gully_raker
07-30-2014, 22:42
As I am playing the Campaign in the Pacific & New Guinea & have no Hurries or Gladiators this AAR is based on an actual encounter on the 30th April 1942 between Zero's & Bell Aerocobras of the 39th Fighter Squadron USAAF based in Port Morseby New Guinea.
PART ONE:--- The Alert.
138680
Colin MacCullan the Australian Coastwatcher at Kavieng radioed to H.Q. Port Morsby to alert them to a force of Japanese Zero's & Val Dive Bombers headed in their direction presumably to target Port Moresby or even Darwin again which had already been under many attacks.
H.Q contacted the C.O. of the newly arrived American 39th Fighter Squadron which was the sole defence available apart from some Hudson Bombers which could hardly be considered as fighter cover.
Major Lane Frost called his pilots to a briefing whilst the ground crews quickly fuelled & armed the Squadrons Aerocobras.
138681
138683
One section of the Squadron would be led by 1st Ltn Hoyt Eason a native of Ohio who was already an Ace & veteran with 2nd Ltn John Mangas a relative new chum, but not a Rookie, as his wingman.
Eason was still grumbling about the oppressive humidity that caused the pilots to sweat constantly.
They flew without any jackets & even the May West flotation gear was uncomfortable.
138684
Climbing into their Bell fighters the pilots quickly took off & turned towards the North East.
138685
PART 2 ---The Mission:
Having been given the expected direction the Japs would come from the Americans flew up between the Mountains of the Owen Stanley Ranges & headed for the small port of Lae on the far side of the Island.
Sure enough as they approached Lae from the West they saw three enemy Aircraft heading for the Port probably as a Navigation check.
138686
As the two groups of aircraft closed range Hoyt identified 2 Zekes & a Val flying between them.
He called his Wingman on the radio & instructed him to attack the Val while he headed for a spotted camo Zeke coming in his direction.
138687
Hoyt was surprised to see the Jap aircraft headed straight towards him at maximum speed. Knowing to turn away from a frontal attack was sure destruction he held his nerve until the last moment & let fire with all his guns as the Japanese pilot did likewise.
Only his great reaction & evasion ability saved him from mutual destruction as the Jap fighter plunged to the ground shredded by his accurate shots however the enemies bullets had caused his engine to start smoking but a quick check of the dials showed nothing apparently wrong.
138688
Meanwhile John Mangas also flew towards the Val & the speed of the Aerocobra resulted in neither aircraft able to fire & they passed very close to each other & Mangas immediately used his speed & manoeuvrability to move out of range of the Val's rear gun.
Hoyt had also used his aircraft's ability to close on the slower dive bomber & gave it a good spray from close distance & was gratified to see smoke issue from its engine
138689
He now flew around the rear of the Jap two seater & looked around to see where Mangas & the other Zeke were situated. The Zero had started to move towards the fighting & John was performing an Immlemann turn to return to the dogfight.
138690
138691
As the Val attempted to break away from Eason's Aerocobra Hoyt was able to use its ability to get in another burst of accurate fire. The Val shuddered & & crashed to the ground.
138692
"Yee Haaar!" Shouted Hoyt over the RC "Scratch two little Nips!"--- "Well done skipper" called Mangas! "Now I want one!"
138693
John Mangas now followed the remaining Zero which was heading for Hoyt determined to avenge his fallen comrades.
138694
Using his superior speed Mangas was able to attack the Zeke from the rear quarter & saw that his shots had damaged the Zero's engine.
"That will slow the Nip down" thought John "I might just get lucky & bag me a Kill!"
138695
138702
As the Zero moved away hampered by his damaged engine the pilot obviously decided he had no option but to try to nurse his stricken plane for home base John was able to get a perfect broadside into the Japanese aircraft.
138696
The damaged Jap aircraft continued & John passed closely astern noticing the Pilot turning to look at his attacker.
138697
As the Zero made best possible speed John started turning as tightly as the Aerocobra would go trying to get on its tail.
138698
Hoyt now got into the action but did not do any serious damage to the enemy aircraft.
138700
John also tried a long range deflection shot but it went wide. Would the brave Japanese Pilot escape?
138701
It was not to be as Mangas was able to close on the damaged Zero & a final long range burst sent the Zero into the ground.
138704138703
The two victorious pilots returned to Port Moresby & did twin barrel rolls over the strip.
It was a small victory against what had been up to now an unstoppable foe with numerical & technological superiority.
The Officers mess proudly toasted the Squadrons insignia with cold Aussie beer that evening.
138705
The Butchers Bill:
Zero No.1 SD/ET
138706
Val dive bomber: SD/ET
138693
Zero No.2: SD/ET
138704
Bell Aerocobra 1st Ltn Hoyt Eason Veteran, Ace--Evasion, RTB/2 Kills
138707
Bell Aerocobra 2nd Ltn John Mangas, RTB 1 Kill.
138708
No damage!
COMMENTS:
Well that turned out very differently from what I expected.
I flew Easons Aerocobra & all others were AI. I gave the Zero's 15 points damage instead of the usual 12 for early war models due to the "D" cannons on the Bell's however the "D" did not do any real damage, apart from the 8"wounded pilot" hit on the first Zeke, due to the large number of zeros in the chits.
I think I was just lucky with the dice rolls for the AI moves as they worked well but the Aerocobras deck gave me some great firing opportunities.
