Japanese Fighter Tactics vs. Allied Bombers
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- Sources -
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- Timecodes -
00:00 - Disclaimer
00:23 - Intro
00:55 - The limits of sources
03:07 - Fighters vs B-25
06:31 - War Thunder Sponsor
06:37 - Visualization of attack
07:58 - Different attacks
10:29 - Fighters vs heavy bombers
12:55 - Tactic: 12 o'clock Express
13:44 - Tactic: Dr. Pepper...
14:43 - Tactic: Belly Button......
15:35 - Japanese pilot's skills
18:33 - War Thunder: Sponsored Segment
19:25 - Outro
- Audio -
Music and Sfx from Epidemic Sound
*Last video for 2021, thank you for a fantastic year! As I publish this video I am in another archive dig at the German Military Archive, getting some great stuff sorted for 2022 - it's gon be gud y'all* (btw Patreons/Channel Members, you still have another two videos in Early Access - make sure you watch them!) And if you enjoyed today's videos, give these tactics a go in War Thunder: playwt.link/milavihistbonus
Do you get the Dr. Pepper joke? Yes it is absurd, but the reference actually means something.
Thanks Chris for all your great videos.
Old Dr. Pepper ad. Best time to drink a DP? 10, 2, and 4
Listen the volksjager is a perfect body shape minus the jump BMW donk this body should made out of wood ii take you lazor scanned it at the museum's heroin we can tow it behind a Landover on steadied at Ter all ihave towed house doors behind d to😎😎😎
Happy holidays Chris! Thanks for these videos. See you soon.
The Dr. Pepper 10 and 2 is a reference to their old advertisements during the World War II era encouraging you to enjoy a Dr. Pepper at those times. The ads would have stylized clocks that emphasized those numbers
Oh, that's interesting. I'll have to look out for those!
Just look for some older advertising.
That also carried over into callgame poker. Calling a Dr. Pepper game means all 2s 4s and 10s are wildcards.
Because of this video and this comment, I did a search for "Dr Pepper ad 1940s" and found the references.
A.B. ................got a DP thermometer thats about 70+ yrs old behind me on the wall came out of My folks old grocery store
I feel like.... no one needs to tell Bo about the "Dr. Pepper" maneuver, for he probably watches your vids too lol
Haha TBLF goes brrrrrrrr
::Biz singing intensifies::
Actually…Bo watches this channel occasionally.
In the book “samurai” ($7 dollars on amazon, 260 pages of greatness). The Japanese squadron quit attacking the B-17 from the rear BEFORE it even got the tail turret because attacks from 6 o’clock wouldn’t bring the plane down, it even kept in formation. These were ace pilots resorted to 12 o’clock attacks.
Also important by the late stages of the war was that there were less resistance to B-29s due to the significantly increased operating altitudes. The Ki-84 “Frank” was meant to intercept the B-29s, but even then not much actually went to intercept, if any. I think this is a fantastic topic to explore for a future video, especially talking about late-war interceptors with high-performance radials with up to 1500HP at sea level attempting to intercept those B-29s on Tokyo express runs. On a side note, I share your enthusiasm by laughing at the same “Yankee” nicknames for the strategies they documented, especially the “Dr. Pepper” one. Whoever named it must be the biggest slick of them all. Thanks for this video!
Except that the b-29s switch to low altitude bombing.
Yeah the complete lack of gasoline was a thing too,
@@penultimateh766 They didn't lack gasoline totally, they were stockpilling it to be used only against the expected invasion.
Maybe he was from Texas and got his last laugh in at the higher ups... 🤷♂️
@@WALTERBROADDUS Welp. So much for the pressurized cockpits then.
I'm sure others have already indicated this. Calling the 10 and 2 attacks "Dr Pepper" were probably a technique to help crews remember. The Army likes training that is memorable. I still remember my paratrooper training from the late 1980s and I've not been in uniform since 1992. Advertising for Dr Pepper (and on the cans) indicated that Pepper Time was 10 2 and 4. Aircrews exposed to the advertising would find the mnemonic easy to remember.
