A New Balance
- Thread starter Jim Smitty
- Start date
Battle of Bermuda Part One
Point Baker
Bermuda
January 29th 1939, 0547 Local Time
Bermuda was a somewhat of a unique county within Virginia. The civilian population on the island was small, but those civilians were almost always dependents of sailors, marines, air men assigned to Bermuda as part of the different commands that were assigned here. Bermuda was one of the main naval bases of the United States Navy Atlantic Fleet and for good reason. Bermuda was the one of two lynch pin within American defensive and offensive planning against the British, the other being Iceland. The US had spent a sizable sum of money to build up the bases on Bermuda for both ends of the operation ends over the years. Bermuda however wasn’t home to any of the battleline of the Atlantic Fleet. It did however serve as the port to the 1st Raider Squadron which was two of the three Bonhomme Richard Class and the third ship of the class was currently undergoing pre-commission work ups at the moment. Besides the 1st Raider Squadron, Bermuda served as the home port for a number of cruisers, destroyers, submarines and other units within the powerful Atlantic Fleet.
Point Baker along with her sister points of Point Able and Charlie were some of the first American radar stations built anywhere when they were built in late 1937. The radar systems use at Point Baker were the immobile Army SCR-341 system[1]. Unlike the mobile SCR-340s the 341 system at Point Baker was tied into the electric grid of Bermuda with a backup power system in case the power was lost for whatever the reason. But the reason the Army had selected the 341 or the 340s was the fact even through they were largely the same, the 340 got a bit better range than the 341. This was even with the fact Bermuda was regularly hit by tropical storms of one kind or other.
Since the war warning messages, the radar stations at Bermuda and elsewhere when from operating during flight operations or at night to operating around the clock. The sergeant who was running Point Baker was due to be relieved at 0700. He was already thinking about hot crow and heading the hey event through he still had over an hour before he was to be relieved of his duties. He was currently the sergeant in charge of Point Baker from 2300 to 0700 time frame at the moment. Currently he was working on the paper work that needed to be done every shift. One of the tubes was twitchy at the moment, and two more tubes were looking like they were going to be twitchy soon as well.
One of the privates manning the scope called out, “Sarge, I’m getting a massive return now. Bearing zero-nine-nine, angels 17.”
That caused the sergeant to pop his head up. He left his paper work where it was and walked over to the scope to check on the return. “Damn that’s a big return.” He said as he looked at it. Doing the math in his head this return was about 75 miles out and closing.
With the math done he walked back to his desk and picked up the phone. It took three rings before the person on the other end picked up, “Captain Monroe night duty officer, go ahead.
“This is Sergeant Crow at Point Baker.”
“Go ahead Point Baker.”
“Sir, I’m picking up a large return on my radar set. Bearing zero-nine-nine at angels 17, performing about 190 air speed, and 70 miles out and closing.”
The captain who was the duty officer for the night shift of the USAAF took in the information that the sergeant just said. “Wilco Point Baker. Report any changes in path.”
“Wilco.”
Simons Air Field
Captain Monroe just hung up his phone and looked at his list of pilots on alert. He picked up his phone and punched up the 99th Fighter Squadron. It took two rings, “Captain Cortez, 99th Fighter Squadron.”
“Captain Cortez launch two of your aircraft to check out a radar contact at bearing zero-nine-nine, at angels 17 distance is 70 miles and closing.”
“Wilco.” Captain Cortez said. At that he didn’t even wait for the duty officer to answer the wilco call.
Elsewhere on Simons Air Field
Normally the XO of a fighter squadron wouldn’t be assigned the night duty shift, however he had been given this shift because he had broken the hard deck on the last three training flights of angles 5 set by his squadron commander Major Burns. However Burns and Cortez really didn’t get along as Burns was by the book asshole, maybe asshole was too nice of a word for Burns. So, for breaking the hard deck again, Cortez had been assigned the night duty shift. Yet Cortez thought it was because he was already a combat veteran with an aerial kill to his credit from the Colombian Crisis and Burns had only gotten this squadron through daddy’s friends in Congress. Cortez honestly wondered if he could survive a third XO requesting to be transferred in under a year as he had been working on that letter when the phone rang.
But none of that matter now. “Come on Quickdraw, he got bogies to check out.”
Quickdraw was 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Anderson. He got the call sign Quickdraw from the fact he was from Texas and liked to carry around a Colt Peacemaker as his service sidearm, instead of a newer gun. “Yes sir.”