I was of course extremely lucky that Eason had the evasion ability as I was able to avoid the fire damage chit drawn in the first head on pass with the spotted Zero. Without that it would have been a different kettle of fish.:D
PART ONE:--- The Alert.
138680
Colin MacCullan the Australian Coastwatcher at Kavieng radioed to H.Q. Port Morsby to alert them to a force of Japanese Zero's & Val Dive Bombers headed in their direction presumably to target Port Moresby or even Darwin again which had already been under many attacks.
H.Q contacted the C.O. of the newly arrived American 39th Fighter Squadron which was the sole defence available apart from some Hudson Bombers which could hardly be considered as fighter cover.
Major Lane Frost called his pilots to a briefing whilst the ground crews quickly fuelled & armed the Squadrons Aerocobras.
138681
138683
One section of the Squadron would be led by 1st Ltn Hoyt Eason a native of Ohio who was already an Ace & veteran with 2nd Ltn John Mangas a relative new chum, but not a Rookie, as his wingman.
Eason was still grumbling about the oppressive humidity that caused the pilots to sweat constantly.
They flew without any jackets & even the May West flotation gear was uncomfortable.
138684
Climbing into their Bell fighters the pilots quickly took off & turned towards the North East.
138685
PART 2 ---The Mission:
Having been given the expected direction the Japs would come from the Americans flew up between the Mountains of the Owen Stanley Ranges & headed for the small port of Lae on the far side of the Island.
Sure enough as they approached Lae from the West they saw three enemy Aircraft heading for the Port probably as a Navigation check.
138686
As the two groups of aircraft closed range Hoyt identified 2 Zekes & a Val flying between them.
He called his Wingman on the radio & instructed him to attack the Val while he headed for a spotted camo Zeke coming in his direction.
138687
Hoyt was surprised to see the Jap aircraft headed straight towards him at maximum speed. Knowing to turn away from a frontal attack was sure destruction he held his nerve until the last moment & let fire with all his guns as the Japanese pilot did likewise.
Only his great reaction & evasion ability saved him from mutual destruction as the Jap fighter plunged to the ground shredded by his accurate shots however the enemies bullets had caused his engine to start smoking but a quick check of the dials showed nothing apparently wrong.
138688
Meanwhile John Mangas also flew towards the Val & the speed of the Aerocobra resulted in neither aircraft able to fire & they passed very close to each other & Mangas immediately used his speed & manoeuvrability to move out of range of the Val's rear gun.
Hoyt had also used his aircraft's ability to close on the slower dive bomber & gave it a good spray from close distance & was gratified to see smoke issue from its engine
138689
He now flew around the rear of the Jap two seater & looked around to see where Mangas & the other Zeke were situated. The Zero had started to move towards the fighting & John was performing an Immlemann turn to return to the dogfight.
138690
138691
As the Val attempted to break away from Eason's Aerocobra Hoyt was able to use its ability to get in another burst of accurate fire. The Val shuddered & & crashed to the ground.
138692
"Yee Haaar!" Shouted Hoyt over the RC "Scratch two little Nips!"--- "Well done skipper" called Mangas! "Now I want one!"
138693
John Mangas now followed the remaining Zero which was heading for Hoyt determined to avenge his fallen comrades.
138694
Using his superior speed Mangas was able to attack the Zeke from the rear quarter & saw that his shots had damaged the Zero's engine.
"That will slow the Nip down" thought John "I might just get lucky & bag me a Kill!"
138695
138702
As the Zero moved away hampered by his damaged engine the pilot obviously decided he had no option but to try to nurse his stricken plane for home base John was able to get a perfect broadside into the Japanese aircraft.
138696
The damaged Jap aircraft continued & John passed closely astern noticing the Pilot turning to look at his attacker.
138697
As the Zero made best possible speed John started turning as tightly as the Aerocobra would go trying to get on its tail.
138698
Hoyt now got into the action but did not do any serious damage to the enemy aircraft.
138700
John also tried a long range deflection shot but it went wide. Would the brave Japanese Pilot escape?
138701
It was not to be as Mangas was able to close on the damaged Zero & a final long range burst sent the Zero into the ground.
138704138703
The two victorious pilots returned to Port Moresby & did twin barrel rolls over the strip.
It was a small victory against what had been up to now an unstoppable foe with numerical & technological superiority.
The Officers mess proudly toasted the Squadrons insignia with cold Aussie beer that evening.
138705
The Butchers Bill:
Zero No.1 SD/ET
138706
Val dive bomber: SD/ET
138693
Zero No.2: SD/ET
138704
Bell Aerocobra 1st Ltn Hoyt Eason Veteran, Ace--Evasion, RTB/2 Kills
138707
Bell Aerocobra 2nd Ltn John Mangas, RTB 1 Kill.
138708
No damage!
COMMENTS:
Well that turned out very differently from what I expected.
I flew Easons Aerocobra & all others were AI. I gave the Zero's 15 points damage instead of the usual 12 for early war models due to the "D" cannons on the Bell's however the "D" did not do any real damage, apart from the 8"wounded pilot" hit on the first Zeke, due to the large number of zeros in the chits.
I think I was just lucky with the dice rolls for the AI moves as they worked well but the Aerocobras deck gave me some great firing opportunities.
I was of course extremely lucky that Eason had the evasion ability as I was able to avoid the fire damage chit drawn in the first head on pass with the spotted Zero. Without that it would have been a different kettle of fish.:D