Terry - Thanks, I appreciate the kind words, and do it!  And don't just play some games, but post and share them, too!   I'm not familiar with the Blue Max rules, maybe I need to be?

James - You're too kind, and yes, I'm still enjoying the (in this case, extra) small scales, lets me sit down and play, and I think they're pretty, though can't say anyone's ever envied my paint jobs!   I hope you're getting on well with Cruel Seas, looking forward to some batreps!

V/R,
Jack

All,

1113
8 May 1942

Greetings, and welcome to my return to the Pacific!  Both the US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy are on the prowl in the southwestern Pacific; the Japanese have their eyes on Australia, or at least cutting off the lines of communication between the US and Australia, and the Americans are looking to not allow that to happen.  On 3-4 May 1942, while fighting raged on New Guinea, the Japanese attempted secure their flank, sending an invasion fleet into the Solomon Islands to put troops ashore on Tulagi (across the channel from Guadalcanal), in order to conduct an amphibious assault on Port Moresby on 10 May.

But the Americans noted the Japanese invasion force in the Solomons, and the USS Yorktown launched strike aircraft that sunk or damaged several Japanese warships, though now the Japanese were aware the US carriers were in the vicinity, made doubly worse by the fact the Americans were shorthanded: they had only the Yorktown and the Lexington in the area because the Hornet and Enterprise had just returned to Pearl Harbor following the Doolittle Raid.  These were faced by the Japanese fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, and the light carrier Shoho.  The two opposing forces marshalled their troops, refueled, consolidated, and began searching in earnest for each other.

Yesterday morning, Lt(jg) Casey led the fighter escort for the Lexington strike force which, combined with the Yorktown's strike force, managed to sink the Japanese light carrier Shoho.  But the Killer Pelicans' escorts had a rough go: they downed three Zeros and damaged another, but they lost one Wildcat, had the other three damaged, and five of their six assigned dive bombers were shot down, the sixth returning to the Lexington, damaged.  Lt Casey scored two more kills to become a Veteran (total of four kills), but he was shot down and badly wounded, which will cause him to miss the Battle of Midway.

Yesterday evening, Lt(jg) Fitzsimmons led aloft the Lexington's Wildcats to intercept a Japanese strike group that was searching for, but not locating, the US carriers.  Lt Fitzsimmons got separated and never found the enemy force, leaving a bevy of rookie Ensigns to do battle alone, and it did not work out well.  Four of the six Wildcats were shot down, and the other two damaged, with the Americans managing to shoot down only three of the ten enemy aircraft.

Both sides carried out preparation for battle throughout the night, then launched scouts shortly after 0600 the next morning, to find the other side's carriers.  The Americans got lucky first, sighting the Japanese carriers at 0820, though the Japanese were only two minutes behind.  Both sides hurried to turn into the wind and launch their strike groups!  The Japanese launched 18 fighters, 33 dive bombers, and 18 torpedo bombers, while the Yorktown and Lexington launched a combined 15 Wildcats, 39 Dauntlesses, and 21 Devastators, though the Lexington's contingent was about 10 minutes behind the Yorktown's.

At 1055 the Lexington's air search radar acquired the inbound Japanese strike group at a range of 68 nautical miles and vectored nine Wildcats to intercept; it was 1113 local time when Lt(jg) Fitzsimmons again led the Lexington CAP into battle.  And this time he found the enemy!


This is my arena for aerial combat; simple, yet durable and, to me, beautiful (in a simple, durable way).  I'm using tiny aircraft designed by my buddy Thomaston; not sure what size they are, just that they are much smaller than 1/600.  They're 3D printed models that I mounted on cut-down bases from Litko, and I'm using a very simple rules system called "Battle of Britain," which I found for free over on The Miniatures Page (I've already played a good 20 or so fights with them).  Left is north, with the Japanese strike group there, and right is south, with the American CAP and the USS Lexington there.


