Brewster F2A Buffalo - Pacific War #81 DOCUMENTARY
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Become a channel member: / @kingsandgenerals or patron: / kingsandgenerals to watch exclusive videos, get early access to all videos, learn our schedule, join our private discord and much more! You can donate through Paypal paypal.me/kings... as well!
Kings and Generals' historical animated documentary series covering the Pacific War week by week continues. Many US aircraft became iconic during their service in the Pacific War, but one plane was often overshadowed and forgotten - the US Navy’s first monoplane fighter. F2F “Brewster” Buffalo. Although consistently touted as a heavy, cumbersome and obsolete warplane, especially compared to its Japanese counterparts, the service record of the Buffalo is still respectable. While its tenure in the US Navy was short, its dogged service in the air forces of other nations like Finland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands made it a persistent and impactful vehicle across multiple theaters in World War 2.
Podcast: thepacificwar....
#1 - Pearl Harbor: • Attack on Pearl Harbor...
#2 - Invasion of Malaya: • Japanese Invasion of M...
#3 - Guam, Wake, the Philippines: • Japan Attacks Everywhe...
#4 - Borneo, Philippines: • Japan Continues Attack...
#5 - Wake Island: • Fall of Wake Island - ...
#6 - Kampar: • Battle of Kampar - Pac...
#7 - Slim River: • Battle of Slim River -...
#8 - Dutch East Indies: • Battle for the Dutch E...
#9 - New Britain: • Invasion of New Britai...
#10 - Fall of Malaya: • Fall of Malaya - Pacif...
#11 - Makassar: • Battle of Makassar Str...
#12 - Fall of Singapore: • Fall of Singapore - Pa...
#13 - Sumatra: • Japanese Invasion of S...
#14 - Timor: • Japanese Invasion of T...
#15 - Java: • Fall of Java - Pacific...
#16 - Rangoon: • Fall of Rangoon - Paci...
#17 - US Response: • How the US Responded t...
#18 - Tojo: • Hideki Tojo: Bringing ...
#19 - Indian Ocean Raid: • Japanese Raids in the ...
#20 - Bataan: • Fall of Bataan & The B...
#21 - Doolittle Raid: • Doolittle Raid: Americ...
#22 - Burma Road: • Japanese Advance on Bu...
#23 - Australia's Pearl Harbor: • Australia's Pearl Harb...
#24 - Coral Sea: • Battle of the Coral Se...
#25 - Fall of the Philippines: • Fall of the Philippine...
#26 - Fall of Burma: • Fall of Burma - Pacifi...
#27 - Sei-Go: • How Japan Responded to...
#28 - Midway: • Battle of Midway - Pac...
#29 - Invasion of Alaska: • Japanese Invasion of A...
#30 - Attack on Sydney: • Japanese Attack on Syd...
#31 - MacArthur and the Philippines: • How MacArthur Caused t...
#32 - New Guinea: • Japan Attacks New Guin...
#33 - Biological Warfare in China: • Japanese War Crimes: B...
#34 - Japan Attacks the Continental US: • Japan Attacks the Cont...
#35 - Invasion of Buna-Gona: • Invasion of Buna-Gona ...
#36 - Kokoda: • Battle of Kokoda - Pac...
#37 - Solomon Islands: • Invasion of Solomon Is...
#38 - Savo Island: • Battle of Savo Island ...
#39 - Makin Island: • Raid on Makin Island -...
#40 - Eastern Solomons: • Battle of Eastern Solo...
#41 - Isurava: • Australia's Thermopyla...
#42 - Milne Bay: • Battle of Milne Bay - ...
#43 - Bloody Ridge: • Battle of the Bloody R...
#44 - Ioribaiwa: • Battle of the Ioribaiw...
#45 - Matanikau: • Battle of Matanikau - ...
#46 - Cape Esperance: • Battle of Cape Esperan...
#47 - Kokoda Track Counteroffensive: • Kokoda Track Counterof...
#48 - Henderson Field: • Battle for Henderson F...
#49 - Santa Cruz Islands: • Battle of the Santa Cr...
