It's the Dark Channels drinking game. Every time a picture or video clip doesn't match the narration, you take a shot. Although with this particular video I think anyone playing the game would suffer severe alcohol poisoning.🤔
For the curious in That encounter between Japanese Ace Saburo Sakai and the Wildcat, the Wildcat was piloted by legendary American Ace “Pug” Southerland. Sakai was astonished not just at how much damage the Wildcat could take and keep flying. But that the pilot was seemingly unharmed. Even with the tail shredded, Pug held it level, waved to Sakai, and parachuted to the Jungle below. Some friendly locals would find him and smuggle him in a canoe to where he could be picked up. This would be one of Sakai’s last encounters with a Wildcat. After Pug bailed out he turned to attack another plane. Not realizing it was a TDB Dauntless Dive Bomber. Once free of its bombs the Dauntless was a passably good fighter. With a twin 30 cal tail sting. Sakai had his skull creased by a 30 cal. Somehow it didn’t kill him. But he was blind in one eye and one side of his body was paralyzed. He somehow managed to fly the almost 3 hours back to Rabaul and land like that. He would regain the use of his limbs. But was permanently blind in one eye. Needless to say he was in hospital a long time. After which he was a trainer. He was finally deployed again during the Battle of Okinawa. Where he met the new Grumman for the first time. The F6F Hellcat. To paraphrase hir thoughts on the plane “Well that’s just not fair! Why can’t we get stuff like that?” Sakai was also one of the pilots who participated in the last Japanese air mission of the war. Intercepting 2 Consolidated B-32 Dominators on August 18, 1945. Mistakingly thinking they were B-29’s staging a third atomic attack. All Japanese Air Forces would be grounded after the incident. Post War Sakai would become a Buddhist Priest and devout Pacifist.
SBD Dauntless. You're right , it's "fighter" abilities are sometimes forgotten.. there's a few stories about it holding it's own when needed, twin . 50s in the nose are no joke, dual . 30 in the back . Rugged as hell
@@jimleffler7976 The SBD Dauntless made a surprisingly good fighter once it dropped its bomb load. And the twin .30 cal rear sting caught a number of Japanese pilots by surprise.
I was a Marine radio operator in Korea and remember reading in one of our little newspapers about a Corsair that was the third plane in a formation that was working over a North Korean AAArtillary emplacement in a mountainous area. The planes dived, launched rockets and straffed in turn but the last Corsair didn’t pull up in time and struck the mountain a glancing blow. It flew back to base short 3 cylinders off it’s engine and with an eight inch diameter chunk of tree trunk in it’s left wing root. Recon pictures later confirmed that it took down about a quarter mile swath of pine trees. I would have to trust a plane like that.
Reminiscent of a day and age when we (Americans) actually took a bit of pride in over-engineering the hell out of whatever we built... Stood to reason (at least at the time) that it would be MUCH cheaper to fix a piece of equipment, and send it right back out to service as frequently as possible, than to try to strip it down, sort out the base materials, and melt everything down to cast, forge, fabricate and build it all back "brand new" from components up... I'm not sure where the hell that "reduce" part fell off the slogans of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"... to just "throw it away and get new from Walmart"... but whatever. ;o)
Nice presentation. I would like to have seen mentioned the Wildcats contributions to the battle of the Atlantic. Flying off of Escort Carriers and usually teamed with two TBFs, they made a notable contribution to the successful destruction of U- Boats. These Wildcats operated to the end of that battle.
Those Wildcat pilots were super brave against the superior maneuverability of the Zeros. Its replacement - F6F Hellcat - was infinitely better and completely outclassed the Zeros as well. Both the Wildcat & Hellcat looked almost identical with similar durability, but the Hellcat had a much more powerful engine and other improvements. The Hellcat pilots would go on to shoot down over 5,000 aircraft with an incredible 19:1 kill ratio.
The Hellcat pilots had a significant numbers and resource advantage which helped a lot. The Japanese lacked high octane fuel and high quality metals, which significantly reduced the engine performance which would have been superior if they had access to allied 125 octane fuel...
My MIL worked in a factory building F6F's. She was a small, limber, and ran wiring, electrical circuits and made connections in all the very hard to reach locations of the planes. She was known for her devotion to securing every single connector, rivet, screw, what have you to perfected it as detailed. She, as many others, knew their work would be counted on in life and death struggles.
While I have a bias, the title could well be speaking of Joe Foss as well as the Wildcat. In three months he accounted for 26 victories. America's first Ace of Aces in an aircraft deemed subpar to those flown by the enemy. What an extraordinary life he led.
Well he can get in line Sqn Leader AA MacKeller KIA 01Nov 40 4 enemy in 20 minutes 20 enemy in 24 days against the best the Luftwaffe had Hurricane Mk1 We had heroes too my friend
@@jacktattis no slight was intended, friend. The RAF with the Commonwealth pilots had some of the best pilots of the war and many American pilots would not have survived but for the lessons taught by our experienced allies. Additionally, Britian made some of the most beautiful fighters and ugliest bombers of the war. Pretty is as pretty does, however.
