Drongo
Posts: 2205
Joined: 7/12/2002
From: Melb. Oztralia
Status: offline
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Posted by timtom
[QUOTE]- I take it for granted that air-dropped mines will be a part of WitP, but have no idea whether they had a part to play in the theater at hand. Anyone?
[/QUOTE]
From :
http://www.maxwell.af.mil/au/aul/aupress/SAAS_Theses/Chilstrom/chilstrom.pdf
[QUOTE]
The Australians, influenced by Britain's experience with aerial minelaying, proved to be enthusiastic partners. In contrast, the U.S. Fifth Air Force flew only a single B-24 minelaying mission from Port Moresby in June 1943. Commander Quimby stated that Lieutenant General George Kenney, MacArthur's air commander, "had a poor opinion of mining and was unwilling to spare planes for mining if bombing was at all possible." Such a view typified that of most air commanders unfamiliar with aerial mining. Also, Kenney's light and medium bombers were already successful at destroying ships, and the results of direct aerial attacks were easier to assess than the often unseen effects of mines.
Initially flying from Australian bases at Darwin and Cairns, then from captured island airfields, three squadrons of RAAF PBY-5 Catalinas laid mines in key enemy harbors in the Southwest Pacific. Australian aerial mining began April 22, 1943 when eight aircraft laid sixteen magnetic mines at Kavieng, New Ireland. Those mines, and others at Lorengau in the Admiralty Islands, convinced the Japanese to abandon fleet achorages there after mines sank five ships and damaged seven others.
In August 1943 the RAAF flew over 1,000 miles to attack the headquarters for Japan's Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet at Surabaya. Their mines sank seven ships, and damaged eleven. On this, and other, long-range flights, the Catalinas extended their reach by refueling with U.S. Navy seaplane tenders on the return route. For the next two years the Australians flew missions throughout the Netherlands East Indies, including New Guinea, Halmahera, Celebes, Java, and Borneo. Additionally, in 1944, they laid mines to support amphibious landings in the Carolines, Marshalls, and Philippine Islands. Ultimately the RAAF extended their reach as far north as the Chinese coast, while still mining all major harbors in the East Indies.
The PBY-5 Catalinas used by the RAAF were amphibious aircraft that provided good results. The aircraft was well suited to minelaying, with long range and a payload of 2,000-4,000 pounds. Out of 1,130 successful sorties that laid 2,498 mines, the Australians lost nine aircraft, a 0.8 percent loss rate. Altogether, the postwar U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey estimated these mines sank 90 ships totalling 250,000 tons, or approximately 40 percent of Japanese losses in the Netherlands East Indies.[/QUOTE]
From a UV point of view, it was pretty much an all Aussie affair (starting in April '43). How Matrix/2x3 would incorporate it, would be interesting. Do they consider introducing it at all (it does seem to have been effective)? Should any allied squadron be able to do it or just the RAAF Catalinas? Should it start from April '43 or whenever a player wants?
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