#50 - Oivi-Gorari: • Battle of Oivi-Gorari ...
#51 - Guadalcanal: • Naval Battle of Guadal...
#52 - Buna-Gona: • Battle of Buna-Gona - ...
#53 - Carlson's Patrol: • Carlson's Long Patrol ...
#54 - Tassafaronga: • Battle of Tassafaronga...
#55 - Fall of Gona: • Fall of Gona - Allied ...
#56 - Mount Austen: • Battle of Mount Austen...
#57 - 1st Arakan Campaign: • First Arakan Campaign ...
#58 - Fall of Buna: • Fall of Buna - Pacific...
#59 - Sanananda: • Sanananda Campaign - P...
#60 - Galloping/Sea Horse: • Galloping Horse and Se...
#61 - End of Buna-Gona: • End of the Battle of B...
#62 - Rennell Island: • Battle of Rennell Isla...
#63 - End of Guadalcanal: • End of the Guadalcanal...
#64 - Wau: • Battle of Wau - Pacifi...
#65 - First Chindits: • Britain Strikes Back A...
#66 - Amchitka: • Landing at Amchitka - ...
#67 - Bismarck Sea: • Battle of the Bismarck...
#68 - Blackett Strait: • Battle at the Blackett...
#69 - Operation Longcloth: • Operation Longcloth - ...
#70 - Komandorski Islands: • Battle of the Komandor...
#71 - Pacific Conference: • Military Conference th...
#72 - Japan Counterattacks: • Japan Tries to Counter...
#73 - Chindits #2: • Return of the Chindits...
#74 - Operation Vengeance: • Operation Vengeance: A...
#75 - Arakan counterattack: • Japan Counterattacks i...
#76 - Drive to Salamua: • Drive to Salamua - Pac...
#77 - Battle of Attu: • Battle of Attu - Pacif...
#78 - West Hubei Offensive: • West Hubei Offensive -...
#79 - Fall of Attu: • Fall of Attu - Pacific...
#80 - Withdrawal from West Hubei: • Withdrawal from West H...
Video: Christian Tankgau
Script: Ivan Moran, Craig Watson bit.ly/3UgWAbt
VO: Devin bit.ly/3XzSCgV & bit.ly/3GUO9iT
Production Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsou...
#Documentary #PacificWar #WorldWar
Become a channel member: ua-cam.com/channels/MmaBzfCCwZ2KqaBJjkj0fw.htmljoin or patron: www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals to watch exclusive videos, get early access to all videos, learn our schedule, join our private discord and much more! You can donate through Paypal paypal.me/kingsandgenerals as well!
great video,could you do a video on the 2021 taliban offensive? from may1st to august 15 2021? there were many battles like the
Battle of Kandahar
Battle of Kunduz
Battle of Lashkargah
Capture of Zaranj
Fall of Herat
You soon gonna go back to Ancient stuff??
@@Scorpion51123314512 yep
Early Muslim expansion or ottoman empire and BTW how you edit your videos
could you do a video on the 2021 taliban conquest of afghanistan?
One of Finland's greatest fighter aces referred to the buffalo as a "gentleman's plane" as it was gentle, easy to fly, and apparently very roomy.
He told a story of how a single buffalo succesfully transported the plane's pilot, an officer, the officer's luggage, and the officer's dog between airfields.
Fun fact:
When Brewster Buffalo was used by the Finnish air force during WWII, the plane was called "lentävä kaljatynnyri" in Finnish, or the "Flying beer barrel" in English.
LOL! Spot on. :D
And at best it had kill ratio of 60:1. Or even better.
The whole thing about no armour and self sealing tanks is a bit of a diversion. Most fighters of the 1937-1939 didn't have it. The very first production models of the Spitfire, Hurricane and Me-109 had no armour. The Spitfire and Hurricane received it as an upgrade mid 1940, and the 109 only on the late E3 models. So, these 3 started 1940 without armour. The Zero had none before 1943, and even then it only got an armoured windscreen. The problem was that the Buffalo simply couldn't absorb the extra weight without massive penalties in performance, nor could it be modified to get a better engine.
