This year I ran 3 games of CY6:JA from the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club book
On Thursday I ran "Broken Scooters" set in late 1965 the Navy hastily installed new 'Shoehorn" ECM jammers into their A-4s. The problem was there was no place to put them, so the squadrons squeezed them in wherever they could. In this case they put them in the ammo box locations removing the ammo stores from the A-4's 20mm cannons. Unbeknownst to the pilots, the harried maintenance crews on the carrier had failed to reconnect the firing mechanism to some of the guns!
As the A-4s began their run on the target bridge, the F-8s escorting them lost contact in the clouds. The VPAF ground radar didn't and directed the MiGs to intercept the bombers. As the bombers approached the target the MiGs dropped in. In the ensuing dogfight, none of the defective A-4s were discovered, but one was shot down and a second was damaged, But the Skyhawks delivered their bombs effectively and the CAG Konczal tagging a passing MiG (blowing off its afterburner, and causing it to loose control). At one point it looked desperate for the A-4s and the CAG authorized dropping the drop tanks (they were always in short supply). But as the battle shook out he rescinded the order. Ensign English (nee Lt.(jg) ) missed the order and dropped anyway.
All the MiGs made it home but the damage to the bridge was significant, final score 8 to 9 USN (the final VPAF point provided by English). The wounded was unable to recover on the carrier and the pilot was forced to eject by the carrier and was recovered.
The second game was "Silver Swallows" the first air combat over North Vietnam between the VPAF and the USN. Set in the spring of 1965, the Navy had been flying strikes for 6 weeks without encountering a MiG. Ho Chi Minh had declared the VPAF would make a stand, and on April 3rd they did. The Navy had planned a combined Alpha strike involving all the strike aircraft of the Coral Sea and the Hancock. The Navy attack doctrine of the time meant the attack took over 2 hours to resolve, as pairs of A-4s rolled in on the target. Once the Coral Sea's aircraft had finished the Hancock started the attack. The Coral Sea's F-4s were to provide TARCAP, while the Hancock's F-8s were there to provide Flak suppression. One Coral Sea A-4 had been shot down by Flak and the F-8s were not going to lose a Hancock A-4 on there watch! The F-8s orbited the bridge watching for Flak positions to be suppressed.
As they circled the MiGs slipped in and hit the A-4s. Phong Haze, had a great day for a while. Slipping in Phong a raw pilot (-1) managed to get a hit on the CAG (+2) with a burst of cannon fire, damaging the A-4 and forcing it to drop its bombs short of the target (with boxcars!), his twin brother directing the light Flak then proceeded to damage a F-8 (also with Boxcars). But as Phong pulled out of his attack a F-8 launched a missile that tracked perfectly and could have done a lot of damage to Phong's MiG. But Phong was lucky (sort of) and passed his check with a 10 (double fives) but them had to roll a luck hit, and rolled Boxcars! BOOM! (live by the Boxcars, die by the Boxcars). Another A-4 was shot down, but it was a rough day for the MiGs 3 of 4 were destroyed, and Navy managed to bomb the bridge with fair effect. The wounded A-4 was also unable to recover on the carrier and the pilot ejected to safety, while the wounded F-8 recovered. The Coral Sea's F-4's were on a different radio frequency and would never even hear of the air battle till it was over.
The final score was a Navy victory by a few points, as the MiGs did not attack the loaded A-4s instead tried to tangle it up with skilled F-8s. The inexperienced MiG pilots were no match.
The final game was "Swallows Among the Mulberry Bushes", set in mid 1966, the Navy's experiment camouflage program caused confusion with the F-4 escort. The cammoed A-4s were known a Mulberry Bushes by the Navy crews. The F-4s egressing the target, spotted the "Iron Hand" A-4 flight passing below. The F-4s confused, suffered target fixation as they scrutinized the green blobs crossing over the rice paddies and woods. Fortunately for them, the A-4s spotted the MiG-17s sneaking up on the F-4s.
The ensuing battle was one sided, the VPAF crews where of fair quality, and the F-4s crews untrained in Air Combat Tactics made a hash of it. Unable to separate from the MiGs, the MiG made multiple gun passes and managed to tag an F-4 early. The F-4 was damaged but also suffered a luck hit, ending in Boxcars again! BOOM! The MiGs jumped on the slow moving A-4s they desperately dodged all game, one escaped and the second was still on the table, but undamaged. A second F-4 was damaged, but managed to flee the table after firing all its missiles.
The F-4's in such tight quarters, the Phantoms were unable to get lockons or not interfere with sidewinder shots. The MiG did get lucky a few times, but overall it was a one sided, with the Navy on the defensive all game. Also we had a protege pilot, on the VPAF side, having read the rules once a while ago Joe played an outstanding game, including the F-4 kill. It turned out he was an air traffic controller with great spacial understanding. The wounded F-4 was forced to eject by the carrier and recovered safely.
It was runaway for the VPAF. The end of the day it was a good con with a number of close games. I thank all the guys who played in my games and I had a great time.
--Tom
has been watching some documentaries lately set in the Western Desert, and was inspired to create this...
