Mission: Link air, naval and land action in a campaign and story context
----------
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Allies
USA 22nd Bombardment Group
Squadrons: 18?, 19 and 33 (Martin B-26 Marauders)
Motto: Ducemus (We Lead)
B-26 Marauders, Strong/very fast/fly on one engine/three days to repair
Tougher than a B-25.
Staged from Australia to Seven-Mile Airfield, Port Moresby, New Guinea
No radar/sirens/revetments.
Night air raids announced by a sentry firing three rifle shots in the air.
Daytime air raids announced by a red flag on the operations tower.
New Guinea Targets: Japanese airfields at Lae and Salamaua
Often took off w/o a specific target. Find one when you arrive.
No fighter escorts
Average losses/mission 15-25%
Had to cross The Owen Stanley Range.
10,000' high
Mountain passes 7,000' plus high.
Frequent storms, downdrafts, mist
3rd Bomb Group
13th Squadron: B-25s
JAPANESE
The cream of Japanese fighter pilots.
Air superiority/New Guinea.
Lae pilots exceptionally aggressive; Saburo Sakai among them
One B-26 Mission got to Lae runway while Zero pilots swarmed up from takeoff.
Sentries did not see the B-26s soon enough.
90mm AA Guns
Zeros would veer away from friendly A/A fire.
One Lae A/A battery was named Rapid Robert by the Americans
Apparently a good battery.
Most stores/installations concealed back from airfield
Hard for Zeros to make long arcs to fire at B-26s going at full speed
----------
11/6-7/2019 Scenarios
Allies
6x B-26s:
Start as Bogeys
Use HE-111 bomb capacity (4) until further notice
Japanese
Must spot the foe before taking off. No delay after spotting.
4xZeros
Fuel tanks and possible ships in the harbor of The Markham River
Saburo Sakai: His D4 is a D4+1 and he can void one hit per firing against his plane
ACE Cards
Bag The Hun author says keep them to a minimum. We used too many previously.
Each side will have 1xJr. ACE card which a TOP ACE can take.
Turning Template Expansions:
Template A: -10cms (Zeros only)
Templates D-E-F-G (B-26s)
Track aircraft and crew losses
Played this scenario twice solo. Interesting, tense (in a good way) and nimble.
----------
References
The Ragged Rugged Warriors, Martin Caiden given to me by Chuck L.
Samurai by naval Pilot ACE Saburo Sakai
----------
No comments:
Post a Comment