Dutch East Indies, #3

All,

Dogfights in the Dutch East Indies, Sortie #3 (VMF-343 Dirt Divers)

It's 21 January 1942 and the Marines of VMF-343, operating out of Palembang on the island of Sumatra, are back in action.  Nearly a week ago their CO, Captain Chris Chandler, led them in an intercept of Japanese aircraft that saw them defeat an enemy aerial reconnaissance effort, but lose an aircraft and have two more damaged.  Since then the Marines have been maintaining a two-aircraft Combat Air Patrol over Palembang during daylight hours; at 1445 local time, when word came in that Japanese fighters were sighted inbound, Captain Chandler immediately ordered two more F4F Wildcats aloft.

Overview, north is up.  The Marines have two fighting pairs: the CAP in the northeast (top right) and southwest (bottom left).  The Japanese have looped around to the south on their fighter sweep.  This is nothing but a brawl, the Japanese sending fighters over the ABDA airfield in order to provoke a fight, hoping to gain air superiority, presumably in support of future offensive operations.

In the northeast, the CAP is made up of Dirty 02 and 03, piloted by 1st Lt Broussard and 2nd Lt Tuggle, respectively. Both pilots are rated as Regular.  They are at speed 5/alt 5, searching for the enemy.

In the southwest, Captain Chandler is once again up in Dirty 01, as is Lt Gardner, in Dirty 04.  Capt Chandler is okay after receiving shell splinters in his upper back during the first fight, and Lt Gardner showed up at the base with nothing more than hurt pride after being shot down in that same engagement.  Capt Chandler is a Veteran pilot, while Lt Gardner is a Regular.  They are also at speed 5/alt 5, having just rapidly climbed to get into the fight.

The Japanese, three IJA Zeros coming in fast and low (speed 5/alt 2, with the third fighter a bit higher), looking for a fight.  Zero 01 is an Ace, Zero 02 is a Veteran, and Zero 03 is a Regular.

The opening moves of the engagement see everyone moving straight and level, with both sets of Marine fighters spotting the Japanese, but the Japanese only spotting Dirty 02 and 03, leaving Captain Chandler's section in great position to bounce the enemy fighters.

Lt Tuggle coaxes Dirty 03 a bit right to get a lead on Zeroes 02 and 03, but Lt Broussard is a bit overeager: he charges Dirty 02 straight into the fight, taking a horrible deflection shot at very long range, unbeknownst to him, he's firing on the enemy ace...  The seasoned Japanese pilot smirks and watches nonchalantly as the American tracers fall away off his right rear quarter.  Not even close...

And then it's time: the Japanese ace rolls Zero 01 hard over and climbs, going nose to nose with Dirty 02, standing on the trigger.  Lt Broussard tries to go evasive, but loses sight of the enemy fighter climbing up below him and 20mm and 7.7mm rounds strike the bottom of the sturdy Wildcat.  The plane is okay, but one of the machine gun rounds punches through and strikes Lt Broussard in the thigh!

The enemy ace (Zero 01) wants to go after Dirty 03, but he knows he doesn't have the power to climb more and turn into him in time to bring is guns to bear, so he quickly performs a 'Split-S,' reversing course, diving, and picking up speed, right onto Dirty 02's tail.  Capt Chandler, in Dirty 01, sees the enemy fighter first climb and shoot up the underside of Lt Broussard's aircraft, then whip the Zero around and stay right on his tail; wow, that's quite some flying there, Capt Chandler thinks to himself.  But he forces himself to focus as he's already got one in the bag: he moves straight in on Zero 02, who is completely oblivious to Capt Chandler's presence until .50 cal bullets begin smashing his plane to bits.  The Zero suffers structural damage and is going down.

Lt Broussard, bleeding badly from his thigh in Dirty 02, pushes his aircraft into a steep dive, heading for the deck and picking up speed, trying desperately to escape Zero 01.  Lt Tuggle, in Dirty 03, sees Dirty 02 running and decides the best way he can help him is to turn into the Japanese ace and try to shoot him down, but Zero 01 is way too slippery.  Lt Tuggle gets so turned around he can't hardly tell up from down with all the Japanese pilot's juking, and he ends up bunging the turn, losing speed and altitude and barely avoiding a collision with Zero 02, the plane Captain Chandler just shot up.  Lt Gardner, in Dirty 04, comes hard left, right onto the tail of Zero 03, but the Japanese pilot saw what Capt Chandler did to Zero 02 and is aware of the threat to his rear.  Just as Lt Gardner mashes his trigger, the Japanese pilot of Zero 03 begins evasive maneuvers and shakes off the American fire.