My grandpa was a B-25 pilot stationed in Burma. Flew the B-25J and the B-25H. His crew wrote him letters thanking him for getting them home alive. I can only imagine how intense it was, he never spoke about it. He also never flew again after the war sadly.
I love how brief you are about war thunder in the beginning of the video. Most people will shove the ad and ride that bandwagon, and sometimes spend to much time.But you really know how to execute your videos without the ad being shoved and for that I appreciate your videos.
thank you, it should be a healthy balance imo :)
Nice "zoom in stages" on the NAFAZ bit. Also, quite literally 'laughed out loud' over the "Trademark still pending" comment.
I'd certainly like to know a lot more about Japanese attacks on the B29, as it's speed alone must have made it an exceedingly difficult target to engage effectively.
I knew an older gentleman who was a gunner on a B-29. He said that the Japanese fighters flew so fast that he never could get his guns fast enough to shoot one down.
@@whbrown1862 That's probably due to the relative speed of both planes. It's a bit like cars passing each other on opposite directions on the freeway. Let's say both cars are going 100 mph, then their relative closing speed is going to be twice as high at 200 mph.
On a dive...
Reading the book "I was a Kamikaze," by Ryuji Nagatsuka, prior to when the author volunteered to become a kamikaze pilot, he flew several missions against B-29's. He was an army pilot and said his plane was known as the Falcon. According the Wikipedia; so take a grain of salt here, he would have been flying the Nakajima KI-43, known to the Americans as the Oscar. The Japanese nickname for this plane was Peregrine Falcon. The author claimed that when the B-29's were flying at their highest altitude; so about 30,000 ft., he could barely reach the same altitude before his plane would stall out. He wrote that he was lucky to get his guns on target; usually from below; so probably the belly-button attack, for even one pass at a B-29 and he never managed to shoot one down. He wasn't even sure if he scored any hits at all, because he was fighting to remain in control of his plane the whole time. He said this was true for his entire squadron and only the squadron commander managed to bring down one B-29; and he did that by deliberately crashing into it. This guy survived the war after starting out on a kamikaze mission that his commander aborted due to bad weather. He and his commanding officer were castigated for this choice even though visibility was near zero when they turned back. The war ended a few days later. Talk about a close call.
Osprey books sells a lot of books on Japanese aces of ww2 that attacked b-29s and also books on b-29 bombing missions to Japanese. Amazon sells them from 12-8 bucks. They are great with pilot interviews that are very detailed
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Your use of visual aid in the form of war thunder footage really helped me understand Japanese fighter tactics a lot better, and this is a topic I have not seen very much of, whereas there is a wealth of information pertaining to the European conflict, the Pacific theatre is often forgotten. Great job on this video and I hope to hear a lot more on Japanese fighter tactics if possible. Also, great additional point on the fact that not all Japanese fighters encountered during the war were A6M Zeroes. In the heat of battle, many veterans mistook Oscars and Franks for Zeroes, and it appears that many in today's generation are outright assuming that the Zero was the only plane in the skies of the Pacific and Asia.
Great video as always Chris. the Dr Pepper designation was probably derived from an advertisement for Dr Pepper that suggested it was best to serve at "10, 2, and 4 (o'clock)"
Yet another super informative video Bis. It's very interesting to see how the Japanese went about attacking bombers considering how much about the Luftwaffe's tactics are talked about. In fact, the combat history and tactics of the IJAAS and IJNAS is something that really needs more study. So many stereotypes about them still persist.
Excellent closeout to a very enjoyable year, Chris and thank you for your hard work. Best of possible Christmas and a Happy New Year from E. Ontario.
Nice detailed video. Appreciate the effort and quality comments from viewers.
Yes! This sort of video explaining tactics is awesome!
