Better US forces deployment before The PH raid.

[simpleton]

OTL the US, Britain and the DEI had a formidable force, but it was thinly spread over a huge area, close to Japanese airfields and naval bases. The PI were completely irrelevant for the war effort, since they produced no strategic materials. Moreover, with dozens of islands, it was impossible to defend them with a smaller fleet.
PH was the worst place to concentrate the fleet. War games had proven its vulnerability even to carrier biplanes. It was too far to counter attack in time in the PI with the slow BB and all the oil and much of the food,etc, had to be shipped to keep a large number of men there. Should the Japanese attack with the whole fleet, the USN would be wiped out in the Pacific and Hawaii could be invaded island by island, isolating Oahu, which could not hold with ample supplies. Churchill sent a large army with few planes and no tanks and 2 BB with ridiculously few DD and no cruisers to Malaya-Singapore and 2,000 Canadians to Honk Kong, making them extremely vulnerable to Japanese air and naval superiority. The RN kept a large number of old ships in Ceylon, Aden, Hong Kong,  etc, which would have a difficult time deploying in the Pacific, shold the Japanese attack. The Dutch had a small fleet and few troops spread over too many DEI islands to defend effectively any of them.

The US placed 12 scarce and invaluable Wildcats in untenable Wake and spent a fortune building a small base in untenable Midway. Yet there were no Wildcats in the PI or invaluable DEI. The US sold defective Buffalo with a weaker, export engine, which good Dutch and British pilots had to fly against greater numbers of superior planes. MacAthrur had an impressive air force, which was completely exposed to attack by a large Japanese air fleet in Formosa, but before the war, there were no modern American planes in the DEI, Malaya or Burma.

The tiny American volunteer air force in China, could hardly make a difference in huge China and was asked to counter attack in Burma.

Sumatra and Java were far away from Japanese airfields and naval bases and close to Singapore, Ceylon and Australia, they were much easier to defend, reinforce and supply in the long term and they would provide a shield to keep the Japanese out of the Indian Ocean and produce oil, rubber, tinl nickel, food, etc, for allied forces.
  
Admiral Richardson opposed Roosevelt's absurd decision to deploy all BB and moden ships in PH. Roosevelt replaced him with Kimmel, who had much less experience and insight into Japanese affairs. 

When Japan dis strike, it destroyed all planes in the PI and a large number in PH, sank or  damaged most BB 

ATL
Richardson is not fired. Roosevelt admits that his decision to deploy all ships in PH was ungrounded and unsound and asks Richardon to prepare for war. Richardson and Fisher inform Roosevelt and Marsahll that against the IJN and IJA, Wake, Guam, the Pi, Midway, Malaya, Singapore, the DEI (except Timor, Sumatra and Java) and even Hawaii and Alaska are untenable if attacked with overwhelming force. In contrast, if Britain, the US and Holland concentrate all forces in very defensible and vital Sumatra , Java, Rangoon, New Caledonia and Timor, Japan will have to waste invaluable time, ships, planes, etc, trying to take them. Allied bombers and submarines can attack Japanese oilwells, tankers, warships, etc, from these large islands for years. Their oil, rice, rubber, etc, will be invaluable to the war effort in the area and denied to the Japanese. Moreover, Sumatra, Java and Timor will shield Australia, Ceylon, India, etc, from Japanese invasion or raids.

Accordingly, in Oct 1941 Richardson and Marshall  evacuate Guam, Midway, the PI and most of the force in Hawaii. Roosevelt convinces Churchill that as in France, Greece, Crete, etc, a large army without planes and tanks is useless and that Britain must give up on Malaya and Holland must abandon the rest of the DEI in order to reinforce Sumatra, Singapore, Java and Timor. The allies will also reinforce Rangoon, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Australia.

Just like the USSR is the only hope of grinding down the WM, so China is the only hope of grinding down the IJA. Therefore, Rangoon and the Burma road must be defended at all costs.

  8 slow American and 3 RN BB, all available USN Pacific fleet, Dutch and RN submarines CV, CA, CL, DD will be deployed around Sumatra, Java and Timor. Airfields in Papua-New Guineas msut be rapidly expanded to receive all the planes from the PI, Alaska, Hawaii and the west coast. Several modern airfields are hastily built by Sea bees and the US army in these locations. Oilwells, tin mines, oil refineries, smelters, sugarmills, airfields, etc, in Malaya, British and Dutch Borneo, peninsular Burma, the rest of the DEI (except the defended islands) must be sabotaged. All strategic materiasl, grain, rubber, tin, etc,must be evacuated to the defended areas (especially to Melbourn, Australia). The British must prepare strong defensive positions (they have none) in Singapore, Rangoon, the Burma road, etc, and relocate all troops from Malaya, Hong Kong, etc, to the defended areas. Excellent British submarines and torpedoes are much more useful against Japan than against Germany, so most will deployed to the Pacific. China msut provide troops to help defend the Burma road. Chenault's forces must be greatly expanded and ideally, Chenault should leave an experienced officer in charge and relocate to Sumatra.