Then he immediately performs a wingover, bleeding speed but reversing course and flipping the tables on Dirty 01 and 04, maybe even lining up a pursuit of the wounded Lt Broussard in Dirty 02!

The pilot of Zero 02 bails out as his Zero crashes to earth.

Lt Broussard, feeling faint from loss of blood, pushes Dirty 02 for home as fast as it can go.  Suddenly Zero 03 realizes he's in the middle of three Yankee fighters; he's not sure if he should go after Dirty 02 or flip around to engage the other three.  He decides to stay in the fight by pulling an Immelman, but his indecisiveness has already cost him: he sees Captain Chandler in Dirty 01 flip his plane around, passes within feet of Lt Gardner's Dirty 04, and suddenly has his section leader, Zero 01, filling his windscreen.  He panics and bungs the maneuver, losing speed and altitude.

And that indecisiveness immediately costs him: Lt Tuggle flips Dirty 03 into a tight left turn and drops down, .50 caliber rounds hammering Zero 03, damaging it, as Zero 01 cuts right and lines up a long range shot on Dirty 02.  Normally this would be inadvisable, but 1) he's an Ace, 2) it's zero deflection, 3) he's got 20mm cannons, and 4) he knows he's already hit Lt Broussard's aircraft once, so it's likely he'll have a hard time performing any type of evasive maneuvers.  Lt Broussard sees the winking of gunfire in his mirrors and tenses up as 20mm cannon rounds begin chewing up his aircraft's tail.  Dammit, he thinks to himself, I'm going down.  I hope this bastard stops shooting at me long enough for me to get out, and then I hope I don't bleed to death down there on the jungle floor...

Dirty 04 rolls left to see if he can help out with that damn Japanese ace!

Only to have that damn Japanese ace (Zero 01), smiling to himself in the knowledge that Lt Broussard's aircraft is irreparably damaged, climb and cut hard right straight into him!  Capt Chandler keeps Dirty 01 straight and level with his eyes out the right side, waiting to see what develops between the Japanese ace and Lt Gardner (Dirty 04).  Lt Tuggle finds himself in a pickle: Dirty 03 has just shot up and damaged Zero 03, but the Japanese aircraft has lost airspeed and altitude and Lt Tuggle is about to blow on by the wounded Japanese fighter.  It takes quite a bit of luck and more than a little skill, but Lt Tuggle manages somehow to climb a bit, bleed some speed, and avoid a collision with Zero 03 in order to stay on his tail.  Once there, Lt Tuggle takes a deep breath, then sends a hail of .50 cal rounds into the enemy fighter...

And Zero 03 burns into the jungle below.

While Lt Broussard, weak with loss of blood, manages to roll his plane over and bail out, parachuting to safety.

Lt Gardner finds himself nose to nose with the Japanese ace (the sole remaining Japanese fighter); he's about to pull a 'Split-S' to reverse course, drop down, and pick up speed on the enemy fighter's tail, but as he draws even with the Zero he sees the Japanese pilot staring at him, blowing a giant bubble with some chewing gum, and the sight so unnerves Lt Gardner that he bungs the maneuver, zooming straight past, losing speed and altitude and leaving himself incredibly vulnerable to the Japanese ace.  "Dammit! yells Captain Chandler to himself, "get your @#$% together, kid!," having seen how talented the enemy pilot is.  Bravely, Capt Chandler holds Dirty 01 straight and level, hoping maybe he can entice the enemy ace to come after him, rather than Dirty 04, and then maybe, just maybe, Dirty 03 and 04 can get the drop on him by converging on him from opposite directions.  What no one has realized is that Zero 01 is too low and slow, doesn't have the energy to engage anyone right now, so he performs a power climb to gain altitude and pick up speed.

And then quickly the tables turn on the Japanese Ace: Dirty 04 performs a wingover, placing him on the Zero's tail, and Captain Chandler performs an Immelman, climbing and turning into the Zero, while Dirty 03 turns gently right, patiently waiting to see what the Japanese pilot does next.  Deciding discretion is the better part of valor, the Japanese climbs, turns right, then ducks into a cloud bank and makes his exit, racking up another kill and living to fight another day.