The Japanese super ace jinks his way in, then lays into Lt Allen's Wildcat, pumping 20mm rounds into the stubby little Grumman.


A Wildcat splashes into the warm blue water as a Zero pulls an Immelman, moving to splash a second.


The Zeros continue to abuse the Wildcats, as the Kates press home their attack.


The Kates split their formation and execute a classic hammer and anvil torpedo attack.

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2019/09/coral-sea-day-2-fight-3.html

Out of the frying pan, into the fire: the FDO comes on the radio to rally all airborne Wildcats, vectoring them onto a new radar contact believed to be the Japanese strike group's Val dive bombers, following the torpedo bombers in to strike the Yorktown and finish off the Lexington.

And that's the next fight.

V/R,
Jack

Lady Lex 

What... how... 

Well...That didn't go as planned ! 

Still, very entertaining, Jack !

Cheers - Phil.

A great write up......but opps!

Lowlycook - Yeah, that was going to happen no matter what, the real life ships are going to stick to what happened in real life.

Lemmey - How? Those dastardly Japanese Aces and super Aces...

Phil - Indeed, and thanks!

Sunjester - I appreciate it, and yeah, U-G-L-Y...

V/R,
Jack

All,

1123
8 May 1942

Greetings, and welcome to my return to the Pacific!  Both the US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy are on the prowl in the southwestern Pacific; the Japanese have their eyes on Australia, or at least cutting off the lines of communication between the US and Australia, and the Americans are looking to not allow that to happen.  On 3-4 May 1942, while fighting raged on New Guinea, the Japanese attempted secure their flank, sending an invasion fleet into the Solomon Islands to put troops ashore on Tulagi (across the channel from Guadalcanal), in order to conduct an amphibious assault on Port Moresby on 10 May.

But the Americans noted the Japanese invasion force in the Solomons, and the USS Yorktown launched strike aircraft that sunk or damaged several Japanese warships, though now the Japanese were aware the US carriers were in the vicinity, made doubly worse by the fact the Americans were shorthanded: they had only the Yorktown and the Lexington in the area because the Hornet and Enterprise had just returned to Pearl Harbor following the Doolittle Raid.  These were faced by the Japanese fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, and the light carrier Shoho.  The two opposing forces marshalled their troops, refueled, consolidated, and began searching in earnest for each other.

This morning, Lt(jg) Casey led the fighter escort for the Lexington strike force which, combined with the Yorktown's strike force, managed to sink the Japanese light carrier Shoho.  But the Killer Pelicans' escorts had a rough go: they downed three Zeros and damaged another, but they lost one Wildcat, had the other three damaged, and five of their six assigned dive bombers were shot down, the sixth returning to the Lexington, damaged.  Lt Casey scored two more kills to become a Veteran (total of four kills), but he was shot down and badly wounded, which will cause him to miss the Battle of Midway.

Both sides carried out preparation for battle throughout the night, then launched scouts shortly after 0600 the next morning, to find the other side's carriers.  The Americans got lucky first, sighting the Japanese carriers at 0820, though the Japanese were only two minutes behind.  Both sides hurried to turn into the wind and launch their strike groups!  The Japanese launched 18 fighters, 33 dive bombers, and 18 torpedo bombers, while the Yorktown and Lexington launched a combined 15 Wildcats, 39 Dauntlesses, and 21 Devastators, though the Lexington's contingent was about 10 minutes behind the Yorktown's.

At 1055 the Lexington's air search radar acquired the inbound Japanese strike group at a range of 68 nautical miles and vectored nine Wildcats to intercept; it was 1113 local time when Lt(jg) Fitzsimmons again led the Lexington CAP into battle.  And this time he found the enemy, but it didn't work out very well for the Americans.  Lt Fitzsimmons and Lt Allen saw their aircraft damaged, Ens Chipman had to disengage and retreat, but that wasn't the worst of it.  Three Wildcats were shot down, with Ensign Camili being wounded, but Ensigns Gordon and Mann were killed in action, while no Japanese aircraft were shot down, and enemy torpedo bombers managed to put three torpedoes into the USS Lexington.

