IDK, anymore when these things like this come up and folks get into what they see as the nuts and bolts of it all I just get the same feeling pretty much everytime........ Many it seems want the easy way, or the definite advantage.
Now one cannot argue the disparity between the object points, when I saw that I was
Both sides should probably have had 1 land base target, and 1 TF to hit.
I think the plane set favors the Allies, but I would not say by a huge margin.
In the end, my thoughts are with Jaeger1...... Planning!! I say that based on the mission we led. We were assigned to hit TF 51.
We launched with 8 formations of JU-88's, and 9 escorts.......... Read that again if you have to. I had 1 scout to use to find the TF, which I knew was going to be in the northern part of it's assigned sector.
5 of the formations went into target sector at 12k, the 3 JU's with torps ran a geometry run on the waves. The CV was hit with torps and sunk. He made it into target untouched by enemy fighters, there were simply none near him. I had maybe 3 on me, and the 3rd was shot down well before ack from the TF started firing at him.
The Cruiser was dive bombed, as were 1 or 2 DD's. We had 2 RTB.
So 3 JU-88's drew all the cover for that TF down to the deck? Because our 10k guys reported no fighters at their alt.
I hate to say it, and no offence to anyone out there, but we simply had no business pulling that one off.
HUGE Kudos to the 68th and Menacing Ferrets for their role as escorts, and to MachNix ( 1841 Squadron) for locating the TF.
Maybe that was the mission on the allied side that was light pilots?
Did everyone understand the 2 TF's were HIGH priority targets? What didn't get sunk counted as points for the Allies, you all understood that correct? So there was a great incentive to defend them well....... VERY WELL!!
Maybe I totally misunderstood that and I am wrong? Let me know if I am.
Now in the upcoming frame we get to hit a city strat, and defend one........ Should be interesting to see if, and how the dynamics change in a weeks time.
Cic's will have to look a little harder at plane, and squad assignments, some squads are going to most likely pull 2 frames in bombers, heck maybe 3 now.
I would not expect second strikes in frame 2, with points tightening up as they will, escorts will need to concentrate on getting surviving buffs home, because going into a city strat at low alt with AAA set to .4 is basically a suicide run so I would count low JABO's out, but that's me.
In the end I cannot speak for our escorts, or scout for that matter, but we had fun. We were successful in our role in frame 1 and that's what matters to us
jdog
G3-MF