Great video, Chris. Love this topic. ❤ Please, more!
>or perhaps you prefer a target, like tanks or ships This just feeds into my existing headcanon that Military Aviation History is in an inter-service rivalry with MHV as the army and Drachinifel as the navy.
Air power wins wars
So kinda like real life
@@MilitaryAviationHistory Not without the army, it doesn’t! Navies are indeed useless though.
A very interesting video. Yes please, more tactical analysis please. Thanks.
Been a while since Ive watched Bismarck. Glad to see your videos are still top notch!
I really love the illustrations in that USAAF guide on Japanese planes.
i know right!
Been looking forward to finding the time to watch this since I saw the thumbnail. I've missed your videos where you demonstrate with game footage! I hope you plan to make more again in future.
Excellent work as usual dude!! 👍👍
The hair on the back of my neck rose at the "Yankee" reference to Dr. Pepper. Even now and especially in the WW II time frame, Dr. Pepper was a southern US soda, specifically, not "Yankee". Though I get why you said it. I really enjoy your videos.
As long as US citizens think that Porsche is an Italian company everything is alright.
Sorry but you're all Septic Tanks.
There's a joke that goes like this: To the rest of the world, a Yankee is an American. To an American, a Yankee is a Northerner. To a Northerner, a Yankee is a New Englander. To a New Englander, a Yankee is a Vermonter. To a Vermonter, a Yankee is somebody that has pie for breakfast.
@@z3r0_35 🤣🤣🤣
@@paddymayne8279 There's an alternate version to that which goes the same up until the "To a New Englander" part. The alternate version then follows "To a New Englander, a Yankee is a New Yorker. To a New Yorker, a Yankee is an overpaid baseball player."
Always Stellar Work, Thanks fer Sharing...
As a YANKEE living in TEXAS [home of Dr. Pepper] 10 and 2 is a riff on the Dr. Pepper marketing slogan. Chris try a Dr. Pepper soft drink, they are good! Please more Pacific videos.
When the “creative” writer saw 10 and 2, that was obviously the first thing that came to mind. Obscure reference nowadays, but actually kinda clever.
Makes perfect sense
Osprey Books has a lot of cool ww2 plane books. In the b-29 and japanese fighter aces from japan there are real accounts of japanese tactics against american bombers. Japanese would dive from the top of bombers because that way the turrets could not track them. There is also an account of a manchuko pilot who was a defector from the chinese air force shooting down a b-29 by ramming it with his ki-27. The pilot was later executed by the chinese when he was captured. There are a ton of books and they only cost 12 to 8 bucks. Amazon sells them.
"Exploding a myth" or "explode a myth" is an English idiom. I have read and heard it used for over 50 years. It simply means to show the myth is false.
This was a great video! I'd like to see more like it.
My father was part of a B24 crew in the central Pacific - 7th Air Force. He rarely talked about his experiences, other than the occasional humorous story. But one thing I remember him describing was what you called 'the 12 O'Clock Express'. (He didn't use that term.) Dad was the navigator and manned the nose turret in an attack. I was probably ten or twelve when I heard him describe the 'Aluminum colored' fighters coming down from above 'like a waterfall', and that they moved faster that the turret could track them.
Outstanding use of original USAAF drawings and source material. Thanks for another great presentation!
Just had a rough day working 11 hrs. Enjoying this from Cleveland thanks
Logistics is key, as always. Unlike the Luftwaffe in 1943, the Japanese were getting pretty desperate for fuel just as the American attacks on the homeland heated up, thanks largely to USN submarines. Hard to learn tactics with little fuel for training.
Germans were just as stretched for fuel.
On the theme of losing men the japanese had it even worst than already the germans, but on the theme of fuel they both were on the same crazily dramatic level.