So the Japanese fighter sweep did not work out as planned!  The Marines send them packing, killing two Zeroes to their one loss of a Wildcat.  Lt Broussard was picked up by local Dutch troops and brought back to Palembang, but he's in pretty bad shape and will be out of the cockpit rotation for a bit.

V/R,
Jack

Dutch East Indies, #2

All,

Dogfights in the Dutch East Indies, Sortie #2 (565th Fighter Squadron "Chickenhawks")

It's 18 January 1941 and only days before a squadron of US Army Air Force P-40 Warhawks under Captain Brian Jordan was sent to Makassar on the southwest tip of the island of Celebes, to aid in the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) defense of the Dutch East Indies (DEI) from the marauding forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy.  Captain Jordan and his men with their six sleek, Curtiss Warhawks (I'm running small squadrons of six aircraft as to use more pilots would make it too much for me to handle following three different US squadrons) quickly settled into life on the dusty tropical airfield, happy be in the fight and ready to avenge Pearl Harbor!

It wasn't long until Capt Jordan's fighters were being scrambled to meet the Japanese.  Without warning, Japanese bombers arrived over Makassar and bombed ABDA facilities at approximately 1300 local time on 18 January 1942.  As bombs were falling Captain Jordan and three of his pilots dashed to their fighters, already being cranked by their ground crews.  By the time the Americans got into the air the bombing raid was finished, and the young Yanks found themselves right in the middle of a very confusing situation as the Japanese were reforming for their trip back to their air base.

The very confusing situation: the American flight of four P-40s is split into two sections, on in the southwest (bottom left) and one in the southeast (bottom right), while the Japanese have a section of fighters in the north (top center), heading south (bottom), and a section of bombers in the east (right), heading north.

In the southwest we have Captain Jordan (Veteran) and 1st Lieutenant Case (Regular) in Chicken 01 and Chicken 02, speed 4/altitude 3/ammo 5.

In the southeast we have 2nd Lieutenants Gann and Cotton (both Regulars) in Chicken 03 and 04, speed 2/alt 6, plenty of ammo.

The Japanese fighters at speed 6/alt 3/ammo 5, heading south.  Zeke 01 and 02 are Veteran pilots, Zeke 03 is a Regular.

And lastly, in the east, we have three Ki-21 Sallys, looking to get home after having dropped their bombs on ABDA facilities in the Makassar area.

The Japanese bombers head northwest, oblivious to the situation, as Chicken 03 and 04 spot them and begin to climb and pick up speed to chase them down.  The Japanese fighters spot Chicken 03 and 04, but not 01 and 02, and so begin turning into the American fighters in the southeast, while Chicken 01 and 02 spot the Japanese fighters and zoom straight in at them.

Lt Cotton, in Chicken 04, zooms ahead, with Lt Gann trailing him in Chicken 03.  Both the young, inexperienced pilots have their eyes on the Japanese bombers (a base is just visible at top center) and are working out the intercept angle, oblivious to the Japanese fighters directly in front of them.  Zeke 01 is ready to get this party started: he pulls back on the stick and rolls the nimble Zero over into a left-hand turn to go nose to nose with Chicken 04, but right as he was at the top of the turn, rolling the fighter onto target...  Well, last night I think he got some bad pork, and his stomach had been roiling all morning on the flight in.  When he pitched the aircraft over he ended up suspended in mid-air for a moment, hanging in the aircraft's seatbelts, and, well, it was just more than his upset stomach could handle.  He was just about to line up the shot on the amateurish young American when the smell reached up and slapped him in the face; fighting to get his canopy open to let some fresh air in, the Veteran Japanese pilot lost the shot as well as a bit of speed and altitude...

Lt Cotton couldn't believe his eyes when suddenly a Zero appeared, filling his windscreen: "Tally Ho my twelve o'clock!!!"

Captain Jordan (off camera to bottom) couldn't help but giggle a bit and wonder what the hell was going on with the lead Zero (Zeke 01) and was just about to speak into the radio to tell Lt Case (Chicken 02) to ignore Lt Cotton's tally ho, to sit tight as it looked like the Japanese fighters still hadn't seen Chicken 01 and 02, when Lt Case called out "I'm in!!!"  Captain Jordan looked on in shocked anger as Lt Case's P-40 zoomed past, machine guns chattering.  That damn fool has ruined our position, zooming in and taking a terrible deflection shot...

