The story thus far... Its the first few months of war in the Pacific. At around 9:30am on the morning of March 3rd 1942, a force of nine zeroes accompanied by a Babs observation aircraft attacked Broome in Western Australia. Japanese ace-to-be Lt Zenjiro Miyano and two wingmen stayed "up top" to guard against intervention from Allied fighters (in their dreams anyway...) while the remaining zeroes hit refuelling Allied flying boats in Broomes unprotected harbour and airfield. But as the strike force departed, satisfied with their mornings work, they stumbled across another aircraft on approach to Broome, an incongruous knock-about Dutch DC-3 with the civilian registration...PK-AFV. The "Diamond Dakota" The three top cover Mitsubishi A6M2 fighters, brimming with ammo, peeled off in a steep dive to engage. The outcome, you think, is surely not going to be pretty for the dozen or so terrified servicemen and civilians on board the camouflaged airliner. But what the three IJN pilots didn't know was that the DC3 had its own much-decorated fighter ace at the controls. Ivan Smirnoff, hero of Another Russia. And he was about to inaugurate the one and only Carnot Bay Air Show... for a lone and completely gob-smacked Aboriginal witness on the ground... Seat belts? Ropes, you mean... Most of the seats are back in Java, mate... The DC3 was peppered with bullets and its port engine was aleady on fire. Himself hit in the arm and thigh, Ivan was not faring much better. Nevertheless, despite his wounds, and with the three Zekes dogging him, Ivan put the big bird into a steep non-nonsense spiralling dive toward the beach and quickly weighed his options... Neiwil's DC3 Rendered in Vue 8 Esprit