January 20th 1942. Rabual. East of New Guinea. The "110 plane raid." Just a month and a half after Pearl Harbor, those same Imperial Japanese Navy carriers bore down upon their latest prize... Rabaul harbour, New Britain. They mustered an aerial armada, numbering more than a hundred aircraft, to wrench air-superiority from the Australian defenders... and found eight Wirraway advanced training aircraft of 24 Sq. RAAF rising to meet them. That's right. Eight jazzed-up Harvard trainers. Not a few battle-hardened Japanese aviators were begining to wonder at the spectacular over-kill here, wasting so much precious fuel and ordnance. Apparently, nobody else in the Pacific seemed interested in doing this war-thing properly. After the Wirraways were swatted aside by Mitusbishi A6M2s, shot down or crash landed, that very thought also occurred to the RAAF Wing commander, John Lerew, at Rabual. Frustrated by orders to defend hearth and home with a few education aids he conferred with his mates and they sent the armchair "Caesars" back home a thinly-veiled "blast" in their best Dead-Pilot's Society Latin. "We who are about to die, salute you..." Unfortunately, headquarters had their Irony "One-time pad" handy, and did not appreciate the sentiment. Assets The Armada- from the Akagi model set. What would I do without Beyond VR! CA8 Wirraway modelled in Shade 10.5, in early 1942 livery. I found the right serial numbers but the fuselage identifiation codes are sheer speculation. The pilot is available from Cornucopia3D Thanks for viewing and comments