And so Captain Jordan was absolutely amazed when Zeke 03 pitched over and dived straight into the jungle below!!!

Zeke 02 sees his partner pitch over and explode on the ground but can't see where the fire came from.  He was already committed to engaging Chicken 03 and 04 anyway, and assumed they must have made some incredible, long-range shot, so he rolled in and opened fire at long range himself.  Lt Cotton juked Chicken 04 and the enemy rounds sailed by harmlessly.  Lt Gann held his position on Chicken 04's wing, while Capt Jordan pulled Chicken 01 slight right, stealthily angling to get on the tail of Zeke 01 and 02 as they flashed by.

The Japanese bombers keep pushing for their rally point, happy to stay out of the dogfight.  All the P-40s continue into the center, with Chicken 04 ending up nose to nose with Zeke 02 and Captain Jordan (Chicken 01) sliding right in behind Zeke 01, unnoticed.

Lt Case, having downed an enemy fighter already, says hell with the fighters and goes glory hunting as he turns left to go after the bombers.  Lt Cotton, in Chicken 04, displays some incredible stones and acrobatics as, already nose to nose with Zeke 02, he calmly flips a wingover, reversing course IN FRONT OF the Japanese Zero, believing he'll catch the enemy pilot off guard and force him past.  Lt Gann wants to turn Chicken 03 into Zeke 02 and fire him up, but he's thrown off at the crazy-ass move Lt Cotton just pulled AND he spots Zeke 01 cut hard left and open fire on him, so he bungs his maneuver, losing some speed and altitude as the Japanese leader's bullets miss as his aim is thrown off from Lt Gann screwing up the maneuver and not being where the Japanese pilot thought he'd be!

Zeke 02, with Chicken 04 just pulling a wingover right in front of him, Chicken 03 seeming to magically float in place amidst all the chaos, and his own leader sending 20mm and 7.7mm tracers haphazardly into the whole mess, attempts an Immelman, looking to reverse course 180 degrees to come in above and behind Chicken 04, but it's all too much for him and he bungs it, losing speed and altitude.  Meanwhile, still unseen, Captain Jordan hums to himself as he calmly charges his guns, flips the safety off, and coasts right up behind Zeke 01, letting the Japanese fighter fill his sights before nonchalantly depressing the trigger.  Captain Jordan watches the tracers meet the enemy leader's plane, pieces falling off and then the aircraft itself bursting into flame!

Lt Case (Chicken 02) continues to give chase as the Japanese bombers turn west, with Lt Gann (Chicken 03) looking to catch up and help.  Meanwhile, Zeke 02 finds himself all alone with Captain Jordan (Chicken 01) and Lt Cotton (Chicken 04) on his tail.

And now it's a duel between Captain Jordan and Lt Cotton to see who gets the last enemy fighter: Captain Jordan is quicker to the punch and slides in behind the Zero, .50 cals hammering the balswood enemy plane...

Captain Jordan smiles to himself as Zeke 02 explodes in midair and Zeke 01 disappears into the jungle below.  Lt Cotton can't believe his bad luck, but can't help but be happy and proud for his squadron leader.

Meanwhile, in the north, Lt Case rolls in on the enemy bombers.  He stays at long range, dancing with the Japanese machine gunners, lines up, and puts a burst into the nearest Sally, damaging it.

With all the Japanese fighters gone, Lt Cotton flips Chicken 04 around to give chase on the Japanese bombers.  Realizing he'll never get there in time, Captain Jordan (Chicken 01) smiles...

Stuffs a cigar stub into his mouth, and pushes back his canopy to get some fresh air.

Lieutenants Gann and Cotton continue to try and catch up as Lt Case continues his dance with the bombers, dodging defensive fire while pumping .50 cal rounds into the Sallys.  He's pretty good at it, too, as he watches a bomber go down for his second kill of the afternoon!

But then the enemy fire gets the better of him; he's not hit, but it's enough to throw him off the for a moment and he bungs his move to stay on the tail of the enemy bombers.  Which is exactly what Chicken 03 and 04 were hoping for: now they can get in on the action!  Hopefully.

Lt Case gets Chicken 02 straightened up and back in the game, Lt Gann pushes Chicken 03 for his perfect intercept point, and Lt Cotton rolls straight in, braving defensive fire.  His plane shudders as enemy machine gun rounds strike his P-40, but he's rewarded by seeing his own machine guns knocking pieces off the enemy bomber and a stream of dark, black smoke spew from the Sally's left engine.

