The Time an American Floatplane Shot Down a Zero - World War II Stories

The OS2U Kingfisher, a nifty and popular reconnaissance floatplane used extensively during the Pacific war. One thing is certainly is not, however, is a high performance fighter aircraft - which makes this encounter with a Japanese A6M5 Zero even more incredible.
Consider supporting us on Patreon: / aviationdeepdive
Join our Discord community: / discord
Sources:
Darling, K. (2009). Vought Sikorsky OS2U Kingfisher. Lulu.
Skaarup, H. (2012). California Warplanes. iUniverse.
Marriott, L. (2006). Catapult Aircraft: Seaplanes That Flew From Ships Without Flight Decks. Pen & Sword Aviation.
0:00 - 2:56 Intro
2:57 - 7:16 Story & Combat
7:17 - 9:24 Aftermath & Conclusion

[@aviationdeepdive]

Feel free to join our Discord community! - discord.gg/WCevgcufwJ Consider supporting us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/AviationDeepDive

[@alejandrovargas7592]

That crew deserved medals, and national recognition !! A terrific action by the U.S pilot !!

[@Ari.Atland]

I remember reading about this story on the wiki of my favorite seaplane, glad to see you make a video about it!

[@ATC83]

Another amazing story! The Emperor was deeply ashamed about this sad episode... And congrats for the (almost) 2K subs, very well deserved!

[@aviationdeepdive]

Haha the Emperor will have to wait for some other stories to be proud of... :)

[@geordiedog1749]

I had a model - Airfix - of a Kingfisher. I wasn’t one for making and displaying. I would play with mine until they were in bits.

[@aviationdeepdive]

To be fair they could make good toys!

[@alejandrovargas7592]

It's terrific to find another great channel about WW2.

[@ukulelemikeleii]

Excellent video and story! One very minor thing to point out: in the beginning of the video, you say that the United States was pushing East against Japan, but in actuality they were pushing North, Northwest...

[@danweyant4909]

Hard to believe, that's crazy!

[@TrainBoi6095]

I’ve become more interested in the stories of Planes like the Mustang , Hellcat ,Corsair, Etc But this caught my attention, A Sea plane fought and took down a A6 Zero ? Very impressive indeed 👍

[@aviationdeepdive]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jeremywilson4326]

Good one man ,,, thanks

[@raulduke6105]

Mint kingfisher @ BB Alabama museum

[@maddogmerv]

Harold Sharp was the "Observer" He was also my Uncle.

[@shamekperson8681]

Video is great although the a6m zero was not employed with the imperial Japanese army air service it was an IJ Navy aircraft. The IJAAF used the Ki-43 Oscar which was similar in dimensions and performance to the zero and was often mistaken for zero.

[@danhubert-hx4ss]

IIRC a pair of SOC Seagulls smoked a Zero during Jap Pearl Harbour attack. That would make an epic vid.

[@aviationdeepdive]

That's definitely a very interesting story, I just read up on it. I've put it down on the list of stories to cover! One thing I've yet to determine clearly is whether the zero actually went down or whether it flew out of sight still smoking?

[@danhubert-hx4ss]

@@aviationdeepdive As per Profile Publications booklet on the Seagull, the Zero was destroyed.

[@aviationdeepdive]

@@danhubert-hx4ss Oh ok thanks for that! By any chance could you send me a photo of the relevant info from the book to my email? [e-mail] I'm quite interested in covering this topic in future

[@danhubert-hx4ss]

@@aviationdeepdive Sry, these booklets lie behind decennia of other litterature in my cellar. Digging thruogh all this ia something of a tall order for an oldtimer like me.

[@aviationdeepdive]

@@danhubert-hx4ss Ah ok no worries, might have to pick it up myself then!

[@alejandrovargas7592]

Well done! Love the video quality and photos.

[@aviationdeepdive]

Thanks so much!

[@davidvavra9113]

Thanks

[@Brightsideofmilitary]

Great video sir

[@aviationdeepdive]

Thankyou!

[@IsaacCarmichael]

Catapult launched observer planes of world war II on both sides also sunk submarines and small ships and ground targets. They don't get the credit they deserve. The damage caused by their observations are more valuable than a single fighter aircraft.

