Why the Japanese Feared the F6F Hellcat
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- This is the second episode of the story of Don McPherson - an F6F Hellcat ace from Fighter Squadron 83, flying off of the USS Essex in 1945 at the Battle of Okinawa. This includes his first dogfight against Japanese Val Dive Bombers. This was made using the World War II flight simulator War Thunder - Download free here: playwt.link/tj... Hope you enjoy! Please like, comment, and subscribe. #WW2 #WWIIHistory #WarThunder
RESEARCH SOURCES: Research sources in all of my content include the United States National Archives (NARA) - and specifically, Missing Air Crew Reports, as well as combat reports and diaries from various fighter and bomber squadrons. catalog.archiv...
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Found these interviews of my Dad, Don McPherson this evening. These are very well done. Thank you.
Thank you! The privilege was ours.
Thank you for his service
Your father was a true warrior.
@@TJ3 This is SUCH a good Channel… I only discovered it TODAY & am SO glad that I did…
Really captivating & inspirational episodes of wartime history, BRILLIANTLY, sensitively & imaginatively presented. ✨🏆✨ INSTANT SUBSCRIPTION!
Thanks to your dad for giving my family air support. Semper Fi
At least I’m not sobbing at the end of this like your last few productions.
History from that war is BRUTAL. 😬
Yes, it is hard to keep your eyes dry when you think about what those young men had to go through. My dad(south Pacific), wouldn't talk about his experiences.
The older I get (I'm 62 now), the more apparent it becomes to me that while objectives maybe reached, and territory may be reclaimed from invaders, nobody really wins a war. I have nothing but admiration for those that fought and died for my country, but I am eternally grateful for the gift of fate that meant that I didn't have to go.
@@tjh44961 Yes, because they did the "dirty work"- we didn't have to.
The history is brutal because the war was brutal. The saying “War is Hell” was proven true so many times during the war in both theaters of operation.
My dad was a Hellcat Pilot that served in pretty much the whole war in the Pacific
Salute to ur dad.
Presumably starting in the earlier years in a different aircraft type.
Because of the Sullivan act,, my dad worked at Grumman during the war. Said his favorite plane was the F7F Tiger cat. Had 2 engines.
My dad was Army in that invasion force. I sent this to my friend because his father was on the USS Essex during this battle. Not sure his rating was. (MOS to non- Navy) He was certainly on the guns. So his dad was protecting my dad. We are searching for an old film that showed his father when they are pushing an aircraft off the deck into the sea. It's ust a quick shot of him but he would treasure it.
Rating isn't really equivalent to MOS. You have a rating, your general field, and then a specific job, which is a NEC these days. Specific rates are qualified for a range of NECs.
The Marines are identical to this, and go to the same schoolhouse.. they just don't get rated, even though they earned a rating. In Aviation, if you ask a Marine what rate they are, they will tell you a Navy rate lol.
@@ATBatmanMALS31 ok. Maybe when I was in things were different? 78-83. I was an E-5 upon discharge. As I understood it, rating was what I did. Ground Support Equipment tech, hydraulics and pneumatics. ASH2. I think it's all ASM now. If I stayed in for 6 more months, I could have taken the test for E-6 but by then you are expected to know both the mechanical & hydraulics and pneumatics. Maybe ASE which works on the electrical gse. So E-5 was my rank. ASH was my rating. What I did. I don't know what NEC is. You said these days so no wonder that I don't know about it. I am 70 but I hope that I haven't forgotten that much! I almost married a Marine. He was going to be the equivalent of the Navy rateing/rate of AT. Avionics Tech. They work on the black boxes. AE's can remove and install them and wiring on the aircraft. Etc. I don't recall if they called it AT in the Marines. Anyway, thanks for explaining.
@@ATBatmanMALS31I got out as an AX2 after 4 years in 1975 . I went to Avionics A school in Millington, Tn. And at least a third of the class were Marines. Us sailors would just walk into the class once we got there, they had an inspection every morning by one of the Marine instructors. An AX is an aviation anti submarine warfare technician. I served in a patrol squadron working on P-3Bs. We had ATs and AXs working out of the same shop. I worked doing electronics work in high school for two years doing component level work. The shop I worked at was run by two retired submarine ETs that taught me a lot. I remember in one class in A school they were amazed how fast I found all the problems. Both brothers and my son served in the Navy. One on submarines, one in a patrol squadron and my son on a carrier working the bow catapults.