@@roustabout4458 None taken and the early Brit bombers WERE ugly However I did come across this gem Vickers Wellesley single engine 2000lb bomb load flew from Egypt to Darwin Australia 5 Nov 38 7162 miles in 48 hours nonstop
I agree Bro that dude Galor crashed his plane in the water and swims to base and hour away and arrives in time to witness a memorial service held in his honor like WTF BRO !! @9:34 it starts if you weren't paying attention.
Always interesting to see the vintage film, even if it isn’t the plane being Featured. Once Grumman started manufacturing the Hellcat, they didn’t have the capacity to also build the Wildcat. General Motors starting building an improved, lighter, and slightly better powered version called the FM-2, or the “Wilder Wildcat”. And while they were replaced on the Essex class, fleet carriers by the Hellcats, and even the Corsairs at the end of the war, the smaller escort carriers were only big enough for the FM-2. The Navy used them in that role until the end of the war because the Bearcat wasn’t ready in time.
I wasn't aware of the prominent role the Transformers played in the Pacific Theater in WWII. According to the video footage shown, apparently Wildcats can become T-6 Texans, Corsairs, P-40s, etc. The Japanese Zero could also apparently transform into Nates and Oscars.
TBF Avenger. However, the thing with the partially mismatched recordings is due to the fact that not enough recordings exist on the subject. Quasi filler material. They are well aware of this fact. It's all a matter of time, the size of the archive and the amount of work.
@@stoneman8387 I'm sick of the "not enough material" excuse. I watch Drachinfel do hour long+ videos on naval ships from 100 years ago that never show mismatched footage. I watch The Chieftain do lengthy videos without mismatched footage. I watch Ian McCollum do lengthy videos without mismatched footage. I watch Perun do lengthy videos without mismatched footage. Et Cetera, Ad Nauseam. Mismatched footage is NOT a sign that there's inadequate research material; it's a sign that there's inadequate research and a lack of professionalism. It is better to show a still photo of the right platform than videos of the wrong platform.
You clickbaited us with the Corsair, several of the planes shown while discussing the Wildcat were Avengers and Dauntlesses; but I learned so much cool facts about this aircraft and have a new found respect for it. You should do sequels about the Hellcat, Tigercat and Bearcat!!!
I always saw the Hellcat as the Navy's P-47 as the Wildcat would have been the P-40. Upgraded in every way, yet able to fit in stowage and work on carrier T/Os and landings.
Thank you for ALL the vids you do, appreciated! However, strange that the opening scene / cover photo of this one, about the Wildcat, shows an F4u Corsair...
Hell I LOVE the Wildcat, didn't need a Corsair pic. Wildcat is too often considered the ugly stepwitch but it more than held the line and dealt with the Best of the Japanese Navy. Respect always from me for that too often forgotten little fighter
Came here to say the same thing, when it comes to toughness the P-47 was in a league of its own. The wildcat looks like a toy compared to the thunder Jug when you see them in the same room.
Legendary Scot RN Test Pilot Eric Winkle Brown - holder of the record for most planes flown - loved the wildcat and developed the technique of head on attack for killing the Luftwaffe Condors attacking the supply ships in the Atlantic using the Wildcat. See "Armoured Carriers" for video. Thanks for the vid!
We really want to know: why is the thumbnail a picture of a Corsair, not a Wildcat? And why is about half of the video footage of Avengers and Dauntless bombers? Just want to know.
I loved the video, but if you're doing a video on the Wildcat, you probably shouldn't put a photo of the F4U Corsair on the cover of the video - they were completely different aircraft.
I helped restore the USS Midway's Wildcat and for repainting we removed the old paint, the aluminum skin under that paint was like brand new like the day it was riveted on. Eerie.... after all those years.
The F4F was definitely a tough little fighter, but it was far from "The toughest fighter of WWII". The fighter that is considered the toughest of WWII the P-47 Thunderbolt, with the Corsair and Hellcat tied for a close second, then maybe the wildcat. Inline liquid cooled engine powered fighters like the P-51, P-38, P-39, and P-40 were hampered by the cooling system that was their "Achilles heel" and could be disabled by one round in the cooling system.
To me, the most understated thing about the Wildcat is these were the planes flown by the pilots who chewed up the supremely trained pilots that Japan started the war with. Later planes like the Hellcat faced the hurriedly trained replacements later in the war.
6:21 "The Wildcat was a .50-caliber bullet sponge..." I'm sorry...what? Who was shooting at it with 50 cal? A6Ms had 7.7mm and 20mm rounds. Some Japanese Army aircraft did have 12.7mm Ho-103 MGs, maybe you could say it was a 12.7mm sponge, but even then, 20mm sponge or 7.7mm sponge would be more appropriate. All that said, certainly wasn't the toughest fighter of WW2. That's not to say it wasn't tough, but there are better candidates for "Toughest Fighter of WW2" category.
