Operation C - Attack on Trincomalee 1st Wave

 

Time - 7.30am April 9th 1942

Scenario - Attack on Trincomalee 1st Wave - The now reorganised Shotai pilots must escort a strike of 6 D3A2 Val dive bombers as they attack designated targets at Trincomalee's port and naval base. Due to the narrow victory achieved in the last scenario the return of the Japanese carrier force has not been detected by the British, so any defending RAF fighters will have to scramble as the raiders appear overhead. This is represented by the defending fighters remaining stationary for 3 turns before they can move to engage the attacking Japanese aircraft. 

Victory Conditions - In order to attack the targets the two Val dive bomber flights must fly the length of the playing board. Each one that survives inflicts 1D6 points of damage on the target. If the total damage inflicted exceeds 25 points the target is considered to be destroyed and the mission to be sucessful.

 

Initial set up showing the first defending RAF Hurricane flight (top with dice showing turns remaining till they can move), The Vals on the right and the Zero Shotai on the left. I took the photos in a bit of a hurry, not all of them turned out too well sorry... 

 

Leading the Shotai for the first time since the loss of CPO1c Honda is PO1c Watenabe. Spotting the rapidly climbing enemy fighters he opts to dive down to engage them before they can intercept the Vals.....his wingman PO1c Ashai sticks with him but PO2c Fujimi struggles to stay with them in the dive (I kept rolling one and two for his movement....).   

PO1c Watenabe fires at Hurricane's "G" and "I" from their front quarters (bottom left) as he flashes through the formation but misses both aircraft completely, meanwhile the other members of the flight keep up with him as best they can, well aware that the first Val flight (top right) is now becoming vulnerable to interception by the Hurricanes.

The Hurricane section leader in "G" decides to split his flight - he and his wingman in "H" will take on the Zeros while his third, less experienced pilot in Hurricane "I" remains free to attack the bombers. The leader (right) turns into PO1c Ashai for an attack from his 9 o'clock position but misses the high deflection shot. Meanwhile Watenabe is suddenly aware of .303 rounds whizzing past his Zero and Ashai's voice screaming in his earphones "Behind you Watenabe.....behind you.....break......now!!". He breaks right but not before Hurricane "H" manages to hit his Zero from astern, luckily only damaging him (red dot), but not enough to force Watenabe to return to the Akagi. (If I had rolled one higher PO1c Watenabe would have been shot down....a very close call). 

PO1c Watenabe's near death experience swiftly sharpens his situational awareness and he sees an opening....he throttles up in pursuit of Hurricane "H" as it turns away and easily manages to get on its tail. A quick burst and the Hurricane streams smoke and dives away on its back, the pilot bales out of the stricken plane....then its a quick jink to the left and he is postioned on Hurricane "G" 's rear quarter.....Watenabe fires another long burst and the second Hurricane falls away then explodes. He then rolls to the right to clear his tail... he scans the sky all round, but he doesn't spot any enemy aircraft.

Meanwhile PO1c Asahi manuveres against Hurricane "I" and damages it. The British pilot, an inexperienced newcomer, having seen the fate of his comrades, wisely decides to wing over and dive away rather than face 3:1 odds in his heavily damaged fighter. Asahi does not pursue him. 

 PO2c Fujimi positions himself to cover the leading flight of Vals, but no more British fighters appear to defend the port, allowing the Vals to attack their targets completely unhindered apart from some desultory AA fire. They manage to destroy their assigned targets, and all aircraft return to Akagi fully intact apart from PO1c Watenabe's somewhat bullet ridden Zero.   

Result - Japanese victory. The D3A2 Vals inflict 26 points of damage, which is enough to destroy all the assigned targets without the need for further strikes against Trincomalee.       

Kills - PO1c Watenabe - 2 Hurricanes, confirmed, PO1c Ashai - 1 Hurricane, damaged, PO2c Fujimi - none. 

As the strike returns to Akagi word is received from the B5N2 Kate search planes that have been sent out to locate any enemy forces that at least one British carrier has been sighted....