Guess My Secret Project

Case · August 8, 2001, 21:45

While I'm working on updates of 'The Cruel Sea' and 'Raging Dragon', I also have a completly different 'secret project' nearing completion.

Here's clue one:

Boco · August 8, 2001, 22:28

Seriously, not much I recognize. Sorry Case, I don't know Aussie markings from British. A radial engine and a tail gunner doesn't belong to a fighter that I can recognize. So, possibly a carrier dive bomber, maybe a lend-lease if the signature is a clue. Okay, Japanese vs British/Commonwealth -- could be anything from Ceylon to Hong Kong to New Guinea, 1941-1945. Over the ocean, so that leaves out Burma. Not doing too well here, need another clue.

[COLOR=skyblue]

SunTzu · August 8, 2001, 23:13

I think its about the Battle of Coral Sea. Maybe it look likes the background is the ocean.............

Cavalcadeus · August 9, 2001, 00:52

3 scenarios in a month!!!

It took me a month to finish half my scenario.

H Tower · August 9, 2001, 05:01

Quote:

Originally posted by SunTzu
I think its about the Battle of Coral Sea. Maybe it look likes the background is the ocean.............

i don't think it can be the coral sea because i don't think australian/british airplanes took part. but a scenario about the campaign in new guinea is a possibility. unless this is a scenario about the early japanese take over ala singapore and hong kong.

case i thought you were back in school already, are you only taking one class or something? three scenarios this quick is amazing. hope you don't burn out.

kobayashi · August 9, 2001, 05:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Boco

Seriously, not much I recognize. Sorry Case, I don't know Aussie markings from British. A radial engine and a tail gunner doesn't belong to a fighter that I can recognize. So, possibly a carrier dive bomber, maybe a lend-lease if the signature is a clue. Okay, Japanese vs British/Commonwealth -- could be anything from Ceylon to Hong Kong to New Guinea, 1941-1945. Over the ocean, so that leaves out Burma. Not doing too well here, need another clue.

[COLOR=skyblue]

Single engine aircraft with a tail gunner hmmm.. - looks suspiciously like a Fairey (spelling?) Battle bomber. Didn't know they were used in the Pacific though.

How can you tell if its a radial engine by the rear view?

In Singapore and Hong Kong (before they were overun) the commonwealth used only a few Bristol Buffalo fighters.

Boco · August 9, 2001, 08:13

Kobe,

Good guess, but to me the cockpit looks too short for a 3-man Battle crew. No exhaust manifolds for a Rolls Royce liquid-cooled engine. I think you're right about the Battle being quickly retired from active duty after France, 1940. Way underpowered.

Case,
How about a Vultee Vengeance. "The RAAF received a relatively large number of Vultee Vengeances.... Operated in New Guinea until it was found unsuitable for the work, its successes reflect credit upon its crews."
(See
http://www.chariot.net.au/~theburfs/vulteeMAIN.html )

Found a photo.

If it doesn't show (Does Apolyton choke on long URLs?), you can look here. It's a pretty close match.
http://www.beehivehockey.com/photo_49vengeance.htm

I'll go with SW Pac -- New Guinea, Solomons, etc. Maybe extends to a What-If involving a Japanese invasion of Australia?

kobayashi · August 9, 2001, 08:29

I admit my idea is pretty far fetched and off the target. Yours is a much closer match - never even knew there was a Vultee Vengence.

However, the picture you have has a square tail surfaces while the original picture has a round tail. Also the painting's wings are much more rounded like the early spitfires.

Could be different variants of the same craft or

Could be a CAC Wackett trainer found on the same website you have posted or

maybe the painting is just some guys imagination and there is no such plane.

The ANZAC · August 9, 2001, 11:46

I know what it is and when it comes out it will be pretty interesting. Cheers to Case again! That's all I'm going to say...

Boco · August 9, 2001, 13:30

Okay, the final guess is Solomons 42-43.

Kobe, you're right about the Vengeance -- wings, tail, guns in the nose, and antenna are all wrong. Between the Vengeance and the Battle, we were looking for the obscure. Looks much more like the more widely used Dauntless SBD ("Slow but Deadly") dive bomber -- guns in nose and rear cockpit, rounded wings, antenna up front to make the pilot cross-eyed. RAAF and RNZAF used them at least in the Solomons.

Here's the link:
http://www.angelfire.com/fm/compass/SBD.htm

I'll bet on this campaign, since it was at this time that the initiative was still up for grabs between the Japanese and the Allies. May also include the New Guinea, since that was more of an Aussie show.

Really looking forward to this one, Case! Third scenario in a month or so... those Canberran winters must be rough.

Case · August 9, 2001, 19:35

No-ones got the scenario topic or the aircraft yet, though some of the guesses are close.
The picture depicts an actual event, though it is an obscure aircraft doing something it was never ment to do

BTW, I'm not churning out 3 scenarios a month - 'Raging Dragon' took 18 months, and 'The Cruel Sea' about 3 months - its just a coincidence they were finished at roughly the same time

Here's clue two: It's a picture of a great man and General Douglas MacArthur. Name the great man, and for bonus marks, the place where the photo was taken.

Case · August 9, 2001, 19:45

And here's an even more obscure aircraft: (this aircraft represents one of the 'themes' of the scenario)

Gothmog · August 9, 2001, 20:02

John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia during WW 2. Don't know the place.

Case · August 9, 2001, 20:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Gothmog
John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia during WW 2.

Correct

mmm, I may need to make these clues harder.... Name the plane.

techumseh · August 9, 2001, 20:57

Well, the first aircraft is a Commonwealth Wirraway, and despite appearances, was pressed into service as a fighter by the RAAF in 1942. The second aircraft is a Commonwealth Boomerang, hurredly designed in Australia when it became apparent that no modern fighters were immediately forthcoming from the U.S. or Britain. Both saw action over New Guinea, but my guess is: The Invasion of Australia, a fictional scenario depicting a real strategic option of the Japanese High Command in 1942.

Gothmog · August 9, 2001, 21:29

Quote:

Originally posted by techumseh
... but my guess is: The Invasion of Australia, a fictional scenario depicting a real strategic option of the Japanese High Command in 1942.

Aargh, I was going to make that guess. Why else would the PM of Australia be a clue?

Boco · August 9, 2001, 21:31

Nice job Techumseh! It is a match for the Wirraway. I resign as an aircraft spotter. (Boco mutters to himself, "but it did look like a Dauntless")

Any Sentinels and Frogs?

Case · August 9, 2001, 23:46

Congratulations Techumseh, the scenario is about a japanese invasion of Australia in 1942.

The aircraft were the Wirraway and Boomerang. The painting depicts the only time a Wirraway 'fighter' shot down a Japanese fighter (the opposite happened hundreds of times though

)
For more information have a look at: http://www.raafmuseum.com.au/researc...ries/index.htm

Boco, I'm thinking about including the Sentinel tank, but I dnon't think that the Matilda Frog entered service untill 1944...

Here's the pictures I was planning on using as the third and fourth clues. The money was printed in small quantities by the Japanese in 1941 when they were prepearing for their strike south.

techumseh · August 10, 2001, 01:24

Thanks. I'm looking forward to it. Now, can you guess mine? http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=24057 Ready for another clue?

Case · August 10, 2001, 20:07

Here's all the uniquely Australian units I've created. Going clockwise from the upper left they are the Matilda Frog, AC 1 Sentinal, CAC Wirraway and CAC Boomerang.

edit: fixed the Sentinal graphic