I was confused by this too. Honestly, I haven't even heard of wildcats being able to tank 20 mm rounds like that. Japanese 20 mms were notoriously inaccurate, and pilot gunnery was also generally poor. Most of the time, the faster, smaller 7.7mm rounds were the only ones hitting the cats, and even then, any plane could take 7.7 like that, save for maybe the Zero and the Spitfire. Germans used to make fun of the hurricane and early spitfire models for using only 7.7 mm ammunition, claiming that the 7.7 never damaged a plane, they were just filling the plane up with lead until it was too heavy to fly
The P-47, without a doubt, was the most rugged, toughest fighter of WWII. It's not even close. Also, that's an F-4U Corsair in the thumbnail. This channel has gotten sloppy lately.
I always had a soft spot for the Wildcat. Sure, the Zero could outclimb it and outrace it, but, to me, the Wildcat was the 'Rocky' of the air force: able to take a beating and still get up and fight back. It was superbly constructed, and the heavy armor made it a threat no matter its opponent. My favorite is still the P-47 which was absolutely massive and packed more firepower plus it was faster, but the F4F remains in my top five picks for all-time great WW2 fighters.
Grumman Iron Works. From the Wildcat to the Tomcat. The Iron Works built the Lunar Module while developing the F-14 Tomcat. Apollo 13 cemented Grumman Iron Works reputation for bringing their crews home.
Joe Foss served a term as governor of South Dakota. A statue of him in flight suit stands in the Sioux Falls Airport. O'Hare Airport is named for Lt. Butch O'Hare. Paul Harvey did a Rest of the Story about his father who was connected to Al Capone. And Midway Airport? Take a guess.
Joe Foss was a legend!! Highest scoring legitimate Marine Corps Ace in WW2. Kills on the ground dont count Pappy. Boyington also claimed 2 kills the day he got shot down with no witnesses too.
Actually the toughest fighter of WW2 is the P-47 Thunderbolt, from bombing tanks to shooting down ME262 fighter jets it did it all! The engine was more superior, 18 cylinders in the P47 vs 14 in the F4F made the P47 harder to kill against more dangerous threats like the Lufftwaffe. Much of the F4F's success is do to the fact that the Zero had no armor and rookie pilots.
My Dad flew the Gruman TBF Avenger for the US Navy during the second world war and he said that Grumman airplanes were know for their durability. He told me that pilots referred to Gruma as "Grumman bridge works".
This is a good channel but the narrator/scriptreader sometimes makes strange strange statements, such as 0:25 when he says the Wildcat was the complete opposite of the "reliable" Mitsubishi Zero. The implication I got was that the narrator was insinuating that the Wildcat was heavily armored but slow *and also* unreliable. It happens a lot with this channel to the point that I think the scriptwriters aren't actually well-read on what they're presenting. 6:20 "the Wildcat was a 50 caliber bullet sponge," except the Wildcat primarily faced 7.7 and 20mm fire.
Versions of the Wildcat continued to fight through the end of the war. They were ideal for the smaller escort carriers since they didn't require as much room to land or take off as compared to the Wildcat or Corsair.
You put a picture of a chance vought F4U Corsair on the thumbnail instead of the F4F Wildcat. And I think the title is an overstatement. The P47 Thunderbolt was much tougher than the Wildcat. The only thing the Wildcat had for it was a quick roll rate.
It could fly off small carriers, that's why it remained in use and US fighter pilots knew how to shoot ahead of their moving target, Japanese fighter pilots were not trained to do this.
I have ALWAYS loved reading about all the WWII Air Battles, so much so that I ended up joining the US ARMY as a CH-54B Sikorsky "Skycrane" Helicopter mechanic, way back in 1974 !!! 🇺🇲
Corsairs were built for the rigors of carrier service and almost everyone built was for the Pacific. We had mustang's for Europe. The U.S. was the only country in ww2 that had the resources to build a number of aircraft suited for more specialized roles. Germany and Japan with fewer resources often has to try to make planes more multi purpose for additional roles. Corsairs were a difficult plane to learn how to fly, but in the hands of experienced pilots were a terror for the Japanese. Marines, being marines, overcame the difficulties of flying Corsairs and made them their plane 9f choice
The British actually figured out how to effectively land one on an aircraft carrier. When it was initially rolled out, that was one of it's weak spots. Once our cousins shared their knowledge, the Corsair was used on carriers by the US. It was sort of too late though, the Corsair had already been placed into a land-based role where it really excelled.
No, the F4F was the perfect plane to meet head on with Japanese,who had far more experienced pilots after Pearl Harbour than the Americans did. That wonderful robust engineering of the F4F allowed the navy and marine fighters to come back with experience, and that led to all sorts of situational plans that more than evened the odds between the two planes.