It's now 1123, and another radar contact has been acquired, believed to be another Japanese strike group, this one comprised of Val dive bombers escorted by Zeros.  All available Wildcats were scrambled to meet the new threat.


The US CAP is up over the Lady Lex, still burning from torpedo hits.  Yes, I cheated here.  The Americans have exactly six pilots from their CAP section left, so I mounted all six of them up (rather than rolling to see who would fight, and potentially going into battle with less than six Wildcats).  Having said that, I'm saying that Lieutenants Fitzsimmons and Allen, who had their aircraft damaged in the last fight, were not able to land between last fight and this one, so they're going into the fight already damaged.  Also, Ensign Green was previously shot down and picked up, so he doesn't have an aircraft, but somehow the CAG found one for him and launched his ass up to get in the fight.


The Japanese fighter pilots are their normal, super aggressive selves.


But Ensign Head is showing off some fancy footwork, enough to earn a Navy Cross!


As, finally, not everything is going the Japanese' way!

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2019/09/coral-sea-day-2-fight-4.html?m=1

Smoke billows from fires aboard the Lexington, and she lists to port after taking two torpedo hits and two bomb hits, though the fires would be under control within an hour.  Yorktown was also hit by one bomb, though this was quickly repaired, and by 1230 the two aircraft were able to recover their returning strike groups.

But that's where we're going next: we're jumping to 1130, where Lt Cmdr Case is leading a four-Wildcat escort for Scouting and Bombing-2 Dauntless Dive Bombers looking to attack the Japanese fleet carriers.

V/R,
Jack

Good one, Jack. 

I bet Ensign Green's last thought was....."I wish they hadn't found me a replacement plane, down the back of the sofa." 

Cheers - Phil

Cool report Jack

Thanks guys, and you're absolutely right, Phil, ol' Ensign Green kinda got screwed by the vagaries/necessities of war.

V/R,
Jack

All,

1130
8 May 1942

Greetings, and welcome to my return to the Pacific!  Both the US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy are on the prowl in the southwestern Pacific; the Japanese have their eyes on Australia, or at least cutting off the lines of communication between the US and Australia, and the Americans are looking to not allow that to happen.  On 3-4 May 1942, while fighting raged on New Guinea, the Japanese attempted secure their flank, sending an invasion fleet into the Solomon Islands to put troops ashore on Tulagi (across the channel from Guadalcanal), in order to conduct an amphibious assault on Port Moresby on 10 May.

But the Americans noted the Japanese invasion force in the Solomons, and the USS Yorktown launched strike aircraft that sunk or damaged several Japanese warships, though now the Japanese were aware the US carriers were in the vicinity, made doubly worse by the fact the Americans were shorthanded: they had only the Yorktown and the Lexington in the area because the Hornet and Enterprise had just returned to Pearl Harbor following the Doolittle Raid.  These were faced by the Japanese fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, and the light carrier Shoho.  The two opposing forces marshalled their troops, refueled, consolidated, and began searching in earnest for each other.

Yesterday morning, Lt(jg) Casey led the fighter escort for the Lexington strike force which, combined with the Yorktown's strike force, managed to sink the Japanese light carrier Shoho.  But the Killer Pelicans' escorts had a rough go: they downed three Zeros and damaged another, but they lost one Wildcat, had the other three damaged, and five of their six assigned dive bombers were shot down, the sixth returning to the Lexington, damaged.  Lt Casey scored two more kills to become a Veteran (total of four kills), but he was shot down and badly wounded, which will cause him to miss the Battle of Midway.

Both sides carried out preparation for battle throughout the night, then launched scouts shortly after 0600 the next morning, to find the other side's carriers.  The Americans got lucky first, sighting the Japanese carriers at 0820, though the Japanese were only two minutes behind.  Both sides hurried to turn into the wind and launch their strike groups!  The Japanese launched 18 fighters, 33 dive bombers, and 18 torpedo bombers, while the Yorktown and Lexington launched a combined 15 Wildcats, 39 Dauntlesses, and 21 Devastators, though the Lexington's contingent was about 10 minutes behind the Yorktown's.