That what happens when you go for the specifications exactly.
@@BHuang92 No, the problem was as he said, weight. The huge advantage with the Spitfire was that the airframe had enough room to accept upgraded (and often larger) engines with relative ease. That is why that aircraft stayed in front line service for the entire war, because it could readily accept larger, more powerful inline engines without requiring radical redesigns.
This was helped by the fact that during the war Rolls Royce, who manufactured the Merlin and later Griffon engines that went into the Spitfires purposefully developed their engines in such a manner as to minimise the issues with sticking one of their upgraded engines into a spitfire. The story of the Spitfire and the Rolls Royce Merlin and later Griffon are very much highly intertwined. You cannot really look at one without tracing the development of the other.
People do not realise just how much aircraft engine technology advanced in the 30's and 40's. Plenty of other aircraft were retired from service because they too could not readily accept radical engine upgrades. The Brewster Buffalo was a LONG way from being unique in that regard.
@@alganhar1 That`s true. The bigger airframe of Spitfire allowed Spitfire more space to accept upgrades while BF109`s limited airframe prevented developers to install a larger engine or to add more guns/armor.(BF109F cancelled wing guns while BF109G6 had to installed two MG131 on the head for firepower but reduced max speed). And Zero`s upgrade was greatly cripped by the poor base of Japan`s engine technology and industry development.
Based.
Thankx never knew that !
Becoming a member was the best decision I did this year. Thank you for this great work.
Does it worth it?
I agree, it was probably the best decision I've made so far this year. The level of quality from this company is unparalleled in my mind
If your son is called Hans Wind, you know he's gonna be an ace pilot.
The Buffalo's in the Dutch East Indies were often partly fueled and with half of the ammo to decrease weight to better flight characteristics
Excellent video! It's great to see lesser known aircraft get their due time in the spotlight. I'd love to see a video highlighting the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk for it's contribution in the early days of America's involvement in WW2.
Cool stuff. My impression of the Brewster Buffalo was always that it was a pre-war plane and mid for most characteristics. It’s dismal performance at Midway was proof of that so it’s interesting to see how long and in some ways successfully it served in the right roles. Finland’s use being great proof of that.
I did not expect a rundown on equipment that was in use. However, having seen this video I hope ya'll make this a recurring thing. I would love to learn a little bit about the history of the tools and machines that were used by the countries involved during the war. Keep these coming :D There are so many ways the war could be dissected by ya'll and then churn it back out to us that I cannot wait to consume it all!
WOW, now this was completely unexpected! This was such a fascinating video, I really knew very little on the Buffalo but it is one cute looking plane ... I painted one for my channel and loved it! Also, it's nice to see RAAF Base Pearce being mentioned ;)
The KNIL used them in dutch east Indies.
Another great work from K&G understands demand. Hidden in shadows of spectacular events but pieces should be known for Allies. Thanks a lot!
Really interesting new sub-series of videos. It's great to see an in-depth look at some of the aircraft of WWII, and hopefully some of the other iconic planes are on the way.
However, I will mention (12:00): surely you of all people know, that's not where Burma is. That's Bangladesh.
A video on the Mitsubishi A6M Zero would be an eye-opener!
I've been watching you guys for years now. You guys are great!
Also nice video.
Thank you
SBD Dauntless and F4F Wildcat are the Icons of the Pacific War, they surely deserve a video.
wink wink
Yay! I like the main series, so I'm happy for any aspects of this. Thanks K&G.
Thank you , K&G .
🐺
As always,a splendid video,kings and generals.😊
I very much appreciate this information on the Buffalo. Most other WWII information mention them in passing with little information on their performance, equipment or use in more minor theaters. Thank you and I hope to see much more like this.
This was quite good. I had thought that Australia had more of them, so this was new information to me. I enjoyed this immensely.
Love this airplane.
Me too. I was always fascinated by it's barrel-like appearance and the incredibly long canopy.
