Iseo Mochizuki - Ki-61 "Hien" Pilot (Interview)

[@mitsushi0585]

My great grandfather was also a hien pilot, he also told me his stories of how he dogfight corsairs several times throughout the war. He was also offered for the interview but he refused because it reminds him of his old squadron that got ravaged by a bomber formation. I pay him my respects through this text

[@ghostdiaries369]

Sad

[@ScienceDiscoverer]

B-29 OP, need nerf!

[@MiG-31893]

That’s a shame. Most KI-61 attacks on b-29s failed because of the b-29gunners experience levels. Most fought the Germans and Italians before they fought the Japanese

[@stevekaiser8416]

Another gentleman pilot. I wish the interview was longer.

[@tomaszmrozek176]

Huge respect to those brave Japanese Pilots, long life to You sir. Best of luck from Poland 🇵🇱

[@ThePilot4ever]

Never expected to see an interview with a Hien pilot, thankyou for this marvelous find!

[@goldmastersimulations]

Thank you for translating these interviews. Information about Japanese pilots' perspectives is scarce outside of the top aces unless you know the language.

[@UnclePutte]

He has a very clear and concise opinion on the war, and I strongly agree with it. When a military leads a nation, neither have a future.

[@jamescreswell9037]

Let's hope so. America 2024.🙄

[@konradheumann8342]

That is SO cool that they got a record of this pilot's experience before he passed away. And make no mistake - Japan would not have him behind the controls of a Ki-61 unless he was goddamn good.

[@errorterror6708]

2:50 you can tell that in that miment he was re-living a fight

[@MiKeMiDNiTe-77]

One of the greatest most beautiful looking planes of WWII 💚

[@slaybryn5504]

Man more of his interview. He seems nice

[@icewaterslim7260]

What a difference the Mitsubishi Kinsei radial must've made when they retrofitted it to the Ki61 to make the Ki100. Surviving Ace Yohei HInoki flew the KI 100 as an instructor after having lost his leg in combat. He said he survived getting jumped by P51s, a few days before the wars end after hitting one unawares from behind, (He claimed it as a probable. One P51 was MIA and several others returning to base damaged, one badly) mostly by turning inside them and going vertical until they quit the chase. He called the KI43 Oscar a "disaster" but thought highly of the KI100.

[@hb9145]

Codenamed "Tony" by the Allies, this was one of the best Japanese fighters of the war. It had a powerful piston engine, high wing loading, armour protection for the pilot and self sealing tanks - features rarely associated with Japanese aircraft of the period. It was more than a match for Allied P-38s, P39s and P-40s in New Guinea in 1943, but also suffered from poor engine reliability.

[@lt.williamcrowecrowe2505]

But it was nothing compared to the corsaur🤣🤣

[@dharmdevil]

high wing loading means too much weight per square area of the wing = bad maneuverability.

[@hb9145]

​@@dharmdevil Yes, I know what it means. It was still one of the best Japanese fighters, in my opinion. And the "features" above were not mentioned because they all were great, but because they were atypical in Japanese fighters.

[@KnowYoutheDukeofArgyll1841]

Got to say, it is one of my favourite Japanese aircraft of the war, alongside the 'Raiden'.

[@MiG-31893]

@@lt.williamcrowecrowe2505 true, corsairs absolutely butchered them at Leyte gulf, however this was mostly due to poor pilot training

[@ButterBread10]

I love the interview too..I love this

[@fredferd965]

"Every moment and every day your odds of living were shrouded in darkness...." A true fighter pilot........an honorable man

[@John-mf6ky]

It's nice he's honest about the brutality of the JIA. Too many people gloss over it, and want to only remember the European front.

[@duartesimoes508]

Now remember all the fuss when Patton kicked one soldier’s ass and slapped another! 😂😂😂

[@smyrnamarauder1328]

Great video thank you for sharing! Im resarching about ki-61 bulletproof glasses.Found some documents saying ki-61 have indeed bulletproof glass but couldnt found how much thickness they are and you know finding data about japanese planes is hard...