@@WALTERBROADDUS Germany had developed synthetic fuel processes which over the course of ww2 became an ever bigger percentage to narrow the gap in production and consumption. I do not think that tech was widely developed in e.g. Japan to be used to the same level as germany did. That said, I am not sure how fuel demands between Germany and Japan looked like. As a plus Germany did not have to supply its big ship navy for the war on the downside they fought an all out land war with the Soviet Union.
@@mangalores-x_x Very familiar with the issue. The also had the oil field in Romania we kept hitting. The Germans were just as starved for oil. Tanks need oil. U-Boats need it. The Luftwaffe suffered from the lack of 100 octane AVgas.
No oil in japan even though the have coal. The germans never shared their synthetic oil with their axis allies so once the allies destroyed the japanese merchant fleet all the oil from the Dutch east indies couldn't reach them. Funny thing the japanese navy ships stationed in the Dutch east indies has plenty of fuel but they couldn't get repaired
These tactics appear quite advanced. Much more so than I’ve previously seen described and at least as good as those of the Germans. Japanese planes did not have the high alt performance as German planes generally but I get the impression that except against B-29s they were more effective than usually assumed.
What, no Mr. Pibb attack? Really enjoyed this video. Very well researched. Enjoy military history that references primary sources. Just excellent! Thank you.
Thank you for this
Outstanding Content!
You’re the true King of KZhead Chris!!!!! The best there is!!!
Fantastic video! Thanks.
@17:00 The Japanese didn't really start to see a collapse in pilot quality until after the Battle of the Philippine Sea, when the US virtually obliterated Japan's carrier air groups. That was a real turning point-- a gradual decline before that battle but a steep plummet afterward. One problem the Japanese faced after Philippine Sea was that they no longer had enough pilots to both maintain combat strength and also train new ones, so new green pilots were constantly being thrown into battle and killed before ever having an opportunity to complete training. (There were, of course, other problems, like lack of fuel severely curtailing training hours.)
No, the japanese carrier fighter forces had been greatly damaged during midway. In two years when the battle if the marianas happened japan was still using ngf zeros against american hellcats and corsairs and also america had good radar on ships. The japanese carrier attack planes got largely destroyed before they even attacked. By the battle of the philipines carriers only got used as decoys as their pilots had only been destroyed a few months earlier at marianas..
@@aceofhearts573 : Actually, while the Japanese Navy lost a massive number of Zeros at Midway, they didn’t lose that many fighter pilots. Many Zeros were lost because they ran out of fuel and ditched after their carriers were set on fire, but their pilots were picked up by the escorts. Some pilots were on board the carriers when they were bombed, but abandoned ship with the rest of the crew and were rescued. The Japanese Navy actually lost far more Zero pilots during the 6 months of the Guadalcanal campaign than they lost at Midway.
@@aceofhearts573 What Tim Smith said is correct. At Midway, some precious pilots were lost but most survived after ditching. The major loss aside from the carrier hulls, were the ground crews that went down with the ships. Those crews were well trained and not quickly re-placed.
The real meat grinder for the Japanese naval airmen was in the South Pacific in 1943.
occasionally i pulled off my headset, to listen. we live between Norfolk NAS (NGU) and Norfolk international airport (ORF) so i need to identify where the "sound effects" originate. nicely done vid, subbed!
Another fantastic video Chris! Love seeing this sort of thing. Also Dr. Pepper had me rolling 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hey, thank you!
Another interesting and professional video. Thanks
Fascinating. I really enjoyed it.
Chris, great video as always...you need to water the plant behind you!
Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
Love your channel. Surprised there is WW2 US info in a German Archive. Have a great Holiday, Chris!
Thanks Jeff, this one is from files from the UK's National Archive but I've only just completed another haul at the German one too :)
Great video!
Great history , thanks .
Those of us who grew up in the Southern US understand the Dr. Pepper name for this attack . Look at the original bottle from this time and you will note the prominent 10 - 2 - 4 Logo! Anyone from the US during this period would be well familiar with the reference.