In terms of pure performance, it wasn't that bad and was far more manoeuvrable and had far better climb rate than the F4F Wildcat and its top speed was similar.
But it was still slower and less manoeuvrable than Zero and unklike the Wildcat, could not handle as much punishment.
Moreover, in Malaysia the qucikly moving front destroyed the sentries net, which rarely allowed the British pilots to take off in time to climb to attack position.
Amazing, please more videos like this!!
Always have a special place for the Brewster Buffalo, the Seversky P35 and the Airacobra too ❤️
I look forward to more videos about aircraft in the Pacific War. I know the allies started the war at a disadvantage of technology, but their pilots still outperformed so many times.
Nice information to add further context to the "flying coffin" that many pilots had opinions for it.
Fantastic video keep it up you're doing amazing things 😁👍
Ton of fun Geeking out on this one!
You are on fire recently
Quite interesting idea with that plane series. I like it :)
Thank you for the video 👊🏻
Great stuff, maybe you should throw these in every couple months, eg: a episode looking at Japanese and Allied artillery equipment and doctrine, same for small arms etc
Great vid 👌
In War Thunder, this aircraft is very herf to master, but easy to die in... I love flying it becuase noone expects it, it can do some very interesting things. And it physically can not rip its wings, unlike many other planes at the same teir.
Another fantastic episode on the pacific war
I’ve watched every one, And I rather look forward to each episode as they came out on UA-cam each week
I appreciate what you are doing for the series, a suggestion of what you can do for a historical video is can you cover the invasion of poland in 1939? Nobody talks about that, might as well ask you guys to cover that.
Thanks for the video
nice... i'll be waiting for more plane history
I don't know I'm mistakened about it but the place you highlighted as Burma at 12:02 is not at all close to Burma. Its around modern day Bangladesh while Burma was on the right and alot bigger. But overall a great video!
Love to see an episode on the prewar USAAF “O” planes (e.g. Curtiss Owl, 0-46,0-47B etc.)
Early war aircraft were very different to those later on, still brave men that flew the Buffalo against Zeros.
Thank you
Great videos you guys! ❤️🙏 One suggestion though. Please make them more accessible by adding metric system info. Majority of the world does not understand mph/lb etc.
Amazing! I grew up in the far north western Australian town of broome, in the 70’s.... one of the very few places to actually get hit by the Japanese..... I remember walking out to see the wreckage of the Catalina’..... and I recall that we did have a couple of old fighter planes permanently parked up at the airfield during the 70’, and they look awful like those buffaloe... but they had on RAAF livery..but I never knew about all the others wrecks around about..... however... we did have a real dead dinosaur footprint. To see it, one must trudge way way out where the tide reaches its lowest point, so follow it you must to see the print.... and fat trees. There’s fat trees.
Hello Kings and Generals, whish you could feature the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber in your future special. We all know that this plane has a legendary service in the Pacific. when the war ended the role of this plane is significantly different from what it was intended design.
A very good video got rid of a few myths
More aircraft videos? Christmas came early!
Can we have like, videos for every single weapon system? Small arms, ships, tanks and improvised stuff? I'll give you my firstborn.
Why is the thumbnail for the Brewster F2A Buffalo special an image of a plane not the Brewster F2A Buffalo?
A local farmer flew the Buffalo in combat in Malaya, liked it and achieved some kills in it. Its performance at altitude was inadequte and its good dive characteristics were not much use if you couldn't get above the enemy to begin with. Gun issues (they wouldn't continue firing) were an ongoing problem. He transitioned to Hurricanes later but never liked them despite 100's of combat hours in them. Both designs were obsolete by the early 1940's but Hurricanes lingered on in the Burma theatre as modern designs were slow in arriving.
Can't wait for my favorite WW2 aircrafts - the FW 200 Condor and the FW 190 Würger
15:40 There is a pretty bad spelling error for the second Finnish Buffalo ace. The correct spelling is "Eino Ilmari Juutilainen".