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

Hey Ahmet! I tried looking at Japanese online sources and I cannot find any evidence of the Ki-61 having a bulletproof windscreen. It does have a 13mm armor plate behind the pilot, however.

[@smyrnamarauder1328]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 please check this sites out you might be interested www.aviationofjapan.com/2013/11/armour-plate-on-ki-61-hien.html?m= forums.ubisoft.com/showthread.php/187942-Ki-61-Fact-and-Myth-Thread/page10 These are about armor plates on ki-61 hien with additional information

[@smyrnamarauder1328]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 ps :thank you for checking out japanese sites for me :) Also theres a post about kawasaki ki-45 bulletproof glass forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/473263-ki-45-missing-armour/

[@7bootzy]

Wow, you have some really great content on your channel.

[@mikey-fi4cw]

Thanks for sharing it, very interesting

[@HarborLockRoad]

I have that exact same model shown at the beginning!!!

[@birdseed5480]

May have bin in the other side but was a amazing pilot and I respect that

[@scootergeorge9576]

Why did Kawasaki have so much trouble with what was a licence built version of the German DB601?

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

Japan was still not used to handling the complex and finicky nature of liquid-cooled inline engines during WW2, so they struggled to build them reliably. In addition, Japanese engineers modified the DB601 engine slightly to compensate for lack of key metals which were not available to them, unlike Germany...so that further complicated things. This is why most Japanese planes in the Pacific War were radial-engined; for their relative reliability and simplicity.

[@principalityofbelka6310]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 I assume this is why the Japanese decided to build a radial engine variant of the Ki-61.

[@scootergeorge9576]

@@principalityofbelka6310 - That was the Ki-100.

[@scootergeorge9576]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 - Thank you very much for your reply. The US Navy also relied almost exclusively on the air cooled radial engine largely for the reasons you give.

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

That was more an accident than intentional actually! Late in the war, production of the liquid-cooled inline engine lagged behind air-frame production. This meant the army had a bunch of Ki-61 air-frames lying around with no engine available, so they thought, "hey...we have plenty of Ha-112 radial engines, let's try attaching those on and see what happens?" The experiment was wildly successful; it fixed the key issues of engine weight and reliability for the Ki-61 in exchange for a slight sacrifice in top speed, due to drag. The Army pilots loved it; they even preferred it to the Ki-84 (which, on paper, should be better in every way) due to its reliability and agility. Thus the Ki-100 was born!

[@Leon_der_Luftige]

Is it a reasonable statement to say the Japanese army treated their pilots so harshly because to them, they were just grunts; Whilst in the navy, they saw pilots as scarce and valuable goods integral to their success so they weren't treated as bad?

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

Grunts in both the navy and army were treated harshly and physically abused; however I believe early-war navy pilots were treated better than army pilots due to their more elite training. Ironically, the army was much earlier in the navy at implementing armor and self-sealing fuel tanks to their aircraft, while the navy continued to delay those features because they valued attack-range and performance over protection for their aviators. Overall, I think both branches did not value the lives of their pilots well enough.

[@babachloe7140]

This is quite an interesting line of thought. I'd like to hear what others think....should anyone ever find this comment

[@VersusARCH]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 Japan was always a step behind the USA in aircraft engine development. Japanese engines were always several hundred horsepowers weaker than their contemporary US counterparts. That is why the Japanese simply couldn't afford to dedicate as much aircraft weight to protection or greater payload (except perhaps at the very beginning when aircraft protection was not common in any country) - since doing so would produce a plane with hopelessly weak performance (speed, climb ir turn rate, range...). To be fair the Japanese disadvantage in this respect was partly compensated by better metalurgy (lighter aluminium alloy of equal strength to US counterpart) but only slightly. They further slightly reduced the US lead by using lighter aircraft construction which included some complex solutions that came at a price of slower construction.

