The Plane That Used Its Wings for a Very Strange Thing

April 30, 1944, the island-hopping campaigns of the Pacific Theatre raged on. Navy Lieutenant John A. Burns, piloting a Vought Kingfisher floatplane from battleship North Carolina, approached the perilous waters of Truk Lagoon, where American and Japanese troops were still fighting each other.
In a daring display of bravery and skill, Burns executed a mission that would become legendary: he landed in the middle of the maelstrom of fire and began rescuing every American pilot he saw stranded in the ocean.
One after another, Burns picked up men as his Kingfisher navigated through the destroyed remains of the American fighters. Suddenly, he had five men aboard, some above the wings, others below, grabbing the landing gear with relief.
Enemy rounds were still flying around him, but Burns did not flinch. There were more men to be saved. That was his job. As he taxied around the warzone, Burns retrieved five more men.
The Kingfisher, now overloaded with ten new passengers, could not fly. Instead, Burns traversed the harsh waters to link up with the submarine USS Tang, where he delivered his precious cargo.
The exhausted brave pilot, with his battered Kingfisher armed with two Browning machine guns, prepared to take to the skies again in search of more fellow airmen stranded in the ocean. Kingfisher pilots saved men, and there were surely more of them down there in the lagoon. Burns was their only salvation.
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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.

[@BP-1988]

My father was one of the Navy pilots rescued by Commander O'Kane and the USS Tang after he was shot down at Truk Lagoon. In the Life Magazine photo shown at the 14:06 time mark, he is pictured in the top row 3rd from the left. Upon reflection, I'm probably here today because of Commander O'Kane.

[@GeneralThargor]

Thanks for the context. As soon as I heard of the USS Tang , I thought, I've heard of that boat before, look up it's war diary, that boat was has an incredible history. Happy your father was rescued and you're here to tell the tale.

[@francislutz8027]

I'm grateful for your fathers sacrifice and the internet. Without either, this story and your father's would be lost to time. Now thousands of people will carry these memories on.

[@BP-1988]

@@GeneralThargor If you have a chance read Commander O'Kane's book "Clear the Bridge". My father is mentioned in his chapter on Tang's lifeguard patrol at Truk as well as his rescue of the pilots picked up by Burns and his Kingfisher.

[@sigurdurmarolafsson4183]

Woow!!! Thank you so much for telling us about this. It gives us a lot more depth to the story. ❤❤❤ Greetings from ICELAND

[@Del350K4]

Surely you are here today because of him! Well, almost certainly, anyway.

[@AMX86]

Such bravery and concern for his fellow pilots is a God given gift. Thank God for such men, a rare commodity.

[@oxcart4172]

Do u think that atheists have no concern for anyone else, then?

[@DarrenWalley]

Not a member of the Scottish Nationalist Party.

[@michaeltelson9798]

There’s a story kind of silly about a Kingfisher stationed at Tampa Bay. It was used for training purposes and pilots would take it out into the bay and do short circuits with it. One day the pilot couldn’t get it to lift out of the water no matter how much he pushed it. Sadly, he taxied back to base to determine what was the matter. A sailor standing next to the propeller caught a chief’s attention, there was something wrong with the propeller. It was the right propeller but something was odd about it, so he measured it. It was too short. The corrosive effect of the salt water caused pitting on the surface of the blades. Instead of replacing the propeller they ground it smooth and shiny. But constantly doing it caused the dimensions to change, The propeller was shorter and not as wide as it should be. It balanced ok, but now it couldn’t produce the force needed to power the floatplane out of the water. Saving money or not able to get new propellers turned out to be a problem.

[@wrsmith711]

wow

[@sidgarrett7247]

I think I served in that army! And somehow I survived long enough to retire! Scout (as in recon) out!

[@gingertom56]

Similar problem with the Atlantic ocean pt boats sent to the Pacific all from the specific gravity difference between salt water of the two oceans.