Richarson keeps constant communication with Chenault, to learn effective tactics, weaknesses of Japanese planes, etc, which the US army air coprs is largely ignoring. Richardson also learns about skip bombing from his British colleagues and realizes the great advantages in accuracy and much cheaper bombs than torpedoes and rapidly organizes marine squadrons with B-25, B-36, etc,specialized in it. They teach it to air corp pilots.

The US must start immediately to convert large freighters into small carriers and old, heavy cruisers into CL, to reinforce the few CVs. British CV must dump their planes in the Pacific and repace them with Wildcats, SBD and TBD.
AAA in all warships must be greatly strengthened.

The best British and Dutch pilots must receive P-40s and Wildcats and concentrate on Japanese fighters, while inferior planes and pilots attack bombers and ground forces.. The P-38 must be rushed into production for it's speed and range make it invaluable operating from Sumatra, Java and Timor and deployed in Burma and China.

The Corsaire must enter production and be deployed from airfields in the DEI.

6" and larger coastal guns must be deployed (even if old warships have to be beached to supply them rapidly) and thousands of mines (including magnetic mines) must be deployed around good landing sites. Allied submarines must form large wolfpacks to wipe out invasion fleets, coordinating with divebombing P-38s, torpedo beaufighters and B-25, etc,

B-17 must skip bomb to be any use against ships.

When the Japanese attack they rapidly seize all territories, except the defended islands, where they crash into a wall and experience extremely heavy losses in planes, ships and men for no gains.

[simpleton]

deleted

[simpleton]

Richardson and Fisher inform Roosevelt and Marshall that Britain must grant the US the right to enlist raw men, pilots, engineers, tankers, troops, sailors, medics, clerks, physicians, etc, in India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc, at British wages plus 10% and the right to establish training centers, boot camps, etc, in Tasmania, India, Ceylon, New Zealand and South Africa.

In order to take advantage of unlimited labor force in India and iron ore in India and Australia and to save in shipping costs and time, the US must relocate ammunition factories, steelmills and the tooling machinery, engines, etc, to produce in large numbers the obsolete Lee tanks, SBD, etc, and the frames of the modern trucks, self propelled guns, Corsaire, Wildcat, P-38, B-25 in India.
Shipyard and repair dock capacity must be greatly increased in India, Australia, South Africa, etc, to build 200 escort DD, 800 torpedo boats, 2,000 steel landing craft, etc, within 2 years and repair dozens of warships.

Given the very inferior USN torpedoes, all orders must be cancelled , until their performance is at least as good and their price comparable to British torpedoes. In the meantime, the US must help Britain to establish ASAP a large plant in India to produce the better RN torpedoe and US DD, submarines and planes be modified to use them.

These suggestiosn are implemented. Within 6 months a large steel mill is being built rapidly in India, while the machinery arrives from the US. The US is training 10,000 pilots, 25,000 each marines and tankers and 500,000 troops, medics, etc, (Indians, Anzacs, South Africans, Ceylonese, Chinese, etc,) in India, etc,

The large quantities of latex and fuel from the DEI, Ceylon, etc, allow the allies extensive use of flammable gel in aviation drop tanks, which cause great devastation in Japanese defensive positions, landing forces, etc,

Within a year 300 Lee tanks and hundreds of P-38, Wildcats, Corsairs, B-25, etc, are being built in India every month. Half of them are deployed in China, with plenty of fuel, munitions, etc, with Indian and Anzac crews, arriving through the Burma road. They allow the Chinese army to sweep the IJA from China and then from manchuria and Korea. B-17 and B-24 are deployed in large numbers from China to cause fire storms in Japanese cities. Formosa has fallen and allied submarines, planes and surface ships rapidly wipe out the IJN and the fishing and merchant fleets, so Japan is starving and on fire. Hundreds of thousands of allied pilots, tankers (including Indians, Chinese, etc,), troops, etc, are deployed to land in Mediterranean France in 1943, a month later in Normandy and a month later in Denmark. After the latter allied planes from Denmark and allied ships in the Baltic bomb and shell Kiel, Koennigsberg, Danzig, etc, allied forces and armament arrive in Poland to liberate and arm it (preventing Soviet invasion). The allies advance rapidly into East Prussia, Silesia and Czechoslovakia (which is also armed).

