Dogfights Over Midway

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Always back the underdog, Sorry! 

[bigjackmac]

I figured my bad die rolls and poor decision making made the Americans the underdogs!

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,



1025 local time

4 June 1942
Midway

It's 4 June 1942, the dawn of the epic "Battle of Midway," a clash of giants, three US carriers vs four Japanese carriers that proved to be the turning point of the war in the Pacific. For more information, both real-life and how I'm running this campaign, please check here:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2019/11/battle-of-midway-campaign-plan.html

Yesterday at 0900 a US Navy PBY Catalina spotted Japanese ships 500nm west southwest of Midway; B-17s from the island were dispatched but failed to hit anything. US Navy PBYs continued to shadow the Japanese surface force, and actually attacked at 0100 this morning, scoring a torpedo hit on a Japanese merchant ship. Unbeknownst to US personnel, the Japanese carrier task force, as yet still unspotted, launched its first strike group against Midway at 0430. At 0530, the PBYs spotted the Japanese carriers, and noted their strike group inbound.

At 0610, the VMF-343 "Dirt Divers" scrambled six F4F Wildcats to intercept an inbound group of six D3A "Val" dive bombers escorted by four A6M "Zeros," but were roughly handled, having three Wildcats shot down and the other three damaged, as the Japanese lost one Zero and one Val. The Japanese aerial attack caused 18/30 damage points.

At 0625, Captain Haynes led six Wildcats to intercept an inbound group of six B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers escorted by four A6M "Zeros." Again it was rough: the Marines lost five of six aircraft, with one pilot KIA, one MIA, and two WIA, while the Japanese lost four of their six torpedo bombers, which did light damage to Midway's shore installations (26/30, total).

At 0645, Major Chandler led four Dirt Divers in escort of a flight of six TBF torpedo bombers to attack the Japanese carriers, running right into the Japanese CAP of six Zeros, and it was a debacle: the Americans lost one Wildcat and five TBFs, the last being damaged and forced to return to base without even spotting the Japanese carriers. Oh, and the Japanese did lose two Zeros, but they were both to the TBFs!!!

At 0715, 2nd Lt Herman led a flight of four Wildcats in escort of six SBD Dauntless dive bombers from Marine Scouting-Bombing Squadron 241 (VMSB-241), up against six Zeros of the Japanese Combat Air Patrol.  The mission was sort of a success: five Zeros were downed (two by SBDs!) and the sixth was shot up, no Wildcats were lost, only three Dauntlesses were lost, but no hits were scored on the enemy carriers.

At 0800, Major Chandler is led a flight of four Wildcats on an escort mission for four US Army Air Corps B-26s specially modified to carry torpedoes.  The Marines lost two Wildcats and had another damaged, and two B-26s, with another damaged, while the Japanese lost all four CAP Zeros, though one was shot down by a US bomber.  The lone B-26 to reach the Japanese fleet missed on its torpedo run and, to add insult to injury, Major Chandler was one of the Marines shot down, and he was badly wounded.

At 1010, and LtCmdr Case, the Ace squadron leader of the Killer Pelicans and winner of the Medal of Honor, lead a flight of four Wildcats in escort of six TBD Devastators against the Japanese carriers.  They faced six Zeros, and it wasn't pretty: Ensign Warren was shot down, two more Wildcats were damaged, and all six Devastators were shot down, at the cost of only three Zeros, two of which were shot down by the torpedo bombers!

It's now 1025, and Lt (jg) Dahgren is leading a flight of four Wildcats in escort of six SBD Dauntless dive bombers from VSB-6 ("Scouting Six"), hoping to replicate what their real life predecessors did ("Scratch Four Flattops!"), facing a Japanese CAP of four Zeros.


The Japanese waste no time in getting after the Dauntlesses.


But the Wildcats have done a good job of sticking close and get right after them.


So the Japanese peel off some Zeros to deal with the escorts.


Did something good just happen for the Pelicans?  'Bout time!

To see how the fight went, please check the blot at:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2020/03/battle-of-midway-fight-7.html

So not great, but some damage was done as part of the overall war effort.  Lt French spots Lt Cmdr Case inbound at the head of a formation of SBDs from "Bombing Six," and the boss is signaling him to have all airworthy fighters form up to escort them in.  Tally ho!