@ 13:44 If the "Dr. Pepper" attack pattern amuses you, then the names of the 35 beaches targeted for the planned attack on Kyushu will also amuse you. They were named after brands of cars: Austin, Buick, Cadillac, etc., ending with Zephyr.
14:00 Joke's on you Bis. Looks like Bo went back in time and changed the name just for you to say this haha
I really like that this video has more personality with out intrupring the facts
As you didn't explain what was meant by, "The Dr. Pepper" attack name, the file name you showed lends itself greatly to the answer. In my youth, (the1950's - yes, I'm 72), (and I assume during the war also), the Dr. Pepper company ads would like you to drink a Dr. Pepper soda at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM, hence the "10 and 2" in the reference. I'm not sure when they changed from this advertising campaign, but eventually they did. However, my father told me told hold a "steering wheel like Dr.. Pepper" when driving, as it is holding the wheel at "10:00 and 2:00", for best control of the car. This was in the mid-1960's, but, of course, he was in the war as a tank driver of a M5A1 Stuart light tank in a reconnaissance unit of the Seventh Armored and was at St. Vith during the Battle of the Bulge.
On another topic, I'll definitely watch this video again. But I'm wondering if the higher percentage of belly attacks on B-25s was caused by lack of good advance warning of the air raids. If the Japanese fighters weren't able to get to altitude before contacting the bombers, their only options might have been belly attacks.
I thought B-29 could fly higher and Japanese needed new fighters to counter them.
Yep Japan was hard at work making new fighters that had turbochargers that allowed their radial engines to work in very hard altitudes. You can google stuff like ki-84, ki-94, j5n1, j7 shinden... pretty cool stuff that never made it into combat only a few prototypes
Another great video I enjoy these so much, I bought the company (remember THAT tag line...???) Well, maybe not the company But, I did do the Patreon thing Thanks so much, Chris!
can you do a video about the japanese late war planes like ki 84 or j2m or n1k
Can I just compliment the witty name of the B-29 (at the 11:15 videomark), Bachelor Quarters? WW2 American aircraft nose art should be its own channel.
this is super interesting to me, do you have info on allied tactics as well, or anything on how effective straffing ships was?
Grate job!
Great now please do Operation Bodenplatte for the holidays.
Another great Video. Love the "NAFAZ" Initialism! So I süppose for German Tanks the one would be "NATAT"? Happy Holidays & Happy New Year! Thanks for helping keep me partially sane in 2021!
I perceive a distinct "survivor's bias" here in that the bomber crews shot down didn't contribute to this report--but those surviving Japanese fighter attacks were debriefed.
Dead men don't tell tales...
18:28 I've actually come across "exploded" used in this way once or twice in older writing, and it always seemed to describe a situation in which an idea had been so thoroughly disproved as to be utterly destroyed. Wiktionary also has this as a possible meaning for "explode": "4. (transitive, archaic) To disprove or debunk."
Archaic? It's common English... Suddenly I feel old.
@@richardgray7480 Well take wiktionary with a grain of wiki. Personally though, it feels pretty old to me. I can't remember where I've seen that usage before, but it feels very early 20th century.
@@TonboIV Definitely common in Canada while I was growing up. I've heard other baby-busters use it as well... still, not sure how much I've heard it this millennium, so I guess it is fading out. I suppose last century is so yesterday. ;D
I heard in terms of a quick rise of a person/thing in public interest, "it/they exploded, onto the scene", these days not the best choice of words, people will think a suicide vest was involved.
I'm guessing that the 'Belly Button' attack as mentioned in the document is where the Japanese attackers execute a low yoyo(?) and opening fire on the belly whilst being out of the range of the ball/ventral gunner fire of the aforementioned bombers like the B-24s and B-29s. Hmm, I actually wonder if there's any recorded reports and devised tactics of Japanese bomber interception missions using aircraft with schrage muzik like the Ki-45, Ki-46s and so on etc. Would be nice to have those covered as well if there's any reports of them in the archives.