We LTERALLY had the most AMAZING aircraft in WW2.. the P-38 lightning, F-6 wildcat, f4 Corsair, P-51 mustang, and p-47 thunderbolt could all Dominate a battlefield with a good pilot. No other nation had 5 aircraft that could be put in nearly any role and excel.. Some more than others like the P-38 reconnisance variant or the P-47 close air support variants.
The Mitsubishi A5M was normally considered a fighter, not a bomber as you state. Also, one piece of footage used repeatedly in this video appears to be a Curtiss P-40, not an F4F.
The Japanese Army began planning for an invasion of Malaya in October 1940. It launched this operation with landings on the north-eastern coast of Malaya, at Kota Bharu, at 1.45 am on 8 December 1941; occurring 40 minutes earlier than the raids on Pearl Harbour this was the first major Japanese attack of the Second World War.
Wellington bomber was the toughest plane. The stories I've heard of those being shot to bits and still returning, minus massive parts of the structure, really make this plane look silly.
If my wise butt swam back to witness my memorial and was okay enough I’d walk up and mid ceremony be like “that guy sure would be a b#### to get 19 air victories just to let a little water due him in, you guys miss me?” 😂
That's a corsair in the thumbnail...not a wildcat
Yeah, I noticed that too
Thanks for saving me the comment. Good eye.
Yeah, I thought it was going to be a Corsair episode.
@@bigcity2085 f4 would have been awesome
It's the Dark Channels drinking game. Every time a picture or video clip doesn't match the narration, you take a shot.
Although with this particular video I think anyone playing the game would suffer severe alcohol poisoning.🤔
My father was an enlisted Marine with VMF-121 on the canal. Joe Foss was the Executive officer of the squadron.
Your Dad was a TEE-total badass. Much respect to him and all the Greatest Generation.
For the curious in That encounter between Japanese Ace Saburo Sakai and the Wildcat, the Wildcat was piloted by legendary American Ace “Pug” Southerland. Sakai was astonished not just at how much damage the Wildcat could take and keep flying. But that the pilot was seemingly unharmed. Even with the tail shredded, Pug held it level, waved to Sakai, and parachuted to the Jungle below. Some friendly locals would find him and smuggle him in a canoe to where he could be picked up. This would be one of Sakai’s last encounters with a Wildcat. After Pug bailed out he turned to attack another plane. Not realizing it was a TDB Dauntless Dive Bomber. Once free of its bombs the Dauntless was a passably good fighter. With a twin 30 cal tail sting. Sakai had his skull creased by a 30 cal. Somehow it didn’t kill him. But he was blind in one eye and one side of his body was paralyzed. He somehow managed to fly the almost 3 hours back to Rabaul and land like that. He would regain the use of his limbs. But was permanently blind in one eye. Needless to say he was in hospital a long time. After which he was a trainer. He was finally deployed again during the Battle of Okinawa. Where he met the new Grumman for the first time. The F6F Hellcat. To paraphrase hir thoughts on the plane “Well that’s just not fair! Why can’t we get stuff like that?” Sakai was also one of the pilots who participated in the last Japanese air mission of the war. Intercepting 2 Consolidated B-32 Dominators on August 18, 1945. Mistakingly thinking they were B-29’s staging a third atomic attack. All Japanese Air Forces would be grounded after the incident. Post War Sakai would become a Buddhist Priest and devout Pacifist.
Didn't Pug himself get hit? Or, am I thinking of someone else?
awesome man.
SBD Dauntless. You're right , it's "fighter" abilities are sometimes forgotten.. there's a few stories about it holding it's own when needed, twin . 50s in the nose are no joke, dual . 30 in the back . Rugged as hell
Swede Vejtasa at Coral Sea had a darn good go with some Zeros while in an SBD.
@@jimleffler7976 The SBD Dauntless made a surprisingly good fighter once it dropped its bomb load. And the twin .30 cal rear sting caught a number of Japanese pilots by surprise.
I was a Marine radio operator in Korea and remember reading in one of our little newspapers about a Corsair that was the third plane in a formation that was working over a North Korean AAArtillary emplacement in a mountainous area. The planes dived, launched rockets and straffed in turn but the last Corsair didn’t pull up in time and struck the mountain a glancing blow. It flew back to base short 3 cylinders off it’s engine and with an eight inch diameter chunk of tree trunk in it’s left wing root. Recon pictures later confirmed that it took down about a quarter mile swath of pine trees. I would have to trust a plane like that.
Reminiscent of a day and age when we (Americans) actually took a bit of pride in over-engineering the hell out of whatever we built...
Stood to reason (at least at the time) that it would be MUCH cheaper to fix a piece of equipment, and send it right back out to service as frequently as possible, than to try to strip it down, sort out the base materials, and melt everything down to cast, forge, fabricate and build it all back "brand new" from components up...
