The Thach Weave - a winning tactic

[@lukeskywalker3329]

Before that . The flying tigers 🐅 knew not to dogfight zeroes . Flying tiger planes were faster in a straight line . So they calibrated their guns to intersect further out and engaged zeros after diving on them . Head on . Great success 🙌

[@JuneJensen-fz5tw]

They sure did Boom and zoom energy fighting instead of getting into a turning Dogfight they knew that they wouldn't win.

[@UncleMikeDrop]

Ya gotta love the classics.

[@av8tore71]

Why show sbd dauntless dive bombers when he flew the F4F Wildcat

[@SuperKurvaszad]

Isn't the enemy already in front of the wingman at the frist cross?

[@elemenzyt4563]

@@SuperKurvaszad actually, the Thach Weave had the wingman shoot at every crossing, it's not always the second crossing, as long as the enemy is still in the air, they will keep repeating it till one of them are downed (either the enemy or the one being chased)

[@simples7758]

The Zero had better range, speed, rate of climb but to achieve this was unarmored, lacked self-sealing fuel tanks, and exhausted its 20 mm ammunition in just seven seconds of constant fire. The idea of the Thach weave was to force the Zero into a prolonged fight. The Wildcats 4 to 6 (it varied) .50 cal M2s could shred a Zero. Wildcats were rugged and could survive a few hits, especially from the Zero’s .303 cal, which was all it had after the 20 mm was exhausted.

[@vannovak41]

The wildcat was the only naval aircraft available at the beginning of the war that was capable of aircraft, taking off and landing on carriers. It would be followed up by the hellcat. It’s totally improved version of the wildcat. There was a new tactic after this ! Never engage a Japanese zero in a dogfight.!!! A new approach was to attack the Japanese zero by straight on full speed engagements strengthening the zero while approaching it Zero pilots were trained at dog fighting in their plane was superior in that respect so dog fighting was avoided completely The new aircraft had hydraulic controls, which could turn in maneuver, the plane under high stress conditions The Japanese zero controls were all cable controls, relying on the strength of the pilot to maneuver the plane this had a limit that the power controls of the American aircraft could take advantage of, and the Japanese never really had time to train their pilots to deal with this or modify their aircraft so they were doomed in the air when engaging The new hellcat The two planes look so much alike that the Japanese zeros just assumed that the modified hellcat was a wildcat so they just thought they were gonna mix it up with a dog fight and I guess they realize as they were burning and heading for the ocean that that was not a hellcat was some kind of new airplane that just just shot them down The hellcat had a successor that was even more heavily modified, but it never was mass produced before the end of the war, but it was probably the best propeller driven fighter ever to be designed in available however, jet technology made it obsolete !!

[@nightjarflying]

The Thach weave assumes the USN fliers are still paired up & that there's only one Zero in the area of combat. The strategy falls apart if a 2nd IJN a/c shows up, It was a very successful idea for a while, until the enemy got wise to it - it doesn't work against thinking experienced pilots [nor swarms of the enemy]. IMO the IJN fliers correctly believed they were the better pilots [which was true in the early days] & were v surprised that the USN had this trick up their sleeves. Wiki says this: For example, during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands when USN and IJN strike forces passed each other, Zeros from carrier Zuihō led by Lieutenant Moriyasu Hidaka attacked USN aircraft. In response, Ensigns Al Mead and Raleigh Rhodes in their Wildcats performed the maneuver, but were outmatched and were eventually forced to ditch their ruined fighters. In another example, initially USN Lieutenant Commander Sam Silber and his wingman executed the maneuver with a relative success during the Raid on Kavieng in 1944. However, a few days later they used it again and the attackers shot down the wingman, while Silber's aircraft was severely damaged.

[@mumblerinc.6660]

You’d be naive to think it always worked, every single time. And it was a reasonable assumption that the Zeros wouldn’t manage to coordinate as well since they lacked radios, which the Wildcats had.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

You are very correct in that experience in action, leads to changes in tactics. The change to a finger 4 flight is another example. But rule number one in air combat; always stay with your wingman.🛩🛩

[@taggartlawfirm]

Wasn’t faster.

[@andrewnicholson4811]

i take it you are a yank ? ...the zero was way faster ....fact !

[@taggartlawfirm]

@ the zero and the wildcat had the same level max speed (330 mph)

[@hellmarch3043]

@@taggartlawfirm it does not work like that. Power weight ratio favor for Zekes. Because they dont have armor plates.

[@jamesguitar7384]

In the summer of 1941 Japan had not yet attacked America.

[@gordongoodfellow826]

The squadrons were based in China - effectively fighting for the Chinese - and I think they were called the flying tigers.

[@jamesguitar7384]

@gordongoodfellow826 Thank you for that . Clears things up .

[@stevereade4858]

Always wondered why Zeros didn't wait until theF4Fs crossed and fire "up the middle" at BOTH of them simultaneously? Two birds ... one 20mm stone (theoretically, since the Zeros turned faster, they could turn-in on the F4Fs faster than they could turn back out).