The Single Most Important Military Aircraft Ever Shot Down?

To many Americans, the phrase “made in Japan” was synonymous with low quality and rudimentary technology. But this perception changed after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, in which they were violently introduced to a groundbreaking piece of Japanese engineering: the formidable Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
For the following months, the US military scrambled to keep up with the nimble fighter, and it quickly earned a mythical reputation. The warplane seemed to be everywhere in the Pacific, had an unprecedented range, and could easily outmaneuver anything the Allies threw at it.
More concerning was the fact that it was a seaborne aircraft designed to be launched by Japanese carriers. These ships were supposed to be inferior to land-based fighters due to their space restrictions; still, the Zero was outclassing every single land warplane.
The US went to great lengths to capture one of these machines and learn how they were made and what made them so powerful. However, the Japanese were highly protective of their technology, and they would crash their own aircraft before risking being captured.
On July 12, 1942, the tide abruptly changed when a US Navy patrol crew landed on the island of Akutan following a strange series of events that led to an aircraft being flipped upside-down. Still, the plane was intact and immediately rushed to Naval Air Station in San Diego, California.
The secrets of the A6M Zero were about to be uncovered…
---
Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.
All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.

[@dx1450]

When I was growing up my next door neighbor was personally responsible for downing 14 Zeros and 3 Betty bombers during WWII. He was the worst mechanic in the Japanese Air Force.

[@ericxue3244]

😂

[@abhishekdas5414]

Needs a video

[@rickmellor]

😂😂

[@johnassal5838]

I'm assuming he went to work for a Chrysler dealership after moving to the US

[@stemartin6671]

No, he started designing fords 😅​@@johnassal5838

[@deaddocreallydeaddoc5244]

The reason that the Wildcats increased scores against the Zero, later on, was because the Wildcats were upgraded with a lighter but more specifically tuned engine for the altitudes they were most often fighting the Japanese planes. The old trick the Zeros had used to lure an American plane into a climbing contest until the Wildcat stalled was reversed. When the Zeros lured the Wildcats and also initially the Hellcats into climbing contests, it was they that ended up stalling.

[@zigmar2]

Which F4F variant exactly got the new engine, and what was the engine model?

[@discover3024]

I believe the biggest reason was the dwindling state of the Japanese air force, most veteran pilots were dead by 1942-43

[@timstone3441]

Dad was a WWII Pacific campaign fighter pilot. Dad said the Zero was a fast and nimble plane but lacked armor. Even the Wildcat was not as capable. But when the Corsair FU4 showed up the game was changed. My dad loved that plan.. Called it the Cadillac of the sky..

[@frotobaggins7169]

I was quite surprised that the video did not mention the Corsair as I always thought it was a real game changer in the war.

[@Goobergoobng]

@@frotobaggins7169the corsair ripped the zeros to pieces

[@nosmokebot8877]

I thought it was F4U

[@Goobergoobng]

@@nosmokebot8877 I think it was a typo

[@jonathanstein1783]

A Zero recovered from Saipan, an A6M5 model, currently belongs to Planes Of Fame Air Museum, in Chino, CA. It was restored to flight many years ago, and is the most original Zero still flying today. It's pretty much original from spinner to tail cone, making it a one-of-a-kind aircraft.

[@andrewhull1814]

Seen it it’s really cool

[@hifinsword]

I saw a Zero in the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum in Pearl Harbor on Ford Island. From Wikipedia "A Japanese A6M2-21 Zero similar to the aircraft used in the attack on Pearl Harbor was salvaged in 1968 and restored to flying condition in 1985. Originally, it flew with the Japanese air group 201 in the Solomon Islands. It was sold to the Confederate Air Force for use in air shows and later sold to the museum in 2006."

[@ravenmoon5111]

Been there many times.

[@kittinplus4]

was this the one found on the beach?

[@thedeathwobblechannel6539]

I believe it even has the original engine although probably no doubt rebuilt / reconditioned but it's an original Japanese engine

[@kyrenthang8633]

That's the first justification of the internment camp system I've ever heard, this has always been chalked up to sheer paranoia but there was a spark that set it off. 🤔

[@raymondclark1785]

I always thought that incident was the reason. There had been a worry before Dec 7th and thats why the planes were lined up on the apron instead of in the ravetments to protect them from sabbators

[@billmorse221]

That was an uneducated statement.

[@kyrenthang8633]

@@billmorse221 Actually your statement is the uneducated and ignorant one. I expressed surprise at acquiring an unknown fact. You declared the acquisition of new data as being "uneducated", a obvious misstatement yet ironic proof of your own fondness for loutish behavior.

[@alharrison1038]

Why would you allow a radically loyal people living in your country who you are at war with remain free

[@billmorse221]

@@alharrison1038 where was the German interment camp?

[@johnb3289]

One US naval historian discovered another US advantage in the Pacific War. US aircraft carriers stocked multiple replacement engines for every aircraft they carried. The Japanese had one engine for every one of their fighters. Bless you, Eli Whitney!

[@drmachinewerke1]

He was even better at making guns.

[@autoiko4300]

One other advantage of US aircraft carriers was ventilation. If there was a fuel/oil spill inside the hangar deck, any subsequent explosion wouldn’t destroy the flight deck - the hangar deck was open to vent harmful fumes and dissipate any pressure. By contrast, Japanese carriers had fully enclosed hangar bays, so if an explosion occurred, the entire flight deck would be obliterated. If not an explosion, the American maintenance/flight crews and sailors can simply dump damaged equipment into the sea. It also made it easier for other ships to spray water/extinguishment into the hangar.

[@BigBrianStormer]

@@autoiko4300 They also had the ability to flood their fuel lines with CO2, so, during a battle, any explosion wouldn't be exacerbated by fuel in the system

[@autoiko4300]

@@BigBrianStormer Quite certain. Another advantage were the Americans training every single sailor and pilot in firefighting drills, even the officers, including the captain himself. Almost everyone aboard a US ship knew how to extinguish or handle fires. By contrast, the Japanese only had specialised teams of firefighters, their deaths leaving a ship completely helpless against any fire/smoke hazard. In fact, it was discovered that many of those teams perished in the initial attack at Midway. Most disturbing, it was also discovered after the war that the Japanese firefighters died where they stood, not from fires or explosions, but hazardous fumes from melted paint or unexploded aviation fuel - they suffocated and collapsed (lacking respirators and CO2 extinguishment systems).

[@johnburgess3660]

For anyone interested in visiting, The place to see the restored Zero in Tokyo is the Yasukuni Shrine. I visited both the shrine and the museum. The museum has a great many interesting artifacts, including a steam locomotive used in occupied Burma. The museum has a nice bookstore as well. Lots of history books to enjoy (if you can read Kanji). I can't read much - but I got lucky. I was in Japan to visit my future in-laws, and my fiancée was at the dentist. I picked up a book that looked interesting and gave it to my fiancée. It turned out to be a history of all the Japanese emperors. My now wife is a huge history buff, and sometimes is asked to give historical presentations at one of the local Japanese schools.