Great channel! Small correction. RAAF is pronounced "R- double A- F"
Nice video
I once read in a book that Finland was after all red tape (US cannot sell these planes to warring nation) to by the Buffaloes after they were proclaimed obsolete. The US navy supposedly changed the painting specifications. That change was what made planes "obsolete" and thereby making the sell possible. Between the end of the Winter War (in late spring 1940) and beginning of the Continuation War from summer 1941 the Finnish pilots had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the new planes, develop tactics and optimize the weapons aiming. Also the ground crew was trained and made ready for their later superior performance. By the way, the Finnish kill numbers were only tabulated if there was a witness, mostly the wing man, or the downed enemy plane could be located and verified. In that, the Finnish kill ratio numbers are uniquely accurate in contrast to all the probably inflated numbers. However, it must still be acknowledged that by 1944 the Brewster Buffalo was not a champion of the sky any more, even in Finland. The highest scoring Finn, Ilmari Juutilainen got in the final months of the Continuation War (1944) to fly a BF109. At that point the Soviet bombing activities had also increased, presenting plenty of good targets.
Thank you so much for featuring the Dutch colonial (KNILM) pilots! They are almost forgotten heroes in my country.
this deserves waaaay more views- contact Real Engineering folks, have him repost it. Reach out. use your connections for feck sake! TY!🐳👍
awesome history Post
Cheers
Most interesting
Hope you will mention hms victorious as she was operating in the central Pacific at this time
Is it really just a coincidence the best Brewster Buffalo pilot was a guy named WIND?
You might want to check where Burma is on the graphic
Please correct me if I’m wrong. I think you highlighted present day Bangladesh as Burma.
Saratoga, woohoo. Shout-out to the Sara. We hosted her and her crew for many years in our lil old town.
Buffalos also saw action in northern Australia with the air force
Not sure, but is your Burma map overlay well placed?
It’s not haha. Kind of a minor detail but also kind of not? Hope they at least issue a correction in the notes
Way off, they shrunk it and overlaid it on top of what is now Bangladesh. I also noticed they butchered the state borders for the US and Australia, not like they were even necessary.
12:04
That's Bengal not Burma.
Fellas, that is not Burma. That is Bangladesh. Lol
I have soft spot for interwar aircraft. At least they were good trainers and workhorse in regions with lower priority
I love yall
They also saw combat with the USAAF in northern Australia
I love u guys
Can I ask you add measurements that the scientific community uses (in addition to US measurement if you’d like?)
Just helps reach a greater community with your information and helps add that professionalism.
Otherwise it’s a perfect show, thank you so much 🙏🙏🙏🙂🙂🙂
I liked the aircraft history idea. It was an interesting episode about a second rate plane. Makes me wonder what an episode about a real winner would be like.
my newbie warthunder journey
The arrester hook played a role in carrier takeoffs?
The buffalo performed well in the Baltic, where the colder climes helped cool the engines which where otherwise prone to overheating... ok... got it. .... best place to send them to is the tropics... obvious incompetence.
Flying matchbox.😮
If it was a dollar a month or 2 I’d become a member of the channel I bet you’d get a lot more people
Okay, so some poor history in this video. The RAAF 21 and 453 squadrons both flew the Buffalo in Malaya/Singapore in 1941/42 not just the ex NEI used for training etc. Doug Vanderfield was in 453 Squadron as 79 Squadron didn’t exist until 1943. Alf Clare, not Claire, was also in 453 Squadron as 5 Squadron didn’t fly the Buffalo. Maurice Holder was Australian but he was in the RAF not in the RAAF. He flew the Buffalo in 243 Sqn RAF…242 didn’t have the Buffalo…you get the idea.
Great information! Well done!
I'm a simple man. I see airplanes, i go brrrrrrrr, vrooooooom peew peew
Why are the pictures of completely different aircraft? I'm not sure what the aircraft in the thumbnail is, but the one in the video looks like the prototype of the Grumman Hellcat. 🤔
The Buffalo pilots probably had less training and experience than the Japanese pilots. This was a major factor not mentioned here.
