S3 Series

4th had 12 pilots plus a guest(+bolok) for this frame.
We were tasked with ship killing as primary with F 60 secondary, carrying a 500lber on our P-39s. Launched at T+0 from F89 and climbed towards F 82.
Leveled at 11500ft, we heard IJN inbound 82 area from north, so I turned east to 5 line and went north to tgt area south of Vitiaz Strait.
As we approached the area, it was apparent we had shadows above and at our long 6. Robert's flight jettisoned their bombs and turned to engage, keeping them busy while we found the ships and attacked. They killed one, but icyplt got fueled and had to run for our auxiliary base at F81. He got cought low and slow
near the field and mixed it up with a zeke, which seemed impervious to his 50 cals, or 37mm cannon. He was dispatched by the zeke before he could land.
The rest of us killed 4 ships and got separated when IJN dove in and we lost 3 while trying to egress low.I had 2, or 3 chasing me for a long while, but a freindly chased them off and we who remained were able to make it back to 89 and land.
With 7 left, I decided it was too risky to go back to Huron Bay for ships, or attack F 60, so I launched us clean and hunted for buffs reported inbound to Moresby.
We found the buffs and managed to kill 2 buffs and an escort fighter, but lost 3 more, including elviss, who flew right into my gun fire, while the buff guns
blew off my wing.The remaining 4 landed and re armed.
Robert took his 4 ship SE to help some friends in trouble near F 94. There was a radar blank there and I lost them for a bit, but when they showed on DAR, they were clear of bandits and recovered at F 96 and stood down.
All in all, we made do with what we had and it wasn't great, but we did what we were asked.
Thanks to jabo and crew for the pucker factor once again. Thanks to dawger for stepping into the big chair on very short notice.