WesWorld

August 1933

A lengthy meeting is whispered of in Bangkok, between Mr. M., the exiled Prince Yukanthor of Kampuchea, and Son Ngoc Than of the Khimer Krom...


September 1933

The RSAF is reported to be making inquiries with the German Focke-Wulf company regarding potential further development of the Fw 42 medium bomber/patrol fighter as a "Schiffen Zerstörer"...

early October

The RSN has accepted delivery of the coast defense ship Dhomburi from her Sudafrikan builders. Following the completion of her sea trials she will be stationed at the international naval base at Phuket...

Following the surprising performance of the Fw 42B-0 prototype at the Talons over Cordoba copetition, RSAF hopes for the production Fw 42B-1 patrol fighter are high. The aircraft, intended to protect the Gulf of Siam from intrusion by light naval forces or enemy flying boats, will sport a heavy forwards-firing armament of machine-guns and cannon, and is expected to be capable of defeating any comparable adversary, and of defending itself against any fighers that may be encountered thanks to its tail sting...
(Making the simple assumtion that the ToC plane with its Fw 42A style nose was a prototype hastily swapped in due to a delay with the "proper" B-1s. Just wait 'til next year...)

Can't wait! Yes I admit I missed the fixed armament but also it might give misleading impressions of turret fighters. Will we see more of them?

The secret meeting sounds very bad to me!

Quoted

The secret meeting sounds very bad to me!

They're very much the "B" team, but since the "A" team has been co-opted by the French, there's slim pickings for the mysterious Mr. "M".

"PLAN C! PLAN C!"



More turret fighters? It's possible. I wonder if "The Bomber Will Always Get Through" will develop in WW?

It definitely will with the bombers I'm planning on using.

14 October

Bangkok Aero Manufacturing announces the successful first flight of the Model 112 trainer aircraft. The RSAF has placed an initial order for twenty of the type. Trials are expected to last through the winter; and it is expected to be offered on the export market starting next summer, with the company planning to demonstrate both the Model 101 and the Model 112 at next year's Talons over Cordoba airshow.

19 October

Today was announced the formation of the Royal Siamese Naval Air Service. Taking over responsibility for maritime patrol and anti-ship attack from the RSAF, the Naval air arm is expected to become the premier maritime striking force of South-east Asia...

(ooc: Have yet to decide how this affects the RSAF's planned force levels. Probably will be above and beyond them. )

Hey Swampy where are you getting those pictures? They are pretty nice.

The "B.A.M. 112" and "114" ones? They're from here - scroll down to "VMF".

(All those VMF designs, plus a few more not listed there, will likely wind up as B.A.M. models. )

22 October

It has been revealed that the Royal Siamese Army has ordered twenty-five "Autocannone 75/34" self-propelled guns from Italy, along with an undisclosed number of 149/40 and 210/22 artillery pieces...

27 October

A setback to the B.A.M. 112T aircraft progamme, as the second prototype was destroyed in a crash yesterday during its attempted first flight. The factory test pilot, a Ms. Sirisoon Chandrapa was reportedly unharmed in the accident, which is believed to have resulted from an error in the connections of the control system.

The company states that the programme will not be significantly delayed by the crash, with the third prototype, a single-seat 112F, scheduled to fly next month, and the 114F single-seat advanced trainer/light fighter scheduled to fly in January...

Quoted

It has been revealed that the Royal Siamese Army has ordered twenty-five "Autocannone 75/34" self-propelled guns from Italy

Mechanized forces in the Indochinese jungle!

Does the phrase "Group Mobile 100" mean anything to you?

...but does "Shoot and Scoot" mean anything to you?

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30 October

Bangkok Aero Manufacturing has announced that it has reached an agreement with the German company Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG in which B.A.M. will act as the exclusive distributor of Focke-Wulf aircraft in the South East Asian region...

31 October

In the usual end-of-month release of government contracts, it was revealed that the Royal Siamese Air Force has ordered a number of aircraft from Germany. These include twelve Junkers Ju 52/3m transports, eighteen Focke-Wulf Fw 58 utility aircraft, and nine of a bomber conversion of the Junkers Ju 86 transport. In addition, the Royal Siamese Naval Air Service issued a contract for twelve Heinkel He 60 seaplanes, although it was not stated whether these would be delivered from Germany or the Heinkel-Ost factory in the Philippines...

The RSNAS also placed an order with Bangkok Aero Manufacturing for four seaplane versions of its Model 112T trainer, and has also issued a development contract to the Australian Commonwealth Aero Corporation for the joint development of a seaplane version of CAC's "Shrike" fighter...

There has been no further word regarding the planned airship procurement following the falling through of the Atlantian order...

Artillery guns mounted on trucks. Siam wanted to buy them. They are more useful in open spaces.

Quoted

...but does "Shoot and Scoot" mean anything to you?

Didn't work.

...any "bad events" will be considered part of the learning curve.

Quoted

Does the phrase "Group Mobile 100" mean anything to you?

It doesn't mean anything to me - elaborate? A military unit that had trouble with the "Shoot and desperately hack through the jungle" strategy?

GM 100 was a veteran French regiment-sized mechanized unit cut to pieces in a series of Viet Minh ambushes in June 1954, a little bit after the fall of Dien Bien Phu. In the terrain it was in, it was pretty much road-bound.

About half the personnel got to the French position at Pleiku, without equipment.

If you read the TBO story "High Frontier" over at the HP&CA board, the fate of the Korea Division was based on GM 100, IIRC.

Quoted

Originally posted by AdmKuznetsov
GM 100 was a veteran French regiment-sized mechanized unit cut to pieces in a series of Viet Minh ambushes in June 1954, a little bit after the fall of Dien Bien Phu. In the terrain it was in, it was pretty much road-bound.

About half the personnel got to the French position at Pleiku, without equipment.

But they will not be facing a guerilla force at the beginning. They could be very effective in any type of proto-blitz and I can't see any French or Vietnamese force going to guerilla tactics from the very beginning of any conflict due to no historical precedent to do so. Any thing similar to it will be just using our knowledge of the future events to try to change the past. Historically in the 1941 war the Thai used tanks in a somewhat succesful way versus the French in Cambodia and IMHO it should be something similar if this happens in WW. The French supply depots are too far away from the border areas and the Thais would have the initial advantage but the deeper they get into French Indochina the pendulum will swing in the other direction.

The only concern of this force will be supply. As you stated they are road bound and their supply lines will be very fragile. They could be cutoff by any flanking attack that severs their supply lines or basically stopped just by severing their supply lines.