Knichi-wa! Greetings gang, I just had the pleasure of spending ten days in Japan courtesy of the Air Natl. Gd. My unit, the 124 TFS out of Des Moines, IA deployed 12 A-7Bs to Chitose AFB, Japan for a 20 day exercise known as Cope North. I arrived on the 11th of October with the 2d contingent of pilots and ground crew and we flew the last week's worth of sorties. I was fortunate enough to be able to fly four missions, all of which were air to air DACT against Japanese Air Self Defense Force F-15Js. Each mission involved 2 or 3 engagements with both sides having GCI. We simulated Soviet Strike aircraft ingressing at high and medium altitudes. Needless to say, this was a new experience for us since we normally live at 500 feet or below and haul bombs. The Japanese pilots were a mixed lot. Some were excellent and had us for lunch, others seemed inexperienced and in a dogfight had trouble capitalizing on the advantages of the Eagle. In all the exchange rate between us veteran old Guard pilots and the Japanese averaged 2 or 3 A-7s lost per Eagle killed. Initially our losses stemmed from AIM-7 shots in the face as the two sides tried to close. As we got better at deceiving the JASDF radars, we were able to get into dogfights where we had a better chance and the exchange rate was more even since both sides had all angle heaters. Well to sum it up, we had a good time and tried things no sane A-7 pilot would ever do in real life. In fact on the first day we got into a fight at 30,000 feet. Talk about no thrust! On the second day our leader tried using contrails to confuse the JASDF. We went in line abreast, at 32,000 feet (Yes, four A-7s visible to everyone within a hundred miles), then turned in on each other spewing chaff and executed Split-esses out of the contrail level. Unfortunately, the JASDF pilots on this occasion were down at 15,000 and had us visually as we exited contrail levels. I believe they had a merry time locking up the little diving black dots and blasting us as we leveled out of our dives at 20,000 still unsure of where they were. On another day we tried a battle-box formation where the lead pair of A-7s were supposed to loop up over the trailing pair while deploying chaff on the way up and down and then fall in behind the second pair. Unfortunately our timing was off, and we ended looping through the second element and had a near mid-air. While sorting out and evading collisions the F-15s arrived and fell in among us and mopped up. At the debrief they said that our maneuver had confused them and spoiled their AIM-7 shots. We said the damn maneuver confused us even more. It was funny as hell. Gunslinger Info! Gunslingers and second edition Air Superiority has found a buyer. Our hero comes in the form of Phil Boinske, one of the heads of Clash of Arms games who is also planning on releasing my World War II fighter combat game. The 2d edition Air Sup. rules are now known as the Air Power game system and the Gunslingers title has been dropped in favour of a newer, more macho and hopefully more appealing title. Clash of Arms has opted to print the game as soon as it can feasibly be done. A February 92 date is the target. The good news is that there is every likelihood we can make that depending on how well the art dept. does its job. The bad news is that because the former Gunslingers has taken priority, the World War II game has been pushed back to a date unknown with Origins 92 as the unofficial target. Air Power Notes: Well, yes we are still running way behind. Tony begs for mercy considering that the company he works for is in the process of trying to land a couple of multi-million dollar defense contracts and Tony is a key player in this and has been repeatedly sent on a couple of week-long business trips. Don't these people realize that he has a very important newsletter, which generates no income for him, but which staves off the ire of some 500 slavoring game fanatics who might otherwise be forming a lynch mob? Guess not. In any case, we thank all of you for your continued patience. Maybe next year well catch up; yeah that's the ticket! We'll catch up next year! I better run before Tony sees this! Well hope you enjoy the Exploits of our intrepid Air Strike Tournament players and all the usual features. This issue doesn't have a real theme but next issue should focus on India and Pakistan. Back to Table of Contents -- Air Power # 17 Back to Air Power List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by J.D. Webster This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com