Rhythm of the Cobra
The men and P-39s of the USAAF's 8th Pursuit Group (PG) achieved operational readiness in Port Moresby, New Guinea, at the end of April 1942. Eager to engage the enemy, the PG sortied an offensive sweep to the Japanese airfields at Lae and Salamaua on the last day of April.
Formation leader Lt Col Boyd D 'Buzz' Wagner reports:
"Our approach was made on Lae from 50 miles out to sea at an altitude of about 100ft in order to prevent our detection. When about 20 miles out, four aeroplanes were sent ahead to engage the Japanese Security patrol over Lae Drome. The top cover drew the enemy security patrol off to the east of Lae Drome, and no aerial resistance was encountered during our strafing attack. Inaccurate ground machine gun and ack-ack fire was observed.
Our strafing aeroplanes were then attacked from above by several Zero fighters. Belly tanks were dropped immediately and throttles opened. Our formation began to pull away from the Zeros when the last four P-39s turned to engage three of the enemy fighters in combat. In the meantime, more Zeros had appeared, and it is estimated that we were attacked by 12 to 13 altogether. The four P-39s were now hopelessly outnumbered, so I turned the entire formation back and a terrific fight ensued between 13 P-39s and an equal number of Zeros."
Four Zeros were claimed shot down by the P-39 pilots, and the Americans lost four fighters - three pilots eventually made it back to Port Moresby on foot and the fourth was reportedly captured and executed by the Japanese. From the four claimed Zeros, Buzz Wagner scored three, raising his score to total of eight and making him the ranking US ace in-theatre at the time.
George Mellinger and John Stanaway - P-39 Airacobra Aces of World War 2
Arena
SEA
Country Percentages
Allies-50%
Axis-50%
Allies - Rooks
100% P-39D of USAAF 8th PG
Orders:
-Takeoff from Port Moresby (A10)
-Execute an offensive sweep over the enemy airfield at Lae (A12). Strafe the field and and attack any sighted enemy aircraft.
Restrictions:
-75% of the planes attacking A12 must stay under 2000ft above ground level
-25% of the planes may fly as top cover and have no altitude limit
-No refuel / replane
-Do not fly out of the map boundary
Axis - Knights
100% A6M2 Zeros
Orders:
-Takeoff from Lae (A12)
-Defend Lae (A12)
Restrictions:
-75% of the planes must wait in ground until enemy contact by airborne security patrol OR ground warning (flashing field)
-25% of the planes may takeoff freely as airborne security patrol, but they must stay inside 25 mile radius (Yellow Box) of the Lae field (A12) until enemy contact.
-No refuel / replane
-Do not fly out of the map boundary
Victory points:
P39 - 15pts (see the note below!)
A6M2 - 10 pts
Hangers - 10 pts
Ammo - 5 pts
Barracks - 5 pts
Fuel - 5 pts
Field Gun - 2 pts
Notes:
Axis players gain 15 points per every allied P39 that does not successfully land at A10. This reflects the harsh jungle conditions and the hostile nature of the theater of operations. Disconnections are also counted and they simulate mechanical failures.
The hosting CM can easily obtain the axis P39 scores from the logs by subtracting the number of landed from pilots in the allied overall stats.