The stricken bomber begins to drift towards the ground, Lt Cotton following it all the way in, pulling up only at the last moment, his P-40 actually being struck by fragments of the Sally as it struck the ground and blew up.  "Careful buddy!" Lt Gann calls out.  "Sorry, I just really wanted that one!"  The last Sally has disappeared into a cloud bank, so Lieutenants Gann, Case, and Cotton form up to wait for the squadron leader, Captain Jordan, to join them for the triumphant return to base.

The Chickenhawks made out like bandits, performing magnificently in their baptism of fire.  The four Army aviators managed to shoot down three enemy fighters and two enemy bombers, at the cost of only one P-40 damaged!  "Let's head to the barn, fellas, drinks are on me!" crowed Captain Jordan as the four fighters turned and began their landing descent.

I can't believe the Doggies out-performed my beloved Marines.  @#$%ing Wingers, always letting us REAL Marines down ;)

V/R,
Jack

Dutch East Indies, #1

All,

Dogfights in the Dutch East Indies, Sortie #1 (VMF-343 Dirt Divers)

It's 15 January 1941 and only days before a squadron of US Marine Wildcats under Captain Chris Chandler was sent to Palembang on the east coast of the island of Sumatra, to aid in the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) defense of the Dutch East Indies (DEI) from the marauding forces of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy.  Captain Chandler and his men with their six stubby, Grumman Wildcats (I'm running small squadrons of six aircraft as to use more pilots would make it too much for me to handle following three different US squadrons) quickly settled into life on the dusty tropical airfield, happy to see a handful of Americans, and Marines no less (the infantrymen of Captain Moon's platoon, recently arrived from the Philippines)!

It wasn't long until Capt Chandler's fighters were being scrambled to meet the Japanese.  At approximately 1545 local time on 15 January 1942 a picket boat radioed that Japanese aircraft were inbound: three Zeros escorting a Ki-21 "Sally," apparently conducting a reconnaissance of ABDA forces in the Palembang area.

Overview, north is up.  The Marines are on the left (west) and the Japanese on the right (east).  The Japanese objective is to exit the Sally off the left board edge (accomplishing its recon mission), the Marine objective is to stop it.

The Marine flight of four Wildcats, callsigns Dirty 01 through 04.
Dirty 01 is the squadron commander, Captain Chandler, rated as a Veteran pilot.
Dirty 02 is 2nd Lieutenant Rison, a Regular pilot.
Dirty 03 is 2nd Lt Haynes, Regular.
Dirty 04 is 2nd Lt Gardner, Regular.

The Marines are low and slow (Capt Chandler's section is at 2 speed and 2 altitude, Lt Haynes' section is at 1 speed and 1 altitude), having just got off the deck to intercept.  Red dice is speed, green is altitude, white is how much ammo they have.

The Japanese formation, all Imperial Japanese Army aircraft.  Zero 01 is an Ace, while his two wingmen are both Veterans, so it's got potential to be a bit rough for the Leatherneck pilots.  The leader, wingman, and Sally are really moving (6 speed), but pretty low (2 altitude), while the third Zero is moving quick but a bit higher (6/4).

Time to go!

The Marines, coming up low and slow, easily spot the Japanese and begin climbing to intercept, but the Japanese, moving faster and impaired by having to look down for aircraft amongst the tropical foliage, don't spot the Americans until relatively late, at which time Zero 02 peels right and climbs to flank Dirty 01 and 02, who have also climbed and speed up.

The veteran Japanese pilot in Zero 03 kicks over hard right and lays on the guns; Capt Chandler should go evasive but he's fixated on the Japanese leader and doesn't even see Zero 03 until tracers start zipping by.  Unfortunately they didn't all zip by, and several 20mm shells slammed into the plucky Wildcat, damaging the squadron leader's aircraft!

Dirty 04 comes left as Lt Haynes in Dirty 03 lines up a shot on the enemy fighter that just shot up his squadron leader.  The enemy pilot tries evasive maneuvers but he's late owing to his own gun run, and .50 caliber rounds chew up his aircraft, damaging it and wounding him!