I'm not sure where the hell that "reduce" part fell off the slogans of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"... to just "throw it away and get new from Walmart"... but whatever. ;o)
The Corsair is an extremely underrated plane!
The F4U Corsair is also a tough plane as well. People don’t give it enough credit for that!!!!
Thanks for your service. My grandfather was an artillery man in Korea. Too many Americans don't appreciate what you men went through over there.
WOW
Nice presentation. I would like to have seen mentioned the Wildcats contributions to the battle of the Atlantic. Flying off of Escort Carriers and usually teamed with two TBFs, they made a notable contribution to the successful destruction of U- Boats. These Wildcats operated to the end of that battle.
Those Wildcat pilots were super brave against the superior maneuverability of the Zeros. Its replacement - F6F Hellcat - was infinitely better and completely outclassed the Zeros as well. Both the Wildcat & Hellcat looked almost identical with similar durability, but the Hellcat had a much more powerful engine and other improvements. The Hellcat pilots would go on to shoot down over 5,000 aircraft with an incredible 19:1 kill ratio.
R 2800 Hellcat, Corsair , Thunderbolt could have won war without another
The American Wildcat was like the British Hawker Hurricane. A little outdated but they held the line until more advanced fighters became common.
The Hellcat pilots had a significant numbers and resource advantage which helped a lot. The Japanese lacked high octane fuel and high quality metals, which significantly reduced the engine performance which would have been superior if they had access to allied 125 octane fuel...
My MIL worked in a factory building F6F's. She was a small, limber, and ran wiring, electrical circuits and made connections in all the very hard to reach locations of the planes. She was known for her devotion to securing every single connector, rivet, screw, what have you to perfected it as detailed. She, as many others, knew their work would be counted on in life and death struggles.
Self-sealing fuel tanks employed be the U.S. also contributed considerably.
Joe Foss . Great pilot. Great man. God bless him
Yea!
While I have a bias, the title could well be speaking of Joe Foss as well as the Wildcat.
In three months he accounted for 26 victories. America's first Ace of Aces in an aircraft deemed subpar to those flown by the enemy.
What an extraordinary life he led.
He was also the first AFL commissioner in 1960. You're damn straight. He was an extraordinary individual.
Well he can get in line Sqn Leader AA MacKeller KIA 01Nov 40 4 enemy in 20 minutes 20 enemy in 24 days against the best the Luftwaffe had Hurricane Mk1 We had heroes too my friend
@@jacktattis no slight was intended, friend.
The RAF with the Commonwealth pilots had some of the best pilots of the war and many American pilots would not have survived but for the lessons taught by our experienced allies.
Additionally, Britian made some of the most beautiful fighters and ugliest bombers of the war. Pretty is as pretty does, however.
@@roustabout4458 None taken and the early Brit bombers WERE ugly However I did come across this gem
Vickers Wellesley single engine 2000lb bomb load flew from Egypt to Darwin Australia 5 Nov 38 7162 miles in 48 hours nonstop
Marine pilots kicked ass. Much respect to them.
I agree Bro that dude Galor crashed his plane in the water and swims to base and hour away and arrives in time to witness a memorial service held in his honor like WTF BRO !! @9:34 it starts if you weren't paying attention.
@@TheDuckseason No one would blame him if he yelled WTF said I was dead? :-)
Thumbnail is F4U Corsair….. not the wildcat.
Yep
No shit dick tracy? You got us on that one.
The video preview is of a f4u corsair, not an f4f wildcat.
You got a mark one eye ball. DUH?
Always interesting to see the vintage film, even if it isn’t the plane being Featured. Once Grumman started manufacturing the Hellcat, they didn’t have the capacity to also build the Wildcat. General Motors starting building an improved, lighter, and slightly better powered version called the FM-2, or the “Wilder Wildcat”. And while they were replaced on the Essex class, fleet carriers by the Hellcats, and even the Corsairs at the end of the war, the smaller escort carriers were only big enough for the FM-2. The Navy used them in that role until the end of the war because the Bearcat wasn’t ready in time.
I wasn't aware of the prominent role the Transformers played in the Pacific Theater in WWII.
According to the video footage shown, apparently Wildcats can become T-6 Texans, Corsairs, P-40s, etc. The Japanese Zero could also apparently transform into Nates and Oscars.
TBF Avenger.
However, the thing with the partially mismatched recordings is due to the fact that not enough recordings exist on the subject. Quasi filler material. They are well aware of this fact. It's all a matter of time, the size of the archive and the amount of work.
@@stoneman8387
I'm sick of the "not enough material" excuse.
