Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

May 8th, 1943

Kolombangara (Solomon Islands), 02:15 - The Japanese destroyers Kagero, Kuroshio and Oyashio bring supplies and fresh troops from Buin. They leave with about 300 men who had just been relieved.
Less than an hour later, while sailing at 18 knots in Blackett Strait, the Oyashio hits one of the mines laid twenty-four hours earlier by the Emile-Bertin, Lamotte-Picquet and Gamble. Seriously hit, it stops. Believing it to be torpedoed by a submarine, the two other destroyers circle around their crew mate... and one after the other suffer the same fate. Bombed and strafed during the day of the 8th by Dauntless from Guadalcanal, all three are to sink with heavy losses.

 

[Wings]

May 8th, 1943

Pearl Harbor - Having just arrived in Hawaii, the crew of the Enterprise is faced with a major disappointment: instead of going directly to the West Coast after a brief stopover, as everyone expected, their ship has to stay in Pearl for several weeks to train the two new air groups that would join the Yorktown and the Independence in July. Better equipped than the Vestal, Pearl's arsenal is indeed able to extend the carrier's operational capabilities for some time to come.

 

[Wings]

May 8th, 1943

Moscow - Meeting in the Kremlin, the GKO definitively ratifies the launch of the production of the future standard medium tank of the Red Army, the T-34/85, based on the report of the Experimental Company 100. Intensively tested in Latvia between March and April, the tests of the three prototypes proved to be extremely useful.
- Although it was considered to be a match for the German light armoured vehicles and even tanks such as the Panzer III and Panzer IV, the T-34/57 suffered from the low quality of its HE shells, unable to effectively deal with infantry positions or anti-tank guns.
- The T-43 proved more interesting in use and achieved good results.
However, its 76.2 mm gun was no longer able to deal with the new German tanks. Moreover, if the Kharkov factory assures that it would be possible to equip existing tanks with the 85 mm D-5T, it is obvious that this would take time.
- That leaves the T-34/85, which appears to be the winner of this competition. Although not devoid of defects that need to be corrected, it is the best compromise available between armor, mobility and firepower. It also makes it possible to take full advantage of complementarities, the new tank mixing the turret of the KV-85 with the chassis of the T-34/76, slightly modified.
By giving its approval immediately, Stalin can count on a mass production starting in August. To increase the rate of production, Vyacheslav Malychev (People's Commissar for Armor Industry) receives the order to start production simultaneously in three factories, in Kharkov, Gorky and Stalingrad (another factory in Omsk is planned). Nevertheless, in view of the incompressible delays to set up the assembly lines and train the crews, the first T-34/85s will not be operational before the end of summer 1943. Too late then to participate in the battles expected in June or July... It will be necessary to make without them!
.........
Moreover, Stalin confirms the absolute priority given to the 1st and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in terms of equipment and human reinforcements. If the two Baltic Fronts will be able to receive some SU-85s, the new MKSU-57 self-propelled guns, the ZIS-3 76 mm ZIS-3 guns and Yak-9 fighters are to be sent to the depots in Kiev, from where they will be distributed to the fighting units in the region. Popov and Merestkov will have to make do with older equipment.

 

[Wings]

May 8th, 1943

Italian front - Belgians and legionnaires continue their attack. At the end of the day, the 2nd Grenadiers have reached Deruta, but there is still fighting in the small town. In the plain, the 6th BMLE armoured vehicles confront those of the 129. Panzer abt. With the support of the Airacobra, they reach the village of Mercatello.
In the center, the Zouaves begin to climb the slopes above Gualdo Cattaneo. They come up against a double defensive line, but at the end of the day, with the help of the Mustang FGA of the 4th EC, the entrenchments are taken and overrun.
To the east, the 83rd DIA completes the capture of Bevagna and Foligno. Before being able to move towards Assisi, it has to reduce the positions on Mount Subasio, which dominates the plain from the top of its 1,200 meters.