[@z3r0_35]

Correction regarding the Sakae 12's float carburetor: the engineers at Nakajima had actually figured out how to fix the issue with stalling while inverted, allowing the Zero to remain inverted for longer and sustain negative Gs longer as well (the wings were more likely to rip off from negative G loads before the engine failed). However, this required a very specific procedure to be followed with installing it which the US Navy techs in San Diego didn't know about, so the engine was put back together incorrectly, causing stalls when inverted. We didn't learn the truth until after the war.

[@thomasw.glasgow7449]

same with valve/tube radios , they keep working after an E M P trigered by an airborne nuke . tranys don't , the U S kinda laughed at the old U S S R for still using them a few years later they did sus that wee gem out , aye !

[@z3r0_35]

@@thomasw.glasgow7449 There are some drawbacks to the older systems, particularly how bulky and fragile to physical damage they can get. There's a number of reasons why transistors gradually replaced vacuum tubes, and then microchips replaced transistors. That said, we were still using older computers in places like missile silos for precisely the reasons you mentioned. Even now our silos are running on hardware from the 1970s.

[@John-ih2bx]

Great info. Thank you.

[@Mr.Scootini]

Good to see a fellow aviation enthusiast that actually knows what he’s talking about.

[@Majortom9266]

Sources? I apologize if I missed them. As with any Merlin-powered craft, and most startlingly the Mosquito I’ve had difficulty tracing the timelines, the developments, the concepts as to the apparent aversion by some to fuel-injection. Maybe someone could recommend a definitive text?

[@docvega5465]

The fact that Claire Chenault's evaluation of the Mitsubishi Zero was ignored by the US Navy and US Army ended up costing a lot of American pilot's lives.

[@stringpicker5468]

And his evaluation of their pilots. Arrogant fools.

[@johnassal5838]

@@stringpicker5468 A huge part of why the Nazis were able to run wild early in the war was that with practically no military allowed after the treaty of Versailles they had essentially no "stodgy old guard" to cling to outdated doctrin out of tradition and really no choice but to fully embrace every new technology and tactic they could. Every country had their forward thinking tank officers formulating what was later adopted and they all read each others books, literally. It's just that nobody in authority was reading much less writing those books before the war except in Germany.

[@Paul-zf8ob]

It also lead to an Australian unit commander dying. He also told his men not to dogfight zeroes. The British commander who ended up being a senior commander told his men to dogfight because they were cowards. He had never fought a zero, only German planes. His next attack lead to his death dogfighting because he was ordered to!

[@stevelawrence5123]

The features you described in the Zero, introduced in 1940: flush rivets, holes in internal frames etc were in fact innovations used in the Hughes H1 plane that set a world airspeed record in 1935, so you can't blane HH for believing that word had gotten back to Japan.

[@bobbys4327]

yup, commies in high office were being traitors back then too!

[@kenkovar2647]

It's called being independently discovered....like calculus!😎

[@drivebye2709]

It could go both ways. Not like it was Top Secret government technology or something. Then again " Japanese spies??? No way!!!".

[@russellkeeling4387]

My father was in the Pacific from 1943 until 1946. He drove a Higgens boat landing soldiers on the islands as the US Navy island hoped. When the Americans landed on some islands they found many Japanese Zeros that had been landed on the beach's with the locked canopy broken so the pilot could escape into the jungles. Not all Japanese pilots were brainwashed enough to give their lives for a lost cause.

[@Luvurenemy]

The Japanese aircraft maintainers locked the canopies from the outside to try & prevent the Kamikaze pilots from aborting their suicide missions? I never knew that! Wow.

[@DeadTried]

@@Luvurenemy Not even Kamikaze pilots just to make sure they can't escape and have to continue fighting or make it back to the airfield

[@russellkeeling4387]

@@Luvurenemy My father was in the Pacific during this time and he and his fellows found Japanese airplanes on every beach where a plane could be landed with the canopies broken so the pilots could escape into the jungles.

[@georgescarlett2320]

How "COOL" is that! Good opportunity for a "Used Airpland" lot! Ha!

[@thebetazone-km6xh]

thanks for that info. good to know that some of them still had their marbles. (you're number one TOJO!).

[@davidcouch6514]

I worked with a man who was in Army Intelligence during the War. He related that a captured Betty Bomber was brought the U.S. for analysis. He was aboard while it was flown over and around Washington D.C. one clear Sunday afternoon. He said he would have expected this might have created a stir among the citizenry, but the flight sauntered over the Capital and surrounds unnoticed.

[@4002corbe]

?

[@mrmikes4553]

I am a WWII buff for over 50 years and I truely learned something new today on Japan's Zero

[@Littleredhen13]

My father was stationed at Dutch Harbor during the aerial bombardments in June 1942. His Anti-Aircraft batteries shot down numerous Japanese planes, including the Mitsubishi Zero fighter featured in this post.

[@zen4men]

He helped make history!

[@AllShallBeRevealed1776]

My wife is USCG and regularly visits Dutch Harbor

[@John-ih2bx]

Many thanks to your father, and your remembrance of him. Helps us all to understand/acknowledge history.

[@brewster46]

@@sgs1262 so was Ronald Reagan the "pilot" at 17:14

[@brewster46]

they say that the Japanese raid at Dutch Harbor was unsuccessful because they Japanese did not have any on island spies to guide the attack. they were interned

[@masondegaulle5731]

Allied pilots learned how to tempt A6Ms into steep dives and hard G pulls as well, where the Zero would either tear its wings off in the dive, or when pulling up to get what looked like a good firing solution. Many recorded cases of experienced pilots shaking Zeros this way.

[@hfd_blackrose.of.darwin]

Yes but actually that won't happen with the A6M5. There are reports of Zeros keeping up with the Americans in their dive and still keeping their airframe intact. That won't happen in older variants like the A6M2 or A6M3. Despite this, thanks to an abundant of older Zero variants still flying up until the Marianas Turkey Shoot, the myth of the Zero can't keep up with the American fighters in a dive and having no armour at all until it is too late, still persist to this day. This myth exists because most A6M variants with the exception of the A6M3 seem to have the same airframe design. As for the A6M3, the change of the wingtip design was noticable that the Allies thought it was a new aircraft. Still doesn't make it up for the horrible losses of experienced Japanese pilots until the end of the Second Great War.

[@cuthrell]

Japan tested us like no other nation. Honestly much respect to Japan. I'm glad we work together, can put the past behind us and move forward.

[@MalachiWhite-tw7hl]

Wonder what Asia might be like if the Japanese had won. Would they be better governors of China than the Communist Chinese?

[@wiskadjak]

In his book about designing the Zero Jiro Horikoshi made it clear he was responding to requirements set out by the Imperial Japanese Navy. These incredible demands guided all of Horikoshi's design decisions. I contend there were no "flaws" in the design but, rather, arrogance and short sightedness on the part of the IJN high command. None the less very good video.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

I would rephrase that. Simply to say that they had a different design philosophy. Relying on aerodynamics rather than high horsepower. Relying on maneuverability over protection. Design with a philosophy of pure offense.

[@kudukilla]

@@WALTERBROADDUS and those priorities go back to Samurai thinking. Get in a first decisive blow.