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Love the carrier, great report

[paulr]

 

[bigjackmac]

Thanks guys!

V/R,
Jack

[Ithoriel]

Your VSB-6 did remarkably well, given their historical counterparts faced a CAP that was largely down at wave-top height massacring torpedo bombers!

Run it again with a single Zero and see how the Japanese fair

Good stuff ... when are your reports not!?

[bigjackmac]

Ithoriel,

You're too kind, thank you, thank you!

Yeah, I let the Japanese have CAP up to face the dive bombers as well, gotta up the difficulty level.

Again, I appreciate it, always good to know there are folks out there reading and enjoying these.

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

1035 local time
4 June 1942
Midway

It's now 1035, and Lt Cmdr Case has re-formed a group of three Wildcats to lead the final strike of six SBD Dauntless dive bombers from VB-6 ("Bombing Six"), hoping to surpass the achievements of their compadres in Scouting Six.  They are facing a reduced Japanese CAP of two Zeros.


Wildcats swarming on Zeros for a change!


But the @#$%ers still get through...


But numbers and firepower begin to tell as Lt French pulls onto a Zero's tail and gives him the what for...


That looks so much better!  Yes, 5 of 6 SBD Dauntlesses actually made it to the target area.

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2020/03/battle-of-midway-fight-8.html

So while these guys are cruising home, we're going to flip over to Lt Chipman leading a six-plane CAP, going up to intercept a flight of Japanese 'Val' dive bombers closing on the USS Yorktown.

V/R,
Jack

[paulr]

 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Squeak! 

[bigjackmac]

Thanks Paul, and squeak back to Lemmey.

V/R,
Jack

[Sunray]

Thanks Jack- this C19 virus has made me turn back to solo gaming. Your battle reps are a little ray of sunshine and inspiration.   Take care .  James

[bigjackmac]

James,

Thank you, Sir, I appreciate it, glad to make your day!  I appreciate it so much, in fact, that I'm going to post a third one this week, just for you!
This means I'll finish up Midway next week, then it's back to KG Klink for their campaign in Greece.

V/R,
Jack

[bigjackmac]

All,

1200 local time
4 June 1942
Midway

It's 4 June 1942, the dawn of the epic "Battle of Midway," a clash of giants, three US carriers vs four Japanese carriers that proved to be the turning point of the war in the Pacific. For more information, both real-life and how I'm running this campaign, please check here:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2019/11/battle-of-midway-campaign-plan.html

It's now 1200, and the Japanese strike group has found the USS Yorktown!  Lt (jg) Chipman leads a CAP of six F4F Wildcats over to intercept a flight of six D3A "Val" dive bombers escorted by four Zeros.


The American CAP, from top left to bottom:

Ensign Theisman, a Rookie that was shot down at Coral Sea on his first sortie
Lt (jg) Chipman, a Veteran with three kills on four sorties

Ensign Walton, a Rookie on his first combat mission
Lt (jg) Head, a Veteran with four and one half kills on four sorties

Ensign Manley, a Regular with one and one half kills on two sorties
Ensign Bowles, a Rookie on his first combat mission

The Yorktown lays in the background, hoping to not catch any Japanese bombs...


The Japanese strike group, from top right to bottom left:

Zero 02, a Veteran
Zero 01, an Ace

Val 06   Val 03
     Val 04   Val 01
Val 05   Val 02

Zero 03, a Natural Born Killer
Zero 04, a Veteran


Wildcats swarm the Japanese escorts, making head-on and high-angle attacks on them, looking to knock them out of the sky and deal with the enemy dive bombers at their leisure.


Some slick flying by Lt (jg) Head.

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2020/03/battle-of-midway-fight-9.html

Things are looking up: for the moment, the skies are clear.  Lt (jg) Head got to set his damaged Wildcat down, and the net set of CAP refueled and launched.  A couple hours later the klaxons sounded again: inbound bogeys, this time a flight of Kates torpedo bombers!

V/R,
Jack