I would think you could interpret it within the 3D space as coming from a number of 'rear' angles, yes. As for 'Schräge musik', there was some mentions in the documents about 'no-allowance' shooting (i.e. see Ki-45) but it was questioned whether it was actually happening or misreported. Strictly speaking no-allowance shooting is somewhat different to Schräge musik, although in practice essentially the same.
@@MilitaryAviationHistory It was my understanding that a Ki-45 variant (Ki-45 KA1d) did have two 20mm cannon mounted in a Schräge musik style fitting in the upper fuselage just behind the pilot. But I don't know whether these actually made it into operational use, or if they did, in what numbers.
@@MilitaryAviationHistory I think we should refer to the Japanese version of this installation as "kabuki guns" since the root meaning of kabuki is "angled/bent" the same as "schrage" (and the theater form got its name the same way "jazz" did from schrage, being weird).
Over the years the number of books I have read, I couldn't say how many but the b25 was equipped at least at the beginning with a remote control turret which I believe was made by Bendix. In all the years of reading on world War II and air combat, I started in 5th or 6th grade and I'm 63 years old to give you an idea, no one has ever claimed that I've seen to have hit anything with that turret. In Martin Caiden's book about Sabaru Saki, he quoted the ace regarding his first encounter with the B-17 over the Philippines at the beginning of the war yet may have been a d I doubt they had any e models he was amazed by how much damage the plane took it got to the point where he would make a pass and then go back and look at the damage and then make another pass. I can't remember he actually shot the plane down at least if he was aware he did, but I believe the plane eventually crashed. By the time of the b-29 airstrikes over mainland Japan, Japan was desperately short of fuel pilot attrition had seriously damaged their ability to defend the island. That isn't to say they didn't try. It's just that they had limited resources. One of the things I learned or read in several books, Japanese pilots tended to rely on acrobatics in combat. American pilots after some experience and the brutal Darwinian experience of combat tended to rely on formation discipline and energy tactics.
I vaguely recall that in his book “Samurai” Saburo Sakai mentions his group downed B-17s with a frontal attack. Of course, this was early in the war before the B-17G with the chin turret.
@@jimlow6824 yes axis pilots discovered early in the war the defensive weakness head on. Early on the only forward firing weapon was a 30 cal. Starting with the E variant they added ball sockets to to the windows left and right of the nose. The YB-40 program introduced the Bendix chin turret. Though the YB-40 was a failure, the turret was not, being added to late F series production and retained on the G. These versions retained the ball sockets I mentioned earlier.
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer Those YB-40s are crazy, with all the doubled gun positions and all the extra ammunition.
@@don_5283 Yes, but slow after bomb drop compared to the B-17's they were escorting. I also think, they had slight;y less range due to the weight and more parasitic drag.
@@don_5283 Can you imagine the first Luftwaffe pilot to attack one? When the guns opened up, WTF is that? Abort Ghost Rider! I think we made it mad!
This is good stuff.
When Tibbets dropped little boy he had the problem of escaping the blast. He did a 160 degree, diving turn, after releasing the bomb. His B29 silverplate achieved around 460mph whilst trying to get away from the blast. There were very few fighters that would have been able to catch him.
Cool story, bro.
Good job Mr. Chris.
The side attacks kinda explain why the B-25H and later models had a single waist gun (0.50" or 12.7mm) on each side, but only 1 crew member (radioman) to handle both of them! The guns have some traverse forward, but were mainly for side to tail angles and had reasonable vertical angles with which to engage the enemy... (going from models I've built and pictures, never been in a B-25)
As an American these names don't seem off at all, but quite in keeping with American naming conventions such as the Bazooka or football plays such as the Razzle Dazzle.
Subscribed!
