Japanese Ace Interviews: Honda Minoru (Part 2)

[@paulandreotti1639]

Him describing how to knock out a b-29 has to make this one of the most badass interviews I've ever seen.

[@mrj4990]

Send my regards from the US. Was honored to meet with and interview a Japanese Zero Pilot a few years ago and it was an amazing time. His son translated and was very gracious in taking his time talking. Still as mentally sharp as he was in the war and discussed how badly he wished to fly the Shinden and was even more surprised when I knew about the plane! We must not forget the men who fought in this war.

[@momotheelder7124]

That guy felt bad about shooting down the inexperienced Hellcat pilot even after thousands had died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No desire for revenge. Strong character.

[@hailene6093]

Probably on the scale of the tens of millions of dead civilians across the rest of the "Greater East Asia Co-prospectiy Sphere" at the hands of the Japanese, he was willing to write off a couple hundred thousand deaths.

[@2Phast4Rocket]

Some of the German pilots basically had the same feeling. They had enough of the senseless killings, day after day, and many of them didn't even keep the kill score. They didn't even want to celebrate the act of shooting an airplane down.

[@FingersKungfu]

He's a very creative fighter pilot and a very skilled one.

[@nobinobiii]

" I must've not had the courage to forgive him. " ,,,,,, 19:06

[@AbdullahZaber]

This interview of Honda Minoru along with the other 2 interviews in the series are absolute gems.....its clearly evident from the way Honda Minoru talks about flying & fighting techniques that he was a highly skilled fighter pilot & knew exactly what he was doing & what was to be done. On top of that, he is really funny. I love this guy

[@fredferd965]

It's a wonderful thing that these videos are being made - these men are old, and too soon gone. Their lives and history are very important. One thing that stands out, to me anyway, is that they all seem to exhibit a very calm confidence. I do not see arrogance at all, but there is an underlying current of solid confidence - they knew what they were doing, and they knew their trade. They were good men!

[@gora2497]

"No one goes to war in bathing suit" Good god can't help not to laugh. Even after he going through this guy still got good sense of humor.

[@tiberiussempronious6252]

This guy's military service should be the basis of a movie.

[@uwemobil8847]

Great docu and worth to be remembered on youtube.

[@mmmoroi]

Shooting down an unsuspecting rookie enemy was not to his taste, and the war was about to be over in a few weeks. Yet after all he did the right thing in every respect. He could have saved a few civilian lives as the spared pilot should have come back tomorrow to destroy lives and properties by strafing towns and villages, which was one of their strategic missions in those days.

[@theblytonian3906]

Superb interview. Thank you for uploading with English subs. Minoru-San, respect.

[@EvilTwinn]

I just want to thank you for putting these up. They are extremely informative to listen to.

[@jorgejnoguera1941]

I was touched by Honda's regret over his last kill. I understand his feelings, sympathize with him. But he was a soldier, a warrior for his country. Under similar circumstances I doubt the American pilot would have hesitated to shoot him down. In fact I have no doubt that the American would have celebrated the victory, and rightly so. Kill or die, the equation was that simple. Frankly his reaction surprises me; in WW II the Japanese were infamous for their brutality and inhumanity. I am sure this was foremost in the minds of all American fighting men. His enemy was asleep at his controls. He paid the price for his mistake. That is war.

[@alexfriedman2047]

Yeah but at that point the war was over my dude. It's not like it's 1942... it's summer 1945... after 2 a bombs. The war was all but lost for Japan and they all knew it. It was just a question of Japan surrendering or being wiped out of existence.

[@markus717]

the war ended 2 days later @@alexfriedman2047

[@heroscapewarrior4217]

​@@alexfriedman2047he's a soldier tho, he's gonna fight until his leaders told him to stop, we'd do the same thing

[@novrinkov0053]

It is the method of all countries in times of war to teach their citizens that the other country is inhumane and cruel. Because that is the only way to gain the support of one's own people. Of course, Japan has taught that America is a bad country, and so have all other countries. The character and national character of the Japanese people has not changed from the past to the present. Most of them are kind people. Please do not believe only the history and perspective of the victorious United States.

