Ch 3

Guadalcanal

April 13

1:25 AM

Pilots on Henderson field were woken up by the sounds of heavy gunfire. Lots of gunfire.

"Are we under attack?" Aang asked.

"No, but we might." Sokka said, walking out of his tent, .45 in hand.

Heading to the airfield, Aang grabbed a Springfield and sees more base personal and several marines up and awake.

They had a front row seats, to the first naval battle of Guadalcanal. Both the American and Japanese fleets hosed each other with everything they had, from 8 inch cannons, to .50 caliber machine guns.

"Look at that. We're blowing the entire Jap navy." Aang said.

"I wouldn't count on that." Sokka said, as they saw a large explosion occur on 'Iron bottom sound.'

Suddenly, shells began to rain down on Henderson field, as the Japanese fleet also attack the airbase.

"They can't take both of us out!" Aang said, referring to Henderson field and the US navy, as he jumped into a foxhole with Sokka.

"Sure they can." Sokka said.

Peeking up from the foxhole, they saw a Japanese cruiser use its search light to find American warships, blasting at any target it saw. And the American fleet responded in kind, hosing said cruiser with their guns.

For a full hour, both sized tore each other to pieces, like two predator going toe to toe. The guns fell silent at 0300, and everyone on shore wondered which of three results would appear in the morning. Either the Japanese fleet was still floating, or the American fleet was. Or both sides were totally sunken, with no ships on the surface. Now that was a grim thought.

0700 hours

Climbing out of the foxhole, they saw two American ships still floating. One cruiser and a destroyer. Three crippled American ships were still afloat, and three crippled Japanese ships were also afloat, farther away from the island. The rest of the Japanese fleet was scattered to hell and gone.

"That's all we have left?" Sokka asked, knowing that two operational ships wasn't enough to last another assault.

"Sir, all pilots are ordered to finish off those Jap ships over there." A marine said, approaching the two aviators.

"Time for payback." Aang said.

"Damn straight." Sokka said, as the two ran towards Henderson field.

Avenger torpedo planes took off from Henderson field, with a few fighters as escorts, should Japanese Zero's appear.

In the cockpit of his Corsair, Aang trailed above and behind the torpedo planes, searching for enemy aircraft.

"Contact! Large force of enemy aircraft, south east of our position." A radar operator said, from the lead plane.

Aang, Sokka, and the other fighter escorts flew ahead, ready to meet the enemy head on. They were not ready for what they saw.

"Those are dauntless dive bombers!" Sokka said.

"Looks like the Big E is back." Aang said, having heard of the nickname for the aircraft carrier, Enterprise.

"Pilots of the cactus air-force. Once we unleash our ordnance on this bastard, we're heading to Henderson field. We can't land on Enterprise." The lead dive-bomber pilot said.

"Why not?" Aang asked, as both air groups converged and headed towards the crippled battleship, Hiei.

"Because we took some heavy damage a few weeks back. And to make matters worse, Enterprise is the only American carrier afloat right now. Only one staring down Japan right now." The pilot said.

"Well, glad that you made it safe and sound." Sokka said.

The large force of 30 aircraft descended on the lone battleship, who filled the skies with AA fire. But it was of no use. The planes bombed and strafed the battleship, scoring hits and near misses. Aang racked the decks with machine gun fire as he flew over conning tower of the Hiei.

With their bombs deposited on the battleship, the planes headed back to Henderson field, crowding the base with new planes and personal from Enterprise. However, the Japanese were not out of the fight, and both sides braced themselves for the coming night.

November 14

0155 hours

The ground at Henderson field shook as a violent barrage of shells and gunfire slammed into her, from the offshore Japanese warships.

"How long are they going to keep this up?" Aang asked.

"As long as it takes. They're bent on taking back the island."

When morning came, the pilots jumped in the cockpit of their aircraft and headed out to bloody the Japanese fleet once more. The target this time, was the 11 transports heading towards the island. Armed with a single 1,000-pound bomb, Aang dove onto a transport and dropped the bomb.

Looking behind him, he saw the transport capsize and sink from the damage.

"Enemy fighters, coming in."

Ascending to meet the threat, Aang quickly gunned down a Japanese Zero and ran into his adversary.

"It's on." Aang said, charging head on to kill Azula.

Aang's navy blue Corsair, and Azula's blood-red Zero performed an angry duel over Iron Bottom sound. Azula used her maneuverability against Aang's sluggish turning rate, compared to her aircraft. Aang fled from the fleet's AA fire in an attempt to level the playing field against Azula. But running gave Azula a shot at Aang. Lining up behind Aang, she pulled the trigger and peppered Aang's Corsair with 7.7mm gunfire.

Aang pulled upward, and Azula followed. She fired her 20mm cannons, yet missed. Aang stalled his Corsair and dove down on Azula, guns blazing. Both pilots rolled their aircraft to avoid each other's gunfire.

Aang watched as his aircraft passed within inches of Azula's Zero, and heard a loud banging noise. With his plane damaged in some form, Aang headed to the enemy fleet, and saw 7 transport ships burning. The remaining fleet stopped their movement and headed back to regroup.

"Good work. We've stopped them today."

Landing at Henderson field, the pilots went to the mess hall to relax as best as they could. Aang stayed behind to observe his Corsair, checking to see what damage it incurred from the collision. "Your propeller is messed up." Teo said, standing next to Aang.

Looking at the propeller, Aang saw that the blades were shortened by a few inches.

"How long will it take to fix?" Aang asked.

"We can cannibalize some of the wrecks. But don't expect the same performance until we can get you a spare propeller." Teo said.

"Hey, Aang. We got plenty of hot food to eat." Sokka said.

With a plate full of food, Aang started to eat and listened to the chatter in the mess hall.

"We hit them hard today." A fellow pilot said.

"We still left four transports alive."

"Yeah, but we'll get them tomorrow. We got the enterprise back."

2317 hours

The calmness of the night was broken once again, by the sounds of naval gunfire. Both fleets slugged it out, and iron bottom sound became the grave of ships and men. The duel was far away from Henderson field, so the soldiers managed to get in precious hours of sleep. The only thing that they feared more than the sounds of weapons fire at night, was the chilling silence after.

It was torturous to wait for hours on end thru the night, wondering what would come for them in the morning. But they were still alive, so they can still fight.

November 15

0545 hours

"Japs have landed on our shores! All aircraft, scramble!"

Henderson field was bustling with activity as fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers rolled down the tarmac and into the air to stop the Japanese incursion.

"We do not stop until they're all dead. You run out of ammo, you head back to base, rearm, and continue to fight." Sokka said, taking charge of the flight.

"There they are!" a pilot said.

The Imperial soldiers were caught off guard, as they were caught in the open with no cover, and no AA weapons. The pilots relished the chance for payback, and made every second count. When the slaughter was over, they celebrated once they landed back at Henderson field.