Next time one of you staffers have no plans for a week I'd like to give this a chance.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
June 1943:
With the Japanese and American fleets spent and rebuilding after the Guadalcanal Campaign the air battles around New Guinea and the Solomons are left to the land based air units of both sides.
New aircraft are replacing the war weary P-39s, P-40s, F4Fs, and A6M2s. In early 1943 the USAAF's P-38 and USMC's F4U-1 are starting to give the Japanese a mere glimpse of the ordeal by air they will be facing the remainder of the war. In an effort to stem the tide of the Allied advance through the Solomons and New Guinea the Imperial Japanese Navy has managed to replace many of their ageing A6M2 Model 21 Zekes with the A6M3 Model 22. Although the older Model 21 is still common and pressed into service. The Japanese high command sensing the disaster about to befall the Empire starts introducing Japanese Army Air Force Units to the theater in December 1942 with the arrival of the 11th Sentai and their KI-43 Hayabusas. They are soon followed in January by the 1st Sentai. The arrival of the 68th and 78th Sentais in the spring of 1943 brings real hope of countering the ever growing Allied aerial might with the new Ki-61. 1942 is over, gone are the names Sakai and Foss. There are new warriors with names like Bong, Boyington, Sugita, and Takeuchi, ready to take their places in history.
MAP: Slot 2
Allied Forces (Bishop)
On Land:
+ = Available at A41 A35 and A32 only
++ = Available at A32 only
B-25C +
B-26 +
C-47++
TBM
SBD
P-40E
P-39D
F4F-4
P-38G
F4U-1
M3
M4
At Sea:
No Aircraft
LVTA2
LVTA4
PT Boats
Axis Forces (Knights)
On Land:
+ = A11 A12 A15 A16 only
Ki-67+
B5N
D3A
A6M2 playing itself and as a Ki-43 Sub
A6M5 as A6M3 Sub
Ki-61
M3
M4
At Sea:
No Aircraft
LVTA2
LVTA4
PT Boats
Fog is set at 12.5 miles.
Traditional AvA bombsight (must be calibrated).
Radar settings as follows:
Tower 132,000 (feet)
Sector 316,800
Fuel is 1.0 burn rate.
Ack is .25 for low-level ack, .1 for puffy ack
(that is, considerably less effective than MA).
Friendly mid-airs are off.
Killshooter is on.
Strat is disabled.
Note: No aircraft for either fleets. Fleets are for amphipious operations and ship to ship fighting.
Rooks are disabled. Pick Bishops or Knights.