At that the two officers started running to the hangers where their P-45s were waiting for them. They were slated to switch over to the new P-51s this spring as production of those were still ramping up. The ground crew saw the two pilots running out to their planes and started to get the planes ready for flight. It took a few moments before the power 14 cylinder engines roar to life. The ground crews were pulling the safety pins on the machine guns before jumping off the wings to get out of the way of the pilots taxing for a take off.
By the time the two Americans were airborne the British were already less than 45 miles away.
[1] Think SCR-271 like sets.
Bermuda
January 29th 1939, 0547 Local Time
Bermuda was a somewhat of a unique county within Virginia. The civilian population on the island was small, but those civilians were almost always dependents of sailors, marines, air men assigned to Bermuda as part of the different commands that were assigned here. Bermuda was one of the main naval bases of the United States Navy Atlantic Fleet and for good reason. Bermuda was the one of two lynch pin within American defensive and offensive planning against the British, the other being Iceland. The US had spent a sizable sum of money to build up the bases on Bermuda for both ends of the operation ends over the years. Bermuda however wasn’t home to any of the battleline of the Atlantic Fleet. It did however serve as the port to the 1st Raider Squadron which was two of the three Bonhomme Richard Class and the third ship of the class was currently undergoing pre-commission work ups at the moment. Besides the 1st Raider Squadron, Bermuda served as the home port for a number of cruisers, destroyers, submarines and other units within the powerful Atlantic Fleet.
Point Baker along with her sister points of Point Able and Charlie were some of the first American radar stations built anywhere when they were built in late 1937. The radar systems use at Point Baker were the immobile Army SCR-341 system[1]. Unlike the mobile SCR-340s the 341 system at Point Baker was tied into the electric grid of Bermuda with a backup power system in case the power was lost for whatever the reason. But the reason the Army had selected the 341 or the 340s was the fact even through they were largely the same, the 340 got a bit better range than the 341. This was even with the fact Bermuda was regularly hit by tropical storms of one kind or other.
Since the war warning messages, the radar stations at Bermuda and elsewhere when from operating during flight operations or at night to operating around the clock. The sergeant who was running Point Baker was due to be relieved at 0700. He was already thinking about hot crow and heading the hey event through he still had over an hour before he was to be relieved of his duties. He was currently the sergeant in charge of Point Baker from 2300 to 0700 time frame at the moment. Currently he was working on the paper work that needed to be done every shift. One of the tubes was twitchy at the moment, and two more tubes were looking like they were going to be twitchy soon as well.
One of the privates manning the scope called out, “Sarge, I’m getting a massive return now. Bearing zero-nine-nine, angels 17.”
That caused the sergeant to pop his head up. He left his paper work where it was and walked over to the scope to check on the return. “Damn that’s a big return.” He said as he looked at it. Doing the math in his head this return was about 75 miles out and closing.
With the math done he walked back to his desk and picked up the phone. It took three rings before the person on the other end picked up, “Captain Monroe night duty officer, go ahead.
“This is Sergeant Crow at Point Baker.”
“Go ahead Point Baker.”
“Sir, I’m picking up a large return on my radar set. Bearing zero-nine-nine at angels 17, performing about 190 air speed, and 70 miles out and closing.”
The captain who was the duty officer for the night shift of the USAAF took in the information that the sergeant just said. “Wilco Point Baker. Report any changes in path.”
“Wilco.”
Simons Air Field
Captain Monroe just hung up his phone and looked at his list of pilots on alert. He picked up his phone and punched up the 99th Fighter Squadron. It took two rings, “Captain Cortez, 99th Fighter Squadron.”
“Captain Cortez launch two of your aircraft to check out a radar contact at bearing zero-nine-nine, at angels 17 distance is 70 miles and closing.”
“Wilco.” Captain Cortez said. At that he didn’t even wait for the duty officer to answer the wilco call.
Elsewhere on Simons Air Field
Normally the XO of a fighter squadron wouldn’t be assigned the night duty shift, however he had been given this shift because he had broken the hard deck on the last three training flights of angles 5 set by his squadron commander Major Burns. However Burns and Cortez really didn’t get along as Burns was by the book asshole, maybe asshole was too nice of a word for Burns. So, for breaking the hard deck again, Cortez had been assigned the night duty shift. Yet Cortez thought it was because he was already a combat veteran with an aerial kill to his credit from the Colombian Crisis and Burns had only gotten this squadron through daddy’s friends in Congress. Cortez honestly wondered if he could survive a third XO requesting to be transferred in under a year as he had been working on that letter when the phone rang.