 

[Wings]

May 8th, 1943

Elba - All day, he Mustangs of the 4th EC support the men of the Groupement Alsace-Lorraine advancing towards Mount Capanne and those of the 1st and 3rd Btn of the 91st RI of the Superga, which are heading towards the airfield of Campo nell'Elba. If the runway is taken at the end of the day, the Italians lose a good part of their Semovente, which are effective but fragile.
The Germans still hold the outlets towards Procchio, including the pass, but the men of the 91st RI are in position to overrun the next day. Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion of this regiment finishes clearing Mount Tambone and advances along Route 30. Along the coast, they discover several devastated artillery positions: overturned guns, gutted horses, charred corpses, the previous day's bombardment has been effective, to say the least. Years later, some veterans would erect a funerary stele at the top of the Tambone.
For its part, the 92nd RI of the Superga fights all day and manages to expand its bridgehead despite the presence of numerous small bunkers in the hills to the north and east of Lacona. The artillery of the Italian ships is of great help. In the afternoon, the two regiments join forces.

Operation Aiglon, D-Day+1

 

[Wings]

May 8th, 1943

Genoa - An improvement in the weather situation allows the Oberst Thom to take a Bf 108 Taifun to Berlin.

 

[Kloka]

This is one of the longest TLs here now. Keep up the good work.

 

[Wings]

May 9th, 1943

NAS Glenview - Return of the four Daks with the 5F and 7F pilots and their bosses. The rest of the airmen remain at QP.
.........
Lagadec: "The principle of the CarQuals is still the same: 14 landings (and takeoffs, of course) and a novice is qualified as an aircraft carrier. For requalifications (pilots who have
For requalifications (pilots who have been landing for less than six months), only 10 landings are required.
Except that here, everything is a bit special.
The US Navy has found a cheap and original way to qualify its pilots: two aircraft carriers that, by analogy with freshwater sailors, were quickly nicknamed freshwater aircraft carriers. They are the USS Wolverine (IX 64), in service since last January, and the USS Sable (IX 81), which will be operational at the end of month . These are former Great Lakes liners. They have been converted but have kept their coal heating and their propulsion by... side paddlewheels, like the Mississippi steamers dear to Mark Twain!
All that was above the main deck was razed to make room for a flight deck with a minimum island for navigation and aerial movements, in front of the chimneys. The Sable's steel deck will be, curiously, the first of its kind on a US Navy aircraft carrier.
On the flight deck, there are eight stop strands, but no "useless" equipment (armament, hangar, catapults, elevators) has been installed. The absence of hangar gives a strange silhouette on the water to the two boats (I use the word, usually reserved for landlubbers, because they are after all very unseaworthy vessels!)
The whole thing is responsible for some peculiarities for the pilots.
First of all, freshwater carriers are only training platforms, with no parking facilities for the planes. We take off from the ground, we land, then we take off again almost immediately with the engine (since there is no catapult), we make a lap, we land... and we return to land at the end of the session.
With these boats low on the water, the pilots have to be very careful, at take-off, not to dive too low at the deck exit, otherwise they risk getting their feet wet - well, the wheels - or even take a bath with their plane (to the delight of the researchers of plane wrecks a few decades later). Moreover, the low speed of the boats makes it impossible to land and take off with aircraft in periods of dead calm: indeed, the relative wind speed on the deck (WOD, Wind Over Deck) is then too low. This brings us back to the SNJ, which has lower requirements. But finally, this training in spartan conditions is very effective in preparing pilots for operational conditions on "real" aircraft carriers. It is only in winter, when the lake is frozen, that the qualifiers are switched to the oceanic bases, as happened to us last February.
In "season", seven days a week, the boats leave at dawn and return in the evening, if the wind and the weather permitting of course. They are always accompanied by a small patrol boat of the US Coast Guards, as a watchdog in charge of picking up pilots who have fallen overboard. Most of the time, with the wind blowing from the north, the maneuvers were carried out less than a mile from the coast, in sight of everybody, which causes some great traffic jams on the coastal road, the avia road being facing the wind in the south-north direction.
Of course, these boats are also used to train the "flight deck" personnel of the aircraft carriers. In Glenview, we will meet some of the sailors of the Jean-Bart, including our future batmen, who are finishing their training.
.........
The day is spent in orientation flights for the Pasha, his flotilla leaders and their section leaders, on board the SNJ. At the end of the afternoon, the instructors take us for a ride over the Wolverine, which was returning to port to refuel. As for the other pilots, they more or less happily relearn the particularities of our aircraft and, for some of the older pilots, the SNJ, which they have never flown before, with the help of young pilots for whom the aircraft has no more secrets.
As we are a formed unit, the base assigns us a good dozen pilots as instructors as well as a batch of planes for our unique use: 20 F4F-4, 12 SBD-2 and 12 TBF-1, hardly older than ours, plus a dozen SNJ hooked. All of them are not new but in good mechanical condition. The maintenance is done by the mechanics of the base, helped by our aircraft bosses, without forgetting Andy, to solve the problems... American abundance : in a few months, the US Navy will only assign here new aircraft coming out of the factory.
In addition, we live on the base with some thirty US Navy pilots to be qualified or re-qualified."

