Time - 5.30pm April 5th 1942
Scenario - Cruisers 2nd Wave - The tired shotai pilots, now on their fourth mission of the day must escort a further strike of 6 B5N2 Kate torpedo bombers as they try to finish off two British heavy cruisers that have sortied from Columbo to meet up with the main body of Admiral Somerville's Eastern Fleet.
Victory Conditions - In order to attack the targets the two bomber flights must fly the length of the playing board. The Kates are each armed with a single 18" torpedo. Each one that survives inflicts 1D6+3 points points of damage (Japanese aerial torpedoes were very effective at this time) on the target. If the total damage inflicted exceeds 25 points the target is considered to be destroyed. The first wave attack only scored 15 points of damage.
As the sun slowly settles in the west CPO1c Honda can see more British fighters orbiting over the two damaged cruisers. One section peels off and heads for his part of the attacking force...but they are not the sharp nosed in-line engined Sea Hurricanes or Fulmars he has become used to dueling against....instead they are squat, snub-nosed fighters powered by a big radial engine...American built F4F Wildcats, or Martlets in FAA parlance....
The three Zeros race to meet the Martlets before they can intercept the Kate torpedo bombers....CPO1c Honda wants no repeat of what happened in the last mission....
They manage to head off the Martlets and CPO1c Honda goes head to head with the British section leader as they merge, but no hits are scored by either side....
Using the manuveribility of his Zero to best advantage Honda manages to tail the leading Martlet, damaging it severely before banking away to the right (red dot at bottom). His wingman PO1c Ashai banks right and manages to damage Martlet "B" while PO2c Watenabe misses unusally misses a high deflection shot at the trailing British fighter.
The British flight leader's Martlet streams smoke and flame, so he turns away to try to return to his carrier at wave top height. Martlet "B" is flown by a veteran pilot and he sees a chance suddenly open up as Honda's Zero flashes past......the Zero pilot has made a fatal mistake leaving his tail open to attack. The Martlet pilot throttles up and banks hard right onto the Zero's 6 o'clock.....50 cal slugs chew up the lightweight Zero like a buzzsaw and the fighter explodes in a bright orange fireball.....CPO1c Honda has fallen!
"Nooooo......" screams Ashai over the radio as he looks back to see his flight leader's aircraft disintegrate. Watenabe contains his own thoughts for later, as things get a whole lot worse for the two remaining Zero pilots...."Ashai.....stay calm.....there are more enemy fighters coming, but we must protect our comrades".
PO1c Ashai takes a deep breath and turns in pursuit of Martlet "B" with a slick Immelmann turn which puts him on the Britisher's tail, but he can only damage it again before he switches onto Martlet "C" 's tail, hitting and damaging him. Martlet "C" however continues the fight, turning in to attack Kate "C" from its 3 o'clock. fortunately for the Japanese the attack fails. PO2c Watenabe is now a driven man as he turns hard in pursuit of Martlet "B" and gets on his tail.....the sturdy fighter has taken a lot of punishment already so when its hit again the pilot bails out, giving Watenabe his 6th kill.
Trouble for the Kate's however is not far away as a flight of Sea Hurricanes comes diving down towards them (Top left). Ashai and Watenabe are to the right of the leading Kate flight while the remaining FAA Martlet ("C") is handily positioned to attack the second flight of Kates.....
The Japanese fighters do their best to protect their charges but they are outnumbered 2:1. PO1c Ashai pursues the last Martlet ("C") and shoots it down with a raking burst from astern, so the second Kate flight is safe for the moment. PO2c Watenabe faces off with the Sea Hurricanes, but they avoid him sucessfully.....
The FAA fighters use their energy wisely and rip into the leading flight of Kates....Sea Hurricane "A" is flown by a junior ace who first fires a burst into Kate "B", badly damaging it and forcing it to return to the Akagi immediately. He then moves on to fire a long burst into Kate "C" which just explodes as he turns away, meanwhile his wingman in Sea Hurricane "B" runs parallel with his leader and fires at Kate "A" which wings over and dives into the sea.....in one move half the Japanese strike aircraft have been absolutely decimated !!
At this stage of the fight I was joined by our cat Dougal who first took a long relaxed look from my knee at what I was up to.......
and then gave me a bit of advice on how to roll decent dice scores......
Back on the table PO1c Ashai wings over hard right and rakes Sea Hurricane "A", but only damages him. In a nifty show of aerobatics PO2c Watenabe Immelmann's onto Sea Hurricane "B" 's tail, damaging him, then powers on to attack Sea Hurricane "A" from dead astern causing more damage. The British flight leader elects to head back to his carrier in his seriously damaged fighter (two red dots, top), but his wingman in Sea Hurricane "B" (red dot, centre) spots more Kate's dead ahead and elects to make a pass at them before retiring.
Meanwhile Sea Hurricane "C" makes a pass at the previously damaged Kate "B" as it tries to exit the fight, but misses an easy kill (bottom).
Watenabe now half loops for a high deflection shot at Sea Hurricane "B" but misses, while Ashai also shoots at Sea Hurricane "B" but misses as he zooms by, then repeats his action with Sea Hurricane "C".....this allows Sea Hurricane "B" to attack Kate "E" head on, resulting in yet another Japanese strike aircraft being shot down! Sea Hurricane "C" however cannot reach the torpedo bombers as he tries to disengage, instead he finds himself rapidly closing with PO2c Watenabe's Zero.....as the two aircraft merge he sees hits on the Japanese fighter, but his own aircraft is hit repeatedly, forcing him to bale out.
PO1c Ashai goes after the last remaining enemy fighter from its reat quarter, but only damages it, but PO2c Watenabe then comes barreling in from directly astern and finishes the hapless Sea Hurricane off for yet another victory.
Result - Japanese victory.....Just!. Somehow the 2 remaining B5N2 Kates inflict 10 further points of
damage, which with the 15 points from the first strike is just enough to sink the British cruisers.
Kills - CPO1c Honda - None. Killed in Action 5/4/1942, PO1c Ashai - 1 Martlet, confirmed, PO2c Watenabe - 1 Martlet, 2 Sea Hurricanes, confirmed.
Only four aircraft from the strike return to the Akagi in the evening twilight as the damaged Kate ("B") did not make it back to the carrier.....While the British cruisers were finally sunk the cost of the two missions has been very high, especially to Akagi's torpedo bomber squadron, which lost no less than seven out of twelve aircraft dispatched.
The mood on the carrier is sombre and the two remaining Zero pilots are devastated over the loss of their flight leader CPO1c Honda. After their debriefing they are ordered to report to the fighter squadron commander's office space.
The Lieutenant informs them that in line with IJN tradiiton for his good service to Japan CPO1c Honda has been posthumously promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer. He then congradulates PO2c Watenabe on his impressive tally and informs him that he will be advanced to PO1c immediately. Given his natural ability Watenabe will also become the new Shotai leader, at least for the rest of Operation "C". A new pilot will also join the shotai to bring it up to stength. PO2c Fujimi joined the Akagi just before she sailed and is classed as a newbie having just graduated from flight school.
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