[simpleton]

The redeployment fo forces from PH, spoiled Japanese plans and training to attack PH. So there never was a Doolittle raid. Instead Doolittle arrived in Sumatra in Nov 1941 and was put in charge of single and twin engine bombers. He implemented torpedo, skip and low altitude, level bombing training. Having received all twin engine bombers redeployed from PI, Hawaii, Alaska, Hong Kong, Malaya and the DEI. He has a formidable force, which wreaks havoc on Japanese landing fleets, oil instalations, munitions, fuel and supply depos, airfields and planes on land, etc,

Chanault also has a formidable fighter force in Sumatra, Java and Timor. Thanks to RADAR, he implements excellent scrambling and guidance of fighters to wipe out fighter sweeps and bombing raids by flammable Japanese planes. In ocntrast, without RADAR the Japanese are extremely vulnerable to sweeps and raids by much tougher and better armed allied fighters and bombers.

Halsey is put in charge of the formidable DD and PT boat fleet. He was the best DD squadron commander in peace time war games. He also wreaks havoc on landing fleets and supply convoys.

[simpleton]

Nimitz is put in charge of the allied submarine fleet (continually reinforced by RN and USN submarines from the Atlantic). He uses wolfpack tactics extremely well. Submarines decimate tankers, troops and merchant transports, in coordination with Doolittle's skip bombers and Halsey's DD and PT boat fleet.

Taking a hint from the excellent De Havilland Mosquito (which relies on speed for protection), Doolittle soon realizes that the B-26 with her original, small wing area is ideal for skip bombing, is safe to fly and is faster than Japanese fighters after burning 55% of the TO fuel and dropping her bombload, provided the bomb sight, all turrets, guns, bombardier, navigator and gunners are removed, only the pilot is left in the plane and only half the fuel capacity is used at TO. The plane can carry ten 500 lb bombs. Doolitle also realizes that the P-38 is ideal for skip bombing, carrying half fuel capacity, eight 500 lb bombs and no armament and ammo. He urges the army to order 10,000 unarmed P-38 designed for bombing and RECCE. Chenault asks for 10,000 fighter P-38, which carry a single 500 lb bomb for skip bombing (if a Japanese fighter is sighted, the bomb is dropped and the plane attacked or if there are several Japanese fighters, the P-38 can easily escape them.
Chenault also realizes that the much maligned P-39 is excellent as a fighter after removing the heavy nose cannon and the wing .50 cal guns and leaving only a single, nose .50 cal gun with 1,000 rounds. The heavy cannon is gross overkill for the flammable Japanese planes and the wing MGs spoil maneuverability (as the Soviets realized). Doolitle also uses the unarmed p_39 carrying two 250 lg bombs for skip bombing at high speed.

When the Corsair arrives in Sumatra, it becomes an instant success and is also used for skip bombing with six 500 lb bombs.

Japanese landing troops take extremely heavy losses at sea and after landing. Large numbers of heavy .30 and .50 caliber MG, the excellent 65 mm and 82 mm mortars, landmines, fieldguns, strafing planes, etc, cause most landings to fail. The one beachhead established at great cost each in Java and in Timor cost the Japanese dearly to maintain for weeks and cannot be expanded. They are eventually reduced.

When the M-1 Garand arrives in the front, Stilwell orders a gunsmith to make a full auto Garand in .250 Savage, with a 20 round, detachable clip, like the one of the B.A.R and an 18", smaller diameter barrel. The rifle is extremely effective for jungle fighting. Stilwell asks Marshall to order and speed up delivery of a million such rifles and 20 million rounds with a 105 grain bullet. Recoil is much milder than in the .30-06 version and the ammo is much lighter and shorter. Stilwell also asks the gunsmith to adapt a German MG 32 to fire the .250 Savage, with a short barrel, for counter attacks and offensives. It proves extremely effective and light.

[simpleton]

Sumatra; Java and Timor hold indefinitely, inflicting extremely heavy casualties and equipment losses on Japan and equipment losses on the US, but US industry rapidly more than makes up for the losses of obsolete equipment, with excellent Wilcats, P-38, B-26, Corsair, CV, DD, CL, submarines, etc, In April Lindbergh and Doolittle meet with Kelly Johnson and Peyton Magruder (designer of the B-26) in Sumatra to design an easy to mass produce, fast, inexpensive, efficient, unarmed, long range bomber.