Biz dont ever feel bad about asking for support....I watch you and Greg all the time and as soon as I can get back to work I will be donating and becoming an official member
Just be glad he didn't name one of the attacks the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" LOL
That moment when you realize you're often doing half these attacks in WT with your A6M5 since they tend to work decently. Belly Button especially since it tries to avoid the gunners only giving the 29 a small opportunity to get it's guns on you.
next do Arado tactics vs allied planes )))
The key is ramming and showing dominance
Dr Pepper was also used to describe a North Vietnamese SAM attack pattern 10-2-4 was on the vintage Dr Pepper logo and that's pretty much how SAM would engage. The ones from ahead would cause the target aircraft to bleed airspeed and fix their attention with the dreaded 6 o clock SAM shot coming in for the kill.
Bis; great vid. I would really interested in how later Japanese fighters dealt with B-29, especially at high altitudes. If you need any modern aircraft references or anecdotes, message me. I am retired USAF Intel type in 2017.
Yes more please.
Hello Bis, i was wondering if u could make a video about tail gunnery. Physics, how to aim, tips etc. Thanks
Love the video . . . So many Western sources (during and after the war) characterized Japanese tactics in a dismissive pulp journalistic style with terminology such as "disorganized rabble," "swarm of bees," "individualistic," "undisciplined," "getting in each other's way," etc. Even accounting for the fact that Japanese radio quality and range was poor, and hence, they often eschewed radios to save weight, more recent research from the last 30 years shows that they did indeed develop and use coordinated tactics designed for specific situations when possible. Limiting factors for the Japanese were vulnerability, weak armament, and an insufficient speed margin over the bombers -- all of which prohibited prolonged tail chases. Also, if they lost speed or altitude after their attack run they were pretty much out of the fight as it would take too long to safely position themselves for another pass, especially if fighter escort was present. "Let's Go, NAFAZ!"
Are there actually simulator type historical fights on War Thunder, or is it all 'Flying pankake vs Shinden vs Messerschmitt’s P.1101'?
you can make custom missions and a dynamic and historic campaign
@@randomrexy2135 If only their AI was a bit better than it actually is.
There are mostly realistic aircraft (all existed, good models and textures and believable flight models) which fight in often unhistoric battles (matching by balance, not historical accuracy)
There's simulator mode i suppose, which is difficult to learn as its in first person. But yeah its the most realistic
It must have been pretty daunting going against a heavily gunned and armored American heavy bomber in a KI 43 armed with two low powered 12.7 mm machine guns which can be charitably compared to two peashooters. It also must have been even more terrifying to go against these American heavies when one considers that Japanese fighters of the period in question lacked armor and self sealing fuel tanks. In this respect, the KI 43 and its naval counterpart the A6M Zero could be brought down by a well placed .30 cal incendiary round, nether mind the 12 50 cals of an American B 24 or B 17. At least the Zero had two wing mounted 20 mm cannon to supplement it's miserable two 7.7 mm nose firing machine guns.
Ideally one would want to be armed with a quartet of 30 mm weapons like the German MK 103 in order to bring the American heavies down with a minimum of fuss. To my knowledge, to took only three 30 mm strike to inflict catastrophic damage on a four engine bomber, such as a B 17. It must have taken Japanese fighters all day to bring down a B 17 with their meager armament. On the other hand, it is important to remember that Japanese fighters with the exception of fighters like the KI 45 twin engine designs, where optimized for dogfighting.
Yeah this kind of content is really great!! But recommendation is not to exceed the 25 minute video mark, because that leds to a lot of people (included me) to pospone the video or even not see it because there is not so much time at that moment. Grüße aus Spanien!
I watched an inerview with a japanese fighterpilot. He described the Zero as a toy and mentioned a tactic of aproaching enemy bombers frontally in a dive.
I can imagine attacking at a Certain angle frontally , bullets are more likely to hit. Also fighter pilots would adjust the angle of their Mg's. so the Bullets would cross at like 150 Meter distance.