[@michaeltelson9798]

@@gingertom56 There are other design elements that need to be addressed from one ocean to another. During my time as an agricultural quarantine officer, I had chats mostly with the chief stewards of container ships. The Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans have different lengths of ocean swells. The Atlantic swells are shorter than the Pacific ones. Ships operating in the oceans that they aren’t designed for have rougher voyages. The chief steward that explained it to me is that the 3 ships his company was running on the Atlantic Ocean were built in Hong Kong for Pacific Ocean conditions and they can rock you very hard in the shorter choppier swells.

[@gingertom56]

@@michaeltelson9798 there certainly difference my first ship was a British daring class had a v shape hull second a usa DDG more d shaped hull the worse part was we change from bunker oil to diesel. There was no more need of heating coils in her tanks this lighten the ship so much they had to place 400 tonne ballast to keep the design waterline that made whip upright instead of her old rolling. The worse was our river class that was built like hungery greyhound it use see saw up and down longitudinally because she was so narrow.

[@daystatesniper01]

At last a cracking dark video , no random other aircraft shots just facts , keep it up !!

[@ninjalanternshark1508]

The AI is learning

[@saltyroe3179]

My 99 year old dad and Lt. Cmndr of the US Merchant Marine always spoke affectionately of the King Fisher. If a King Fisher was around there was a better chance of survival.

[@TigerBoyRS]

Daring rescue operations, where the Kingfisher, brave pilots and submarine crews, made the Navy an articulated force. Very cool war-sea-bird video. Cheers 🛩️

[@rfarevalo]

Typo? did you mean to use the word "articulated". In the context of your sentence the presence of articulated makes no sense. A quick google search shows no other human has used the term "articulate force" in any web ranked web page or document.

[@michaellinner7772]

I've always thought that the Kingfisher was an unheralded plane and I'm happy to see it getting its due. I love your videos. They are concise and have no extraneous garbage. Thanks

[@michaeltelson9798]

@@michaellinner7772 Monogram had a wonderful model kit for it. I built several, the last I did as one the USS Pennsylvania’s planes in the prewar yellow wings markings.

[@stephenhall3515]

A fascinating aircraft and some very brave men saving their brothers in arms. Thank you.

[@brianniegemann4788]

This reminds me of the story of the PBY that rescued 33 survivors of the USS Indianapolis in 1945. Both seaplanes and submarines performed vital and heroic duties rescuing downed pilots in the Pacific war. George HW Bush was rescued by a submarine in the battle of Chichi Jima. The courage those pilots and crews displayed was awesome. In contrast, the Japanese didn't do much rescuing of stranded men (at least to my knowledge). Maybe failure to conserve valuable pilots who lost their planes was a factor in the outcome of that war.

[@AdmRose]

Scrolling down my subs and see this one and was like …That’s a Kingfisher!.”

[@andrewtaylor940]

If I remember correctly 2 of the men Burns rescued and brought to Tang were another Kingfisher crew. They had landed to pick up a downed aircrew. When trying to get the men aboard the extremely light, top heavy and not really buoyant kingfisher flipped over.dumping its crew into the sea and sinking. Burns went out to rescue everybody. Carefully directing everyone to balance the plane before taxiing it out of harms way to the Tang.

[@EzeSepe]

The USS Tang has an interesting history on its own. It was sunk by one of its own torpedoes. A defective torpedo was launched from a front tube and went into a constant turn. It hit the submarine on the stern after a full turn.

[@alphadog1961]

Those rescued would be very happy saving lives outranked taking lives by these hero pilots

[@chuckcawthon3370]

Excellent Presentation. Well Done.

[@rogerw3818]

Monogram 1:48 scale Kingfisher from the gift shop where the USS Alabama and SSN Drum are anchored was the first model I ever built.

[@johnking6252]

Ditto, one of my first aircraft as I was more interested in ships , which is where I got the interest because of the little catapult launched planes on the models 👍. Go Navy 🇺🇲

[@michaeltelson9798]

@@rogerw3818 I built several of those kits growing up, as an adult I used aftermarket parts and decals for one of the prewar USS Pennsylvania’s aircraft in Yellow Wing markings as she was at Pearl Harbor.

[@michaelpipkin9942]

THAT is a cool rescue. Taxi by boat to a submarine to a hot meal and sponge bath by Ethel and Geraldine.