@@Chris_at_Home i guess they split up AX between AT and FC. I knew a techrep that was a former AX, he said he preferred having the rate.. ASW is a big piece of the AT exam, but unless you're in with P8s, it's all theorhetical lol
@@ATBatmanMALS31 My comment was removed by the people that do that when they don’t understand what it was about. Yes, I did hear the combined the AX and AT rating.
Great video as always. I really appreciate hearing the stories directly from the veterans.
My grandpa was in the engine room on the USS Essex. He had some crazy stories.
A story so good it took two installments to tell! Thanks TJ
I think there is at least one more video coming of Dad.
Royal Navy Spitfires successfully used their hi speed and climb to intercept Japanese kamikaze attacks at Okinawa and Iwo Jima. The British also used Corsairs and Hellcats.
I always thought the peak of U.S. and British cooperation was the P-51 Mustang. The addition of the Rolls Royce Merlin engine made them bad ass.
Might need to look into this one.
During WWII, Spitfires flew in the Mediterranean, northern Europe, Italy, North Africa, the Middle East, Malaya, Burma, and the Pacific.
The British naval task force served with the Americans during the fighting around Okinawa, but it was not directly involved in the Okinawa landing.
The Fleet Air Arm used Grumman Avenger, Supermarine Spitfires, Fairy Fireflies, they also had Corsair, Hellcats and Barracudas.
@@DeMan59the addition of American technology made the merlin what it was...
the vast majority of British carriers used American fighters....
By the Okinawan campaign the F6F-5 had superseded the F6F-3. Outwardly both Hellcats looked identical. The -5 possessed a slightly upgraded engine offering a top speed of 380 mph to the -3's top speed of 376 mph. More, the -5 could carry bombs and rockets underneath both wings while the -3 typically carried only an auxiliary fuel tank under the belly although a bomb could be hitched there. Thus the -5 Hellcat had been transformed into a versatile fighter-bomber. In addition a night-fighter version of the Hellcat was available over Okinawa, the F6F-5N, which carried an armament of two, 20mm cannon and four, .50 heavy machine guns, turning the night fighter into a gun ship.
Yet the deadly Hellcat was staring at obsolescence in the face. Its successor, the superlative F8F-1 Bearcat, had entered mass production and intensive pilot training. At the time of Japan's unconditional surrender, the F8F-1 was aboard U.S. Navy carriers racing across the Pacific to Japanese home waters.
Japanese Imperial Navy ace, Lieutenant Saburo Sakai (Sakai had just been promoted to lieutenant from warrant officer just before war's end.) related how Japanese Navy pilots respected and feared the Hellcat more than the Corsair. The Japanese pilots understood the Corsair was a high performance aircraft, faster than the Hellcat. But the Hellcat could dogfight against the A6M5 Zero-sen. The Hellcat could stay behind a Zero for 90 degrees of a turn in a dogfight, something the heavier Corsair could not do. There are anecdotal incidents of pursuing F4U Corsairs that dived into the sea or land while chasing a Zero. The lighter, nimbler Zero was able to pull up just in time while the heavy Corsair could not. The Corsair flew like a truck. Its forte was zoom climb and dive attacks on Japanese fighter aircraft.
By the end of 1944 only experienced Japanese fighter pilots could hope to cope against the Hellcat fighter. Sakai attested to that. Falling back on his flying skills and experience, Sakai could use the Zero's superior maneuverability defensively against the Hellcat whereas earlier in the war Japanese pilots used their Zero airplane's maneuverability offensively.
It was only with the introduction of the better, 2nd generation Kawanishi Shiden-Kai N1K2-J "George" that Saburo Sakai felt Japanese pilots gained supremacy over the Hellcat. But the tide of the Pacific War had turned against Japan. The Imperial Japanese Navy did not possess near enough the quantity of Shiden-Kai's, enough trained pilots, and the necessary aviation fuel for training and combat operations.
Japan was behind in developing engines above 1,500, and when they did, the lack of refined higher octane fuel hindered introducing their high performance aircraft. Americans have a hard time recognizing how the RR Merlin engine transformed the P-51 into a high altitude fighter when previously the Allison engine compelled it to be low altitude high speed p recon photo and ground attack.