[@novrinkov0053]

It is the method of all countries in times of war to teach their citizens that the other country is badman. Because that is the only way to gain the support of one's own people. Of course, Japan has taught that America is a bad country, and so have all other countries. The character and national character of the Japanese people has not changed from the past to the present. Most of them are kind people. Please do not believe only the history and perspective of the victorious United States.

[@TheBikeOnTheMoon]

Wow, he handled one B 17 all by himself and a B29. Damn, he surely deserve to be an ACE.

[@m.c.schock2933]

Not to forget that he mentioned that he lost count on how many B-24 s he shot down.

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

amazing video, when he talks about taking down the B-29 and making those insane passes and making 7g turns man what an insane way to fight but you had to do things like that since the b-29 had turrets all over and was armored

[@DrJones20]

Very hard plane to shoot down

[@Manintoga]

Also it just cruised at insanely high altitudes that choked most engines out in those days and made the flight speed envelope extremely narrow, high wing load fighters were always just one tiny fuck up away from stalling.

[@thomaszhang3101]

Most importantly, it had a lead computing gun sight that can be adjusted by the gunnery officer. Follow the same flight path for more than a few seconds and the gyro will guide the gun onto your predicted path and hit you.

[@ScienceDiscoverer]

@@thomaszhang3101 AIMBOT! OP! NEED NERF!

[@Juanhop]

Brave man. Good man. Big man.

[@Qatrebew]

the story about the hellcat pilot is so sad goddamn.

[@jorgejnoguera1941]

It was not an accident, it was Honda's duty to kill his country's enemy, just as it was the American pilot's duty to kill for his. And he may have done just that before Honda found him. War. Nasty. No real winners.

[@AudieHolland]

I think subconciously, he *had* to kill him because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But his conscious person, the lazy schoolboy he just wanted to fly and have fun, had already decided to let him off. But his subconscious was not as forgiving. "We have a duty to our people." That's not a quote from the interview of course. But I agree, the American rookie should have known that you *never ever* fly *straight and level* for more than 6 seconds over enemy territory. I'm no veteran combat pilot but if had been that rookie, I would have made sure I at least knew the basics of survival in aerial combat. Forget about flying aces. Not getting killed would have been good enough for me.

[@misterdinner3648]

You guys are misinterpreting the english subtitles they conveniently placed. He said it was subconscious, meaning he was so used to just pulling the trigger when he saw an enemy that he did it even when he was level headed and thinking about the man inside rather than the flying gun he saw in front of him.

[@ziggy2shus624]

Shooting down enemy fighter planes in WW2 whose pilot was inattentive, was commonplace. To Papa Boyington of the US Marines flying Corsairs and Eric Hartman flying ME-109s, shooting down inattentive pilots was good strategy. Read their books.

[@Leon_der_Luftige]

ziggy 2shus *Erich

[@Tmax-ub5br]

He was one hell of a fighter pilot to have all those close calls and survive. Even the atom bomb couldn't kill him.

[@鴨谷周]

感動した。動画をありがとうございます。

[@ElTurbandito]

This is great. thanks for sharing.

[@Mr.Scootini]

His regret of his last ‘splash’ (I don’t want to say kill…. Just seems like the wrong word to use) reflects on many Japanese that served at the time. From what I hear from my family, my great grandpa was stationed at Borneo as an infantry man. He killed, he suffered, he ate frogs, lizards…literally anything to survive. He hated killing people. Also, both sides of my grandparents lived in Tokyo at the time. The fire bombings greatly effected their lives to say the least, it was, from what I hear, a horrible time. People literally on fire screaming saying that it’s too hot, many jumped in near by rivers. But they never had any hate towards the Americans, in fact they love the fact I am an American.. Japanese American to be exact.

[@JengaSokanu]

fantastic watch, cheers for this :)

[@fazole]

I think the inaccuracy of the Japanese Zero's 20mm was due the barrel being cut down so much to fit inside the wing.

[@AdurianJ]

Early war German 20mm MG FF cannons had terrible drop off as well, Japan probably didn't have the industry base to improve gun technology that much throughout the war. Japan imported German 20mm 151/20 guns via submarine that they fitted to Japanese air force planes. But the navy it seems had to make do with Japanese cannons.

[@PetarJovanovic993]

This is amazing, thank you so much!

[@ashistoriasdopassado-w3y]

Thx for your work!