At 1055 the Lexington's air search radar acquired the inbound Japanese strike group at a range of 68 nautical miles and vectored nine Wildcats to intercept; it was 1113 local time when Lt(jg) Fitzsimmons again led the Lexington CAP into battle.  And this time he found the enemy, but it didn't work out very well for the Americans.  Lt Fitzsimmons and Lt Allen saw their aircraft damaged, Ens Chipman had to disengage and retreat, but that wasn't the worst of it.  Three Wildcats were shot down, with Ensign Camili being wounded, but Ensigns Gordon and Mann were killed in action, while no Japanese aircraft were shot down, and enemy torpedo bombers managed to put three torpedoes into the USS Lexington.

At 1123, radar contact acquired another Japanese strike group, comprised of Val dive bombers escorted by Zeros, and vectored the Lexington's Combat Air Patrol to intercept.  The six Wildcats charged headlong into the Japanese formation, suffering two aircraft lost (and one pilot KIA) and one damaged in brutal action that saw Ensign Head awarded the Navy Cross for shooting down four enemy aircraft!  Lt Allen added another two kills, and Ensign Chipman added one, with the rest of the Japanese aircraft breaking off the attack, so not a single Val dive bomber was able to press home the attack.  However, the Lexington is still in trouble caused by the torpedo hits earlier.

It is now 1130, and Lt Case is leading a four-ship escort for "Scouting Two's" SBD Dauntless dive bombers to attack the Japanese carrier Shokaku.

Also, I finally made some changes for US Navy deflection shooting and for the sturdier Wildcats (to reflect pilot armor and self-sealing tanks), they're in this blog post.


The Japanese "Natural Born Killer," AKA, "Super Ace," zooms in, opens fire and damages LtCmdr Case's Wildcat, then continues his slashing attack, headed straight for the Dauntlesses.


This happens far too often, so I'm going to start making head to head attacks way more dangerous for the attacker.


And some Zeros were about to learn to respect defensive fire from the Dauntlesses!

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2019/10/coral-sea-day-2-fight-5.html

LtCmdr Case immediately ordered the Wildcats to reform, and they climbed to join the SBD Dauntlesses of Bombing Two, where they were also joined by Ensign Didier in his Wildcat.

Coming up next!

V/R,
Jack

Really enjoying your reports, and they sure make me want to get back into aerial games - but can't get any local interest!!!!

Terry

Terry,

Thanks a bunch man, and m glad you like them, and I appreciate you saying so!  My batrep posts have been lonely places lately

I plan on playing the last two Coral Sea fights this weekend, will post ASAP.

Regarding your inability to gin up interest, may I remind you that these are all solo affairs?

V/R,
Jack

All,

1140
8 May 1942

Greetings, and welcome to my return to the Pacific! Both the US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy are on the prowl in the southwestern Pacific; the Japanese have their eyes on Australia, or at least cutting off the lines of communication between the US and Australia, and the Americans are looking to not allow that to happen. On 3-4 May 1942, while fighting raged on New Guinea, the Japanese attempted secure their flank, sending an invasion fleet into the Solomon Islands to put troops ashore on Tulagi (across the channel from Guadalcanal), in order to conduct an amphibious assault on Port Moresby on 10 May.

But the Americans noted the Japanese invasion force in the Solomons, and the USS Yorktown launched strike aircraft that sunk or damaged several Japanese warships, though now the Japanese were aware the US carriers were in the vicinity, made doubly worse by the fact the Americans were shorthanded: they had only the Yorktown and the Lexington in the area because the Hornet and Enterprise had just returned to Pearl Harbor following the Doolittle Raid. These were faced by the Japanese fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, and the light carrier Shoho. The two opposing forces marshalled their troops, refueled, consolidated, and began searching in earnest for each other.