[@johnmoore8599]

Those were primarily spotter aircraft used for directing battleship gunfire. SAR was likely a secondary role. They are more famous for their SAR role though.

[@johnasbury4997]

Wat a truly amazing little plane . Great video thank you 🎉

[@johnjensen2217]

What the heck is the image in the thumbnail? 1/2 of it looks like a Hurricane but from the windscreen forward it makes no sense….also nothing to do with a Kingfisher.

[@jessphuqette1716]

Looks like a twin engine... possibly axis looking at the uniforms

[@Amieto759]

A hurricane served by soviets, and the front is a photoshop

[@jonowen321]

Another horrible AI generated thumbnail

[@seanmcglinn3941]

weird clickbait pic

[@LarryBoivin-wk1wz]

The picture is looking aft of the kingfisher.

[@lanceedwards3315]

Your information is correct. I would have liked more of the mention of the BB-55

[@massmike11]

Kingfisher has always been one of my favorites. Would like to have a restored one, but there are very few left.

[@em1osmurf]

one of your best vids. thank you for this!

[@wordsmithgmxch]

Now do one about the Catalina that so heroically assisted after the sinking of the cruiser Indianapolis!

[@petertyson4022]

Learned something new. I didn't know the kingfisher was Amracan. I've made and seen British version. Just looked up Google. Australia had a few as well. A good solid aircraft. 👽👍

[@williamscott2461]

Excellent show!

[@stephenwalsh1332triumph]

The navy also had submarine's on picket duty in the Pacific to pick up downed air men, brave guys 👍

[@kennedysingh3916]

Watched from Old Harbour Jamaica. VS-60,a Kingfisher squadron was based a Vernam Field in my country mid 1943 and they conducted antisubmarine patrol and even claimed the sink 2 sub while based there but I could not confurm the claim. I know 2 were lost while based there the first was lost during a training mission and was never found and the other was crashed in shallow waters searching for the lost one. One was also based on another US base in Jamaica call USNAVAL AIR STATION LITTLE GOAT ISLAND but it was assigned to Lt. Com. David N. Morris the commander of the base.🇯🇲

[@GTP2-zg9tn]

The Ultimate Lifeguard plane.

[@Orygunner67]

A real American! 🇺🇲🪖😇

[@kwestionariusz1]

Real Americans lives in indian reservations

[@Orygunner67]

@@kwestionariusz1You mean native americans? They don't all live on the rez. I meet and do business with many.

[@pazsion]

correct, everyone born here lives on a reservation, the entire country. and is considered american. not black white or native... just american, a distinctly unique race (genetic line) of humans.

[@hydroplaneing]

This reminds me of a Japanese Zero pilot’s complaint that compared to Americans, their navy didn’t put much effort into saving downed pilots. Americans saved many and these valuable pilots returned to duty. He didn’t say so, but I bet he was thinking that they were experienced in a special way: they lost a dogfight. Whatever they did, they weren’t going to do that again! Apparently, few Japanese pilots got the same chance.

[@alexander1485]

"*The Landing Gear*..." 🤣🤣🤣

[@RandallSoong-pp7ih]

Excellent!

[@MrOshirinoana]

Are there any still flying, or on display? Amazing aircraft.

[@Charles-k9g5y]

On the wings was how Russia paratroopers first started out.

[@magnemoe1]

Think at later part of WW 2, spotting planes on battleships and cruisers was not as relevant for the US as they had so many carriers. So they was with an fleet carrier or had an light carrier or for the standards an escort carrier. But an seaplane can land on the sea and rescue people and they are an backup spotter if carrier has issues.

[@MartintheTinman]

The RAAF had 18 too

[@theallseeingmaster]

Does the 'Eddie Rickenbacker Club' still exist?

[@mooredelira]

good story

[@oldtanker4860]

Wasn't there another floatplane of similar design known as the "duck"?

[@Machia52612]

The Duck was an amphibian aircraft. Built by Grumman, it flew with the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, but was never a catapult launched aircraft. It’s was used in reconnaissance etc. A tough and reliable airplane, it served the sea services well.