[@マクスウェル中田]

I think that both Japan and the United States regretted killing each other's people too much. That's why they chose the way to become a partner without hatred. I remember their regrets and I hope the world is more peaceful. I‘m sorry my English is not good because I’m a Japanese.

[@WarhawkWarpath]

Domo Arigato

[@Leon_der_Luftige]

Serious question however: Didn't Japan just become a dismantled puppet state of the USA? With these weird rules for the JSDF to sometimes not even shoot back when fired upon on UN missions it took part in? I'm sorry if I sound disrespectful, that wouldn't be my intention. Many people in the west don't really know what to make of post war Japan. Many say Japan did not come clean on their war crimes and its only regret is to have lost the war. If you find the time, could you go into those issues and explain a few things? That would be very kind. Greetings from デウツ

[@MrAkira-sw8hi]

why did you buy american propaganda? this is not a relationship between equals, japan is the zone that undergoes unconditional occupation, america is not.

[@donlawrence1428]

very honorable, interesting man...

[@ziggy2shus624]

Papa Boyington, USA Marine fighter pilot in Guadalcanal, shot most of his planes down when the other pilot didn't know any enemy fighters were around. After escorting a bomber group to one of the Japanese held islands near Guadalcanal, he would circle around after the bombing attack and sneak up behind a pilot that wasn't paying attention and shoot him down. Boyington shot down about 20 Japanese planes that way. Minoru was sad about shooting down a unattentive pilot, but to Boyington it was good strategy I read someplace long ago that most fighter aircraft that were shot down didn't know there was any enemy fighters nearby. Eric Hartman, who shot down about 350 aircraft in WW2 on the eastern front against the Russians, said many of the planes he shot down didn't know he was right behind them. He would maneuver around them and sneak up until his whole windscreen was full of the enemy fighter and then open fire.

[@alan15768]

The Shiden-Kai resembles an American P-47-D it looks very rugged .

[@netph]

Great interview! Thanks for uploading.

[@UsoundsGermany]

Exactly my thoughts Zero was for airshows (even more Oscar, at least Zero had cannons) but Frank and George for fighting :)

[@theblytonian3906]

+Underground Sounds With the greatest sincere respect for Minoru-San, one has to place his comments in perspective, including unseen edits. Whilst his statement = true by mid 1943, the IJA & IJN pilots gave the Brits and American forces curry with their 'airshow Zeros' until the arrival of second generation US fighters like the F6Fs, F4Us, P-47s and P-51s assisted by growing US numerical and logistical disparity. More so than the, despite its even greater shortcomings, still admirably performing Ki-43 of the army, the Zero was superb at what it was originally designed to do, but simply obsolescent by 1943, a factor which contingencies of that war didn't permit any easily executed pragmatic solution for the Japanese forces. Even had they had Ki-84s and N1K2-1 Kais in even equal numbers as early as late 43, anyone who has read and comprehended "Vom Kriege" realises Japan could never have won that war militarily. It was an unequal fight of strategic attrition from the outset.

[@UsoundsGermany]

The Blytonian I agree Zero was build for range and agility mostly. But the range does not help you if the enemy has much more and (later) better planes ..and better training too and more fuel

[@FawfulDied]

"Obsolete" F4Fs (1937 vs. 1939) gave A6Ms a bloody nose for quite a while. It was F4Fs that killed off the experienced Japanese pilots, before the introduction of more advanced fighters.

[@carlosperry4301]

FawfulDied kaimkaze killed off their experienced pilots

[@Nachtsider]

FawfulDied, it was good tactics by F4F pilots that did the trick. Not the F4Fs themselves.

[@Hawaiian80882]

Thankyou for your post enjoyed this.

[@vincevega1000]

Unbelievable I tell you!

[@bohica4893]

From the sound of it, Japanese pilots were better trained than the Americans at that time. They just didn't have the proper planes to equal their adversary.

[@Leon_der_Luftige]

And they did not have nearly as much pilots as they needed.

[@garymckee8857]

Impressive interview.

What is "low wing"? I'm having trouble with some of the translation. As an aside: I am *very* happy with the translation, by the way: thank you to whomever made it, I have *no* complaints, merely a technical question.

[@ryogofujitani]

menckencynic The Shiden had wings fitted to the middle of the fuselage, which made the landing legs long and complicated. To solve this issue, the Shiden-Kai had wings fitted to the lower part of the fuselage. Hence the 'low wing' configuration.

