Defending the Malay Barrier: Turn 2, 1st - 15th January 1942, LBA Attacks

Two Japanese Land Based Air attacks were launched. One each from the Western Attack Force and the Eastern Attack Force.

Turning first to the WAF:

A force of Betty and Nell bombers, equipped with medium bombs and escorted by Zero fighters, successfully located the Royal Navy WestGroup who had been heading north to target the Malayan bound supply convoys.

The 4 British cruisers were in line astern lead by the Danae, followed by the flagship Exeter, Durban and Dragon. The cruisers were escorted by 7 destroyers.

9 flights of Nell bombers are in the first wave. One was damaged by AA fire with the remaining 8 dropping their payloads. 

Continued - 

Exeter sustained damage to its hull from a near miss but was otherwise able to continue.

HMS Dragon was not so fortunate sustaining a direct hit from a 500lb bomb. Losing 3 hull boxes crippled the ship. It also lost 'Y' turret and a fire broke out.

A second wave of 3 Nell's was less dramatic with both sides suffering no damage.

A final wave of Betty bombers also proved uneventful.

Dragon successfully doused the fire but not before losing another hull box leaving it barely afloat. It could take no further part in the Royal Navy sweep.

EAF Land Based Air Strike:

The Land Based Air component of the EAF, now operating out of Davao, located the Australian sweep out of Darwin assisted by the good weather.

The Australians have been allocated a Combat Air Patrol consisting of 3 flights of Brewster Buffalos who succeed in intercepting the oncoming Japanese aircraft.

The EAF consisted of 9 x Zeros, 5 x Betty bombers and 4 x Nell bombers. The Japanese sighted the CAP to the south east and the Zero flights immediately pealed away to intercept.

A note here about the rules used. General Quarters 3 are used for all actions involving ships including air strikes. For air to air combat I use Bag the Hun rules by Two Fat Lardies. All models in BTH represent a single aircraft whereas in GQ3 they represent a flight of 3. I do nothing complicated here and merely maintain the same number of models used in GQ3 but representing 1 rather than 3. 

Therefore, the CAP are a single flight in BTH with 3 pilots. The scenario refers to all Japanese pilots being veteran and allied green. To add flavour in the air to air component I dice for the quality of each pilot as detailed in the BTH rulebook. It takes into account the relative experience of pilots at this stage of the war.

The CAP flight leader is a veteran with 2 sprogs. The Japanese, as was expected, were mostly veteran with a Top Ace and a Junior Ace among the Zero pilots.

The Zero flight lead by the Top Ace was first off the block using its additional activations to swoop around the CAP. Seeing this immediate threat the CAP turned to intercept getting off a short burst. Luck was on their side with the nearest Zero suffering from a severed fuel line. These early Zeros were prone to fire with no self sealing fuel tanks. The Japanese pilot was the only sprog among the entire EAF and found his plane descending and on fire prior to a catastrophic explosion.

As the two remaining Zeros sped past, the Buffalos turned to face a second Zero flight approaching from the north. Their euphoria was short lived. A quick head-on burst resulted in all 3 Buffalos suffering damage. The flight leader and a wingman received damaged cockpits with the 2nd wingman suffering damage to his fuel line limiting his speed.

Their response was feeble with no damage to the Zeros inflicted. The CAP did though now see an opportunity of attacking the bomber formations. Indeed this may be their only chance. 

An overview at this stage of the action.

The target of the Buffalos.

The Brewster Buffalos seeing a clear shot at the bombers ignored the Zeros at their peril. The Top Ace saw a chance for revenge on losing his sprog pilot. A succession of tight manoeuvres saw the Top Ace utilising his skills to get on the tail of the lead Buffalo with his veteran wingman doing likewise on another CAP aircraft. 

Both Buffalos were despatched with ease with both Zeros firing full bursts into the hapless aircraft sending them both plunging towards the sea.

The last of the Buffalos closes the gap on the Japanese bombers unaware that the Japanese Top Ace, having shot down his fellow pilots, performed a barrel roll allowing him to get on his tail.

The final act proved spectacular with the Buffalo exploding under the devastating burst of gunfire from the Japanese Top Ace.

The unscathed Japanese bombers can now focus on their main target, the cruisers of the Australian Darwin force. This consisted of the heavy cruisers Australia (flagship) and Canberra, with the light cruisers Perth, Hobart, Achilles and Leander.

3 waves of Japanese level bombers targeted the Australia and Canberra. 

No damage was inflicted on the bombers by AA fire and it looked as though the Australians had successfully avoided the falling bombs  until a near miss was registered by the Canberra. This caused damage to the hull reducing its speed slightly but was able to continue.