The Corsair & Thunderbolt were planes built around the P&W radial engine to give it high speed.
Great video. Also future video idea-describing unique engines of early Italian fighter planes and the crazy designs of some of the naval strike aircraft that they created
Thanks! Interesting idea!!
Don thanks for your service and dedication to our country during WWII. From your old Scouting friend and your former DE Tòm Leet.
my Dad said that by March of ‘45 Japan had about run out of seasoned experienced pilots and that even he shot down three in his P-40 Warhawk … he said that 3 months before he passed in 2011 saying further that nobody should brag about shooting down the enemy because one might have shot down the guy who would have later cured cancer !!!
Great presentation. thanks
My uncle was corps of engineers in the 77th division on Okinawa. "The professor" he was called because he loved reading books. Fredrick graves schrimper.
The only thing I dislike about your videos is when you put the actual black and white footage on the little TV where you can barely see it I wish it was on the whole screen like the rest of the video otherwise you do an absolutely incredible great job on these videos thank you very much❤❤❤
We had some superb aircraft! 💪🇺🇲
Superb pilots, as well!
Awesome video! Thoroughly enjoyed this one :)
Somehow this story didn’t make it to the “Dogfights” episode regarding the F6F.
I'd assume there weren't just a handful of them that you could put all out on TV, you know...
Suggestion: rather than a 1950 & 1960s TV motif to display the WW II footage, you use an indoor movie theater since that is the way almost all film footage of the war would have been viewed by those in the USA. Newsreels were shown daily to keep the civilians informed of the progress of the war.
Best presented and edited videography out there.
My brother Tom was born on this day in Pecos Texas. Dad was US Army Air Force, he trained bomer pilots. He retired an US Air Force as a Major in 1962.
People talk about Chi Chi Jima as if it had no tactical importance. In fact Chi Chi Jima was a huge radio relay station from the Japanese mainland to the rest of the Pacific.
I love the F6F, soo thicc😍
Grumman had a 'thang' for robust. :D
Outstanding! Thank you.
2:00 I remember watching this live as it happened on my TV set.
The F6f hellcat and many others proves that having a bubble canopy wasn't really that much of a deal,as humans we don't get anything near swiweling 180° by neck or spinal column.
Jumping low flying fixed gear Vals? A really interesting account is when Major Thomas McGuire flew a squad of four P-38's to try and beat Dick Bong's record. They had the altitude advantage initially but an Oscar and Frank (Ki-84) were present and two of the P-38's didn't return. McGuire was one of them. The story goes McGuire mishandled his plane, but with the Frank pushing him its likely that was merely a cover story for losing that flyer. However, if through ACM you force an enemy to auger in, thats a Kill too.
Good video but with one nitpick: When a plane gets its wing shot off it rolls uncontrollably in that same direction.
That's exactly the thing that vertical-diving plane did. All the way down. The horizontal flier... hmm.
Thanks for what you do bro, I really look forward to hearing the stories of these men.
Most people did not have TV sets until 1955. News reals were played in moive theaters. Great job well done !!!
My uncle was on board the uss missouri BB 63 ! My dad was on a tin can destroyer the uss power . They never spoke too much or bragged .. but my uncle did say a kamikaze hit the ship w no damage 😮. The greatest men /women & generation to keep us free 🇺🇸
My uncle was probably on the Essex at this time. Machinist mate, or something like that (USN).
1 day before the Yamato went under.
My father was navy on a supply ship. Large Slow Target..they didn't have the armament of a war ship. He never said much sbout it. Durvived the war. Stayed in Shanghai for many months after the war.
They feared the F4u Corsair far more.
35yrs ago I worked in Japan. Two of the engineers had fathers who were Imperial Air Service. Both were adamant that the Corsair was scary to the Japanese pilots because in 1943/44 the performance differential was leaps beyond the Japanese pilots could even imagine. They gave the P-38 high marks because if the Americans used it right, the Lightning could dictate the terms of engagement.
God bless our vets!!
Superbly put together video paying tribute to these guys from the greatest generation. Many thanks!
Because when it came out Japan had lost most of their veteran pilots and you had new pilots in an old plane going up against the best in the Navy in a new plane.
Thanks for the story!
Great video Tj3!! As a suggestion, could you please add in-video subtitles for your next interviews? Thanks!
I'll try!
