AH Challenge: Battle of Los Angeles 24/25 Feb 1942

On the night of the 24th/25th February 1942 the city of Los Angeles was woken to the sound of anti-aircraft fire as the defences of the city responded to an incursion of what was believed to be Japanese aircraft. (See: Wikipedia Article: Battle of Los Angeles).

I'm now interested in working out all of the plausible scenarios that would lead to a Japanese strike on Los Angeles during late February 1942.

Size, can range from a 'maximum' effort carrier strike such as that used in the raid on Pearl Harbour all the way down to a few seaplanes launched from subs.

I now throw the door open...
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
A few seaplanes is no problem. IOTL, the Japanese launched minor raids with submarines firing their deck guns at a few targets on the West Coast, though little or no damage was done.

For a major strike, I think February of 1942 is too early. The U.S. Pacific Fleet is still in the way. But if the Japanese had decisively won the Battle of Midway in June of 1942, you could have seen carrier-based raids on the West Coast.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
A few seaplanes off the I-400 class boats is a possible, anything beyond that is not.

The Japanese got the Kido Butai close enough to strike Hawaii by stacking fuel drums on the decks of their ships, including a couple of the carriers. There is no chance of them being able to get to the West Coast and get back home, just on fuel. That's the EASY problem.

The not so easy problem is that 400 aircraft is no where near enough to attack the U.S. and get out alive. Somewhere in this forum is a thread where the number of aircraft the U.S. could put up against an enemy on either coast inside of 36 hours. I believe the total was just about 2,000 MODERN aircraft of different types.

As an example, at March Field (Riverside CA) the U.S had six fighter squadrons, four P-40 and two P-38, at Hamilton Field (north of San Francisco) there were four more fighter squadrons three P-40 and one P-36, along with four Bomber groups (seven squadrons, including three B-17). That is 200 Fighters within two hours flight time of any point on the California Coast with an additional160+ bombers. In Arizona (again about two hours from LA & 3.5 from SF) you have an additional 4 squadrons of medium bombers. or around 80 aircraft. In Oregon there are four B-25 Squadrons and three fighter squadrons (two P-43 and one P-40). Washington had four B-17 and four B-18 bomber squadrons, along with three P-39 fighter squadrons. In Idaho there were four medium bomber squadrons (three B-26, one B-18).

So, to recap

Arizona 80 bombers
California 200 bombers, 200 Fighters
Idaho 80 bombers
Oregon 80 bombers, 75 fighters
Washington 200 bombers, 75 fighters

Total: 640 Bombers, 350 fighters. That is just what can get to the LA or SF area on a single fuel load. Go with a landing and refuel and it then gets ugly. There are an additional 150 fighters within six hours flight time, along with a couple hundred more bombers.

Japanese aircraft had serious problems dealing with American fighters as long as the odds were fairly even. When the Americans had a 2-1 advantage things could get nasty.

Best to stay in the West Pac.
 
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