[@kevinbarry7547]

The IJN high command required two attributes above all else in the A6M, range and maneuverability. Everything else was sacrificed to meet those two objectives. Later versions of the A6M (A6M5, M6, etc) had more powerful engines which allowed Mitsubishi to add self-sealing fuel tanks and some pilot armor. But I believe they never reached the same level of pilot protection that American aircraft had.

[@Skank_and_Gutterboy]

Yep. If he hadn't obeyed to the letter, he would've wound up eating the steel of a Samurai sword. That was a time in Japanese history when you did not cross the military, it didn't matter who you were (unless you were Emperor Hirohito).

[@fighter5583]

@@kevinbarry7547 I almost read "pilot armor" as plot armor.

[@JBofBrisbane]

My mother spent some time in a unit which tended searchlights at Nudgee Beach in Brisbane. One night their unit was asked to light up a Zero (a captured aircraft flying from the unit at Eagle Farm that refurbished and test flew captive enemy types) that probably was being demonstrated in the cooler night air. My mother remembered being impressed by the Zero's rate of climb.

[@CRANIEL9]

O/ fellow brisbanite

[@964cuplove]

Cool mother :-)

[@kampkat6089]

I like the stories that show case the females role in the war. Truly a universal struggle.

[@TheDoof1]

Thanks for sharing!

[@jerrypolete5258]

It’s crazy how far we have come just from the 1950’s. Just 70 years ago these were the planes we had and now we have fighter jets that pretty much do everything for the pilot. It’s insane the amount of engineering that’s went into military aircraft

[@Calzaghe83]

and before we know it there won't be pilots at all.

[@jerrypolete5258]

@@Calzaghe83 technically we already have that with drones.

[@ianedmonds9191]

I keep coming back to this channel. Your voiceovers are quite hypnotic while delivering really great info. I remember when you first started the pace of info was quite shockingly quick but you've matured into an immediate but digestible tempo that really works. Big Props. Luv and Peace.

[@Munakas-wq3gp]

But altiude of 10 000 kilometers, really? He must not think at all what he's narrating.

[@johnmoore8599]

That captured Zero was destroyed accidentally by a Curtis Helldiver running into it and destroying the fuselage aft of the cockpit. Otherwise, it would have wound up in a naval museum as a valuable piece of history.

[@ogr7771]

I believe this may not be true, when I worked at THE PLANES OF FAME air museum in Chino Ca. the plane they have and known to be to only all original flyable Zero in the world, is this plane. I live about 3 miles from the Air Museum at Chino Airport. A few times a year I see it flying overhead.

[@johnmoore8599]

@@ogr7771 That aircraft is a different captured aircraft according to the Chino Air Museum.

[@alfavulcan4518]

@@johnmoore8599 I saw another zero that had the original Sakai engine at the Texas Flying Legends museum in Ellington Field, Texas

[@davewilson9772]

Did the Hell Diver crew get credited with a kill?

[@mypl510]

@@ogr7771 The POF Zero came from Saipan, and was also Tested on North Island in San Diego, CA

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

Eric Brown flew 487 types of aircraft during his career. When he calls the Zero "the finest fighter in the world until mid-1943", he knows what he's talking about. Edit: a few people in the comments seem confused. He's talking about early to mid war, so no late model P-51s. He's also talking about it's as a *fighter* as opposed to it's range, or multi-role capability (the P47 and P38). He's also not imagining group tactics (the F4F's Thatch Weave) It's also questionable whether he would even consider non-carrier fighters to be the same type of plane.

[@ericmcquisten]

Eric Brown stated that he found the Japanese Zero to be the finest fighter of its era (referring to the early years of WWII). However, he also stated that the F6F/F8F American naval fighter was the best dogfighter of the late-era of WWII. When it comes to the post-WWII era, his favorite was the DH. 103 Sea Hornet.

[@christopherrobinson7541]

I flew with "Winkle" Brown when he visited my gliding club 15 years ago. He insisted on a check flight, but declined the opportunity to fly solo. Apart from his skill, even in old age he had an element of devilment. If you get a chance listen to his Desert Island Discs programme.

[@timsimpson9367]

@@christopherrobinson7541 He was a one off. Never see the likes of him again. Guy is a legend.

[@sonyascott6114]

Old WINKIE.

[@DavidRLentz]

Was Eric Brown the pilot who in World War One had shot down Baron Manfred von Richthofen in his Fokker DR-1 Triplane Fighter?

[@andrewwinter7843]

Holy crap... I have been studying this stuff since around 1970. This is the most comprehensive video I have ever SEEN! Amazing.

[@johnandrewmunroe]

I translated a number of last letters to family written by kamikaze pilots just prior to their final departure from Chiran airbase in Kagoshima. It was a heartrending experience, heightened by my access to the profiles, pilot photos, mission outcomes and photographs or scans of the original letters that accompanied the transcribed Japanese text for each. This truly drove home the desperate heroism and fatalism of these boys and young men. Thanks for a most informative video! Your delivery reminiscent of Rob Lowe at his best makes this channel one of my favorites.

[@kobra289]

I've been to Chiran, amazing place. My Japanese friend said it was very sad to read the final messages at the museum. Probably a place few Americans have been.

[@jgt4862]

The Grumman Wildcat had a 6.91:1 kill ratio over the A6M. American pilots learned not to dogfight the Zeke, but attack and break off, or implement the Thatch weave. As the war progressed, US pilots gained experience giving them even more of an advantage.

[@rob6052]

And, as the war wore on, Japan could generate neither worthy aircraft nor worthy pilots.

[@markfryer9880]

@@rob6052 The shortages in aircraft was down to the scarcity of critical strategic raw materials and how the aircraft were constructed. Western aircraft were constructed on jigs and then subassemblies were bolted together and finally they were all married together on the production line, which again required more bolted together. This was a fast paced technique, but the expense was in the form of a weight penalty from all of fastening bolts, nuts, washers and fish plates to reinforce the joints. The Japanese method was more akin to low level custom production. The whole wing was built in one piece and the fuselage was I believe bolted to the wing. These were the only bolts used to join the wing and fuselage together. The only other bolts used were to mount the engine to the fuselage at the firewall and mounting points. While this method saved considerable amounts of weight overall, it came at a mar overall construction time per aircraft. Weight was also saved by not fitting armour plate to critical areas for the polit and engine. Weight was also saved by by not fitting self-sealing fuel tanks.

[@DavidRLentz]

Thach. Named after the pilot, not for a Medieval type of roofing.

[@robertbeirne9813]

If 9/10’s of an aircraft is killed, I think you can call it a 7 to 1 ratio.

[@kdrapertrucker]

The F4F had the best kill/loss ratio of WWII. Even though it was far from the best performer, the Hellcat was a much better fighter, but only served 2 1/2 years before the war ended. The replacement for the F4F didn't appear till 1945 when the F8F bearcat entered service.

[@ralfhtg1056]

The title of the video originally made me think that this video was about how the plane that carried Isoroku Yamamoto was shot down in 1943.

[@chrismckay9923]

That's what I was thinking as well.

[@MrGaryGG48]

@@chrismckay9923 I thought the same at first, then remembered that Yamamoto wasn't in a Zero. He was in a twin engine transport-bomber; I believe it was a Betty.

[@jelink22]

@@chrismckay9923 But the title doesn't mention a Zero. I too thought the video would be about Yamamoto's plane.

