Aircraft

[Mean Bob Mean]

Agreed. I think the FM-2 had a higher horse power engine than the original F-4's as well. The FM-2's were well suited to ops off the jeep carriers

Isn't that a neat legacy, those little carriers?  Ever been to NAS Pensacola?

[Mean Bob Mean]

The seasoned Japanese pilots were killed off in the major battles of Coral Sea and Midway, By the end of 43 and the first part of 44, all that were left were young and inexperienced in obsolete and poorly made newer planes. The Kamakizes were out of desperation, to destroy as many naval ships as possible, by crashing into ships. The young pilots were told that it was honor to die for the Emperor.

And we Americans was happy to oblige them sons of Nippon.

[Texas Lawdog]

I was at the Naval air Museum  on the 75th Anniversary of Naval aviation. I really enjoyed the tour, unfortunately there many aircraft that were outside and deteriorating in the salt air. My wife has a girlfriend that is a daughter of one of the original "Black Sheep". Over the years, I have been able to tour several of the Military Air Museums in the US.

[Texas Lawdog]

The Great Marianas Turkey shoot was a good example of the superiority of the Amarican pilots over the Japanese pilots in the latter stages of the War. After the Battle of Midway, the Japanese Naval aviation ceased to be much of a factor.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

Hard to fly like an eagle when you're swimming with the fishes. The cream of Japan's aviators went down with those four carriers at Midway.The rest got ground up at Guadalcanal. After that, their carriers aviators were hardly trained like ours were. By the Turkey shoot, they were basically sitting ducks

[Mean Bob Mean]

Hard to fly like an eagle when you're swimming with the fishes. The cream of Japan's aviators went down with those four carriers at Midway.The rest got ground up at Guadalcanal. After that, their carriers aviators were hardly trained like ours were. By the Turkey shoot, they were basically sitting ducks

Yeah, I don't recall precisely but it seems to me that the rigid Japanese training program was like 2-3 years and they had no concept of rotating skilled pilots back to training positions unless the guy was shot to hell.  The US had a decent ace, they made him a trainer.  We had the numbers, and more importantly, a fluid way of thinking that was far more practical. 

I was always intrigued by Lindbergh's teaching of the P-38 pilots in long range flying so they could shoot down Yamamato. 

[Four-Eyed Buck]

There are rumors that he did actually fly some ops while doing it. Some say he actually shot one down

[Texas Lawdog]

Lindbergh was a controversial man in his later years. "The Spirit of St. Louis" is one of my favorite movies. Lindbergh was truly "The Lone Eagle".

[Lord Eoin MacKenzie]

  I got to fly in a Navy DC-3 Goony bird assigned to Midway Island in the middle 1970s.  It was a beat up bird from hitting the local Goony birds.  Dents in the nose and leading edges of the wings.   They flew it to Hawaii, etc.  Noisy old bitch, but still working.