S3 Series

Intentions for tonight were to hit Japanese shipping wherever found and send it to the bottom.
Unfortunately, the Japanese decided to set a trap for us and I fell right into it.

The 7.8.5 grid has 8 ships sitting out there all alone so I sent the DR to sink them, which they did. However, the Japanese were lying in wait and followed our strike aircraft back to base. With the knowledge of our CV location they were able to mass their forces and put all their fighters and strike assets on them. Two steps of the 4th fighter group were facing the entire Japanese air force. Doolittle’s Raiders made it down but the enemy was swarming all over the carriers for the rest of the night. I switched DR to land bases and sent what fighters I could to replace the 4th who were ground down by sheer numbers.

Meanwhile, The Nomads took out the AA at F37 along with some other targets which allowed the 352nd & AE to strafe down targets of opportunity. Eventually all targets at 37 were destroyed which closed the field. Night Stalkers found several DDs to the south west and sank one. Nomads & Nightstalkers rejoined and spent the rest of the evening seeking out enemy shipping.

Eventually we lost both CVs but our fighters did an outstanding job reacting to changes and putting up a staunch defense against overwhelming numbers.

DR was able to make it away from the carriers and join with their other airplanes to sink some shipping in the slot and eventually the ships at the port 25.
Thank you all for your supreme efforts, if we had any success this frame it is because of your tenacity and will to get the job done in the face of a desperate situation. If there is an issue with steps and overstepping, those decisions were my own and I accept responsibility of those actions.

Thanks to the Janitors for their insight & hard work setting up and running our playground.

First Frame where cv's were close enough to be targeted....which was a bad thing. I recommend if we have CV's close again (If we even have CV's now), that we stage more aircraft there.

Need a low and High CAP...lessonn learned from last night. And maybe ack that is worth a shit (school for the deaf and blind minding the ack and air raid sirens it appears)....

Flying into CV group ack should be treacherous...not easy. WE had a saying in the AF..."Take 12 miles of FEBA and roll it up into a couple hundred feet and float it in the ocean... Don't fuck with boats!"

Anyhow, good job Coolon with an ugly situation.....made for a frame where we had to do a little more thinking:)

Dobs

COOLON:
Thought you did a great job planning and executing your plan. It was a tough night, for sure. I believe our guys stayed noe to and from the static shipping in the north. I hoped that if the enemy CV was nearby we'd be in and out before they knew it. However, they must have had a scout parked overhead as we egressed. We lead him/them right back to the ships.

It was a workout, but you did a fine job, sir.

<S>

Cool:
You had a good initial plan, and "reacted" outstandingly to the developing situation. Good job!
<S>

Great job coolon - we got ambushed and you adjusted without a flinch! <S>

Salute!

We should have suspected the IJN plan when the Nomads could make a second pass at F37. Initially, we thot it was due to the great CAP by the 4th and others. On the way home I mentioned on the buffer that IJN might be hunting the carriers. Little did I know that's exactly what they were doing.

So the Stalkers and Nomads were able to hunt boats at will for another two missions. Did pretty well, and the DR also had good results at F25. I was very surprised the DR made it out safely for "another day". Nice.

Gums sends...

Did the enemy DD'S at our CV group sink one of them? The IJN plane's only got credit for one carrier.

i think the IJN learned their lesson from frame 3..in that frame AE's twice encountered many High zero's .. we tried goading them down to our level but they just wouldnt come down off their pearch.leaving their strike package totally alone to fend for them selves in with the 4th and AE's killin the entire strike package..a few days later i was on TS red chl flying with the guys giving me a well done of killing them during the attack on our cv's. and was complaining about their escorts not giving them proper cover..and said so in their AAR's.. in sorry but i didnt put 2 and 2 together then until we lost our first CV. ..

Coolon i think you did a very very fine job in frame 4 you earned i BIG CRISP SNAPPY SALUTE fron the AE's

again hind site and i dont think any one would of thought of this with all the hectic and frantic scrambling going on and i didnt think of it til monday having time to think of it..to maximize point
but when you transfered 2 steps of the 352nd to relieve the 4th .. you could of reposted the Nomand's at field 38..there it was very short hops to shipping in that area ..
AE's stayed in our patrol zone.. and had no runs, no hits, no errors for the evening