First Lightning Kill: 18-Nov-42

by Joe Ferrara

Background: After landing in Northwest Africa, P-38s of the 1st and 14th Fighter Groups often escorted bombers to attack Axis ports and airfields in Tunisia. A force of twelve B-17s, escorted by six P-38s of the 48th FS, were intercepted by six Bf109s enroute to Bizerte. After a 25 minute running battle, Lt. Carl Williams caught a Bf109 attempting to dive away and shot it down for the first P-38 kill in the North African theatre. One P-38 was forced to crash land, but the pilot was rescued.

Map: Blue Sky

Aircraft:	USAAC	=	6x P-38F-15 12x B-17E
	Luftwaffe	=	4x Bf109G-2

Set Up:

Set up the B-17s in hexes 2907, 3007, 2807, 2906, 3006, 2806, 3205, 3304, 3104, 3204, 3103 and 3303 at speed 4.0, level bank, altitude 22.0 (#1-#6) and 22.2 (#7-12#), wings level.
Set up the P-38s in hexes 3003, 3102, 2902, 2802, 3604 and 3703 at speed 5.0, level bank, altitude 22.5 (#1 through #4) and 23.5 (#5 and #6).
Set up the Bf109s begin in 4603, 4503, 4602 and 4601 at altitude 24.0, speed 8.0, wings level. The Bf109s steep dived on the previous turn.

Game Length: 20 game turns.

Special Rules:

The B-17s begin loaded with bombs.
The USAAF automatically loses initiative on turn 1.
If needed, shift aircraft to keep them on the playing surface. Shift all aircraft equally.
Award the USAAF player 2 VPs for each B-17 that is still flying in formation and carrying bombs at the end of the game.

Additional Rules: Pilot Quality - Training Standards:

USAAF	P-38s: Average Treat all USAAF "ace" results as "gifted-crack shots" (There are no US P-38 aces this early in the war). B-17s: all Regular crews.
Luftwaffe	Good

ADC availability:

The P-38F-15 and B-17E ADCs are available from Uncle Ted's ADC Collection.
The Bf109G-2 can be found in the "Achtung-Spitfire" game.

Notes: This is the first Lightning kill in Northwest Africa. the first actual combat kill was by a P-38F of the 1st FG, stationed temporarily in Iceland, shooting down a FW-200C Kondor patrol bomber. - Uncle Ted