Despite being damaged, Captain Chandler lines up a shot on the enemy recon aircraft.  He yo-yos in, dodging defensive fire from the Sally's forward facing machine guns, and gets off a good burst, damaging the Sally.

With Dirty 01 laying into the Sally, Lt Rison in Dirty 02 charges straight in, too!  He cuts loose with his .50 caliber machine guns, further damaging the Sally, but he comes nose to nose with the enemy bomber her machine guns meet Dirty 02, wounding Lt Rison!

Zero 02 cuts hard left to get into the fight while the enemy Ace, Zero 01 dives on Dirty 03, firing as he goes, but Lt Haynes pulls off some nifty evasive maneuvers and manages to dance between the rain drops!

We've got a full on furball now...

The enemy Ace drops and pulls hard right, straight into Dirty 04.  Lt Gardner sees the twinkling on the enemy's nose and wings and grits his teeth as he Wildcat shudders.  He feels the engine sputtering, the stick going dead, the pedals floating; there's not doubt about it, he's going down...

Zero 02 cuts hard left and takes a long range shot on Captain Chandler's Dirty 01, but the Japanese shells miss as he jukes the damaged Wildcat.

And not feeling too confident of his chances for survival, Captain Chandler dives his stricken Wildcat to the deck, picking up speed and hoping to get lost amongst the ground clutter.  Dirty 02, also damaged, joins him, as Zero 03, himself damaged and over enemy territory, decides to climb and pick up speed (yep, Zero's can do that).

Lt Gardner bails out of his burning aircraft, happy to see the silk pop open above him.

Meanwhile, the only Marine aircraft still in the fight, Lt Haynes' Dirty 03, kicks over hard left.  He charges in as tracers from the Sally's machine guns zip by mere feet away from his head.  He involuntarily hunkers down, then mashes the trigger on his stick...

And smiles as the Sally dives and crashes into the lush, green jungle below!

The situation at the end of Turn 4: Dirt 01 and 02 damaged and just hoping to survive, Zero 03 damaged but pretty confident he'll survive, and Dirty 03 sort of caught in the middle between a Japanese Ace and a Japanese Veteran.

The Japanese Ace, Zero 01 (bottom left, sorry I didn't get his number on him for some reason) performs a wingover to line up a shot on Dirty 03 as Zero 02 zooms in, hops on the tail of Captain Chandler's Dirty 01, and opens fire.  The Japanese veteran pumps 20mm rounds into the Wildcat, which amazingly absorbs the hits, but a lucky hit sends shell splinters into Captain Chandler's upper back, wounding him!

Lt Rison, in Dirty 02, sees his commander slump forward.  "Get your nose up Boss!  Hang in there, just stay on my wing and I'll get ya home!"  The two damaged Wildcats continue to make good their escape.

The damaged Zero 03 pulls right to head for home, while Lt Haynes gets a little fancy and flummoxed, all at once.  He spies Zero 02 leading up Captain Chandler, so he begins pulling right to line up a shot, but just as he does that he realizes that Zero 01 had pulled around on his tail, so totally bungs the maneuver, his indecisiveness costing him speed and altitude...

Lt Haynes figures he's a dead man, so he might as well go all out.  He jams the throttle forward and cuts hard right onto Zero 02's tail, then opens fire with his .50 cal machine guns, but the tracers sail harmlessly past as the veteran Japanese fighter pilot has his airplane shimmying and shaking like a pro.

Zero 03 finishes nursing his stricken fighter around to turn for home as Capt Chandler and Lt Rison manage to escape (Dirty 01 and 02)!

The enemy ace, Zero 01, rolls in on Lt Haynes in Dirty 03, and opens fire.  He's close enough that 20mm and 7.7mm tracers rip into the hapless Wildcat, wounding Lt Haynes.  The Marine pilot rolls inverted, looking to bail out before his aircraft blows up, when suddenly the enemy fire ceases and the Zero flashes past!  The enemy aircraft fighters, operating over Palembang near the limits of their maximum range, are bingo fuel and turn for home, fate sparing the young Lieutenant's life!

And with that, VMF-343's first taste of combat is over, quick and deadly.  The Marines lost one aircraft (Lt Gardner was able to find his way back to Palembang in matter of a few hours) and had two pilots wounded in two aircraft damaged, including the squadron commander.  They did manage to deny the enemy reconnaissance mission by shooting down the Sally, but they didn't fare very well against the enemy fighters, managing only to damage one.

V/R,
Jack