I was having a great time in the CT over the weekend. Our (IJN) CV group was off the cost of A37, and I decided to attempt to land a LVT(4) on the beach. When I spawned just a scant 1000 yards off shore, within visual range of the town, I was tempted to just open fire on the town buildings. However, then I noticed a low hill to my right, covered in trees. So, I fired up the engine and headed to shore. A number of enemy aircraft flew within a few thousand yards of me, but none seemed to take notice; there were IJN aircraft about, so they were no doubt more concerned with looking up then down.
I made the beach unmolested, and the cover of the trees, so I moved up the hill. stayed just under the canopy, and remained undetected as I crested the hill and moved down towards the town. I stopped just in side a grove, a mere 1200 yards from the nearest town buildings, and proceded to knock down about half. At that point, I switched to hangers, taking out several fighter hangers and a bomber hanger, as well as A37's boyscout camp. Still I remained undetected.
It was at this point that I noticed planes spawning on the end of the runway to my left. I also noticed a low, tree-covered hill just off the end of the runway. A sadistic grin on my face, I turned back into the concealing safety of the jungle and headed that way. I had a bad moment when a defensive gun emplacement took me under fire. I was sure my thin-skinned mount would succumb to the rain of light AAA fire rattling off it. Miraculously, I managed to move out of range before taking any damage. I pulled up into a small corpse of trees a scant 1000 yards from the southwest end of the runway, and backed into a little alcove. Concealed on three sides and from above, I trained my gun on the nearby hangers.
As the first hanger went up in flames, I spotted a TBM at the far end of the runway, just starting its take-off roll. I tried to ignore it, but as it swelled in my view, my thougths turned towards my machine guns.
"Oh heck, why not? Who wants to live forever," I thought. I jumped to the top 30-cal mount, trained it on the ponderously slow TBM only 800 yards away, and let 'er rip. I saw pieces falling off the plane, and was rewarded 30 seconds later with a kill message. The jig was up.
Soon, the bombs, rockets, and 50-cal rounds were raining all around me. Funny thing is, while they managed to kill both machine guns they didn't kill the 75-mm or anything else. I ran out of howetzer rounds, but stayed tucked into my hideout. Several enemy planes crashed as they attempted to kill my gv. I called for help, and was rewarded when Karnak agreed to bring supplies. Amazingly, I survied long enough for him to drop them. Repaired and re-armed, I once again commenced to rain steal on the base and take pot-shots at passing planes. This when on for what seemed like forever. Finally, ammo again exhausted and supplies used up, I rolled brashly down onto the end of the enemy runway and exited the vehicle.
Five enemy planes to my credit, along with guns, buildings, hangers, etc, the only down side was I didn't get public credit. Seems you don't get "Successfully Landed" anymore for landing on enemy controlled bases. Ah well...
Great fun, and
to all those guys who tried to kill me.