@@TJ3 Thank you so much man!! Big fan :)
Those men knew their pronouns....
I lived on Okinawa for 3 years. Saw many of the battle places. Toured the southern caves the Japanese command committed suicide in.
just started reading a book about this from the japanese perspective called the grenade form allan graths
Actually, the Japanese called it Special Attack Corps, not Kamikaze.
Um, actually, your comment should have started with "Um, actually" because everybody *LOVES* when someone corrects them.
The battle footage was amazing, and the men were ferocious.
But, I'm struggling with this presentation on the "black and white TV". Mainly because no one had "black and white TV" during WWII.
How is this appropriate? It would be much better in full screen.
Great story however the title of the video is misleading.
People watched news reels at movie theaters. There weren't TVs in the 40s.
Yes there were. Just look up the history of television. You should have done that before commenting.
Imagine how crazy it would be if you and another person rode a rollercoaster with him in the front car
and you in the end car... you both have a sub-machine guns...and after the rollercoaster car ascends the peak
of the initial big hill, you and the other person are free to shoot the other person throughout the wild turns and
unexpected zooms and dives. NOW... multiply that 10x and you have a WWII fighter combat experience.
Do you have a second part that explains why the Japanese feared the hellcat?
The animation suxxx! Each Browning M2 only had 400rds, about a 40sec continuous stream. Short bursts were the key
All of that bombardment of the beaches were wasted. Almost all of the Japanese were in caves in the Southern parts of the Island.
Mine detonation
Interesting, but you failed to answer the question posed. Click bait.
Watch the video. I was listening and typing a comment lol. Interviews are rare to get.
Do better yourself Karen.
Without the question mark in the title it is more like a statement than a question
My neighbor who has since passed landed on Okinawa, USMC.
Wow! Another great story! True stories/life always trumps fiction!
Thank you!
I did not know they used napalm in WW2.
Sorry, but what is the merit of shooting down a slow dive bomber, which was returning from a suicide mission that failed because it found no targets, and which was probably without a tail gunner and still piloted by an inexperienced and poorly trained person? Merit were the USAAC pilots based in Port Moresby in 1942, with their slow P-39s and P-40s against the then far superior Zeros flown by the elite pilots of the Imperial Navy, people like Hideyoshi Nishizawa and Saburo Sakai...
It constantly amazing to me that so many of the Greatest Generation is so self effacing about their contributions. This man doesn’t take any special credit for his and his squadron mates efforts. Truly the “Greatest Generation”. All they really wanted was to do their job, get home and make a life.
The air battles in 1944 and 1945 was fought with our pilots having had the best training having been through rigorous training levels before being assigned to front line squadrons. While the Japanese pilots were forced to fight with a bare minimum of training. Most of their kamikaze pilots were barely able to fly their planes much less identify a target. That’s one of the reasons our picket ships were so savagely attacked.
The same problem existed in Europe where the Germans had to put up pilots with very little training led by experienced pilots. Unfortunately for both the Germans and Japanese, America and her Allies had more and more experienced pilots.
The saddest part is, this is a real live footage, people actually fought and died. Real sounds and you can see and hear it for what it was, feels so surreal. Same time inspiring. I have admire the US Navy ever since and also the US Marines. Imho, it was better than the Pacific Theater despite the fact they 4 superpowers in Europe. It was just a battle of numbers and attrtion. The Pacific was quite different. It determined who controlled the Pacific and Asian countries, be glad they weren't like Nazi Germany who wanted to conquer neighboring lands. The Americans wanted it free. The US inadvertently helped free Vietnam from Japanese rule. They freed China and other places like Philippines and other countries tries in the southeast areas.
There are still enough people that like Anything WW2 enough to click on a video and watch it.
The title was never addressed or even mentioned. I agree, it was click bait.
I might not watch any more of your videos simply because of title dishonesty.
Don't mis title things just to make money man. That's not right.
You know its gonna be a good friday when a TJ3 masterpiece drops. I appreciate the great content TJ, stay awesome.
Thank you!!
What kind of camera are you using for Don's interview?
Bro making dogfights episodes in 2024
My uncle was. On a supply ship in the Pacific. He said the war was over, but the Kamikazes were still coming. He wonder if he would be killed by one!
what does tv have to do with any of this?
