Japhy
Banned
In the hours before the initial Japanese attacks on the Philippines MacArthur failed to order his B-17's of the Far East Air Force to launch attacks that were planned as part of the Rainbow 5 Plan. As a result these bombers were fueled, loaded and waiting for the go-code at Clark Field along with the majority of the FEAF's P-40's and P-35's when the Japanese attacked, and like that the majority of American Air Power in the Philippines were almost completely lost.
My question is, what if the Bombers had taken off in the hours between the No Drill Message from Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Arrival over Clark Field?
35 Bombers without escort, aimed at Formosa air fields have about as much a chance as the B-17's who flew to Germany unprotected in 1942-43. But hitting the air fields will certainly damage Japanese plans for taking the Philippine Islands by weakening their air cover for the initial landings. In addition not being caught on their runways the Bombers can land at the auxiliary airfields that dot the islands and continue to fight.
But besides that, news of the raid, bound to be exaggerated and dramatized, will be arriving stateside at the same time as the details of the Trans-Pacific Disaster are arriving. How will the initial American views and morale on the war change with the news of this daring counter-blow?
My question is, what if the Bombers had taken off in the hours between the No Drill Message from Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Arrival over Clark Field?
35 Bombers without escort, aimed at Formosa air fields have about as much a chance as the B-17's who flew to Germany unprotected in 1942-43. But hitting the air fields will certainly damage Japanese plans for taking the Philippine Islands by weakening their air cover for the initial landings. In addition not being caught on their runways the Bombers can land at the auxiliary airfields that dot the islands and continue to fight.
But besides that, news of the raid, bound to be exaggerated and dramatized, will be arriving stateside at the same time as the details of the Trans-Pacific Disaster are arriving. How will the initial American views and morale on the war change with the news of this daring counter-blow?