A Vist to Colombo: 5-Apr-42

Background: Fuchida read Colombo in the midst of a sunny morning, flying at the head of 54 B5N2 Kates and 27 D3A2 Vals escorted by 36 A6M2 Zeros. They were picked up and tracked by radar, and the RAF sent 36 Hurricane I and IIBs of No. 30 and No. 258 sqdns (plus 6 Fulmars) to intercept the raid. Fuchida lead the raid north of the city, in an attempt to mislead any defending fighters. He succeeded, and the escorting Zeros met the interceptors, allowing most of the attacking bombers to avoid them.

Map: Ground Map

Setup:

• Set up 6 Zeros in two vics heading west at 12.0, speed 6.0, centered in 1530 and 2230.
• Set the Vals and Kates up in vics at least 6 behind the Zeros heading west at 10.5, the Vals at speed 4.5, the Kates at speed 3.5. Leave at least 1 hex between the hexes.
• The last two vics of Zeros enter on turn two flying vics at 11.0, speed 6.0, in level flight. One vic must be 4 columns south of the original position of the southern-most bomber; the other must be 4 columns north of the northern-most bomber
• Set the Hurricanes and Fulmars up by squadron, any heading between NNE and SSE, starting at any row less than 15 (that is anywhere on the western part of the board, rows 01-14) at altitude 9.0+(1d10*500 ft) for each squadron, max level speed.

Game Length: 20 turns

Special Rules: If you also played Albacore for Breakfast as part of this campaign, for every three Zeros damaged (round up), remove a Zero from the original set up.

Additional Rules:

• The Vals are each armed with 1x 250 Kg bomb and 2x 60 Kg bombs. They are Loaded. They are organized in vics of three. Generate pilots and characteristics as necessary from the Good chart.
• The Kates are each armed with 2x 500 kg bombs and are overloaded. They are organized in vics of three. Generate pilots and characteristics as necessary from the Good chart.
• All Japanese aircraft are organized in vics of three.
• RAF units are organized in elements of two by type. Where there is an odd number of aircraft ina unit, make one element a vic.

Aftermath: The raid was successful on sevral counts:

1. The attacking bombers nearly free reign over Colombo, attacking port and rail facilities and such ships as were in the harbor. The destroyer HMS Tenedos and the merchantman xxx was sunk; the xxx was damaged.
2. The escorting Zeros shot down xx Hurricanes and xx Fulmars, for only xx losses.

The major fly in the ointment was that the main body of the Royal Navy's Far East fleet was nowhere in sight.

Variants

For the D3A2 Val and B5N2 Kate, the last number is the recommended 1/3 of the attacking force available to the interceptors, the rest having gotten through.

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