[@massmike11]

That would be the J2F

[@Danpopup]

You can't live for weeks without water.

[@alanrainey5022]

I think the planes crew consisted of a pilot and observer / gunner. Did it not?

[@A_river_dirt_cheese]

Hoora

[@flexifelix]

What’s the name of the plane?

[@auro1986]

because of these ingenious logistics solutions sea planes are not used these days

[@waynemanning3262]

Lots of seaplanes being used out there nowadays! I just retired from a 36 year career flying nothing but seaplanes. The U.S. Navy still contracts seaplanes for dropping sonobouys for training!

[@warrenm374]

Suddenly, he had 5 men on board. They must have just appeated out of nowhere!!!

[@Charles-k9g5y]

I see you didn’t pay attention

[@tasospatriwtis396]

THIS IS MURPHY'S PLANE.

[@craigelectric5241]

I built a model when I was a kid

[@mingfanzhang4600]

😊❤😊❤😊

[@mingfanzhang8927]

😊

[@1208bug]

👍

[@wombatsgalore]

And today we're told by some, that America cannot even manufacture another million of artillery rounds per year...

[@pazsion]

we cant.... no steel production no fuel production

[@pazsion]

no money unless we print it... cause they already put it all in their own pockets, then asked for a loan without paying the last one back... instead tgey raised their own debt limit and asked for a third loan, which they also pocketed.

[@wombatsgalore]

@@pazsion, B f-ing S. It would cost a FRACTION of what Pentagon spends now -- and even smaller fraction of what we'd have to spend, if Russia prevails over Ukraine. Which will endanger the actual NATO AND show the world, how little America's promise actually means. Heck, do you know, how many millions that stupid pier Biden in Gaza, that "Biden" ordered? He left more weaponry to Taliban, than he ever sent to Ukraine... The fing "student loan forgiveness" is many times more expensive, than helping Ukraine. Heck, just the INTEREST we're losing, because "Biden" illegally suspended collecting student-loan payments, costs more...

[@zen4men]

@@pazsion America is an overstetched balloon waiting for a prick. You need a new system of government! As do we in Britain. The Global Agenda / Woke Marxism that America is exporting - is just plain evil. /

[@TexasHoosier3118]

Lack of actions like this by the Japanese worked against them.

[@mingfanzhang8927]

😊😊😊😊😊❤😊😊😊😊

[@mingfanzhang4600]

😊

[@joel1668]

How can this aircrafts can carry 3 tons of bombs and fly without no problem but they pickup 4 or 5 survives and now they are too over weight to fly what?

[@johnasbury4997]

Because they launched via catapult . And honestly they probably had not dropped that much weight by the time of the rescue

[@JD-mm4ub]

And they had 10 extra people on the plane, not 5.

[@patrickradcliffe3837]

Dark my man ditch the AI images it makes you look lazy.

[@jamesscully7108]

👀🇮🇪👍⚓🐾

[@wojciechkoska3515]

1:27 min. Sikorsky Kingfisher? Please tell me it was a honest mistake, not a new way of presenting history?

[@1781BOJ]

The story is fine but I’ve unsubscribed because of your clickbait AI drawn lying thumbnail image

[@pazsion]

how?

[@Jordy120]

Thank f*ck you use red circles and arrows in your thumbnails. It would have been a struggle to figure $hit out.

[@frustratedfriar9632]

Two minutes to go, in this video, and as always he has yet to even mention anything in relation to the title. This guy takes all day to get nowhere! Dark Skies is now on my Banned list.

[@tomsmith5456]

A nervous and gabbled narrator, shame , it spoils it all

[@pazsion]

what are you talking about?

[@voornaam3191]

Can somebody tell Dark Skies to stop those stupid video's? It is bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla blaaaaah.

[@Charles-k9g5y]

If you don’t like then don’t watch.

[@kwestionariusz1]

Artilery maned drone

[@MoparMissileDivision]

The Kingfisher could easily have flown with five men on the wings! Unfortunately the men wouldn't have been able to hold on and would have been right back in the "Drink"!