But none of that matter now. “Come on Quickdraw, he got bogies to check out.”
Quickdraw was 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Anderson. He got the call sign Quickdraw from the fact he was from Texas and liked to carry around a Colt Peacemaker as his service sidearm, instead of a newer gun. “Yes sir.”
At that the two officers started running to the hangers where their P-45s were waiting for them. They were slated to switch over to the new P-51s this spring as production of those were still ramping up. The ground crew saw the two pilots running out to their planes and started to get the planes ready for flight. It took a few moments before the power 14 cylinder engines roar to life. The ground crews were pulling the safety pins on the machine guns before jumping off the wings to get out of the way of the pilots taxing for a take off.
By the time the two Americans were airborne the British were already less than 45 miles away.
[1] Think SCR-271 like sets.
Cool update
I hope Cortez makes it back in one piece, maybe with a couple of more kills.
I do to. Mabye Cortez will become a fighter ace, whether he survives the war or not.
Admiral Halsey
Banned
Did they put the rest of the base on alert? Because with the setting not doing so is almost firing squad worthy. Or is this going to be one of the "ifs" of the war. What if Bermuda was put on alert alongside sending out planes to see what the radar was showing?
The base is on alert but it still at peace. No one believed a sneak attack would happen.
Admiral Halsey
Banned
Still you're on war footing and you're getting a huge return on an unexpected flight. Why the hell is the base still at peace!?
The base commander really doesn't trust radar. So he is limiting to sending up to aircraft to check things out.
A lot will depend on the situation on the ground and in the harbor. Are the aircraft dispersed and at least some in revetments? Are there anti-torpedo nets? Is the ammunition for the AA guns locked up in such a way as not to be available quickly? The other factor is that it appears this raid is going to be substantially smaller than the OTL PH raid. The size is one large and two small carriers, so the total number of aircraft is well below the numbers at PH. From the previous posts this strike has not had the sort of planning and practice that PH had OTL.
Damage? Certainly. The sort of crippling that PH was - no. I don't see the UK having enough to take Bermuda and, more importantly, hold it.
Damage? Certainly. The sort of crippling that PH was - no. I don't see the UK having enough to take Bermuda and, more importantly, hold it.
Battle of Bermuda Part Two
Panther’s Paw III
Over the Atlantic Ocean
January 29th 1939, 0601 Local Time
Captain Cortez was currently had his throttle to the firewall as he was climbing for altitude to find out what this unknown radar contact was. He was currently at 9,000 feet and climbing. Normally they wouldn’t be climbing this fast as it ate up fuel like no tomorrow but they weren’t pushing their 45s to the limits of range today. The radio came to life, “Apollo Flight, contact is now 10 miles ahead of you, bearing and speed is unchanged.”
“Wilco, Home Plate.” Cortez called out.
Cloud cover was just below 10,000 feet and neither Cortez nor his wingman could see through it as it was thick. Cortez keyed up the radio again, “Home Plate, breaking through cloud cover now.” What Captain Cortez and Lieutenant Anderson saw took their breath away. “Home Plate confirm our distance. Because we have a god awful mess of British planes above us.”
“Apollo Lead confirm last. I say again confirm last.”
“Home Plate, we have at least 150 planes all with Maltese Crosses on them and they are heading straight to Bermuda.”
“Apollo Flight weapons free. I say again weapons free.” The major who was Home Plate gave without informing anyone above him. They were within 12 miles of the outer shores of Bermuda and closing. Acting on his own authority he was giving Apollo Flight the green light to shoot and ordering the remaining aircraft to scramble in a mad dash to get airborne. He lit off the air raid alarms for the whole islands with AA gunners running to their post. Ammo was at the ready as everyone knew Bermuda was going to be hit in any way with the British. Everyone assumed that the British would act with honor and declare war first before attacking.
The unknown was where the British Fleet was or its strength. The two fleet and three light flat tops had maintained a CAP of 20 fighter/dive bombers to defend the fleet, sending the remaining 166 aircraft to strike Bermuda. Their goal was to wreck the aircraft parked at Bermuda so they could performed follow on attacks but they needed to take control of the air before they could do that. They however didn’t know the US had radar at Bermuda. Only the US was pissing this edge away because the base commander questioned how useful radar really was.
