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Creeping Death1929 wrote:

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aghart1 wrote:

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Hurricane fighter squadrons providing air cover over Force Z? history is changed.

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They would have had a nasty surprise by the up to 36 Zeros that would have been escorting the bombers if Force Z had fighter cover.

A few things here, 1. Fighter cover for Force Z would probably have shot down the Japanese Recce aircraft that spotted the ships before it had time to report it's sighting ( as happened to the RAF Catalina 3 days previously) thus meaning Force Z may not have been attacked and reached Singapore safely.

2. Japanese fighters were enroute but were some way behind the first wave of Torpedo bombers that hit POW. These bombers ( only 9 of them) had no fighter escort and would have been troubled by even a single squadron of Hurricanes, the attack on Force Z might still have eventually caused the loss of the ships but it is highly likely that the "devastating shaft hit" on POW might not have happened if defending fighters had been on hand to prevent an interference free, text book air attack. Fewer torpedo hits brings me to point 3

3. According to the book "Battleship" by Martin Middlebrook the Japanese only had enough ariel torpedoes to supply 1 torpedo to each aircraft. Any second strike would have been by the same aircraft using bombs. Far less chance of success even against a damaged ship, and POW's "5.25" DP guns might have earned some glory against high level bombers.

4. Having received substantial land and air reinforcements before the outbreak of hostilities the defending situation would have been far better, Kuantan airfield would without doubt have had fighters based there, fighters scrambled from Singapore could have refuelled and rearmed at Kuantan. The pilots, veterans of the desert and not "straight out of the factory" would I feel provide much stiffer opposition for the Japanese. Also let's not give the "Zero" fighter too much credit here, these aircraft would not have been able to hang around Kuantan for very long., they had flown from Indo China (even a Zero runs out of fuel) and they would have met RAF aircraft that were in formation "ready & waiting " rather than a handful of fighters caught off guard and struggling to make height to fight back. Contrary to popular opinion allied fighters were not totally blown away by the Zero, it was "raw" pilots against "superbly trained and experienced" pilots that was the problem in the early days of the Far east conflict.

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The Zeros were escorting the bombers, but turned back when the contact point was missed and by then it was established there was no fighter cover. If there had been fighter cover, the subs and recon aircraft would notice, and the Zeros would form a close escort.

Sadly there is very little information available regarding the Japanese fighter escort. The most detailed account of the Japanese assault on Force Z is the book Battleship which was published in 1977 and the authors had used testomanies from surviving Japaense to give a most thorough account. Unfortunatley this book does not even mention the fighter escort. It does however show in detail that the Japanese bombers arrived in "spits and spats" over a period of an hour and a half after the British ships had been sighted. Most of the bombers had reached a point "level" with Singapore itself before the ships were spotted..

This link http//www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/pilot.html gives details of an interview with one of the Japanese bomber pilots from the Force Z attack. He states that only 18 of the 36 fighters in Indo China fighters were attached to the 22nd Air flotilla and that they "arrived too late on the scene to be involved" which indicates that they were sent to the scene once Forze Z was spotted. My conclusion is that the Zero fighters had left the bombers and were heading home "before" the ships had been sighted off Kuantan. Once the ships had been sighted they were diverted but were now too far away to be of any immediate use. I agree that as long range fighters they might have still had enough fuel to get involved but that would have been in the later stages of the action where they would by now have real concerns about fuel levels and be faced by at least an equal number of defending fighters. I still maintain that all the evidence shows that the "9" torpedo bombers involved in "the" (early) attack that left POW crippled could & would "not" have had any fighter escort. Any defending fighters (Hurricane or Buffalo) would have had an excellent opportunity to change history and prevent "that" hit on POW.