All,
1130 local time
14 May 1942
New Guinea
Greetings all, having just wrapped up the Coral Sea battles, I figured it's time to head back to my U.S. Army Air Corps fighter squadron, the 565th Tactical Fighter Squadron, better known as the "Chickenhawks." The last we saw of the Chickenhawks was back in February of 1942; they'd started out fighting the Japanese over the Dutch East Indies before falling back to Australia and becoming embroiled in the fighting over Darwin. After things quieted down there, they ended up moving over to Brisbane, where they had a quiet period of daily patrolling to bring in replacements and get them trained up. But they got word at the end of April that they'd be moving soon, and immediately after the Battle of Coral Sea they packed up and shipped out, heading up to Port Moresby on New Guinea, making Kila Kila Airfield, AKA "3 Mile Drome," their new home on 11 May 1942. They only had a couple days before they were called to action.
On 13 May, Captain Cotton led six P-40s against four Zeros and six Bettys. One Zero and one Betty were downed at the cost of three P-40s and 25/30 damage points on the New Guinea Harbor Facilities.
Now, Captain Goode is leading a depleted flight of only four P-40s up against four Zeros and six Bettys.
The US interceptor group, from top:
2nd Lt Lageman, a Rookie on his first combat mission
Captain Goode, an Ace with five kills on two sorties
2nd Lt Becht, a Regular with one kill, on his second ever mission
2nd Lt O'Brien, a Regular with no kills, on his second mission, too
Wow, what a pisser! Talk about bad rolls; I've broken the fighters into pairs, then roll to see which pairs are in the fight, rolling for three pairs. Well, two of the 'pairs' I rolled up fought yesterday, with the Rookie becoming a Regular, but each having lost his more experienced partner, so I'm down two fighters, and the ones I have are less experienced.
Things are not looking good for Captain Goode, as a Japanese 'Natural Born Killer' swoops in on his starboard side and a Japanese 'Ace' swoops in on his port side.
It's a full on melee as Lt Lageman, looking for revenge, lines up a perfect no deflection shot on the Japanese NBK.
To see how the fight went, please check the blog at:
link
More to come!
V/R,
Jack