I watch Drachinfel do hour long+ videos on naval ships from 100 years ago that never show mismatched footage. I watch The Chieftain do lengthy videos without mismatched footage. I watch Ian McCollum do lengthy videos without mismatched footage. I watch Perun do lengthy videos without mismatched footage. Et Cetera, Ad Nauseam. Mismatched footage is NOT a sign that there's inadequate research material; it's a sign that there's inadequate research and a lack of professionalism.
It is better to show a still photo of the right platform than videos of the wrong platform.
Interestingly enough, a radio wave was translated from an unknown communication center: Decepticons superior. Autobots inferior.
Do to the lack of film footage the use of other film is used to make these videos. But then again your name is Christine, right?
@@ohwell2790
See previous response to this lame excuse.
You clickbaited us with the Corsair, several of the planes shown while discussing the Wildcat were Avengers and Dauntlesses;
but I learned so much cool facts about this aircraft and have a new found respect for it.
You should do sequels about the Hellcat, Tigercat and Bearcat!!!
Hey bro, love the channel. Just a heads up, your thumb now has an F4 Corsair, not a wildcat
he's always making tons of errors, never seems to learn.
I always saw the Hellcat as the Navy's P-47 as the Wildcat would have been the P-40. Upgraded in every way, yet able to fit in stowage and work on carrier T/Os and landings.
This honestly is a nice way to view it.
The Corsairs could be compared as the Naval P-51's
@@theonce-wasnevermore9270Corsair was a far better fighter than the Mustang below 25,000 feet.
@@tltc191 literally Everything was better than a P-47 below 15k ft
What an iconic fighter. The F6F Hellcat helped finish the task
Thank you for ALL the vids you do, appreciated!
However, strange that the opening scene / cover photo of this one, about the Wildcat, shows an F4u Corsair...
Strange that for a video about the Wildcat you choose the use a Corsair in lead picture
he doesn't know crap about aviation adn proves it with every video
Hell I LOVE the Wildcat, didn't need a Corsair pic. Wildcat is too often considered the ugly stepwitch but it more than held the line and dealt with the Best of the Japanese Navy. Respect always from me for that too often forgotten little fighter
Great vid...but why is there a Corsair at the front page of the video?
Your thumbnail has a totally different plane, the Corsair, on it.
Thumbnail is a corsair?? Did it have the folding wings?? Wild cat looks different?😮😊
"The Toughest Fighter of World War II"
f4f is a tough plane...but only ONE earned the nickname "Juggernaut!"
...P-47 "The Jug!" has entered chat! 😎
Came here to say the same thing, when it comes to toughness the P-47 was in a league of its own. The wildcat looks like a toy compared to the thunder Jug when you see them in the same room.
Vive la Jug!
the P-40 was also tough, not as much as the P-47, but very tough
Hellcat?
@@shaider1982 Hellcat was definitely a titan of the Navy but still not as much of a brute as the P-47.
Why a photo of the F4U-Corsair if the vídeo is about the F4F-Wildcat????🤣🤣🤣🤣
Why make a feature about the Grumman F4F Wildcat and have a Grumman F4U Corsair on the title display... or did UA-cam do this?
Legendary Scot RN Test Pilot Eric Winkle Brown - holder of the record for most planes flown - loved the wildcat and developed the technique of head on attack for killing the Luftwaffe Condors attacking the supply ships in the Atlantic using the Wildcat. See "Armoured Carriers" for video. Thanks for the vid!
I thought the video was going to be about the Corsair per the thumbnail.
We really want to know: why is the thumbnail a picture of a Corsair, not a Wildcat? And why is about half of the video footage of Avengers and Dauntless bombers? Just want to know.
Great as always! Go wildcats!
And her grandchildren... Tomcats!!
I loved the video, but if you're doing a video on the Wildcat, you probably shouldn't put a photo of the F4U Corsair on the cover of the video - they were completely different aircraft.
Did we get Rick Rolled Wildcat style?
I helped restore the USS Midway's Wildcat and for repainting we removed the old paint, the aluminum skin under that paint was like brand new like the day it was riveted on. Eerie.... after all those years.
your slow pronuntiation made this video much more interesting! Congrats for the evolution!
The F4F was definitely a tough little fighter, but it was far from "The toughest fighter of WWII". The fighter that is considered the toughest of WWII the P-47 Thunderbolt, with the Corsair and Hellcat tied for a close second, then maybe the wildcat. Inline liquid cooled engine powered fighters like the P-51, P-38, P-39, and P-40 were hampered by the cooling system that was their "Achilles heel" and could be disabled by one round in the cooling system.
What the absolute fuck is "the wildcat is a .50cal bullet sponge" even suppose to mean?
Are there any accounts of Marines flying observation planes? Maybe the OY-1 or the OE-1?
To me, the most understated thing about the Wildcat is these were the planes flown by the pilots who chewed up the supremely trained pilots that Japan started the war with.
Later planes like the Hellcat faced the hurriedly trained replacements later in the war.
Love the videos I've been binging them over again for atleast the 3rd time now
Since you’re showing an F4U…
Yeah, the first encounter between Japanese planes and F4F was in 1943.