[@Masonjar94]

Me too clicked on it and thought I don’t know why I’m watching another video about it.

[@michaelwoods4495]

The very things that made the Zero so maneuverable and gave it its climb capability gave light weight, but also meant it couldn't take battle damage. The movie brings that out pretty well.

[@Disappointing925]

Which one?

[@davidhillberg7623]

The one I worked on in 2016 had a P&W in it, Kazu flew it over Japan for several years, we found out it was less expensive to ship it after the shows to the U.S. instead of hangaring it in Japan.

[@vincedibona4687]

20 minutes of goodness. Thanks for this, and don’t feel like you need to keep these at ~10 minutes. I loved every second of this.

[@mike03a3]

The Zero seemed to be everywhere because virtually any similar profile Japanese fighter was identified as a Zero, despite many being Army fighters while the Zeros were all Navy fighters. Same as all the "Tiger" tanks reported by the US troops in the ETO when most Tigers were actually on the Eastern front and all but a handful of the tanks identified as Tigers by the US were actually the similar looking PzKW IV.

[@jamesricker3997]

The zero also had extremely long range Allowing fewer aircraft to cover a much larger area

[@Kpar512]

@@jamesricker3997 Indeed, that was one of the most important characteristics of the Zero. I highly recommend the book "The Emperor's Eagle" written by a Zero pilot who survived the war. Interestingly, he fully supported the use of nukes against Imperial Japan (after the fact), because it shortened the war and saved millions of lives. He was also VERY impressed by the positive treatment he received by American pilots after the war- he expected hostility and harshness, but got respect and friendship.

[@coling3957]

Americans did not encounter Tiger tanks in combat in France in 1944.. the Tiger battalions were with the SS panzer korps facing the British and Canadians .. though there is a story of US half tracks capturing a German train taking two damaged Tiger tanks back to Germany for repair, if that counts.

[@bronco5334]

@@coling3957 No Tiger I, but American forces in France, Belgium, and Germany fought plenty of Tiger II.

[@coling3957]

@@bronco5334 not in France in 1944. it would be the Ardennes offensive before Americans had to face what the British and Canadians had in Normandy

[@GopherBaroque61]

I thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating mini-doc. It's one of your best to date. Keep 'em coming.

[@c123bthunderpig]

The Thach Weave invented by two American pilots in the F4 played a large role in helping encounter the Zero until larger more powerful aircraft could be delivered.

[@garyfasso6223]

Thanks for mentioning Chennault. He actually met with USAAF pilots in Hawaii on one of his prewar trips between US and China and shared his perspective and tactics. The Niihau Incident is worth studying - the panic it caused was in part because one of the collaborators was a natural born US citizen.

[@allangibson8494]

The Flying Tigers never fought a A6M. They ran into the Japanese Army’s equivalent.

[@garyfasso6223]

@@allangibson8494 Chennault studied and fought a number of types of aircraft. Zoom and Boom worked on all of them. Who mentioned the Tigers?

[@allangibson8494]

@@garyfasso6223 Neither Chennault nor anyone under his command ever encountered a Zero. The Japanese Army never flew them and the Japanese Navy never operated in China or South East Asia. At best he got third hand reports and reports on the Aleutian Zero which is known to have been incorrectly repaired. That said, all Japanese fighters until 1943 were optimised for manoeuvrability above everything else and had engines with 3/4 of the power of the equivalent American and British aircraft (800hp vs 1000 to 1200hp). Dogfighting a Zero (or any Japanese fighter) was a losing game, as was following a Zero in a climb (as the Zero was quite capable of a vertical climb). Zero’s did have a problem with dive speed - a Wildcat for example could escape a Zero by diving vertically (as it was fully controllable at terminal velocity where the Zero wasn’t).

[@garyfasso6223]

@@allangibson8494 please read my comment. I never mentioned zeros. I never mentioned the Tigers. I'm quite aware of everything you note, none of it refutes or even applies to my comment. I merely noted that he met with the pilots and shared his experiences. That a Zero was downed at Pearl by a green pilot in a P-36 might be telling. Nice performance. You deserve an Oscar. On your six.

[@thedeathwobblechannel6539]

Something to mention about pilots it's not that American pilots are stupid or incapable the Navy Marine pilots I think we're probably above the rest of the army we had really good pilots what we had were inferior aircraft and inferior tactics if you want to see how good our pilots were look at the ones that went to the AVG they were very good they were very aggressive and they learned quickly the weaknesses of the Japanese planes

[@maddslothii2532]

This is perhaps one of your best videos. I knew all about the captured zero, but I never knew about the actions that happened on Niihau Island giving the people of the time a cause to do the internment we are never told about.

[@SeattlePioneer]

> As I understand it, the internment was motivated by panicky Californians and hasty decision making by the military and Franklin Roosevelt. I hadn't heard of this Nihau Island episode either, and I doubt it motivated the internment decision. Not mentioned in the video was that internment of Japanese occurred on the West Coast of the United States, NOT in Hawaii, where the Japanese descended population was far higher than on the West Coast. My im perfect memory was that Hawaii had something like 60% of it's population descended from Japanese immigrants, but I may be off on that memory. It was, in any case, high, but no internment took place in Hawaii.

[@maddslothii2532]

@@SeattlePioneer You don't think it got back to the Government that US citizens of Japanese decent took up arms and sided with Japan after the Dec 7 attack? It would have been near impossible to intern 100% of the Japanese in Hawaii, but they could and probably did treat the security of the bases there like the US always has Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Japanese in the US while fewer in number or at least percent of the population had access to the entire continent. It may have also be part of the reason they issued brown seal "Hawaii" money during the war. as if even 25% of the population sided with Japan it made the fall of the islands that more likely if Japan invaded.

[@SeattlePioneer]

[@ricardocorbie6803]

Excellent work!! It was said after trials, the zero had a slower turn to the right, so all disseminated orders instructed pilots on these weaknesses!! No doubt saving countless lives!! Great work!!

[@Evocati-Augusti]

What my research showed was Zero were climbing high and waiting for the Wildcat to stall, and then they would dive and shoot them down, but once the Hellcat came to the fight, they tried the same tactics, but couldn't tell it was a different aircraft, and when the Zero turned to dive, the Hellcat was still coming up and firing right at them while they were in a bad position.

[@reidawg72]

That's interesting. I've never heard that. The wildcat was stubby (not an industry term lol) and the hellcat wasn't but I'm guessing the fog of war + expectations = zero pilots assumed it's a wildcat. The hellcat was so successful yet doesn't seem as appreciated compared to the mustang or even the Corsair. The Corsair was just an awesome plane. Amazing those could be landed on decks despite the totally blind approach. Landing one of those on an aircraft carrier took real guts ... and trust.

[@spanishpeaches2930]

It was the afore mentioned test pilot ( in the vid) from the Royal Navy , Eric Brown, who showed that the Corsair could land on an aircraft carrier. For whatever reason, the US pilots couldn't do it, but he taught the US pilots how to.