For Captain Cortez none of this matter. “Quickdraw go for the bombers, leave the fighters alone, go for the bombers.”
“Wilco Hickok.” Cortez didn’t care for his call sign of Hickok. He got it because he was a poker player and in his first game and first play of the game in an operational unit he drew the dead man’s hand of Aces and Eights. The Hickok call sign was created there and it has followed him around every scene.
Just after the final radio call by Lieutenant Anderson the British Amberjack Torpedo Bombers[1] started dropping altitude with a number of Griffon Fighter/Dive Bombers[2] joining them to escort them. The Griffon pilots spotted the Americans planes just as soon as they started their dives to get on the deck so the Amberjacks could hit their targets. The Griffon pilots pushed their throttles to the firewall as they were trying to close the distance with the Americans who had come up to challenge them. Waiting for it Cortez called it over the radio, “Break!”
At that point Cortez threw his 45 into a sharp right turn as he was jamming the rudder pedal and pulling on his stick for all it was worth. He could feel the Gs as he entered the tight turn forcing the British to overshoot. He then quickly reversed the turn to bring himself into a shooting position for the torpedo bombers. This was where the big 14 cylinder radial engine came into its own. It was able to power the aircraft Jim Cortez was flying far better than either of the British engines on the aircraft they were facing. But the British in their odd idea of a duel fighter/dive bomber had a nasty surprise for the Americans as the turret on the Griffons opened fire but were wide.
The Amberjacks through reminded Cortez that they were also armed with machine guns but none of them were that practiced as firing at a moving aircraft. Cortez lined up with the first Amberjack he could get a good bead on and open fired with his pair of 50 cal machine guns. The large bullets made short work of the Amberjack as it punched into the engine of the Amberjack with oil and flames quickly spreading on the aircraft Cortez had attacked.
Use of his stick and rudder pedals were heavy as staying still was a good way to getting yourself killed in aerial combat. But now he had to miss the oncoming diving bombers. The fight was getting on the deck by now. He performed a half loop and brought himself up behind the Amberjacks. He let loose another burst of ammo only to have one of his guns jam on him. The remaining working gun when wide right. He adjusted aim and fired again. This time his aim was true and he racked the Amberjack with 50 cal slugs. Under the weight of fire the port wing on the Amberjack snapped off throwing it into a death spin.
Cortez saw the flak was starting to come up from the ground now. He broke off the chase as he didn’t want to get caught up in the flak that was coming up. Yet the Griffon pilots who had recovered from their overshoot decided not to allow Cortez to go. He quickly noticed that he had a pair of Griffons chasing him so he started a series of rapid turns trying to get the Griffons to enter the scissors. The Griffons entered the scissors but soon found the P-45 could turn much tighter than they could. Cortez got enough of a lead on one of the Griffons to open fire and he killed the rear gunner who was shooting back at him. However, before he could do enough damage his gun clicked as it was out of ammo.
As he was focusing on the two Griffons he was in the scissors in with a third and fourth decided to join the fight and dived on Cortez and opened up with their .303s. Their bullets stuck home as Cortez felt the rudder pedals go slack. He exited the scissors as he had no choice but to exit it. He flipped up the flaps in an effort to slow down his plane as he could feel the controls going to hell. He lined up with the beach and hoped he would live through this.
[1] Fairey Albacore
[2] Hawker Hotspur
Over the Atlantic Ocean
January 29th 1939, 0601 Local Time
Captain Cortez was currently had his throttle to the firewall as he was climbing for altitude to find out what this unknown radar contact was. He was currently at 9,000 feet and climbing. Normally they wouldn’t be climbing this fast as it ate up fuel like no tomorrow but they weren’t pushing their 45s to the limits of range today. The radio came to life, “Apollo Flight, contact is now 10 miles ahead of you, bearing and speed is unchanged.”
“Wilco, Home Plate.” Cortez called out.
Cloud cover was just below 10,000 feet and neither Cortez nor his wingman could see through it as it was thick. Cortez keyed up the radio again, “Home Plate, breaking through cloud cover now.” What Captain Cortez and Lieutenant Anderson saw took their breath away. “Home Plate confirm our distance. Because we have a god awful mess of British planes above us.”
