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Story 1285
May 1, 1942 Surabaya airfield
A dozen anti-aircraft guns were being moved to secondary positions. Another air raid by twin engine bombers escorted by fighters flying out of Makassar had struck at dawn. The newly arrived squadron of Dutch flown Wildcats had been caught on the ground. The Buffaloes and American P-40s had been able to scramble. Thirty three defenders tangled with forty escorting fighters. Seven of the defenders did not land, although three pilots were fished out of the bay and another parachuted within walking distance of the airfield.
By now, the Dutch and American pilots, some who had first fought the Japanese over Luzon and most had their first taste of combat over the Java Sea in the past three months, knew how to tangle with the light and nimble Japanese Army fighters. Zoom in once and then run like hell to avoid a turning fight. The Buffalo had been lightened by the Dutch, it was down to three .50 caliber Brownings with only seventeen seconds of ammunition. Armor had been removed and the finicky engines were being fed 100 octane gasoline instead of the pre-war lower octane fuel that the Dutch had been willing to buy. These changes were enough to bury the performance difference but even with those tweaks, outnumbered second line fighters were only able to harass first rate opposition.
As the defending fighters were prepared for another sortie amidst the burning wreckage of eight Wildcats and three Martin bombers, the radar operator called out another contact. Two American P-40s headed northwest and within minutes, they waggled their wings at the eleven B-17s which were heading north to attack the group that O-19 had called in.
That Keynesian financing has helped speed up the introduction of Lockheed's gift to a grateful world.
The first P-38 fighter squadron in the SWPA is in service about 6 months earlier than OTL.
And if the US Military had just a bit more cash to spend...
And the US economy didnt go to shit due to the spending reductions.
It was not that much of a speed up. These are the P-38s that in OTL went up to Alaska in May 1942. Realistically the acceleration is closer to 3 months and then some shifting around of units.That Keynesian financing has helped speed up the introduction of Lockheed's gift to a grateful world.
The first P-38 fighter squadron in the SWPA is in service about 6 months earlier than OTL.
I would hope those Army pilots would at some point have received some pertinent info on how best to fight their planes against the highly maneuverable Japanese fighters. Or they are going to receive a very expensive lesson through the harsh teacher of experience.
Mostly through learning by doing (for those who survive and see what those who fail did just as they were failing)
Can we have both... reallypep the game up!It's either them or Mossies
This in some ways is actually worse for Nagumo then just another cruiser lost. Tone and Chikuma carried six floatplanes each, and where the primary long range scouting arm of the fleet. With Tone sunk, Nagumo is going to either have to rely more on land based air support, or use planes from the carriers themselves. He can use a bomber or torpedo squadron for recon, but doing so essentially means one less squadron readily available for strike missions.
So the B17's will do the usual and drop a lot of bombs, wet down the deck of the odd ship and kill some fish.
Hey, even a blind pig finds an acorn once in awhile. Who knows how Fester's dice will roll?
The Japanese should be sending a couple of fishing trawlers to accompany supply convoys where allied level bombers are present. That way the trawlers could pick up the dead fish, and use them to feed those troops.
Are IJN ships equipped with pickle barrels? If so, that might help the bomb aimers on the B-17s. Gives them something they're used to regularly hitting from 20,000 ft ...
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