This morning, Lt(jg) Casey led the fighter escort for the Lexington strike force which, combined with the Yorktown's strike force, managed to sink the Japanese light carrier Shoho. But the Killer Pelicans' escorts had a rough go: they downed three Zeros and damaged another, but they lost one Wildcat, had the other three damaged, and five of their six assigned dive bombers were shot down, the sixth returning to the Lexington, damaged. Lt Casey scored two more kills to become a Veteran (total of four kills), but he was shot down and badly wounded, which will cause him to miss the Battle of Midway.

Both sides carried out preparation for battle throughout the night, then launched scouts shortly after 0600 the next morning, to find the other side's carriers. The Americans got lucky first, sighting the Japanese carriers at 0820, though the Japanese were only two minutes behind. Both sides hurried to turn into the wind and launch their strike groups! The Japanese launched 18 fighters, 33 dive bombers, and 18 torpedo bombers, while the Yorktown and Lexington launched a combined 15 Wildcats, 39 Dauntlesses, and 21 Devastators, though the Lexington's contingent was about 10 minutes behind the Yorktown's.

At 1055 the Lexington's air search radar acquired the inbound Japanese strike group at a range of 68 nautical miles and vectored nine Wildcats to intercept; it was 1113 local time when Lt(jg) Fitzsimmons again led the Lexington CAP into battle. And this time he found the enemy, but it didn't work out very well for the Americans. Lt Fitzsimmons and Lt Allen saw their aircraft damaged, Ens Chipman had to disengage and retreat, but that wasn't the worst of it. Three Wildcats were shot down, with Ensign Camili being wounded, but Ensigns Gordon and Mann were killed in action, while no Japanese aircraft were shot down, and enemy torpedo bombers managed to put three torpedoes into the USS Lexington.

At 1123, radar contact acquired another Japanese strike group, comprised of Val dive bombers escorted by Zeros, and vectored the Lexington's Combat Air Patrol to intercept. The six Wildcats charged headlong into the Japanese formation, suffering two aircraft lost (and one pilot KIA) and one damaged in brutal action that saw Ensign Head awarded the Navy Cross for shooting down four enemy aircraft! Lt Allen added another two kills, and Ensign Chipman added one, with the rest of the Japanese aircraft breaking off the attack, so not a single Val dive bomber was able to press home the attack. However, the Lexington is still in trouble caused by the torpedo hits earlier.

At 1130, LtCmdr Case led a four-ship escort for "Scouting Two's" SBD Dauntless dive bombers to attack the Japanese carrier Shokaku. The Japanese CAP was successful, shooting down four of the SBDs and forcing the last two to return to base, damaged, though they lost four of their own (two to defensive fire from SBDs!), with LtCmdr Case and Ens Riggins both scoring kills.

It is now 1140, and LtCmdr Case has re-formed his flight, which is now escorting Bombing Two's SBD Dauntlesses as the Americans make a run on the Japanese carrier Zuikaku.
       

The Japanese draw first blood.


But the swarming Wildcats are more than able to hold their own.


And the next thing you know, the Wildcats pull off high and right as the Dauntlesses form line astern and make their run on the Zuikaku...

To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
https://oldleadbreed.blogspot.com/2019/10/coral-sea-day-2-fight-6.html?m=1

As the Lexington's strike group forms up for the flight home, the Japanese strike groups that struck the Lady Lex and Yorktown are doing the same, though they suddenly realize they'll have to run a gauntlet of fire as the Lexington's CAP is between them and their carriers!  That fight is next.

V/R,
Jack

Finally catching up with these Jack - brilliant stuff!

Quote from: Ithoriel on 07 October 2019, 12:46:00 PM
Finally catching up with these Jacks....

Interesting. Usually it's the aces who get the attention.

Someone put the cat out !

Is he on fire?

Also ... I've been misquoted, get him a job as a journalist.

Your al jelos coz I thort of it furst.