Always think of the boys in the Buffalo and TBD
Well you know the funny thing about Brewster Buffalo is, it is probably had the highest kill ratio in history with 24:1 thanks to Finnish pilots 😂 even the one regarded best fighter plane in ww2 bf109 only got 21:1 kill ratio just short 3 kill from Brewster Buffalo. Like it or not this kill ratio still unchanged untill this day 😂😂😂😂
Brewster Buffalo is king 👑🐃
finland wasnt part of the axis when the planes were aquired. The map incorrectly makes it seem so
It seems like early in the Pacific war a lot of brave pilots died flying Buffalos and Wirraways against more advanced fighters b/c that'll the best they had on hand when the enemy appeared on the horizon.
you have mentioned Burma instead of Bangladesh in @12.10
Just quick note, that in map (4:34) showing Finland as part of Nazi Germany is not true. We were desperate allies with them against Soviet Union, but never part of them.
Awesome video. Wondering if you're going to cover the Azerbaijani invasion of Armenia? Third time asking.
Or are you a sold out coward not willing to cover it, like our US media? Just wanting some honesty here
Didn't the Malta defenders find a couple of these in a crate and put them together as their only air defence? Or was that a different aircraft?
Gloster Gladiators are what you're thinking of.
@@shaunw9092 Faith, Hope and Charity
@@shaunw9092 Ah, I knew it was one of the planes that used Alliteration. Thank you, sir!
As stated the Finns liked the Buffalo fighter. During the “Continuation War” the Finn slowly used up their spare parts. Since the Finns were fighting along side the Luftwaffe the US refused to sell Finland any spare parts for the Buffalos.
On Finland’s warplanes they had swastika symbol. The Finns had used it long before Hitler came to power. The Finns continued to use it for many additional years as well.
Real "No way! Why should I change? He's the one who sucks." energy.
Blue swastika on a white background if I remember. Swastika actually an ancient symbol representing the sun.
@@rosiehawtrey Have seen Swastika on very ancient temples in India
*Cuando subtitularan estos documentales al español??*
Puedes activar la traducción automática al español en configuración del video
@@luciobricks6799 *claro pero no todos tenemos esa Opción*
Pensé que no había personas que hablaran español😮
Request: Rise of the Mamluk Sultanate
This is a great idea for an episode. I noticed that at 15:40 Eino Juutilainen´s whole name was typed incorrectly. His whole name was "Eino Ilmari Juutilainen" as it is written in his Wikipedia article.
Finnish and German pilots became to be aces in the Eastern Front pretty easily because Soviet pilot training was quite poor and Soviet Union lost a lot of pilots during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa. Japan on the other hand did have a lot of good pilots in the beginning of the Pacific War but they couldn´t train enough good pilots to replace their pilot losses as the war progressed.
Please cut your patron fees by half. And I will join. That is just to pricey
errrr......maps a bit wrong mate you've got Burma where Assam should be??
Seriously, You couldn;t put in ONE image of an F2A/Buffalo anywhere? Just that completely weird hybrid mess of a Hellcat? Shame too as the text/maps were acceptable.
I don't get it.
Need one on the differnces of the P-39 and P-400
361
The Finns made exceptional use of this fighter and continued to use it in 1944 even with the multitude of vastly superior Soviet fighter types that were pitted against it. Ilmari Juutilainen, the top Finnish ace would score 34 of his 94 kills in the Buffalo.
The Finns were/are notorious for making hugely exaggerated claims during their conflicts.
Their version had a better engine, and also they didn't experience overheating issue like the Allies in the Pacific.
@@guaporeturns9472 as all armed forces do. 25% is probably pretty accurate.
@@josephpercente8377 very true , but they are legendary even among the best storytellers.
@@guaporeturns9472 Assuming that was sarcasm since they're known for the exact opposite.
Edit: seems you're serious. that's pretty sad. but you're free to have your opinion even if you're alone with it.
The Finns did okay in the Winter War with the Buffalo.
Buffalos missed the Winter War. Five aircraft were ready during the last couple of weeks of the war, but they never made any combat flights.
Best kill - loss ratio of any fighter in ww2
@@TheRetu81 must have misremembered. Continuation War?