After 2 days or continuous discussion, the 4 brilliant men come up with an unconventional plane, which can carry three times the load of a single B-26. The plane carries only the bombs in the fuselage and all the fuel in large wingtip tanks (each tank carries 75% as much fuel as a B-26. The fuselage is joined to the tip tanks by constant section, tandem wings. She is a trimotor (same engine as the B-26), with an engine on the nose of the fuselage and an engine on the front wing and one on the rear wing, both close to the fuselage (in case of engine failure, there is minimal excentric thrust). There is a crew of one, the pilot (lone P-38 pilots performed very long range raids on Balik Papan oil installations and elsewhere in the Pacific, without a navigator). The plane has 1.5 times the wing area of a B-26. She has no landing gear, guns, ammo, bomb sight. She uses jettisonable, reusable undercarriages for TO and belly lands on a grassfield or on a foam covered landing strip. She is safer to ditch than a normal plane, owing to the extremely low weight and large fuselage and tip tank volume. There is no tail, the plane is stabilized by the tandem wings.

The constant section, equal cord, tandem wings are much easier to produce than the cantilever wings and tail (identical ribs and long sheets of duralumin with few rivets, instead of a patchwork of small, irregular pieces of duralumin with myriad rivets). Thanks to the large wingtip tanks, there is no wingtip drag. The lack of turrets, guns, ammo, landing gear, etc, render the plane extremely inexpensive, maneuverable and easy to produce and and fly and very efficient. The plane costs less than two B-26 or a single B-27 or B-24 to produce, yet she carries 3 times the bombload of a B-26 and uses only one man and 50% more fuel. After burning 55% of the fuel and dropping its bombs (skip bombing or low altitude, precision bombing, like the Mosquito), she is much faster and has a higher rate of climb than any Japanese fighter.

Although she has 1.5 times the wing area of the B-26 and wingtip tanks, the equal, tandem wings allow for a similar wingspan to that of the B-26 (inclduing the tanks width (the wings, without tanks are shorter than those of the B-26).

She is a more stable bombing platform than planes with wingtip turbulence and a tail (inherently unstable). If the plane is to be escorted by P-38, it is much easier for the fighters to protect a fast, lone plane, than three
slow B-26 carrying the same load. Once the plane drops it ordnance, she no longer needs an escort, since she can outfly and outclimb fighters. A much faster bomber with 3 engines is much less vulnerable to FLAK than a B-26 (it is more difficult to hit the plane and there is less time to do it, so fewer rounds can be fired). The low dead weight and lack of wingtip drag also allow for a higher ceiling. Most importantly, with fuel tanks, instead of bombs, the plane can be ferried rapidly over extremely long distances (NY-London, instead of flying B-17 and B-26to Brazil, then to Africa, tand finally to Europe, wasting huge amounts of fuel and valuable plane and pilot time and wear)

Magruder estimates that a 10,000 worker Martin plant in India, Australia or NZ and another one in the US can easily produce 10,000 such planes and 4,000 jettisonable, reusable undercarriages in each plant, in the first year.

These planes would be invaluable flying materiel, fuel and supplies to China, dropping paratroopers, transporting troops and bombing Japan from China and Europe from Britain and eventually from Formosa, Korea and Okinawa. The short range flights allow for reduced fuel and either even heavier bomb loads or higher speed.

[simpleton]

In 1940 Richardson reviews with Lindbergh the navy fighter competition envaluation. They immediately realize that the Grumman F5F skyrocket is the ideal plane for land based and carrier operation. It is less expensive than the P-38, tougher, less expensive and only slightly slower (but mcuh faster than the Wildcat). It's landing gear problems can be rapidly solved by experts. It is faster than any Japanese fighter or the Wildcat and much tougher and much longer ranged than the Wildcat or P-40. It is ideal for long range skip bombing also. Richardson informs Roosevelt that such a plane can easily inflict enormous damage on Japanese planes if 200 of them were based in Sumatra, Java and Timor and concentrated on the fighters, while the single engine fighters concentrated on the bombers. If the landing gear problems are solved completely and rapidly, 10,000 planes should be ordered. Moreover, Richardon realizes that the engine of the Wildcat and skyrocket can be easily bored out to increase power considerably (R-2000 engine) and suggests ordering Grumman to use this engine in all future Wildcats & skyrockets. The increased power at no additional cost or weight will prove decisive in combat for US pilots.

Most importantly, not only is the F5F much superior to the F4F, it can carry a 1,500 bomb at a higher speed than the SBD's 1,000 lb bomb. It can carry a torpedo at a much higher speed than the TBD or TBF. It is also ideal for long range skip bombing from Sumatra, Java and Timor, to sink the vulnerable troop transports and supply ships of the invasion fleets. After dropping its ordnance.

When the Skyrockets arrive in Sumatra in April 1942, Lindbergh immediately increases its range, making her even more useful. A carrier with only 60 F5F, instead of a larger number of Wildcats, SBD and TBD is far more effective against Japanese carriers and landforces and pilot survivability is much higher.