[@reidawg72]

@@spanishpeaches2930 the reason is that you have to be insane to be the first to try it! many refused to try it at all. have you read about what is required to land the corsair on a carrier? for folks like me, the best comparison is as I turn into my driveway, I can only look out the top 1/4 of the windshield. can't see the driveway and can only see the roof of the garage. and I am expected to park the car in the garage without hitting anything. and my garage isn't on a rolling ocean like a carrier is.

[@spanishpeaches2930]

@@reidawg72 So how come Brown could do it...then suddenly US naval pilots could do it?

[@julieenslow5915]

@@spanishpeaches2930 There are many things where no one could or would do it until someone did. In the case of breaking the 4:00 minute mile - that held as unbreakable for a long time. One man was lied to - they adjusted the time telling him he was below 4:00 minute until convinced he was, he did as he had trained to do and broke the barrier. It took a mental adjustment - and then others started breaking it. High schoolers can do it now. I think Brown may have just been unusually brave and reckless. But once he was successful - well of course the Americans were going to do it faster and better! (Believe me, that is what they all were thinking! That is how we all think!) Couldn't let Mother England beat us!

[@jeffmcdonald4225]

The things I learned from vets, that were my dad's friends, have caused me to conclude that it was a good plane at the start of the war but was rapidly outclassed. They had better trained pilots, and that didn't last long. It was an absolute flying coffin. One guy hit one with three to five 50 cal. rounds, and it simply blew to pieces.

[@russyeatman5631]

And, remember every 3rd or 4th round was a "tracer" - hot enough to explode gasoline.

[@JohnSmith-gd2fg]

Increasingly poorly trained pilots, flying aircraft that were increasingly outclassed, without self-sealing fuel tanks? It's no wonder by the end they were being shot out of the sky.

[@Mugdorna]

Technology advances very fast during wartime. Many aircraft that were top of their class in 1940-41 were almost obsolete by 1944.

[@Mustapha1963]

That's true about the Zero's inability to take much damage before coming apart (a trait which it had in common with virtually all Japanese aircraft until very late in the war). However, you had to >hit< the Zero to hurt it, and that was problematic early in the war. Japan's pilots were superbly trained and very experienced, many of them having fought in China for years. The performance of the Zero was superior to that of all Allied aircraft, with the exception of diving speed, until the P-38 Lightning, Grumman Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair became available. Remember: in December, 1941, the frontline US fighters were the Curtiss P-40 and the Grumman F4F Wildcat. We had only recently transitioned from the Brewster Buffalo and Curtiss P-36 ( and a few still saw action, such as the Buffalo at Midway). The development of tactics, such as the Thatch Weave, were about the only thing that allowed our pilots to survive long enough to gain invaluable experience- and too many didn't live long enough. But the Thatch Weave was defensive in nature, as it had to be due to the inferiority of our aircraft.

[@royfr8136]

bs

[@kbkimoseley]

Wow I am so glad I discovered your channel, very informative and detailed.

[@RK-db4oq]

You left out some crucial details. US pilots were taught to tag team the zeros, flying two planes in a chasing pattern that nullified the advantage the Zero's turning radius and climbing ability initially gave them. In this fashion even the slower and less maneuverable Buffalos could defeat the zeros (the Japanese never learned to counter this tactic, as they did not have enough planes and pilots, and having two pilots fight as a team was against the cultural norms for fighter pilots). Of course, once the F4U corsairs came into action, tag teaming was no longer necessary--but the US pilots still did it because "why not". And the p51 Mustang totally outclassed the zero later in the war, though relatively few were used in the Pacific.

[@JohnJohansen2]

I would have thought that the most important was the Mitsubishi G4M carrying Admiral Yamamoto.

[@2centsam927]

I did too

[@yellowboxster06]

It is sometimes easy to not fully appreciate what it takes to build a new aircraft from scratch. But then a true war-time posture tends to speed things up a bit. Great video, very informative.

[@noneofyourbusiness4622]

The Japanese built their aircraft as a unit. Saving the heavy attachment hardware that was a common part of allied and German aircraft. Ground loop a Zero and it was junk. Mass producing any aircraft was out of the question. The real reason that they were so successful at first was the best Naval pilots in the early part and like in the battle of MIdway: 4 carriers could launch a combined 100 aircraft in 15 minutes. The US would take an hour.

[@carlm.m.5470]

@@noneofyourbusiness4622 Hi, I was curious as to what 'ground loop' means? Would you mind explaining, please?

[@noneofyourbusiness4622]

@@carlm.m.5470 I'm not a pilot but as I understand it a ground loop is when an aircraft taking off or landing turns sharply and a wing dips enough to hit the ground. With an American or German aircraft, the damaged wing is just unbolted and another wing replaced. A Japanese bent up or damaged wing would ruin the whole aircraft. Germany would have an aircraft like FW190D made at little shops and the pieces brought to a central point and assembled. These aircraft were hard to fly. The ME 109 lost more aircraft from landing and taking off accidents than were shot down. My father built P38s during the war and he said that the Zero was beautifully built but the skin was like paper, very thin and fragile. The fuel tanks had no rubber self sealing and the pilot was sitting on 200 gallons of gas, they burned easily.

[@kirkp7470]

I enjoyed your many photos and film of Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusas 'standing in' for A6M Zeros! High humor point of my day!

[@duncanread4442]

I love that your videos give you the awnser to the thumbnail elstrait away. Then the info. So sooo much better than most of the othe videos. Keep up the good work! 👍

[@twillison8824]

3:00 you hit the nail on the head right there. Yes the zero despite being a piece of flying kindling, was a good plane for it's time but the experience of the Japanese pilots was a key to their early success. The same could be said about the Germans but they had better planes than japan.

[@brandonb417]

Seriously, these are some of the most well done videos I've seen in a long time.

[@ericoberlies7537]

My dad was an anti-aircraft gunner in the Pacific. The Zero was lighter and more maneuverable, but lacked armor plating. The Zero used fuel tanks rather than bladders. This led to a buildup of fumes in the Zero tanks, even when approaching empty. Dad said Zeros could be hard to hit, but when hit they flamed. As a tactic, when the Zeros above him were trying to follow US planes in a dive, flying straight, he (the AA gunners) could lead off the U.S. plane to target and hit the Zero behind.

[@richardcoughlin8931]

In the 1960s I worked for summer for a Japanese doctor who immigrated to the US shortly after the war. He told me that as a young man he worked in a Zero assembly plant. He pulled a piece of sheet metal from his desk drawer and proudly showed it to me. He tried to bend it and then said with a smile “See how strong it is.” I really didn’t know what to say. Something had motivated him to hang onto this piece of history and bring it with him when he immigrated to the US. Apart from this somewhat weird incident was a very nice man and an excellent doctor.

[@mikedee8876]

I agree that it was imperative that we gained technical knowlege of the Zero...far more important than the killing of Yamamoto.....although it was nice to be rid of him...and the p38 pilots who found him deserve our thanks......many airmen owe their lives to the tactics developed from the captured Zeros.....great vid

[@GrowFoodSustainably]

Japanese pilots lied about the numbers of P38s they destroyed, making their commanding officers pass a wrong judgement that Yamamoto's trip details could be sent wirelessly on J25 code (already deciphered by the U.S.), while the U.S. would have no sufficient planes to intercept him. Turned out there were many P38s available.

