Ramp-Rat
Monthly Donor
So Sergeant Okazaki, has after a long and audacious series of fights reached the Vietnam island of Phu Quoc. He should have at least a month to acclimatise, rest and become used to the local environment especially weather. Instead he’s about to be thrown into action against a superior opposition, the like of which he has never encountered before. His aircraft is functional obsolete in comparison to all the fighters in the Allied stable, despite having a longer range/endurance, it’s slower with an inferior armament, and lacks an armour to protect the pilot or engine. He and all his fellows are flying and using totally out of date tactics, against well trained pilots who are using the most up to date tactics and formations. His vic three formation means that every time he comes up against a finger four formation, he is outnumbered, and the basic advantage lies with the British. For all his training he hasn’t to date encountered an opponent who is as well trained and equipped as he is about to, and the reality is he has very little experience in air to air combat. He is operating out of a hasty constructed airfield that lacks any of what his opponents consider the minimum facilities needed. It doesn’t have adequate drainage, protected revetments for the aircraft , secure and separated storage for fuel and ammunition, and air raid shelters for the ground crews. I doubt that it has anything more than a few machine guns for AA defence, and its crash truck is anything more than an simple truck with a few fire extinguishers on board.
While the Japanese had excellent doctors, the Japanese forces were very remiss in comparison to the Anglo Americans when it came to providing medical services. A British pilot who is wounded in action can expect that provided he makes it back to his home base, even if he crashes on landing, well trained and equipped crash crews will extract him from his aircraft, and he will receive the best of available care, before being evacuated to a base hospital in Singapore. I do not know what the state of play was in regards to the provision of blood transfusions in Malaya was at this point in time. Whether there was a blood bank to draw on, or it was only fresh drawn blood being used, but there is no question that at least some blood would be available if needed at every airfield. If Sergeant Okazaki is wounded in action he will have only the primitive facilities available on the airfield to treat him, its a long way to anything more sophisticated, and the chance of an air evacuation are slim to none. Casualties from combat and disease will be far higher among the Japanese than the British, and this includes the ground crews, were just a small cut if not properly and promptly treated can result in a major infection.
Keith Park for all his problems, is in a much stronger position than he was in the UK, where he was restricted in the actions he could take. In the UK he couldn’t order an attack on the Luftwaffe airfields, he had to make a request through authorised channels and hope it was fore filled. In Malaysia he is totally in charge and is the one to direct the forces allocated to him. Therefore Sergeant Okazaki, might find on day two of the conflict a flight of three Blenheim’s paying his airfield a dawn call, and dropping some bombs. OK twelve 250 is not a lot, but an attack at low level hitting without warning against an airfield without protection and aircraft lined up in a row, you don’t need to hit any of them just the bomb blasts and shrapnel could do a lot of damage. Plus it only takes one lucky bomb to hit the fuel storage area and it’s going to take time to build up the fuel stocks again. For an airforce that up until now has been able to operate without opposition and has had to give little consideration to defending its airfields, this is going to come as a major shock. Remember Park has had close to a year to plan out his response to a Japanese assault, and while he would prefer a preemptive strike, he will have made plans for a response to a Japanese attack. And while on day one his forces priority is defending its own air space, there is nothing to say that surprise dawn attacks against the known enemy fighter fields, is not an option. And given the total lack of an air warning system British bombers can fly in at the best hight of fuel economy before entering a shallow dive to tree top height for the attack. And the majority of southern Vietnam is well within the range of Blenheim’s flying from northern Malaya, and attacking from the west at dawn will be coming out of the darkness.
RR.
While the Japanese had excellent doctors, the Japanese forces were very remiss in comparison to the Anglo Americans when it came to providing medical services. A British pilot who is wounded in action can expect that provided he makes it back to his home base, even if he crashes on landing, well trained and equipped crash crews will extract him from his aircraft, and he will receive the best of available care, before being evacuated to a base hospital in Singapore. I do not know what the state of play was in regards to the provision of blood transfusions in Malaya was at this point in time. Whether there was a blood bank to draw on, or it was only fresh drawn blood being used, but there is no question that at least some blood would be available if needed at every airfield. If Sergeant Okazaki is wounded in action he will have only the primitive facilities available on the airfield to treat him, its a long way to anything more sophisticated, and the chance of an air evacuation are slim to none. Casualties from combat and disease will be far higher among the Japanese than the British, and this includes the ground crews, were just a small cut if not properly and promptly treated can result in a major infection.
Keith Park for all his problems, is in a much stronger position than he was in the UK, where he was restricted in the actions he could take. In the UK he couldn’t order an attack on the Luftwaffe airfields, he had to make a request through authorised channels and hope it was fore filled. In Malaysia he is totally in charge and is the one to direct the forces allocated to him. Therefore Sergeant Okazaki, might find on day two of the conflict a flight of three Blenheim’s paying his airfield a dawn call, and dropping some bombs. OK twelve 250 is not a lot, but an attack at low level hitting without warning against an airfield without protection and aircraft lined up in a row, you don’t need to hit any of them just the bomb blasts and shrapnel could do a lot of damage. Plus it only takes one lucky bomb to hit the fuel storage area and it’s going to take time to build up the fuel stocks again. For an airforce that up until now has been able to operate without opposition and has had to give little consideration to defending its airfields, this is going to come as a major shock. Remember Park has had close to a year to plan out his response to a Japanese assault, and while he would prefer a preemptive strike, he will have made plans for a response to a Japanese attack. And while on day one his forces priority is defending its own air space, there is nothing to say that surprise dawn attacks against the known enemy fighter fields, is not an option. And given the total lack of an air warning system British bombers can fly in at the best hight of fuel economy before entering a shallow dive to tree top height for the attack. And the majority of southern Vietnam is well within the range of Blenheim’s flying from northern Malaya, and attacking from the west at dawn will be coming out of the darkness.
RR.
