 feet. 44 Nell used torpedoes as expected and failed to score any hits on the cruisers. Combat 2: quote:
Japanese aircraft D3A1 Val x 12 D4Y1 Judy x 9 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 33 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 Japanese aircraft losses D3A1 Val: 6 damaged D3A1 Val: 1 destroyed by flak D4Y1 Judy: 3 damaged D4Y1 Judy: 1 destroyed by flak No Allied losses Allied Ships CA Vincennes CA Quincy, Bomb hits 1 DD Gridley, heavy fires CA Astoria One Val scores a hit but it is a belt armour hit so no significant damage. Combat 3: quote:
Japanese aircraft B6N2 Jill x 9 Ki-44-IIc Tojo x 18 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 Japanese aircraft losses B6N2 Jill: 1 damaged No Allied losses Allied Ships DD McCall CA San Francisco Aircraft Attacking: 9 x B6N2 Jill launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp Can't hit a barn door. quote:
Japanese aircraft G3M3 Nell x 6 P1Y1 Frances x 4 Ki-45 KAIa Nick x 10 Ki-46 KAI Dinah x 6 Allied aircraft F4F-4 Wildcat x 1 Japanese aircraft losses G3M3 Nell: 4 damaged G3M3 Nell: 1 destroyed by flak P1Y1 Frances: 2 damaged P1Y1 Frances: 1 destroyed by flak No Allied losses Allied Ships CA Vincennes CA Astoria CA Quincy Aircraft Attacking: 3 x P1Y1 Frances launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp 6 x G3M3 Nell launching torpedoes at 200 feet Naval Attack: 1 x 45cm Type 91 Torp No hits here either. I'm getting the impression that there is no point in using torpedoes. They just can't hit anything in DBB. A group of Nicks on low nav attack were also supposed to attack but failed to arrive. Meanwhile, Liberators come in at 1000 feet to target and sink 9 xAKL off-loading supply at Buna. Total losses: 20 F4F-4 (16 air-air) for 1 Ki-44-IIc in air-air, 7 G3M3 (4 Flak), 6 G3M2 (5 flak), 3 D3A1 (all flak), 3 P1Y1 (all flak), 2 D4Y1 (both flak). So that is 20::1 losses inflicted in air-air combat and 21 planes lost for 2 bomb hits only one of which did damage. Burma area Quiet An extended range port strike on Columbo fails to take place. China Quiet Australia & DEI Quiet Engineering Allies have built a level 1 airfield at Cox's Bazaar. R&D Quiet
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