“Apollo Lead confirm last. I say again confirm last.”
“Home Plate, we have at least 150 planes all with Maltese Crosses on them and they are heading straight to Bermuda.”
“Apollo Flight weapons free. I say again weapons free.” The major who was Home Plate gave without informing anyone above him. They were within 12 miles of the outer shores of Bermuda and closing. Acting on his own authority he was giving Apollo Flight the green light to shoot and ordering the remaining aircraft to scramble in a mad dash to get airborne. He lit off the air raid alarms for the whole islands with AA gunners running to their post. Ammo was at the ready as everyone knew Bermuda was going to be hit in any way with the British. Everyone assumed that the British would act with honor and declare war first before attacking.
The unknown was where the British Fleet was or its strength. The two fleet and three light flat tops had maintained a CAP of 20 fighter/dive bombers to defend the fleet, sending the remaining 166 aircraft to strike Bermuda. Their goal was to wreck the aircraft parked at Bermuda so they could performed follow on attacks but they needed to take control of the air before they could do that. They however didn’t know the US had radar at Bermuda. Only the US was pissing this edge away because the base commander questioned how useful radar really was.
For Captain Cortez none of this matter. “Quickdraw go for the bombers, leave the fighters alone, go for the bombers.”
“Wilco Hickok.” Cortez didn’t care for his call sign of Hickok. He got it because he was a poker player and in his first game and first play of the game in an operational unit he drew the dead man’s hand of Aces and Eights. The Hickok call sign was created there and it has followed him around every scene.
Just after the final radio call by Lieutenant Anderson the British Amberjack Torpedo Bombers[1] started dropping altitude with a number of Griffon Fighter/Dive Bombers[2] joining them to escort them. The Griffon pilots spotted the Americans planes just as soon as they started their dives to get on the deck so the Amberjacks could hit their targets. The Griffon pilots pushed their throttles to the firewall as they were trying to close the distance with the Americans who had come up to challenge them. Waiting for it Cortez called it over the radio, “Break!”
At that point Cortez threw his 45 into a sharp right turn as he was jamming the rudder pedal and pulling on his stick for all it was worth. He could feel the Gs as he entered the tight turn forcing the British to overshoot. He then quickly reversed the turn to bring himself into a shooting position for the torpedo bombers. This was where the big 14 cylinder radial engine came into its own. It was able to power the aircraft Jim Cortez was flying far better than either of the British engines on the aircraft they were facing. But the British in their odd idea of a duel fighter/dive bomber had a nasty surprise for the Americans as the turret on the Griffons opened fire but were wide.
The Amberjacks through reminded Cortez that they were also armed with machine guns but none of them were that practiced as firing at a moving aircraft. Cortez lined up with the first Amberjack he could get a good bead on and open fired with his pair of 50 cal machine guns. The large bullets made short work of the Amberjack as it punched into the engine of the Amberjack with oil and flames quickly spreading on the aircraft Cortez had attacked.
Use of his stick and rudder pedals were heavy as staying still was a good way to getting yourself killed in aerial combat. But now he had to miss the oncoming diving bombers. The fight was getting on the deck by now. He performed a half loop and brought himself up behind the Amberjacks. He let loose another burst of ammo only to have one of his guns jam on him. The remaining working gun when wide right. He adjusted aim and fired again. This time his aim was true and he racked the Amberjack with 50 cal slugs. Under the weight of fire the port wing on the Amberjack snapped off throwing it into a death spin.
Cortez saw the flak was starting to come up from the ground now. He broke off the chase as he didn’t want to get caught up in the flak that was coming up. Yet the Griffon pilots who had recovered from their overshoot decided not to allow Cortez to go. He quickly noticed that he had a pair of Griffons chasing him so he started a series of rapid turns trying to get the Griffons to enter the scissors. The Griffons entered the scissors but soon found the P-45 could turn much tighter than they could. Cortez got enough of a lead on one of the Griffons to open fire and he killed the rear gunner who was shooting back at him. However, before he could do enough damage his gun clicked as it was out of ammo.
As he was focusing on the two Griffons he was in the scissors in with a third and fourth decided to join the fight and dived on Cortez and opened up with their .303s. Their bullets stuck home as Cortez felt the rudder pedals go slack. He exited the scissors as he had no choice but to exit it. He flipped up the flaps in an effort to slow down his plane as he could feel the controls going to hell. He lined up with the beach and hoped he would live through this.