Not to mention the F4U in the thumbnail.
6:21 "The Wildcat was a .50-caliber bullet sponge..." I'm sorry...what? Who was shooting at it with 50 cal? A6Ms had 7.7mm and 20mm rounds. Some Japanese Army aircraft did have 12.7mm Ho-103 MGs, maybe you could say it was a 12.7mm sponge, but even then, 20mm sponge or 7.7mm sponge would be more appropriate. All that said, certainly wasn't the toughest fighter of WW2. That's not to say it wasn't tough, but there are better candidates for "Toughest Fighter of WW2" category.
I was confused by this too. Honestly, I haven't even heard of wildcats being able to tank 20 mm rounds like that. Japanese 20 mms were notoriously inaccurate, and pilot gunnery was also generally poor. Most of the time, the faster, smaller 7.7mm rounds were the only ones hitting the cats, and even then, any plane could take 7.7 like that, save for maybe the Zero and the Spitfire. Germans used to make fun of the hurricane and early spitfire models for using only 7.7 mm ammunition, claiming that the 7.7 never damaged a plane, they were just filling the plane up with lead until it was too heavy to fly
Based on the thumbnail, I was expecting to watch a video about the Vought F4U Corsair. 🤷♂️
This is about the Wildcat? Why is the thumbnail the Corsair?
and the title is false too
why is the picture of your video about plane shows another ?
I was wondering when the video would get to the corsair on the thumbnail, but it never happened.
and claims the F4F was tougher than the P-47
The P-47, without a doubt, was the most rugged, toughest fighter of WWII. It's not even close. Also, that's an F-4U Corsair in the thumbnail.
This channel has gotten sloppy lately.
Good One. Thanks.
Damn.. why you gotta disrespect the Corsair like that 😕
I always had a soft spot for the Wildcat. Sure, the Zero could outclimb it and outrace it, but, to me, the Wildcat was the 'Rocky' of the air force: able to take a beating and still get up and fight back. It was superbly constructed, and the heavy armor made it a threat no matter its opponent. My favorite is still the P-47 which was absolutely massive and packed more firepower plus it was faster, but the F4F remains in my top five picks for all-time great WW2 fighters.
Grumman Iron Works. From the Wildcat to the Tomcat. The Iron Works built the Lunar Module while developing the F-14 Tomcat.
Apollo 13 cemented Grumman Iron Works reputation for bringing their crews home.
Joe Foss served a term as governor of South Dakota. A statue of him in flight suit stands in the Sioux Falls Airport.
O'Hare Airport is named for Lt. Butch O'Hare. Paul Harvey did a Rest of the Story about his father who was connected to Al Capone.
And Midway Airport? Take a guess.
Man, where do you get these footages?
Joe Foss was a legend!! Highest scoring legitimate Marine Corps Ace in WW2. Kills on the ground dont count Pappy. Boyington also claimed 2 kills the day he got shot down with no witnesses too.
isnt the thumbnail the picture of an f4u?
thats odd, they keep mispronouncing "p47" as wildcat
How do you substitute a wildcat for a Corsair ?
Nice video, but don't tease me with a Corsair picture for a thumbnail..😆
🏆🤗🙏🇺🇲
Thank you for sharing
Actually the toughest fighter of WW2 is the P-47 Thunderbolt, from bombing tanks to shooting down ME262 fighter jets it did it all! The engine was more superior, 18 cylinders in the P47 vs 14 in the F4F made the P47 harder to kill against more dangerous threats like the Lufftwaffe. Much of the F4F's success is do to the fact that the Zero had no armor and rookie pilots.
Galer attending his own funeral is perhaps the most interesting tale I have ever heard. Do you suppose he toasted his death or made a eulogy?
Ok why did you use a photo of a f4 corsair for the thumbnail.
and claimed it was tougher than a P-47
That's a f*ing Vought Corsair in the thumbnail.
My Dad flew the Gruman TBF Avenger for the US Navy during the second world war and he said that Grumman airplanes were know for their durability. He told me that pilots referred to Gruma as "Grumman bridge works".
I live in sioux falls, his name is well remembered here.
good sstuff, thanks..
This is a good channel but the narrator/scriptreader sometimes makes strange strange statements, such as 0:25 when he says the Wildcat was the complete opposite of the "reliable" Mitsubishi Zero. The implication I got was that the narrator was insinuating that the Wildcat was heavily armored but slow *and also* unreliable. It happens a lot with this channel to the point that I think the scriptwriters aren't actually well-read on what they're presenting. 6:20 "the Wildcat was a 50 caliber bullet sponge," except the Wildcat primarily faced 7.7 and 20mm fire.
The zeros' lack of armor, wooden construction and non-sealing fuel cell made it a relatively delicate fighter.