[@AdurianJ]

The F4F is mid winged as a comparison !

[@samspencer582]

Japanese pilots was more human than the americans. They pray for the enemies they had to shoot down. Never heard an american pilot doing that.

[@lqr824]

This is a great interview but you can't draw a general conclusion like that from one data point. My guess is that every military has their monsters and good men too.

[@whxvrn]

Sir, may I ask your assistance in finding a scene where a veteran talks about the A6M series, I am looking to make a video regarding that particular plane series. My inspiration was the "Legends" series of Gaijin entertainment, and since they haven't made one regarding the A6M family, I'm planning to make one instead. Thank you, and have a good day.

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

Sure thing! There are sections in all parts of this 3-part Honda Minoru interview series where he briefly talks about the Zero and his thoughts/experiences on it. Feel free to download them and use them in your videos to your heart's content. - Part 1 of Honda Minoru series (He talks about the Zero at 2:43): kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJrXfaVreZx_ias - Part 2 (this video), he talks about the Zero not being a "plane for fighting/war" at 4:38. - Part 3 link is in the description of this video. He briefly talks about the Zero at 15:50. In addition, here are some videos where veterans talk about the Zero: - Sakai Saburo: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmOXepKXo92KY9k - Sakai Saburo and Genda Minoru: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIvFoIV5frehhdk - Harada Kaname: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpyXdJurl8mAhNk - The A6M Zero Documentary Series (it's 4 hours long but you can find interview sections where the veterans talk about the Zero in every video): kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2HLomhrp7eHitU *Note that all the Japanese names in my videos are formatted in the Japanese style: Last name, then First name. In Western style it would be opposite (Sakai Saburo would become Saburo Sakai. Honda Minoru would become Minoru Honda.)

[@whxvrn]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 Thank you very much sir, I really appreciate your help.

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

@@whxvrn Any time!

[@SnoopDoggystyle]

did he ever fly on ki-61 hien? a lot of ppl say it was the best Japanese fighter plane

[@AdurianJ]

Probably not that's an Air Force plane !

[@SnoopDoggystyle]

oh ok ty

[@principalityofbelka6310]

@@SnoopDoggystyle Honda was in the Navy so he never flew the Ki 61. The Ki 61 is an Army aircraft

[@neilfoster814]

The Shiden-Kai was basically the Japanese P-47 Thunderbolt.

[@nipplecream3099]

that’s what i was thinking looking at its design

[@hippoace]

Well no...due to its advanced flaps, Shiden Kai is much more agile

[@kkteutsch6416]

Manneuverability wasn't a great charachterisc of a P 38 nor the P 47...

[@ppumpkin3282]

When he says Nagasaki didn't have to happen, I thought he was going to say - "because Japan should have learned from the first bomb", but he goes on to imply he was held back from intercepting the B-29 that dropped the bomb. If Japan knew a B-29 was coming, I can't imagine why they would hold back fighter pilots.

[@rizon72]

I read somewhere that the Japanese leaders were trying to hide their strength from US intelligence in preparation for the upcoming invasion.

[@novrinkov0053]

japan should learned from first bomb?? oh please,american want to using and test atom bomb two different type,it's not because japan didn't surrender that's why american using uran type and plutonium type american just want to use and just wanted to show off to the Soviets japan was ready to surrender before the first bomb in the first place

[@蟷螂竜二]

​@@novrinkov0053　しかも白人は広島、長崎市民だけではなくネイティブアメリカンにウランを掘らせて被曝までさせてる

[@borntofeel1152]

What a sad story about his last aerial victory, it just goes to show how sad war can be. That mans scarf was probably given by his wife and told to return home, he was so close yet so far.

[@guilelme]

Just seems wierd that a ace fighter was flying during war and did not saw B 29 flying close to him...

[@pigmandan9586]

Damn, this guy must have fought tooth and nail

[@mihaeltomasovic]

ah i find it interesting that he rates the F6F Hellcat above the F4U Corsair... maybe he didn't run into many of the F4Us after the F4U-1a models... it's possible i guess? however, i would _certainly_ imagine that the P-51 was the _most_ *devastating* American warbird by mid-late 1944 with the introduction of the D-10s, D-20s, etc...

