S3 Series

Incorrect...

Just took off from a field..no cv available...

100% gas 2x500#

WEP2 autoclimb at 105mph got me to 5600ft in 4:30 switched to WEP1 (30min) am maintaining a ~865fpm climb.

10k reached ~ 9 min after wheels up....

Knight fighters have a bit of a dilemma when it comes to escorting a bomber group trying to get to target under radar.
We had 6 of us and decided to run a parallel route about 10 Miles north of the bomb group at an alt of 20K or so to try and draw the enemy away from the bomber route.
Our plan was to then head toward the target area to RV once our bombers were 10 miles from target and about to pop. Just so happened we ran into the 475th about that time a little over 5 miles to the northeast of the target.
We saw they were heading toward the bombers and engaged. We lost 3 and killed 5. Problem was there was another IJN group waiting in the target area. One of our fighters discoed, and we were only able to get 2 fighters to the bombers to cover them.
Like Muskie said. We have to have altitude to gain any advantage against the Zeros. We can't go in under dar to stay with the bombers.

With Donkey Dar and the Dar distance the way it is, going alt or NOE will be a problem. The bombers can also go NOE until Donkey Dar is in range and then climb. I still believe a swarm of fighters going in first and surrounding the strikers is best. I am not sure how good our guys are in using the TBD's but will ask.

Still, lets keep talking about how to get in and get the job done. As you know I am open to every ones input.

Salute!

TNX Jman and others.

I was using profiles from a few years back and also the torp versus eggs.

So we can get to 8K or better using less than max power and the 500 pounders. Tried it and the small boats go down with one 500 pounder. Then there's the airfield down there in the F20 area.

Gums recants.....

I guess we need to ask the question

Are the fighter squads willing to go in at 500' with the strikers?

I know that the fighters don't like to do it so we need to know so we can plan.

The fighters like the alt but what I am thinking is as soon as we get close enough, the strikers pop and get at least 2 to 3k. IF the fighters think they can cover them, then maybe they can go alt. I really need to hear from them and will listen to their wisdom.

Just thinking out loud here. Tell me to shut up if I don't make sense

Perhaps a 4 fighter squad - staggered setup?
- Squad 1 does forward sweep, then rtb for rearm for 2nd sortie covering egress.
- KoN fighters go in low under dar with the bombers from one direction.
- 2 other fighter squads come in from another direction, one at 25k and one at 12k, and RV at the target area.

Hi cap covers mid alt squad, mid alt covers low fighters and bombers.

This, however, may be tricky. TIMING WOULD BE KEY.

Okay, I'm done now.

[thinking cap off]

Interesting Swanee....that's what I tried to convey for the 1st frame....didn't get it across properly and screwed up our timing.
The Hellcat is just barely a match for this zeke down low, but the idea has merit and might work. Done right, we might get something done.

Guys,
Maybe I'm crazy, Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about but to cover TBD's doing torpedo runs the fighters will have to be at 500' with the strikers! Not 15K above them.

From some of the commentary on the videos, the IJ set up 3 layers of fighters. 30K, 15K and on the deck. This next frame they are going to forget about the 30K, probably just have a few to try and pull the F6F's down lower so they are more even.

Like I said earlier, the NS went in with every fighter above them and continually conveying positions to the fighters. When we dove on target, the fighters were engaged by the 15K layer of IJ and the IJ on the deck had free rain on the strikers. Not that the fighters didn't want to help, they just were engaged and couldn't help.

They know where we are going, F20, thats where all the points are. we need to figure out how to protect planes at 150' (or lower to drop torps). I am not sure how to do this. Do we want to send an entire squad in NOE with the Strike group? Would any fighter squad volunteer to do it? Would they be able to defend themselves and the strike group without alt smash?

Now, we could go with SBD's but that means dive bombing with a very low success rate.

Hawk, Gums,
Do you know the flight time of the TBD with the .75 fuel divider? If you used 30min. WEP?