[@uberbeeg]

I read a very good book about the Zero. It mirrored Japan's efforts between 1936-45. It shows as the Empire declined, the Zero declined in parrallel. It got heavy, slower and lost it's edge over time.

[@Mustapha1963]

If you've not read "Samurai" by Saburo Sakai, put it on your list. Sakai was a Japanese Navy pilot who won his wings and flew in China and then fought for almost the entirety of WW2 against the US. I think he was the highest-scoring Japanese ace to have survived the war, with 60+ conformed kills and likely many more.

[@scyz2807]

I had no idea how little I knew about the Japanese Zero. Thanks for educating me.

[@battlejitney2197]

Very good. I didn’t know about that initial story of the captured Zero pilot. Fascinating. I enjoy your content!

[@kittymervine6115]

Very very good video! Also the history of the downed zero, and our lack of knowledge about the small number of zero aircraft out there! Plus very good to point out more than once that Japan needed a short war. Students at school, where I attended, asked "Why would such a small nation attack China and the US and Australia and even contemplated fighting Russia?" The teacher had no answer. Much like Germany needing a quick capitulation by Russia, Japan could not fight well on so much territory at once!

[@usaturnuranus]

Your point is very well taken. The Japanese clearly made extraordinary miscalculations as to their capabilities in executing an all out war on these many fronts simultaneously. My understanding has been that the tactical orders to their air wings was to always, but always manage to stay on the offensive - the "Zero" was ill equipped to find itself in a defensive position. Once it lost the upper hand, it was almost sure to be lost, and Japan could clearly not afford to lose her best pilots.

[@camerancole8433]

regardless of size of the country they have the population of all of russia. or more

[@paulcolancon]

@@camerancole8433 but not its ressources and capacities to engage in a long term war

[@timothymulholland7905]

If you look hard enough, you’ll probably find some religious belief in Destiny and the Will of the Deity. How many have been fooled by this sort of thing. Let’s hope we don’t go out on such a limb.

[@Kpar512]

@@usaturnuranus Right you are. The Japanese High command had convinced themselves that the USA, not having much recent experience in warfare, was comprised of merchants who would try to "buy" their way out of conflicts. They did not understand that the surprise attack on Pearl and the Philippines would anger the US population far beyond what the Japanese thought possible, and make the ultimate US victory inevitable. Do we have the same mindset today?

[@blackhillsrider2626]

Dark Skies you are amazing! Great video content. Love all your videos.

[@Rhino1277HotRails]

Another well done piece 'Skies. Thanks

[@AndyJarman]

The narrator is a VERY serious young nan.

[@hughjaass3787]

This video is proof that my Gfather, Navy Captain WWII, told me the truth about being on a ship that sailed a Japanese Zero plane to San Diego. Wow. Thanks for this video. Awesome!!

[@mmeiselph7234]

The F6F prototype flew before the Koga Zero was flyable having been previously accepted as a design long before. The F6F (and F4U) were speced by BuAer to outperform the F4F-which was a pretty close match for the A6M.

[@ARCOFJUPITER]

F4F pretty closely matched the A6M....what a laugh...what a joke...

[@mmeiselph7234]

What do you mean? They were very well matched. The F4F never had a negative K/D with the A6M. I suggest you read both "First Team" books by Lunstrom he details every engagement (also operational losses) through Guadalcanal.@@ARCOFJUPITER

[@tommacdonald6295]

Excellent, I've been seeing references to this plane for decades finally a great 👍 little documentary. THANKS.

[@Joe-kb1sm]

I don't know much about planes, but the most important method to shooting them down in the Pacific war had to be the invention of the proximity fuse. I learned a lot from this great video.

[@MalquiLans]

I'm only halfway through at this point, but already I have to say this is a brilliantly executed documentary.

[@waterbuck]

There's a decent case to me made the the U.S. shooting down Yamaoto's plane was the most important shoot down.

[@michaelmeatheringham312]

9878upiiu⁹o 978

[@HOUSEKalls]

This has got to be one of the Best Aviation Documentaries that I have Ever Seen.

[@keiranp0dbenn559]

I've watched 2hr long WWII history programmes that weren't as informative & interesting as this 20 minute YT video from the ever excellent Dark Skies team ! 👏👏👏👏👏 Thank you for making history so accessible & enjoyable. 👍 😎☘️POD🍀🖖

[@richardstebbins7133]

For many years, I have enjoyed the “Dark” series videos. You certainly have heard this before. Keep up the good. Work!

[@michaelkarnerfors9545]

From a non-native English speaker, thank you, on how you work to make your diction and pronunciation even better! You have become a lot better at that lately. 🥰

[@__hjg__2123]

very important... but, I wonder if Admiral Yamamoto being shot down on April 18, 1943, near Bougainville Island, wasn't the single most important plane ever shot down by the US?

[@alpearson9158]

HIGHLY LIKELY

[@sigurdsigurdsen1929]

True, and this aircraft wasn't shot down; it was found in a swamp 🙂

[@marksprague1280]

I'm not sure that it was all that important, because the Japanese had already lost the Battle of Midway, and with it their 4 main fleet carriers and the bulk of their experienced naval pilots.

[@pattonpending7390]

The talk about the Zero having thin aluminum always bothered me. 1.2mm is 0.047" which was actually much thicker that most American aircraft of the time. The B-17 for example is only 0.020" in the nose and 0.032" on the fuselage and the P-51 was only slightly better than the Zero with 16 gauge duralumin (0.051"). Segue - I remember when I was in college for Aeronautics and moonlighted as an aircraft maintainer for the local warbird community. The B-25 that we flew to airshows had skin so thin you could easily slip up if you weren't careful and put a screwdriver or other handtool through it. When we were in the back of the plane in flight, you could see the aluminum sheeting between the ribs and stringers beercanning and rippling in the windstream. It really made me think how anyone would think it was a good idea to go anywhere near a bullet or flak shell, and yet they did it all the time. The difference, of course, was armor. Most planes had extra protection around the cockpit, engines, and radiators. The Zeke did not, and thousands of pilots paid for that.

[@robertweeks4240]

awesome and i did subscribe and liked! looking forward to more

[@ZekeLeviJr]

Amazing story about the crash in Nihau island. I've heard a lot of WW2 history but never heard that one before. Gives a lot to think about.

[@shawnc1016]

They made a movie about it

[@HikerBikerMoter]

Japanese migrant 1st generation and American born probably American citizens but all chose to side with japan I'm ww2. Explains greatly the incarceration of Japanese living in America 🇺🇸

[@MalachiWhite-tw7hl]

​@@shawnc1016Yes, an awful one, which looks like an episode of Hawaii Five O.

[@7thsealord888]

In the early stages of ww2, Australia produced a stop-gap warplane called the Wirraway, a two-seater fighter-bomber that was outclassed by the Zero in almost every respect. Nonetheless, the Wirraway preserved by the Australian War Memorial has the distinction of being the only one to actually shoot down a Zero. Basically, done so by using the 'Boom & Zoom' tactic mentioned here - the Wirraway crew saw a lone Zero below them and, hoping to get at least one good shot in, dove and actually shot it down.