 

[Wings]

May 9th, 1943

Yen Day Sector - A 3rd Hikodan raid is requested near the town to "clear rebel elements infesting the vicinity". Twelve Ki-30s begin to attack targets of opportunity, covered by six Ki-43s, when six NA-73s from the I/40 unexpectedly fall on them. While the "Oscars" attempt to intercept, the "Ann's" lighten up with their bombs and attempt to drop their bombs and try to evade, in vain. A short but furious engagement results in the destruction of three Nipponese bombers and a fighter against the loss of a Mustang, plus two damaged Mustangs (one of them will be irreparable).

 

[Wings]

May 9th, 1943

Bila Tservka - The 16th Air Army is assigned two new independent regiments, the 586th IAP (fighter regiment, on Yak-9) and the 587th BAP (bomber regiment, on Petlyakov Pe-2). These two formations are distinguished within the VVS by the fact that their pilots are all female. They were created at the initiative of Marina Raskova, who had distinguished herself before the war by the establishment of a distance record between Moscow and Komsomolsk and has the attentive ear of the Vojd.
The arrival of these female personnel provokes mixed reactions among the male crews, but Raskova shows herself to be firm in presenting herself to General Rudenko. No preferential treatment, her daughters will prove themselves in combat.

 

[Wings]

May 9th, 1943

Proskurov - An undercover GRU reconnaissance team manages to establish a first safe contact with a group of partisans operating around the city. Formed of former soldiers of the 13th and 58th Soviet Armies, this group has essentially succeeded in surviving on the back of the front line and not attracting the attention of German patrols. But it is a good start.
In the following weeks, other teams would succeed in linking up with groups of various sizes and to send them some food and keep a radio contact with Moscow. The head of the GRU, Ivan Ilyitchev, thus competes with the partisan movements officially directed by the particular staff of Ponomarenko and Voroshilov, but he does not care. In fact, Stalin will quickly approve his action. It is better to have several irons in the fire than only one.

 

[Wings]

May 9th, 1943

Italian front - In the west, threatened to be enveloped by the legionnaires, the Germans evacuate the hills on the flank of the 4th ID. The 3rd Belgian Brigade then advances north-west to keep contact with the enemy.
In the east, the French do not make much progress during the day, because the plain is beaten by an efficient fire, directed from Mount Subasio on the one hand and from hill 701 on the other.
However, the men of the 29. Panzergrenadier did not foresee that their opponents would be able to piton on the hillside to get through the defenders' backs. The Algerians of the 83rd DIA reach the summit of the Subasio at the end of the day, chasing the artillery observers and destroying the German defensive system. The Panzergrenadiers have to retreat to Bettona, leaving the field open to the 86th DIA on the heights.

 

[Wings]

May 9th, 1943

Island of Elba - Despite the loss of its last two Semovente, the 91st Mountain Infantry captures the village of Procchio. As expected, the infantrymen were able to outflank the German position through the hills. Meanwhile, the Alsace-Lorraine Group advances in the hills, seize the village of Marciana, on the other side of Mount Perone, and reach the northern coast at the level of a fishing village, Marciana Marina.
The 92nd Infantry Regiment continues its progression along the coast, still supported by the naval artillery. It progresses eastward in the plain and seizes the junction of roads 26 and 30, while, towards the north, his 2nd Battalion now has in sight the capital of the island, made famous by the exile of Napoleon, Portoferraio.
Despite an attack by the entire 5th Bomber Wing the day before against the Bouches du Rhône to try to neutralize the KG 100, the support flotilla is raided by Do-217. Fortunately, the GC II/7 iss watching; it neutralizes the escort and prevents the bombers from getting into firing position, but not without shooting down one of them. It is the fourth confirmed victory of commander Papin Labazordière.

