This weeks Wednesday snapshot,
"Hellcats Over Mindanao"represents initial fighter sweeps and strikes of Imperial Japanese forces on Mindanao by USN F6F Hellcats operating from Task Force 38.
Walkons and squads alike are welcome!
Roll time is 10:00 pm edt in the SEA but please be early so we can get underway on time.
CO positions are currently open. If you would like to lead either side let me know
here or just show up early and contact me.
Historical Background
American grand strategy in the Pacific was decided at a conference in the summer of 1944. Gen Douglas MacArthur, Adm Chester Nimitz and the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chose to reoccupy the Philippine islands rather than strike toward the Chinese mainland.
Sixteen fast-carriers departed at the end of August with some 520 Hellcats. The ever increasing requirement for fleet defense had resulted in big-deck carriers embarking up to 54 fighters (with fewer dive- and torpedo bombers) - a significant increase over the previous standard of 36 fighters. The resulting surface action was second only in size to that employed in the 1916 Battle of Jutland, though for variety and concentrations of forces engaged - air, surface and submarine- no other action could match it.
From the initial sweeps over Mindanao in September 1944 to the withdrawal of Task Force 38 in January 1945 the twenty-two squadrons of Hellcats that saw action over the Philippines claimed an astonishing (and devastating for the Japanese) tally of 1300 air-to-air kills.