[@John-ih2bx]

Thank you for additional information about the efforts/sacrifices of Australians during WWII. Many Allied countries are not given the credit for what they had done. I had never read/seen anything about the aircraft produced by Australia. I am now better educated. I will do more Googling. Thanks.

[@johnathanbryan5053]

Isnt that a version of a trainer or staggerwing?

[@melvinshelton8448]

I bet more.Wirraway than Zero pilots made it back to base.

[@peterkirgan2921]

was piloted by Jack Archer Observer Les Coulson both from Victoria !!

[@chouseification]

@@John-ih2bx agreed - I'm a Yank and we always see plenty of info about the US and Brit war effort, but Canada, AU, and NZ in particular show up occasionally but rarely in detail, which is sad since the Australian and NZ forces allowed the USMC the freedom to go "island hopping". If they didn't have that support in the theatre, they may not have been able to jump across the Pacific so fast.

[@adandap]

Minor point, but the Spitfire you show when talking about the Merlin is actually a Griffon engined example.

[@theskeptic2010]

I read about the Ni'ihau Incident for the first time lately. This incident was kept pretty quiet after the war. A Zero crash landed on Ni'ihau Island during the Pearl Harbor attack and was recovered along with the pilot and his classified papers. A local Japanese couple, by the name of Harada, ended up helping the injured pilot escape, but he was captured. They attempted to confiscate and destroy his papers. The Harada husband committed suicide. The local Ni'ihauan Hawai'ians stood guard over the pilot and plane, and were totally cooperative with the authorities. It was this incident, which is not mentioned or taught in history classes, that was included in a 1942 Navy report on the advisability of moving and interning Japanese during WWII. It was at the time feared by authorities that many Japanese would do what the Haradas did if it looked like a Japanese invasion of the Western US was appearing to be successful. The Haradas up to that time had shown no anti-American sentiment.

[@troybaxter]

I think that incident altogether led to the internment of not just Japanese-Americans, but also German and Italian-Americans.

[@georgemiller151]

@@troybaxter You are wrong. German and Italian Americans were not incarcerated. Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of allied forces in Europe was a German American.

[@troybaxter]

@@georgemiller151 German and Italian Americans WERE incarcerated during the war. There were internment camps for them in Texas. Even my old history professor, who specialized in WW2 history and the Holocaust, confirmed this to me.

[@Jake-cz1kb]

I have a couple of books regarding the Ni'ihau incident. Great read.

[@Vinemaple]

Seems like those two were the only Japanese-Americans who supported the Japanese effort in WW2. I've never heard of anything else like it.

[@bourbonstjoeNOLA]

I always love tuning into the Dark series.

[@Coicker12]

Tune in on these pussy lips please

[@pbandj37]

The Ni'ihau Zero resides in the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum. You can go and see it and a tractor from the island used to cut ditches to snare airplanes. The couple discussed in the video were Ben and Ella Kanahele. Ben was flown to Fort Shafter (O'ahu) and presented with a medal for his actions (Ella should have received one also). While it might seem plausible, there is no evidence that the Ni'ihau Zero incident led to Japanese-Americans being put in camps. Contrary to popular belief you can go to Ni'ihau. The Robinsons own the island and will fly you out in their helicopter (if you pay of course). Also Ni'ihau is pronounced Nee-e-how.

[@roderickw.2535]

Rod sez: Kee' on truckin...

[@CM-th2oe]

Another excellent video.. thanks again.

[@pressureworks]

Its a good thing you put that gigantic red arrow pointing to a plane, or else we never would have found the plane in the picture.

[@Paladin1873]

When I was in college in the mid 1970s I took a couple of photos of the Akutan Zero. It was rusting away in the backyard of a small private museum in downtown Atlanta. I compared the numbers on it with historical documents in the college library and they matched. About a year ago someone told me I was mistaken and this was a different Zero that has since been sold to a warbird museum on the west coast and is awaiting restoration. I don't know who is right, so if anyone has additional information, feel free to chime in.

[@GermanShepherd1983]

The Alaskan Zero was run over by a taxiing US plane on the ground and destroyed. There was very little left to salvage. Happened in either '44 or '45.

[@Paladin1873]

@@GermanShepherd1983 I've read such accounts as well, but I no longer have the numbers or access to any of the archived reports. I do still have my old Polaroid photos of the plane, but I doubt they would reveal any useful information.

[@randypobstofficial]

@@Paladin1873 Those photos would be very cool! Post them? Get a grandchild to help? No offense...

[@Paladin1873]

@@randypobstofficial Post them where?

[@chesslerbooks]

Several books say the Akutan Zero got chewed up in SD. It is likely that a wartime rumor about Atlanta was juat that. As far as training, that was all about gasoline. Only Russia and the USA had enough gas, and then the Brits of course, from us. Nobody else had the gas to train their pilots.

[@robozstarrr8930]

good video, should be noted that Jiro Horikoshi studied airplane design in Nazi Germany along with his friend Kiro Honjo. There he was inspired by the Junkers G.38 to design his own airplane back in Japan, and later the A6M. In 2013, Studio Ghibli released " The Wind Rises " which traces his life & time in Germany. PS: lov the emotional music but don't know why ya never tell us what it is! Cheers

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

Japan was sent 30 he112s, they'd probably have been a much tougher opponent later in the war, but the Japanese judged it inferior due to the inline air cooled engine. But it was faster and more maneuverable at high speeds and had some features that the zero lacked. Though the luftwaffe chose the bf109 over the he112 as well. Apparently it could have been a very deadly threat had they had it for the BoB.

[@joedoe783]

You know it's a good documentary when you have no massive interest in the subject to start with but end up fascinated.

[@timotheetessier1058]

Dark Skies is quickly becoming one of my favorite channels- The amount of detail and research is really impressive and just the story from this video alone would be an amazing motion picture to try and produce !! Thank you again Dark Skies!!! Subscriber for life!! 😁😁

[@stoopingfalcon891]

And shows facts, not rambling speculation.

[@nunyurbyznes7611]

Super good and revealing! Thanks!

[@daaa3932]

Credit for the Kill was claimed by the 206th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) of the Arkansas Army National Guard, deployed to defend Dutch Harbor at the time. They were equipped with a battery of Pedestal-Mounted .50 cal. Machine Guns in addition to several batteries of 3-inch M3 guns. The colors are still in use today, by the 1st Battalion, 206th Field Artillery, headquartered in Russellville, Arkansas. My last assignment before I got out in 2011!

[@curtiskretzer8898]

The Brangus steakhouse on west side,(IH-40,south off Exit 82).Cigar humidor is northwest of steakhouse.

[@kathrynleaser5093]

I flew an old Japanese Zero pilot out in Ca on a sight seeing flight when I was learning to fly. Chuck Hall Avation in Ramona Ca. Chuck had a F4U Corsair . The day we went up , they were doing a run up on the F4U. That old zero pilot stood on the tarmac in front of that plane. He put his hands down by his side and bowed at that F4U Corsair. I later learned why he did that bow. He said they called the plane whistling death. We still have the best planes and pilots on earth as far as I'm concerned. Sitting in a plane with a known enemy pilot from the 40's is something I will never forget. I'll take his compliment on my flying skills that was cool. Thank God for peace , and our service men and women. We are free because of them. Good video.!