Operation Aiglon, D-Day+2

 

[Wings]

May 10th, 1943

Washington, D.C - In a routine press conference on the inter-allied conferences of recent weeks in Egypt and Iran, President Roosevelt indulges in a few confidences with the authorized press. He states, perhaps without perhaps realizing the consequences of his words, that half of the Italian fleet will go to the Russians! Nothing less! And while the USSR had hardly suffered from Italian actions, as Italy had not even declared war on it!
Moreover, the Soviets themselves only claim - as compensation for the losses inflicted on their fleet, not by the Italians, but by the Germans - 1 out of 2 ships of the line, 1 out of 7 cruisers (3 of which are unfinished), 2 out of 9 modern destroyers, 2 torpedo boats out of 7, 2 escort destroyers out of 6 and 2 corvettes out of 7, plus 4 submarines out of 34, as well as 20,000 tons of cargo. It will be necessary to explain to the Western public opinion that no, half of the Regia Marina would not go to the Soviet Union...
Finally, the USSR will get a part of the desired ships - but very far, of course, from half of what remains of the Italian fleet.

 

[Wings]

May 10th, 1943

NAS Glenview - Lagadec: "It's going to be an intense few days. Spring is well underway, the days are longer, we're going to spend 10 to 12 hours a day on the flight line, including two or three hours in the air. The weather forecast says "good weather", let's take advantage of it!
No time to lose: take-offs start around 07:00. Fortunately, the transit to the Wolverine in avia route takes only a few minutes, fifteen at the most at the end of the racetrack before it turns around. This makes it possible to refuel the planes without any problem and/or to change pilots between two sessions. Everyone takes off in groups of a dozen planes of the same category.
Some figures to better understand the problem. The GAE, at this time, is 100 pilots of which a good half have never landed and the other half need to be requalified, that is to say about 1 200 landings to be carried out in 10 to 12 days. Priority to novices, of course, but the Pacha in the lead anyway... So, no time to lose!
We take off in the middle of a cloud of training aircraft going about their occupations. Then the method is the same as during our passage in Pensacola, except that the transit towards the aircraft carrier is extremely short. So short, in fact, that with the F4F-4s, we will give up very quickly to retract the train, what will avoid us the 29 turns of crank to make in less than 5 minutes for each ascent or extension of the wheels.
Well, as soon as we took off, we headed for the lake. No need to climb very high, 500 to 1,000 feet are enough. As soon as you have "wet feet", find the Wolverine - easy: with its coal-fired heater, it produces almost as much smoke as Andy in anger. Radio contact. Answer in French by one of our sailors on board, well seen: safety above all, it is reassuring for a novice.
Descent to 300 feet. We enter the circuit by the back starboard of the boat. At the top, turn to 180° to the left, the others continue straight ahead and take turns at the helm.
Downwind, reverse course to the aircraft carrier, reduce, propeller at small pitch, one notch of flap.
Take out the gear (if necessary!), open the canopy, tighten the harnesses... Golly, the warns the radio. Exit!
One overtakes the aircraft carrier by the back, new 180° turn, one enters the groove, the alignment facing backwards, at the orders of the batman. Flaps to block, to reduce still, limit stall. Wings down, says the batman.
The zinc crawls as it approaches the back of the boat, reaches the deck... The "Cut" of the batman, throttle off, wheels touching, full throttle! The stick scrapes the deck, hooks one of the strands which holds the plane. The pilot is thrown forward and sent back as fast by the harness to the bottom of his bucket. Throttle off, plane stopped. Throttle at idle. Red light at the avia gate.
No time to breathe. Behind, a yellow dog picks up the stick. Another one, in front, takes the plane in charge. A glance at the instrument panel, all clear. A flap notch, brakes locked, full throttle. Roar of the P&W, keep the tail wheel on the deck... Green light to the bridge. Top of the yellow dog. Brakes released. Rolling.
A few tens of meters and the plane flies again, passes the bridge and sinks! Return the hand, not too much, the water is close! Gear and flaps up, speed increases, climbing, stabilized at 1000 feet, propeller at full speed... Phew!
On the clock, less than 4 minutes since the entry in the groove.
Five minutes of flight before a wide right turn to come back to the aircraft carrier and enter again in the circuit.
Behind, the ballet continues, a well-oiled, well-oiled machine. The planes, one after the other, follow the same procedure and link up landings and take-offs. The pilots, a little hesitant the first time in front of this small rectangle which moves, are reassured with the turns.
One hour already. Four times the pilots came back. The radio announces: "Gathering on Red Leader, return to base". A glance at the gauge, it is indeed time: at low altitude, with the periods of overspeed, the consumption of the Pratts is staggering, and we don't fly with full tanks to lighten the plane (even the armament has been unloaded).
At the end of the day, more than one hundred landings were made with only one propeller with curved blades at Glenview. An American pilot, with his engine crossed, wallowed in a Wildcat on one of the runways. Comments from the chief instructor: "Good job, tomorrow we'll boost the movement!"
In theory, we could go up to 20 rotations per hour and 200 in ten hours, but that would be exhausting for the deck crew. In reality, 120 to 130 is a good number. In the morning, it goes faster, but the air traffic controller on board reduces the pace at the end of the morning for safety reasons because of fatigue, even if it means speeding up later to make up for the time lost due to an accident, which is always possible.