[@West_Coast_Gang]

I love the os2u

[@ralphscholer7345]

A very exciting story!! And I didn't know, which maneuvers you able to make with a KINGFISHER.! I lost this plane out of my mind, but with AVIATION DEEP DIVE it popped up for me in a new glamorous light! And like you said in your very brilliant narration : .... it's the PILOT, not the PLANE..... . Also I didn't know about this high number of training hours for U. S. Pilots. EXCELLENT!! Thank You again for this awesome stuff!

[@aviationdeepdive]

Really glad to hear you enjoyed it Ralph!

[@ralphscholer7345]

@@aviationdeepdive Whats about this PAETRON Stuff, can you send me a short explain?

[@aviationdeepdive]

@@ralphscholer7345 Oh sure, it's essentially a website where you can support channels that you like the content of, by giving a certain amount of money per month (usually around 5-20 dollars).

[@ralphscholer7345]

@@aviationdeepdive Is this working only with U. S. Dollars or also with European €?

[@aviationdeepdive]

@@ralphscholer7345 It works with any currency as far as I know! Definitely works with Euros. If you are planning to pledge, I can't thank you enough!

[@StrikeWyvern]

The only more heavily one-sided david and goliath moment I can think of air combat was the Po-2 downing a F-94 Starfire during the Korean War.

[@raymondyee2008]

Holy cow.

[@janmale7767]

Air war is like a chessboard game, if you manage your situation cleverly (and with bit of luck) you can kick ass on aircraft that are supposetly far superior to your own, similar case with a German Arado floatplane and a pack of Spitfires!

[@petel4119]

2:19 Small correction - IJNAS, not IJAAS (great vid though!)

[@aviationdeepdive]

Ah yes, I wasn't sure about whether we could know whether this specific zero came from the Army or the Navy, as I thought both branches used the A6M extensively?

[@TheLateBird7]

I'd be interested to know this, too! I always thought the Japanese fighter aircraft types were more or less strictly separated between army and navy. But hey, great video, and a very clean edit!

[@petel4119]

@@aviationdeepdive No, the A6M was used exclusively by the navy. The Army equivalent was the Ki-43 'Oscar'. Such was the rivalry/hatred/non-co-operation between the services that designs rarely crossed over.

[@desperatetogetsomehoes]

War Thunder Air RB dogfights be like:

[@aviationdeepdive]

Haha for sure

[@PartiallyLoyal]

Reject Arado, embrace Kingfisher supremacy

[@aviationdeepdive]

🙄Need I remind you of the time an Arado shot down two spitfires?

[@PartiallyLoyal]

@@aviationdeepdive need I remind you that a single German übermensch man does not equate to a whole series of aircraft being superior to the best floatplane of all time?

[@aviationdeepdive]

@@PartiallyLoyal Need I remind you that I'm up for a Kingfisher v Arado duel anytime you want?

[@Paulftate]

a zero that thought they were a hero and ended up in the drink 😂

[@argyrisperiferakis6404]

Something is off with the speed stat of the zero, 270 mph can't possibly be correct

[@aviationdeepdive]

No, that's correct. The A6M2 could hit 331 mph at 15,000 ft but could go 270 mph at sea level.

[@argyrisperiferakis6404]

Yes this is correct for A6M2, but at 1945 the model should be A6M4, A6M5 I imagine

[@aviationdeepdive]

It depends on certain variants, the Hei with armour and extra guns would be slower - although the optimal speed with a factory new, good quality A6M5 would be 295 mph at sea level. However, with realistic breakdowns at factories, low production qualities and bad manufacturing tolerances, the performance of production Japanese aircraft was significantly lower than ideal, hence resulting in a 15-20 mph speed difference.@@argyrisperiferakis6404

[@mikearmstrong8483]

Just because newer variants with higher performance were in production during the last years of the war, doesn't mean that every unit on the front lines automatically switched over the moment they entered service. A fighter may not have entered service until a year or more after first flying (at that time), though being an upgraded variant rather than a new plane would have speeded the process. There would still have been testing to be done before full production started, and at least some slight retooling and restocking of parts before the new variant started coming off the line. Next comes distribution, and one has to consider that the factory was probably making less than a squadron's worth of planes each day. And home island units would probably be first to receive new models. There would be conversion training time for units receiving new planes, though by this time the Japanese were providing very little pilot training. Lastly, with the attrition that they had suffered, the Japanese were unlikely to retire any older models from service as long as they still had some marginal combat capability. So altogether, it is quite feasible that an older model Zeke of lower performance may have involved.