"It was a gorgeous day for a battle. The nineteenth dawned at 0430, casting a semitropical light over the enormous expanse of the
Philippine Sea. At that hour Mitscher's group lay a hundred miles northwest of
Guam. Not quite ninety minutes later the sun appeared behind
Saipan, revealing beautiful flying conditions: a warm morning with the evening's clouds dissipating before
noon."
From Clash of the Carriers by Barrett Tillman
The first battle of the
Philippine Sea is the largest carrier versus carrier battle in history, with 15 US Navy carriers and over 900 carrier aircraft, facing 9 Imperial Japanese Navy carriers and just under 500 carrier aircraft.
Japan, realized that
Saipan, would give the Americans a base for the new B-29's to expand the bombing campaign made it the highest priority to reinforce and defend the island. The Japanese navy made a series of maximum effort attacks to thwart the invasion with all available forces. At this time the IJN was still a formidable force with over a dozen aircraft carriers, and hundreds of planes and pilots to place into battle. Admiral Ozawa launched the first attack on the American carriers at 0600 on the morning of 19 June 1944. At that time the Admiral had almost 500 carrier aircraft under his command. By the end of the battle, late in the evening the next day, he had only 35 serviceable aircraft left. The blow was something the Japanese Navy would never recover from. Just five months later, the only thing the remaining carriers could be used for was as a decoy for Admiral Halsey at
Leyte Gulf.
This FSO Setup will attempt to recreate the air battle that took place over the
Philippine Sea on the 19th and 20th of June, 1944.
Frame 1- July 10th, 2009- (0600 Tower Time)
Frame 2- July 17th, 2009- (1100 Tower Time)
Frame 3- July 24th, 2009- (1700 Tower Time)
Plane Set / Rules
Allied:
F6F-5
SBD-5
TBM-3
Axis:
A6M5b
B5N2 (get a 2nd life in A6M5b)
D3A-1
Ki-61 (Sub for the D4Y-1 must carry bombs and attack ships as primary role)
NOTE: The aircraft requirements will vary per-frame, please refer to the objectives for the appropriate numbers.
Side Split-
45% Allies
55% Axis
Scoring:
Will be points based, with an even split between Air-to-Ground (A2G) points and Air-to-Air (A2A) points. Each object at an assigned target (that can be destroyed) will have an assigned point value. The attacker will score points for each object destroyed, and the defender will score points for each object that is not destroyed at that target.The point value of each pilot will be determined by the total A2G potential points divided by the number of pilots who actually fly in the frame.
Aircraft Scoring:
You will score Air-to-Air (A2A) points in the following two ways.
Each enemy aircraft shot down
Each successful landing in an aircraft prior to the end of frame ( landing as a gunner will not count )
Ground Targets:
Players will earn points for objects destroyed on the ships even if they are not sunk.
Aircraft Carrier (CV)- 2094
Cruiser (CA)- 1471
Destroyer (DD)- 1021
Arena Settings:
Terrain – bigocean
Icon Range – Short
Radar – Off
Fighter and Bomber Warning Range – 10,560 -2 miles
Tower Range – 10,560 (for display to match the above setting)
Visibility – 17 miles
Wind: None
Clouds: TBD
External view for bombers (F3) – On
Friendly Collisions – Off
Enemy Collisions – On
Kill Shooter – Off
Fuel – 1.0
Ack – 0.2
Time – (See Objectives)
Bombsite calibration – MA standard
Evening- 2100
Specific Rules:
Ki-61's must be used as dive bombers, therefore they must launch with bombs and attack the specified targets.
F6F-5's may NOT carry rockets or 1000 pound bombs.
There will be backup recovery carriers in clearly marked sectors of the objectives. Do not attack the recovery carriers.
FSO 