[@dougerrohmer]

I thought he said Wildcat, Hellcat, P51 and implied Corsair in that order.

[@demef758]

For the folks who question the dropping of The Bomb(s) on Japan, 13:38 is quite revealing: after the Hiroshima bombing, we have clear evidence that one bomb was not enough to convince the Japanese to quit. They were ready to continue fighting. Even after Nagasaki, they pondered how to combat A-bomb #3 (16:48). It was only when the Russians invaded and overran Manchuria a couple of hours before Nagasaki that Hirohito realized the Empire could not possibly win a two-front war from the east (US) and north (Russia), and finally surrendered. As Sherman so aptly put it, "war is all Hell."

[@mmmoroi]

Sorry, you are utterly misled by the US government statement supported by major media. It was transpired later that the Japanese government unofficially communicated their intention to surrender to the US/UK as of June 1945. A-bombs were simply experiment and demonstration against the USSR.

[@Ronnie_McDoggle]

OG war thunder graphics... attack the D point!

[@kaisermuto]

A great fighter existed durind the paciffic war.Any way war is over. His great job was in page and page of a memory.

[@jimmyboomsemtex9735]

superb interview. on the shiden kai i read the top speed was 369mph but also 403mph. i think japan used lower octane fuel so less power and speed. with western octane the speed is better. superb warplane. i saw gun camera from hellcat where a shiden gets nailed and is aflame but the right wing self sealing tanks work and its a damaged claim.

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

The 369 mph figure is most likely with a drop-tank attached because that speed is even lower than what the prototype N1K2 achieved (379mph at 6000m) with a de-rated engine that made ~1800hp instead of 1990hp. The actual top speed of the production-model N1K2 Shiden-Kai was about 628kph (390 mph) at military power and over 650kph (403 mph) using WEP. Source: ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/n1k2-j-shiden-kai-performance.51879/

[@jimmyboomsemtex9735]

@@-juno-takaleon3830 very interesting a lot to study and read. i wonder what the octane rating was? i think the ki84 tested in the usa was faster than in japan due to better higher octane fuel. i read a kamikaze book once and mixed fuel was used aircraft fuel mixed with alcohol and ki27 nates used it in training. not sure if frontline planes used it.

[@-juno-takaleon3830]

@@jimmyboomsemtex9735 Both the Ki-84 and the N1K2 Shiden-Kai use the NK9H (Homare) engine making 1990~2000 horsepower. However the engine was designed to use 100 octane fuel or better, but rarely got fuel better than 87 octane (same octane as modern cars) due to Japan's critical fuel shortage. This is why both the Ki-84 and N1K never met the performance expectations the designers/testers and pilots expected.

[@emperorinmu4199]

18:26 sad

[@Davidpromaster]

Wouldn't a ram equal suicide?

[@rengetsuTF]

Not at all. Inclusive, some squadrons developed ram strategies that allow them to survive after the crash, depending the place. (But the way Honda mentioned was secure death)

[@georgenish]

No. One pilot rammed B-29 and crash landed, cared for by the villagers and took a train back to his base, survived several more missions and lived to see the end of the war. Several pilots rammed B-29's and parachuted to survive and repeated the same. Another pilot rammed and landed with a broken wing. These pilots were expected to survive the mission. But death were not feared if you were a soldier.

[@samspencer582]

He experienced one of the two biggest warcrimes ever, Hiroshima and helped the victims of the other worst warcrime, Nagasaki. Unfortunately he couldn´t have shot down the B-29 plane and the men who committed this worst of all warcrimes.

[@terionsalas5109]

@@bohica4893 reeeeeeeeeee!!!!

[@breakfastwithtrees9524]

Jesus Loves You All

[@ToneTraveler]

"Nagasaki never had to be bombed". Absolutely it did not. "Why didn't command give the order to intercept!?" That paradigm is why Nagasaki happened. Not because of lack of defense, but lack of surrender. Japan lost thousands and thousands in vain. Karma for the rape of Nanking, Shang Hai, countless atrocities and stubborn pride. What a waste.

[@TheCleansingx]

I do not believe this man.. Seems like he made up some stuff. Is there any proof backing up his claims?

[@cinematicsunproductions7748]

Oh shut up