 

[Wings]

May 10th, 1943

Yen Day (Tonkin) - General Nishihara Kanji assembles the staff of the 23rd division of the Imperial Army. The officers present were already familiar with the main lines of the battle plan, but General Nishihara wants to discuss the details.
Today begins Operation 台風 - pronounced "Ta-i-fu," in English, Typhoon*. The 23rd Division is to depart from Yen Day and the 22nd from Hoa Binh. They will converge at Tuan Giao, in the middle of rebel territory. Once the divisions are regrouped, they will attack and eliminate the rebel positions at Dien-Bien-Phu.
Colonel Kagoshima then draws attention to the opposition he had encountered and the two days of delay that it cost him. He admits he does not understand what the enemy is playing at: sometimes, the Vietnamese launched charges that the Imperial Army itself would not disavow, but in other circumstances, they abandoned without defense positions that had cost them much effort.
General Nishihara has no real answer, but he brushes aside the concerns of his subordinate. The enemy uses cowardly methods, ambushes and sabotage, but soon they would be forced to face the Imperial Army in a real battle. If the French imperialists and their Vietnamese henchmen are unable to hold a battle line and flee at the first cannon shot, it is regrettable for the honor of the battle, but it allows to fulfill without delay the mission entrusted by the Emperor!
.........
The same evening, 60 km northwest of Yen Day - The scouts of the 309th DD return, tired but satisfied. "Well?" simply asks the officer commanding the Dai Doan. "Everything is fine, the people of the 312th were able to sneak unnoticed outside the enemy lines."
The officer claps his hands in a rare gesture of enthusiasm. He has succeeded in his mission.
The Japanese advance has been delayed long enough for the 312th DD to escape encirclement. But with less than the strength of a Japanese regiment and no heavy weapons, a Dai Doan "division" does not stand a chance in a real battle: the 309th's leader just tried to slow down the advance of the Japanese 71st Infantry Regiment without sacrificing his men. It was often necessary to build forts that were only there to serve as decoys, but the trick was successful.
.........
Hanoi, 08:00 - The Paul-Doumer Bridge, 1,680 m long, was one of the longest bridges in the world when it was inaugurated in 1903. The bridge spans the Red River and Hanoi (on the right bank) to Haiphong. From there, the railroad runs to China. At the end of 1942, the mayor of Hanoi, appointed a few months earlier by the Japanese, decided to rename it "Long Biên Bridge" in reference to a district of the city, but the inhabitants themselves did notseem to know about it.
Paul-Doumer or Long Biên, it was this bridge that the 308th BG decides to attack. Its destruction would indeed be a great hindrance to the Japanese.
In the early morning, a dozen Liberators from Kunming show up, flying at 30,000 feet as in peacetime or almost. There are no fighters in sight and the flak is completely ineffective. But the bombing is a failure. The Americans will blame the morning fog - but most of the bombs ended up in the water, causing a hecatomb in the aquatic fauna; the rest only plough the banks, savagely massacring the flora.

* After the war, Japanese witnesses will affirm that this name would never have been chosen if Nishihara had known that the ambitious but catastrophic German operation in Ukraine had been named so as well.

