22 August 1943
Both sides' bombers take a beating
DEI
Catalinas, Beaufighters, and P-38s all made attempts at attacks on merchant traffic west of Ambon, with little success. The P-38s were the only ones to connect, and these G variants didn't carry bombs so it was just strafing runs, lightly damaging two cargo ships.
SouthPAC
Daylight B-24 raids on Ponape turned out to be a bad idea. The carriers weren't gone after all. CAP strength was about 50 aircraft, mostly Zeroes. We lost 5 B-24s to the fighters, and a 6th to flak. The bombers took 4 Zeroes down with them.
Burma
Both of us bombed each other's land forces at Pegu, but only I was maintaining a CAP over the battlefield. 23 enemy Betties arrived unescorted, resulting in 8 being shot down by the P-38s on patrol. Additional Betties arrived with Zero escorts, which kept the few P-38s still on station at bay. Overall we're still getting a lot more iron on target than the enemy is. And we have additional land forces only a few more days out.
Reinforcements etc.
The Essex CVBG is back at Pearl and has been stood down for much needed maintenance. They'll be down about a week. I've also transitioned VB-9 from SBD-3s to SB2C-1C Helldivers. This upgrade adds radar and substantial range, although the SBD-5 can best the SB2C-1C in range with the drop tanks added. I'm hoping the Helldiver's higher top speed will make them a bit more survivable in fights where the enemy fighters get through.
55th FG/38th FS withdraws
55th FG/343rd FS withdraws
AD Yosemite arrives at Eastern USA
SS Dace arrives at Eastern USA
DE Narbada arrives at Aden
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