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2017-05-07 -Land of the Free

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Posted by badanov 2017-05-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11137 views ] Top

#1 ...And with Shoho gone, and Shokaku crippled, Japan was short two carriers - and hundreds of priceless aircraft and aviators - a month later off a nondescript little island called Midway.

The US had two extra carriers in the Atlantic - Wasp and Ranger - (and Lexington's sister ship Saratoga was still in repair after being torpedoed) but they were needed there for ASW work and to help the Royal Navy. Had six IJN carriers gone up against our three at Midway, history might be a tad different...

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2017-05-07 08:10|| 2017-05-07 08:10|| Front Page Top

#2 Just think how much more quickly we would have defeated the Japanese if our crews had had proper diversity training.

Also, at the time we seemed to be hung up on this whole "victory" thing. Let us not forget the words of The Lightbringer:

"I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur," Obama told ABC News.

Posted by Matt 2017-05-07 08:42|| 2017-05-07 08:42|| Front Page Top

#3 After the Doolittle raid in April and the stalemate at the Coral Sea, those two events set the stage for Midway.

Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839 2017-05-07 10:23|| 2017-05-07 10:23|| Front Page Top

#4 What turned the corner for us against Japan with the huge losses in pilots within the IJN. The IJN training programs could not produce them faster than we could shoot them down. AND we did a better job of protecting our pilots, recognizing the intellectual property of the pilot was more valuable than the aircraft.

The fact that most IJN pilots were enlisted or Warrants not officers clearly expresses their view of pilots as a form of cannon fodder much as they viewed their infantry.

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2017-05-07 13:30|| 2017-05-07 13:30|| Front Page Top

#5 The human value of a trained pilot vastly exceeds that of the aircraft he flew, regardless of whether the high commander woke up to smell their own bushido.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-05-07 18:34|| 2017-05-07 18:34|| Front Page Top

#6 Almost every bit of combat gun camera footage from our side shows IJN aircraft quickly erupting flames due to lack of armor/self-sealing gas tanks. A contributing factor even when the early Wildcats (F4F) were matched with the superior Zero.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2017-05-07 18:45|| 2017-05-07 18:45|| Front Page Top

#7 What turned the corner for us against Japan with the huge losses in pilots within the IJN. The IJN training programs could not produce them faster than we could shoot them down. AND we did a better job of protecting our pilots, recognizing the intellectual property of the pilot was more valuable than the aircraft.

Also, we rotated our vets back to train the new batch. The Japanese kept their vets on the front until they were killed and all that experience died with them.

Posted by DarthVader 2017-05-07 21:42|| 2017-05-07 21:42|| Front Page Top

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