 

[Wings]

May 10th, 1943

Odessa - Rear Admiral I.D. Kulishov, who had been in charge of the Nikolaiev naval base, was transferred to the Odessa naval base. Or rather what is left of it. Most of the facilities were damaged and mostly destroyed during the two sieges. The port has to be cleaned, wrecks have to be removed, the power supply has to be restored. Kulishov's task will not be easy and he will have to work closely with the MPVD and the civil authorities. The military will not be in short supply to help clear the streets and put the main communication routes back into service: a thankless but urgent task, since only the port will allow the heavy equipment that Odessa needs to resume its activity.
Already, thousands of Romanian prisoners of war are put to work to clear the heaps of debris accumulated everywhere. The 5th Air Army and the PVO are asked to help with the aerial coverage of the city, either with fighters or with anti-aircraft batteries.
The second mission of Kulishov is to constitute a flotilla able to operate along the coastline, but especially on the rivers (Dniestr, Prut and Danube). He entrusts this task to A.A. Melnikov, who commanded the 2nd Brigade of torpedo boats of the Black Sea Fleet at the beginning of the hostilities. His task is to assemble ships and crews capable of carrying out river and coastal missions. His flotilla is to facilitate the operations of the Odessa Front and allow the rest of the Fleet to concentrate on eliminating the remains of the German and Romanian navies in the Black Sea.

 

[Wings]

May 10th, 1943

Italian Front - In the west, the 3rd Brigade of the 4th ID, pursuing the Germans, emerges from the hills south-east of Tavernelle. The legionnaires, passing between the 3rd and 2nd Belgian Brigades, continue to advance alongside the 12th Line and reached Castiglione della Valle. Meanwhile, to the south of Torgiano, the grenadiers of the 1st Brigade fight along the Tiber (which, so high upstream, is quite narrow).
The most significant progress is made by the 86th DIA, whose Arnauld de la Ménardière Brigade overruns and exploits through the hills to open up between Bettona and Torgiano.
On its side, in the plain, the 83rd DIA arrives in sight of Passaggio. The division took into account the lessons of the previous month, which had seen it struggle for almost two weeks to take Mount Martano. After a massive bombardment by the B-25s of the 12th and 21st EB, Brigade Richard's infantry advances only behind a rolling barrage of corps artillery, while the forward air controllers are on the lookout for any point of resistance to the air force. Finally, for good measure, the skirmishers use flamethrowers to reduce the small blockhouses dotting the mountain.

 

[Wings]

May 10th, 1943

Elba - The two regiments of the Superga join forces and tale Portoferraio in a carnival atmosphere, in spite of the action of isolated elements that hold out until the evening. The French complete their tour of the western part of the island without too much fighting. It must be said that this sector is almost deserted. At the foot of the arid Mount Capanne, which culminates at 1,000 meters, there are only half a dozen fishing villages, where living conditions have changed little since the previous century.
.........
The aerial feat of the day is credited to Lt Johnson "Jay" Overcash, 57th FG, who shot down a Ju 88 and a Bf 109 on the same mission.
"It was early in the morning, we were on our way to a CAP north of Portoferraio when we saw Fritz arrive, at 9 o'clock below. There was a whole batch of Junkers escorted by a cloud of 109s. The blue section had to go after the escort while my section, the red one, would go after the bombers. They didn't see us coming. We were coming from the east, at sunrise, and that's a bad time to be accommodating. I opened fire in the dive at 300 meters and I immediately saw the Junkers that I was aiming at tilt and dive towards the sea. In the resource, I found myself in the middle of the gaggle, there were targets in all directions. With my wingman, we were attacked by a 109, probably a rookie, because we got away from him pretty easily. Then I was able to frame him in my sights and you know the rest..."

Operation Aiglon, D-Day+3

 

[Wings]

May 10th, 1943

Berlin - Oberst Thom presents his report to his hierarchy - that is to say to the representatives of Göring, Speer, Pohl and Kammler, who are hastily assembled. He informs 48 launching sites for V1 (including 5 below the Gothic Line), 7 others for V2, 5 storage sites and 6 assembly sites, without forgetting, for the latter, that there must be other possibilities of implanting them on the other side of the Apennines: Cuneo, Alexandria, Piacenza, Parma, and even Turin or Milan. The meeting praises the quality of his work - the next step in the officer's career is looking good!