Versions of the Wildcat continued to fight through the end of the war. They were ideal for the smaller escort carriers since they didn't require as much room to land or take off as compared to the Wildcat or Corsair.
You put a picture of a chance vought F4U Corsair on the thumbnail instead of the F4F Wildcat. And I think the title is an overstatement. The P47 Thunderbolt was much tougher than the Wildcat. The only thing the Wildcat had for it was a quick roll rate.
It could fly off small carriers, that's why it remained in use and US fighter pilots knew how to shoot ahead of their moving target, Japanese fighter pilots were not trained to do this.
Japenese pilots were trained to shoot the pilot.
I have ALWAYS loved reading about all the WWII Air Battles, so much so that I ended up joining the US ARMY as a CH-54B Sikorsky "Skycrane" Helicopter mechanic, way back in 1974 !!! 🇺🇲
All I could think about during the whole video was “why is there a thumbnail of a Corsair when this is about the wildcat”
Thought this was going to be about the F4U Corsairs. Cool stuff though.
Japanese didn’t use a 50 cal, so how could wildcat be a “50 caliber bullet sponge?”
I always wonder why the Buffalo, Wildcat and Hellcat were so portly, they were almost flying bricks aerodynamically.
The Buffalo and both Cats were stout aircraft. That was one of the bigger advantage of the Zeke. Or as the Japanese army flew Tonys.
Why does the thumbnail image for this video show the F4U Corsair, when the article is actually about the F6F Wildcat?
Thanks
Yabut, why did our beloved Corsair never go near Europe? Hmm.
Corsairs were built for the rigors of carrier service and almost everyone built was for the Pacific. We had mustang's for Europe. The U.S. was the only country in ww2 that had the resources to build a number of aircraft suited for more specialized roles. Germany and Japan with fewer resources often has to try to make planes more multi purpose for additional roles. Corsairs were a difficult plane to learn how to fly, but in the hands of experienced pilots were a terror for the Japanese. Marines, being marines, overcame the difficulties of flying Corsairs and made them their plane 9f choice
Because its a carrier plane anf the british used it
Brits used the a little
Thank-you for your reply. Problem is… no plausible rationale for the Corsair to be merely ship-carried. Just sayin’
The British actually figured out how to effectively land one on an aircraft carrier. When it was initially rolled out, that was one of it's weak spots. Once our cousins shared their knowledge, the Corsair was used on carriers by the US. It was sort of too late though, the Corsair had already been placed into a land-based role where it really excelled.
Came to see a Corsair, left because of no Corsair…
Interesting video, but how did they pick up the moniker "Wildcat?"
Questo canale è interessantissimo! 👍🍀
He'll yeah! F4u Corsair all the way! The best fighter of WW2! Not the Wildcat or the Hellcat. The Corsair was it!
No, the F4F was the perfect plane to meet head on with Japanese,who had far more experienced pilots after Pearl Harbour than the Americans did. That wonderful robust engineering of the F4F allowed the navy and marine fighters to come back with experience, and that led to all sorts of situational plans that more than evened the odds between the two planes.
You go to war with the weapons you have…..thank God we had the Wildcat.
Can you cover the operation meetinghouse?
Anybody know how you recommend a great story?
Come on Dark Skies - Get the correct pictures of the fighters in your videos.
The Wildcat was good at using up Japanese bullets
We LTERALLY had the most AMAZING aircraft in WW2.. the P-38 lightning, F-6 wildcat, f4 Corsair, P-51 mustang, and p-47 thunderbolt could all Dominate a battlefield with a good pilot. No other nation had 5 aircraft that could be put in nearly any role and excel.. Some more than others like the P-38 reconnisance variant or the P-47 close air support variants.
The Mitsubishi A5M was normally considered a fighter, not a bomber as you state. Also, one piece of footage used repeatedly in this video appears to be a Curtiss P-40, not an F4F.
The Japanese Army began planning for an invasion of Malaya in October 1940. It launched this operation with landings on the north-eastern coast of Malaya, at Kota Bharu, at 1.45 am on 8 December 1941; occurring 40 minutes earlier than the raids on Pearl Harbour this was the first major Japanese attack of the Second World War.
Do an actual Corsair video soon!
Wellington bomber was the toughest plane. The stories I've heard of those being shot to bits and still returning, minus massive parts of the structure, really make this plane look silly.
The thatch manuever helped to protect planes against the zero!
Should have shown how that crosshatch tactic worked because it was simple and brilliant. Without the japanese being able to see it coming.
Grumman was known as "The Ironworks" for good reason. 👍👍
Why did you use a different plane thumbnail and not this wildcat plane??
If my wise butt swam back to witness my memorial and was okay enough I’d walk up and mid ceremony be like “that guy sure would be a b#### to get 19 air victories just to let a little water due him in, you guys miss me?” 😂
Wildcat was a interesting fighter but toughest? That title deserves to go to the P-47 no doubt.