I saw that interview also. He also complained about the low rate of fire of the 20mm cannons... pom....pom....pom.
Damn right on the huge size of the Pacific. I was 7th fleet with home ports being Yokosuka and Pearl Harbor... I'm sure anyone with an interest in WW2 history might get an amused laugh where I was stationed. We could spend months underway and just see water, water, more water etc...
Respect to the sailors of all navies.
Very good work! I've read about some of such tactics in translated Japanese sources, especially when dealing with B-29s. I'd love to learn more. Take care!
very nice
@Military Aviation History What do you think of the recent discoveries of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force adhering strictly to hit and run tactics from at least 1938 onward, and rarely if ever using the Zero in turn fighting tactics? See Drachinifeld's Zero or Hero? Video dedicated to the Zero from 52:00 onward (not super exact time stamp) I think this fact is a massive revolution in our entire understanding of actual Pacific War tactics.
Using the Bombers own wings as cover is brilliant...!...
The book I read on Japanese aircraft and tactics is "Fighters of the Dying Sun: The Most Advanced Japanese Fighters of the Second World War" by Justo Miranda on my Kindle. I am not in a position to determine how good it is. But the drawings are nice.
Really great video as always! Btw i would like to ask if AirModels passes through customs and import fees for EU, and if so, is there any alternatives to AirModels or perhaps an EU site?
"exploded" in that context means "debunked" so you have the meaning correct, but no they didn't mean to write "exposed." It's just a colloquialism and they most likely did mean to say "exploded."
Only eighteen Japanese interceptions of the 500 missions, in that timeframe? This demonstrates that The Japanese were logistically already in a terminal phase in that theater.
"This is so Yankee it hurts" as an American that made my day! Hilarious! Cool video, keep up the great work.
The oddball tactic names are a way to provide a mnemonic which helps ID opponents equipment or tactics. It also provides a bit of gallows humor that has been part of the military mind since, well, forever. Napoleonic war novels often have a British seaman saying, "Lord bless us for what we are about to receive," as the enemy starts their broadside. Nuisance night bomber attacks were called Washing Machine Charlie because of the unsynchronised engines. So the humor isn't FUBAR.
The B-29's speed relative to Japanese fighters make me question some of these. The "belly button attack" in particular. With a 2-digit closing speed in that profile, a spotted fighter would seem to be a shooting gallery duck. Engaging aircraft of similar speed is very difficult to judge. Beam attacks devolve into pursuit curves. Re-engaging becomes nearly impracticable. B-29 altitude performance relative to Japanese fighters is nearly enough to make all this moot.
I read japanese would only be able to make one or two passes but at such high altitude their radial engine fighters became very sluggish. The only fighters that could engage the b-29s were the german engines ki-61
@@aceofhearts573 What about the N1K2 or KI-100?Not an expert just asking. I have read that the aforementioned fighters were the equal of any allied fighter. However, I am not sure of their performances at high altitudes.
@@rorycraft5453 the Ki-100 had a 1500hp 14 cylinder kinsei engine and the N1K2 had a 18 cylinder homare engine. Both very powerful radial engine and they rivaled American fighters in the pacific with the N1K2 having automated combat flaps but again their superchargers are not enough to help them fight at the altitudes that the B-29 operated. The American P-47 uses a radial engine but it has a turbocharger and that is why that plane can operated at b-29 altitude and act as an escort. To make a turbocharger you need very specific metals and materials that withstand high levels of heat. Both the Japanese and the Germand never had an turbochargers that worked because they lacked the materials to make them. Both did make plenty of prototypes engines with them that never reached production. An example is the Japanese Ki-87
@@aceofhearts573 Thank you for your explanation. Have great evening!
Don't forget the later raids when the B-29s had P-51D Mustang escorts.
Im impressed you as a German have heard of Dr.Pepper. Many ppl here in the US havent heard of it.
Thanks!
Wow, thank you so much, Jeff!