[1] Fairey Albacore
[2] Hawker Hotspur
Battle of Bermuda Part Three
Simons Air Field
99th Fighter Squadron HQ
January 29th 1939, 0948 Local Time
Captain Jim Cortez was walking back into his squadrons headquarters after being shot down. He had “borrowed” someone’s motorcycle to get back here but he doubted anyone would care at the moment. There might be hell to pay later but be cross that bridge when he got there. Right now he was more worried about what is going on. Even the cuts on his face and right arm didn’t matter as he had bigger fish to fry. He was pissed and wanted another shot at the British for forcing him to ditch on the beach. His plane the Panther’s Paw III was a total write off and he wanted to get even for that. No he wanted to make the British pay for that. And what he was seeing was not giving him a lot of hope.
The British have attacked the air bases cross Bermuda to allow them to get local air superiority over the island so they could perform follow attacks with all of their aircraft being loaded up with ground attack ordnance or torpedoes. The British stuck the 99th Fighter Squadron as they were taking off. From what Cortez could see at least of six of P-45s were shot down shortly after takeoff or as they were taking off. He only saw seven possibly eight P-45s that could return to air, with the eight needing repair work. But it looked like it could return to the air.
1st Lieutenant Adam Clark looked up as he heard the door open as he was running about to trying to get the squadron running as he was the senior officer in the squadron left. Prior to the attack by the British he had just been promoted to his current rank and was the newly assigned assistant operation officer of the squadron. All of the other senior officers were either dead or so badly wounded they were at the base hospital. The only unaccounted senior officer in the 99th was Captain Cortez as he had been scrambled to find out what the unknown radar contact was prior to figuring out that a massive British assault was happening.
“What happened Adam?” Jim said as he kept walking into headquarters.
“We are trying to get our feet back under ourselves sir. The fucking limeys knocked the squadron about fairly good. Burns cartwheel his 45 as he got hit as he was taking off after getting hit by the limeys. Once we got back on the ground I found out I was the senior officer left and been trying to get things going.”
Jim looked around. “Where is top?”
“He and a few of his ground crew are working on Jerry’s bird. He took a whole bunch of machine gun fire into the cockpit. He damn sure lost his left arm, we aren’t even sure how he landed his bird or if he will live.”
“Adam get some chow and coffee in you and the other pilots. The British will be back some enough.”
“Yes sir. How did you do?” Adam asked before heading to get a bagel with some coffee.
“Got two, damaged a third, before the fucking limeys forced me to ditched by shot up bird. How about you Adam?”
“I was lucky I lived. I was taking off when the limeys hit. Somehow they didn’t blast me out of the sky like so many others in our squadron.” Yesterday the squadron had been 19 aircraft strong, now it was down seven aircraft that could fly with an eight that could be repaired.
With him being finished with his XO, well Jim assumed he was the CO now and Adam being the XO he decided to go and find the top. Walking out of the HQ he got back on his “Borrowed” motorcycle and headed off the hangers to see how things were going there. It only took a minute or two to get to the hangers. He quickly saw the top working on that had been Jerry’s P-45. “Top will she fly again?”
First Sergeant Williams popped his head up from the work he was doing on the P-45. “Give me another hour sir and she will fly. It will be without a radio and not all the holes will be patched, but she will fly.”
“Get her ready for me top, because the British are going to be back.”
99th Fighter Squadron HQ
January 29th 1939, 0948 Local Time
Captain Jim Cortez was walking back into his squadrons headquarters after being shot down. He had “borrowed” someone’s motorcycle to get back here but he doubted anyone would care at the moment. There might be hell to pay later but be cross that bridge when he got there. Right now he was more worried about what is going on. Even the cuts on his face and right arm didn’t matter as he had bigger fish to fry. He was pissed and wanted another shot at the British for forcing him to ditch on the beach. His plane the Panther’s Paw III was a total write off and he wanted to get even for that. No he wanted to make the British pay for that. And what he was seeing was not giving him a lot of hope.
The British have attacked the air bases cross Bermuda to allow them to get local air superiority over the island so they could perform follow attacks with all of their aircraft being loaded up with ground attack ordnance or torpedoes. The British stuck the 99th Fighter Squadron as they were taking off. From what Cortez could see at least of six of P-45s were shot down shortly after takeoff or as they were taking off. He only saw seven possibly eight P-45s that could return to air, with the eight needing repair work. But it looked like it could return to the air.
