December 21, 1941
Honored Father:
I hope this letter will reach you and mother and that both of you are in good health.
Brother is well and send his love and respect. I know he doesn't write you a lot but you know brother...
Our Strike Force was sent up north to help the Army with the American forces in southern Burma. They have a unit called the Flying Tigers fighting with the Chinese that have considerable success.
We went in to cover the Army advances and help to alleviate the burden over the Army Squadrons.
Together with brother and Jun-i Masatake Isozaki we were covering an Army division. They came quickly and without warning...
I warned Brother through the radio and Brother warned Masatake with signs since he didn't have radio in his Zero. I'll tell you Father that having radio isn't much better.
I'm a lucky one, I am. Sometimes I fly as third pilot in Chūi Quinn Mikeyung and Chūi Nikou Mikeyung shōtai. They take always good care of me and work well with each other. That is not always so with other shōtai and officers. As soon as Chūi Quinn Mikeyung saw the enemy planes we entered in action.
We were flying over the army detachments below.
We had to protect them but they covered more than two miles of the road below.
The enemy was a mixed squadron of Chinese and American planes. The Flying Tigers. They came in fast.
We split to engage them. Following the orders given by signs I moved in with Chūi Nikou Mikeyung.
The Chinese Tigers dove against the first detachment.
Their heavy machine-guns fired such a rain of lead that the entire detachment was killed or heavily wounded.
Only then we've reached firing range. The Americans were eager to complete their task so they gave us little notice.
The Americans that Chūi Quinn Mikeyung was targeting strafed another detachment that was also caught by surprise. They were wiped out as the first one.
On our side, one of the Americans fired at me, but little damage was made.
"Little Brother" took a little more damage, but we came out quite well, since our planes are fragile and the American machine-guns are powerful. Ah but we have the spirit of the Samurai and we will stand.
Our shōtai leader fired head-on against the leading American making good damage.
Lucky Little Demon aim was also true.
And I also hit the enemy American.
Then they start a quick reverse maneuver. Ah! But I remembered Chūi Quinn Mikeyung words during the briefing. "These Americans know what they're doing. They will hit and run, as their planes are faster and heaver than ours. We must cut their maneuvers in the middle." And we done that.
One of the Americans fired against another detachment, wreaking havoc.
We were proficient in cutting the reverse maneuver they attempted. Our leader's cannons hitting hard one of the P-40's.
Little Brother crossed the path of his brother and as in a dance fired against the other P-40. I wasn't at range so I kept following him as I was instructed before battle.
Then they finished the reversal and we were in a perfect position to fire.
Chūi Quinn Mikeyung kept firing against the same American fighter and his continuous fire was lethal. Fast and strong like a katana he was. The American plane collapsed at the end of the half loop.
At such low height the pilot didn't managed to jump and crashed in the jungle.
Little Brother fired against the leading American making again good damage. But the American planes are hard to hit.
I... further away... failed to connect.
And then, the Americans used their tactics once again, zooming out of the combat.
But this time I connected with my cannons against the second fighter.
As they were faster we had little choice but to see them get away.
But the Mikeyung Brothers don't know how to quit... They pushed their zeros to the limit.
Our leader firing a long shot against the P-40 already damaged by me... And hitting it's engine somehow!
The American fighter lost momentum...
And once again it was hit by our leader. His aim was true once again.
And a second American fell under his prowess.
The battle was over. The Tigers were leaving the battlefield wounded. I can't imagine what would happen to this army division if we weren't there to cover them under the wings of the Navy.
In this Mission:
Chūi Quinn Mikeyung (Veteran - Evasion) (3 kill / 1 shared kill - 2 kills during this mission)
Chūi Nikou Mikeyung (Veteran - Evasion) (1 Kill)
Jun-i Masatake Isozaki (Standard)
1. The American pilots were:
Chinese P-40 Olive nosed (Veteran)
Chinese P-40 White nosed (Standard) (shot down)
American P-40 Black nosed (Veteran)
American P-40 White nosed (Rookie) (shot down)
2. I used the Universal Diceless Solo Chart.
My PTO Hose Rules
After the first mission I decided that something must be made to achieve the true feeling of Eastern early war combat.
All accounts point to a drastic difference in performance between the Zero and Ki-43 and the allied fighters. We can't feel that difference between C deck and the other decks.
Also, even knowing that the Ki-43 was brutally under-armed, the truth is, a vast number of allied fighters and bombers fell under the guns of this fighter.
And finally the 16 damage the zero has comparing with the 17 and 18 damage points of the American fighters doesn't really shows how much more fragile the Japanese fighters were in the initial stages of the war.
In order to offset this and without wanting to change the spirit of the game or making it more complex I devised the following house rules that I'll use in my Solo PTO Campaign:
1. The C+ deck - I add 1 left and 1 right 90º turn card from the L deck. The ki-43 Hayabusa and the A6M2 Zero will use the C+ deck instead of the C deck.
2. No self sealing fuel tanks - The early versions of the Japanese planes didn't have self sealing fuel tanks. A damage chit of smoke becomes automatically a fire chit.
3. No cockpit protection armor - When a Japanese plane takes a pilot wounded damage take another yellow damage chit. If a special damage (any) appears in the chit, the pilot is mortally wounded and the plane crashes. If not, it's a normal wounded damage and a second one will kill the pilot as per normal rules.
4. Angling Shots - All shots that don't enter the enemy plane in its rear arc and front arc are always long range shots;
All close range shots that enter the enemy's plane rear arc at close range add an A damage chit;
All close range shots that enter the enemy's plane frontal arc suffer reduction. All B, C and D chits become A chits instead.
These rules adds to the extra A damage chit for continuous fire (i.e. firing against the same enemy plane for consecutive turns).
Example: A ki-43 is firing for the second consecutive time against a P-40 in the P-40 rear arc at close range. It would make AAB damage.
Butchers Tally
Japanese
Chūi Quinn Mikeyung (Veteran - Evasion) / RTB / FT / 2 Kills
Chūi Nikou Mikeyung (Veteran - Evasion) / RTB / FT
Jun-i Masatake Isozaki (Standard) / RTB / FT
Americans (AI)
Chinese P-40 Olive nosed (Veteran) / RTB / ET
Chinese P-40 White nosed (Standard) FLM / ET
American P-40 Black nosed (Veteran) / RTB / ET
American P-40 White nosed (Rookie) / EXP / ET
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