[@windowboy]

Good episode this one. Well done. Learned things I didn’t know.

[@beboy12003]

Given the title, I thought it was about the death of Admiral Yamamoto. The shooting down of his plane, i thought, was the most important shoot down. But after seeing this, gaining the knowledge about the zero, really was the most important shoot down.

[@himoffthequakeroatbox4320]

Sigh. Not this again. The result was not in doubt by then, the only questions were how long and how many casualties. Slight propaganda boost, not much else.

[@Mugdorna]

The shooting down of Yamamoto was a case of payback rather than an important strategic incident. The fact that the USA had sufficient air presence in that area to track and attack his transport demonstrates that the Japanese were already losing.

[@potrzebieneuman4702]

Good old Ronnie Raygun there in a P40 giving it to the Japanese Zekes.

[@reno3281]

Well done, as usual. Thank You.

[@CraigGood]

I got to see a Zero at a museum in Tokyo recently. It looked like it would be a blast to fly. (Not in combat, of course.) A very significant airplane.

[@neillopez5458]

There is an intact mitsubishi at the Auckland war memorial museum in new zealand. It was captured in new ginea towards the end of ww2. I have seen busloads japanese tourists visit the museum, crowd the plane and all ceremonial bow to the plane, before they leave.

[@run_it_straight829]

Hmmmm. Road trip to Auckland just to see this plane I reckon.

[@tonypegler9080]

Suburo Sakais details the extensive training regime that Japanese Naval pilots went through making them elite avitors at the begining of the war in his book "Samurai"

[@grantwelsh7594]

Very interesting and informative. Love your stuff.

[@rickmcdonald1557]

Excellent Video with the best Narrator on You Tube. Thanks~!!

[@gmosc]

I've heard several times about the pilot in that island and often they said "his papers" but I don't think I had heard about launch codes and plans for the Pearl Harbor attack. I didn't understand, until now, why "his papers" were so important that several people risked their lives for them. Thanks for helping me to understand that better. Also the connection between the internment because of the help that the pilot received on that island. I'm not sure I had understood that before. It's always easy in hindsight to say something like the internment was barberick and totally uncalled for but knowing more of WHY they did it shows how it was a difficult (but sad and tragic) decision to take.

[@ejgrant5191]

Me too! I never knew of this incident....At least on Hawaii there was good reason for suspicion it seems. Still kind of a black mark in US History. My father's last name is the epitome or "Germanic" in it's origins but, he flew a P-38 in Europe in WWII.

[@John-ih2bx]

I also was not aware of the connection with the internment of Japanese-Americans ... Americans. That doesn't change the legality/morality of the action, but it improves my understanding of what was happening at that time.

[@kmlammto]

My father was a PW of the Japanese having been ordered to surrender on Bataan, Philippines. Of the many guards at his internment camp in Mukden, Manchuoku (Manchuria, China), one was from Tennessee. He was alternatively one of the nicest and harshest of the guards. It was not just because of the Hawaiian incident, but because many men were sent to Japan to honor family obligations. The Government concerns were exacerbated by the Hawaiian incident. In short, the Government did not know who to trust and they took a step to prevent both sabotage and hate crimes against “enemy” families. It was not great, but it was not fully unwarranted. The families deserved apologies and recompense much sooner than when they got it; but, the Government was not entirely wrong to have made the expedient decision that both harmed families and protected them from potentially far worse attacks from the general public once war-fervor was greatly stirred (necessary to arouse the populous to fight in the war).

[@gmosc]

@@kmlammto thanks for telling us about this. We need to hear as much as possible. When I was telling friends about me going to teach English in Japan back in 88, everyone was happy for me, but my neighbor had been on a ship fighting against them and he had to be honest and said he couldn't feel happy for me. While in Japan I met two teachers who has been children during the war. One woman remembers that their were so many dead people that as they got closer to their house they were stepping on bodies (no empty space to put your feet) to try to get back to their burned out house after the Tokyo firebombings. Another art teacher showed me a painting where he pointed out the potatoes. He'll never eat another one again cuz after the war, for over a year, that was all they had to eat every day. Both of those teachers were very kind to me and they were adamant that people shouldn't fight against each other. When I hear accounts like yours and theirs, I wish more people heard all of this and would try to see how tragic and needless it all is.

[@stevie-ray2020]

@@kmlammto Good point about it being also to protect the internees from Americans taking the law into their own hands!

[@sirridesalot6652]

There's a Zero at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope (Hamilton) in Ontario, Canada. When I visited there a few years ago i was amazed at how thin the aluminium skin covering on the Zero looked. It looked to be no thicker than an average soda can.

[@MarkBarrack]

Always good to learn more. I appreciate your videos.

[@aprilchan1323]

Having experienced warthunder and moving through technology I definitely estimate how annoying it must have been to move from dogfights to boom and zoom. I also understand how people think it was cowardly too.

[@MRptwrench]

The newer Allied fighter planes that encountered the Zeros in the Pacific had 2 major advantages over them. A heavy bulletproof plate behind the pilot, and self-sealing fuel tanks. Also, the aerial part of the Battle of the Phillipine Sea would become known as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.

[@kenkovar2647]

And the Japanese could not afford to develop better aircraft! No wonder why they wanted the war to end early😎

[@Thekilleroftanks]

@@kenkovar2647 this is incorrect. the japanese could 100% develope better aircrafts, after all they did make, just using blueprints, a far better me262. and thats not counting japanese dive bombers and torpedo bombers being a 1000 times better than anything the allies could produce, and their twin engine planes, atleast prototypes, also far outpacing american planes. also forgetting the a7m which was more or less a p51 mustang on steroids, that could fly the same distance as a zero, and had the armour and self sealing fuel tanks as american planes, and could take off a carrier... ya the only plane that couldnt keep up was the zero, mainly because it needed a engine badly, something japan high command always pushed behind until it was too late. hence why the m7 and m8, both reengined zeros, took to long. also the reason they wanted to end the war early was because they knew they couldnt replace the losses in a long dragged out war.

[@scottryals3191]

I spent a lot of time at Aktan. I wouldn't call that area a swamp. It's kind of boggy with small meandering streamlets. The area is thickly covered with grasses, fern and scrub willow. Funny thing, many years ago somone tried to do a homestead just south of where he crashed. When whoever it was when they left left they just opened the gates and turned everything loose. So, there are surving wild cattle on the island. Anyway, it would look safe to land from the air; but, with wheels down he didn't have a chance. Had he made a belly landing he might have made it. There aren't many choices for places to land there. The beaches, for the most part, wouldn't work. 40 years ago the mail was still coming in by seaplane.

[@MaithriSanitgun]

It is incorrect to say the F6F Hellcat was designed based on technical intelligence gathered from the discovered A6M, development was well along before the Zero was discovered and examined. The secret of the A6M was obvious to any airplane engineer - good engine power, very light weight. The A6M's carried on carriers when raised to the flight deck into the hot sun would pop and rattle like an oil can in the hot sun. The thickness of fuselage skin in the A6M was almost as thin as that of an aluminum Coke can.

[@ingrampowell9111]

Superior video. Subscribed.