1st Lieutenant Adam Clark looked up as he heard the door open as he was running about to trying to get the squadron running as he was the senior officer in the squadron left. Prior to the attack by the British he had just been promoted to his current rank and was the newly assigned assistant operation officer of the squadron. All of the other senior officers were either dead or so badly wounded they were at the base hospital. The only unaccounted senior officer in the 99th was Captain Cortez as he had been scrambled to find out what the unknown radar contact was prior to figuring out that a massive British assault was happening.
“What happened Adam?” Jim said as he kept walking into headquarters.
“We are trying to get our feet back under ourselves sir. The fucking limeys knocked the squadron about fairly good. Burns cartwheel his 45 as he got hit as he was taking off after getting hit by the limeys. Once we got back on the ground I found out I was the senior officer left and been trying to get things going.”
Jim looked around. “Where is top?”
“He and a few of his ground crew are working on Jerry’s bird. He took a whole bunch of machine gun fire into the cockpit. He damn sure lost his left arm, we aren’t even sure how he landed his bird or if he will live.”
“Adam get some chow and coffee in you and the other pilots. The British will be back some enough.”
“Yes sir. How did you do?” Adam asked before heading to get a bagel with some coffee.
“Got two, damaged a third, before the fucking limeys forced me to ditched by shot up bird. How about you Adam?”
“I was lucky I lived. I was taking off when the limeys hit. Somehow they didn’t blast me out of the sky like so many others in our squadron.” Yesterday the squadron had been 19 aircraft strong, now it was down seven aircraft that could fly with an eight that could be repaired.
With him being finished with his XO, well Jim assumed he was the CO now and Adam being the XO he decided to go and find the top. Walking out of the HQ he got back on his “Borrowed” motorcycle and headed off the hangers to see how things were going there. It only took a minute or two to get to the hangers. He quickly saw the top working on that had been Jerry’s P-45. “Top will she fly again?”
First Sergeant Williams popped his head up from the work he was doing on the P-45. “Give me another hour sir and she will fly. It will be without a radio and not all the holes will be patched, but she will fly.”
“Get her ready for me top, because the British are going to be back.”
It could also get him kill.So Captain Cortez has three kills by my count, two still needing to be confirmed but not bad
and his thirst for vengeance might get him to ace.
Given the great disparity in numbers between the British and American pilots, I'd say that's the more likely bet. You'd need a bit of reckless heroism alongside a metric ton of luck.
One of the problems here is that Bermuda is only about 600 miles from Virginia. Another is that it is not a major base like PH was. This means that the USA can send reaction forces to Bermuda from continental bases which are untouched and larger than Bermuda, it may even be possible to ferry out more aircraft from land (let alone from carriers) to the Bermuda airbases if they are not overrun. Unlike PH this is not a raid that will do huge damage to US warmaking potential. IMHO the British have to take Bermuda before naval or air reinforcements can get there from the USA, and hope that the Americans don't do severe damage to the runways, blow up fuel dumps and so forth. Keeping British carriers and heavy units so close to the USA is dicey - there are bound to be subs from the Bermuda out there, as well as some coming from the USA and possible US carriers/aircraft or even bombers from the USA.
The British are 4x-5x as far from their bases of supply as the Americans in Bermuda, and if the Americans do any decent amount of destruction before the British take the island (if that is their desire) their supply situation will be horrendous, as almost everything in Bermuda is imported except for some fish and small garden vegetables. Taking Bermuda will cost them a fair number of aircraft, and how many will be left to fight any American counter-attack.
Between the sneak attack which will right and truly piss off the USA, they are risking a lot and I'm not sure what their best possible result could be.
The British are 4x-5x as far from their bases of supply as the Americans in Bermuda, and if the Americans do any decent amount of destruction before the British take the island (if that is their desire) their supply situation will be horrendous, as almost everything in Bermuda is imported except for some fish and small garden vegetables. Taking Bermuda will cost them a fair number of aircraft, and how many will be left to fight any American counter-attack.
Between the sneak attack which will right and truly piss off the USA, they are risking a lot and I'm not sure what their best possible result could be.
As the Oldsmobile ad almost said: "This isn't your father's War". That base commander is gonna wish he had taken one for the team.
I just hope TTL doesn't have a Battle of Kasserine Pass analog.