Thank you for your service
This video's simulation of a plane with one wing shot off is wrong. Minus a wing, a plane's lift is one-sided, causing the plane to violently rotate in a corkscrew motion around its fuselage. There's no lift on the side that's missing a wing, so that side drops. The side with the remaining wing continues to provide lift. So, missing a wing, there's a corkscrew motion. We don't see this on the video. Even so, this video depicted the actions of the battle, and added immeasurably to the telling of an important history that might have gone untold.
Of course they feared it. It, unlike the F4F wildcat, it could meet and beat the zero on _its own terms._ And the 6 nifty fifties would _shred_ them. That is why it had a 19:1 kill ratio.
Over rated. It was only so successful because by that time nearly all the decent or even half descent japanese pilots were gone!
whats with the tv?-no tvback then
what was a message drop mission?
So important that you are doing this. Recording Don and people like him so his words will be here for future generations hear.
Thanks Jeff!
Love watching these videos and hearing from the veterans who faught
My dad was there on a LST the 882 Kamakazi shot up his ship then flew into a LST the 447 next to him and sank it.
Great video
When I think of how unappreciated, & sometimes even vilified these men are, how vilified our whole country is by these insane public school teachers, college professors, & the policies they've enacted. When I think how these men would feel about the sacrifices they made, & the sheer HELL of what they went thru .... For THIS?! For what this country has become?! It's heartbreaking. For all the men in these videos that we'll never hear of, & for the ones that we know, I say thank you. Thank You. And I'm so sorry .... So sorry we've let it come to this in the Country you fought so hard for. We'll never see your Equal. 😢
If you don't like the content then make the same level of effort yourself. Or piss off. Make a choice.
Nice waork man - wondering when you'll be getting your own Netflix show?
Just tell them to call me haha
I love the stories and especially the graphics of the airplanes just to see them flying like that is amazing
My dad wasn't a hellcat pilot.
I'm just here cuz I love hellcat lo
Hey, just an observation here. Are your scenes with an old TV generated by AI because the dials and other details are just 'fudgey' to me. No actual channel numbers and such. Curious to know.
Hey T, was watching Masters of the Air recently and had never heard the story of the Tuskegee guys losing three planes while attacking that radar array.
Will you do a video on that? The movie didn't give much info on the before, during and after.
I am in awe. Thank you, Sir!
There is no " fear" in MacPherson.
You are mispronouncing his last name.
10:13 Nice Video @TJ3 .. I love it when you interview one of these old Vets!!! .. Is it teue that the Kamikaze Pilots received very little trainung??? .. 🙄🤔😲
My wife’s grandfather was a Marine fighting on Okinawa. I had a great uncle in the Navy in that fleet he commanded one of those landing ships converted in the rocket launching ships shown at 5:00. His ship was attacked by kamikazes. He earned the Bronze Star for handling one of the kamikaze attacks.
Japanese pilots who fought on the newest planes in those days such as "Shidenkai" and "Goshikisen" told that they had no fear against F6F. But the number of these planes were too small to recover the fight.
That was a really good, honest war! Men were still fighting with weapons in their hands. Today everything has degenerated into a video game. War is no longer fun! The real tough duel between real men has given way to the joystick. Unfortunately, you can no longer see success today if it tears your opponent into a thousand pieces. The killer instinct of real men has been lost.
Could you please get a little bigger TV to view bw WWII films for us thanks! Otherwise love your stuff!
Interesting story, Too bad this is all computer generated crap. Real footage would have been so much more effective.
I watch a lot of WW2 history videos, most are from the European theatre, I like how you mix it up! I really enjoy your videos
The F6F Hellcat , in the hands of the right fighter pilot , handled correctly could have served in Korea as a ground assault fighter.
Excellent account and video production - clever and informative. Nice work.
How much more someone who came for the purpose of dying
Another great story, incredible research and visuals, talk about making history come alive! Thanks very much for passing on the legacy of the greatest generation.
Excellent story. Personally I use first hand accounts for historcal value.
4:06 is African-American, Proud to See Him, Heaven is for Heroes. Semper-Fi.
Good video but why do you repeat what he has just described. Kind of monotonous don't you think?
The little tv is pretty stupid. Real bad idea.
Great content, but what is the point of showing it on a TV from the 1950s?
Well the answer is ? Why were the Japanese afraid of the Hellcat fighter?