[@Anna-ob4qu]

Hi Juno! I am very interested in the interviews with Japanese veterans you have translated here on your channel. I am working on a WWII documentary and would love to ask you some questions about them if possible? Please let me know if there is an email address I can contact you at? Many thanks. Anna

[@frast9201]

"If they didn't do what they did, hundreds of thousands of people would not have faced such suffering." is he speaking of the beatings they had to take from their own or the punishment they had to take from the US forces as a result of not having an option to retreat or surrender?

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

What he's referencing is vague in nature due to the language he used, but I believe he's referring to the Japanese military's war mongering in general.

[@pigspigs76]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 would have been really interesting to have the comment further explained. It sounds like the army culture was a double edged sword, it's strength was also it's downfall?

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

@@pigspigs76 If you're referring to the Japanese army's brutal culture, I don't think that was a strength. It may have "toughened up" Japanese soldiers and made them more vicious fighters, but having an army full of physically and mentally abused soldiers who hate their officers ' guts and lash out in cruelty towards civilians and enemy POWs is a recipe for disaster.

[@pigspigs76]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 I am trying to understand the context of the statement and it's not in direct reference to anything in picticular .. it's only been paired with the preceding statement by the film editors. I am thinking because of the facial expression it's a humorist insight into masochism and finding pleasure in pain type sentiment

[@pigspigs76]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 perhaps the term is 'sadomasochism' ... Anyhow this stuff happens on different levels. War tends to be extreme but this sh!t happens every day .. even in the office place. Having a sense of humor about it is perhaps the only way to live through the irony

[@pac1fic055]

The army treated their low ranking men very harshly. The navy was better in this respect.

[@kn2549]

Im not sure about the pilots in the army and the navy, but I heard that the crewman in naval ships were treated alot more harshly compared to the average infantryman in the Japanese army. I remember my great grandfather, who fought in China as a Japanese infantry, told me stories about how some low ranking draftees would purposely kill their superiors during combat by shooting them when they werent looking. It was done as a revenge for the harsh discipline/hazing they were given or simply didnt like the way they were operating their group. This became quite a problem in the army and resulted in them toning down a bit on the “discipline” part. But in the navy, they never really toned down on their discipline because officers getting killed by their subordinates werent really a problem while on board. I also heard that because of this, crew members committing suicide due to bullying was more common in the navy.

[@principalityofbelka6310]

@@kn2549 I believe the sinking of the Battleship Mutsu was also caused by a disgruntled crew member. Secondly is it really that common in the IJA to shoot at their own superiors when they're not looking?

[@kn2549]

​@@principalityofbelka6310 Well I wouldnt consider it really common but not uncommon either. These types of stories from the war is quite known in Japan through our grandparents. Im sure the majority of the draftees just accepted the beatings/hazing as part of military culture and just endured it, but it wouldnt be surprising if there were some who rebelled against it. My great grandfather that I mentioned tried dodging the draft after he was called up for the second time later in the war. Before taking a medical exam for the army, he drank a cup full of soy sauce to increase his body temperature. That way, he’ll purposely cause a temporary fever and be sent back home. This was a popular draft dodging method in Japan at that time. He continued to do this a couple times but eventually got accused of it and got beaten up by the army officers that were surveilling the medical exam. He ended up getting sent to manchuria after that.

[@thelast344]

In Vietnam American grunts would kill bad officers who made poor decisions. Often times by tossing a grenade into their lap while they were sleeping, or just shoot them in a firefight. It was called fragging.

[@principalityofbelka6310]

@@thelast344 Is it common to do that in Vietnam?

[@MrK4LB]

Anyone know what the song at the beginning is?

[@bennikdk_4927]

not really good informations.........

[@feAt.tAkuyA]

飛燕の機体に液冷エンジンではなく日本が慣れた星型エンジンを載せた五式戦闘機の話が聞きたい。操縦士からは五式戦闘機の方が良かったという記述を見る

[@leftistsarenotpeople]

Indeed, The Ki-100 was one of the very BEST Japanese fighters and probably my second favorite behind the Ki-84.