A now deceased good friend, Dr. Mark Wilson DVM Oklahoma State University, flew Corsairs in WW2 Pacific Theater and had many exciting stories to tell about his combat experiences. I feel very fortunate to have had a long friendship with him. RIP Mark.
My JROTC commander in the early 70's was with the "Death Rattlers" he got 4 kills and 3 damaged on May 4th 1945 over Okinawa all total he had 7 kills. R.I.P. Colonel John Rusham.
Marine aviators, truly conversant in providing close air support to troops on the ground, are equally badass in the air to give hell to enemy when needed.
I liked this vid... A friend of mine is the son of a Corsair ace. His dad Capt. William P Brown, USMC flew in VMF-311 off the USS Breton. He shot down 7 japanese aircraft and was awarded The Navy Cross. After WW2 ended he stayed in the USMC and served with VMF-323 in Korea. Sadly he was shot down and KIA on a ground attack mission.
I grew up with several Mr. Jerry's children, never knew about this until recently. He was also our city's Mayor and owned and managed the local funeral home.
Good episode. I met Pappy Boyington when I was 13 or 14 years old I got his autograph when he went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. I also grew up watching Baa Baa Blacksheep which was a TV series about his squadron.
live through ww2 youd become a drunk wild man too. they dont make humanity like they used to. people are so fucking soft today. ouch words hurt , pathetic people offended by words have no honor in their entire lives @@bullbutter2931
Absolutely freaking lutlee not only did he have to worry about his own safety but from what I understand he was very concerned about his squadron mates. I have studied about him quite a bit. Another funny fact... he could never get his aircraft started. It was a running joke that he kept flooding the motor. His crew chiefs always had to start the plane.
the .50 cal machine guns made that bone chilling whistle (my USMC daddy's words, many decades ago) as air passed over them when the plane was flying. if you heard that sound during the pacific campaign, you were saved.
Thank you for this! Dad was a US Marine Corp artilleryman on Okinawa. His brother was a Corsair pilot in that battle. I often wondered about the details they did not mention.
Very cool how you even got the video detail down to the shadow of the crashing P38 on the ground, TJ! I'm pretty certain you've covered this most famous P38 Lockheed Lightning great adventure (or have it at least on your list) but I love the story of the P38 vengeance attack to take out Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto! From planning stage to intelligence and coordination, this was easily one of the top missions of the US Army Air Corps!! Jim C.
The proximity fuse was the real reasons Kamikase were so much less effective than Japan's leadership hoped. It was technology with such impact, the security was strict: VT rounds were not allowed to be used over land to avoid enemy discovery
Admiral Willis A. Lee (or Ching Lee) told the Bureau of Ordinance to expedite shipping 5-inch VT fused rounds to the front lines. The original design had no self-destruct mechanism. Lee wrote to B. Ord.and told them to put one in, sending them a sketch of a possible design. When B. Ord replied that they had no plans to incorporate one, Lee replied that their initial response was unacceptable and told them to do it. Gotta love someone who walks all over B. Ord. No wonder Earnest King liked him.
@@johnferguson1970, I really and truly believe that the BuOrd was the best weapon the Japanese had to use against us during the war. They sure didn't seem to care about the lives their decisions were costing on our side.
I read the thumbnail as Deadly Kamakazi Kitten. I though, "This is gunna be great!" 🤣😻 I thought it was about The Hell Cat. I've had a soft spot for the Corsair since I was a kid. Great vid. Keep up the good work. 👍👍
Fun Fact, As part of a Military family, I stayed three years in Okinoia and even had two Brothers born while there is an Old American established hospital, I later found out the Hospital was made during World War II upon taking it, so stories like this are always ones I love to here, I'm now back in America and this Texen don't even wanna live in another country again lol
The kamikazes didn't teach the main fleet that day but the raised holly hell with the picket destroyers. The USS Laffey was either hit by Kamikazes or bombed by no less than a combination on 22 this day
You’re correct on that one as the ship almost didn’t survive but it did. It’s at Patriot’s Point now. I read the book “The Ship That Wouldn’t Die” and couldn’t put it down; finished it in less than 2 hrs.
My father's Destroyer, DD-579, William D. Porter, a picket ship, was sunk by a kamikaze on June 10, 1945. The Val bomber exploded in the water underneath the ship, splitting the hull. No one was killed, but Dad had to swim for it. Dad was out of a job and had to muster on shore at Okinawa for the rest of the war. Thanks to TJ for these stories!
In WW2, the navy had 3 fighters. It started with the Grumman Wild Cats, and later got the Hell Cats and Corsairs. After having all 3, the Navy used them, to get the most effective distribution vs carriers. The Grumman planes had wings that folded back (rather than the outer portion of the wings folding up). When the Japanese carriers still had a lot of experienced pilots, it was imperative to get as many planes on a carrier as feasible. Grumman planes took up less space, therefore more planes fitted on a carrier. The fast fleet carriers got Hell Cats. The small escort carriers got the older and smaller Wild Cats. Corsairs were mainly used land based, though they were carrier operations capable. all 3 were combat effective planes, though the Hell Cats and Corsairs were better.
Might have been nice to mention that the British worked out how to use these terrifying machines on carriers? The US Navy and Army had already decided they were only fit for land-based operations. Hey ho. Fabulous aircraft.
I think that the Brits recalibrated the oleo strut gear hydraulic compression rate to minimize the "bounce/rebound" as the gear compressed/rebounded upon carrier deck landing making the the F4-U much more carrier capable landing without the dangerous bounce causing many fatal accidents
Not quite, the US navy didn't feel the need to work on it having another great carrier plane at their disposal whereas the british not having a decent naval fighter of their own had a great deal more interest in getting a front line fighter on their carriers. With all of the f6 production going to the US navy they had no choice if they wanted to be able to compete.
The British fixed the F4U. They chopped down the wing to fix the problem the Corsair had with "float" over the flight deck. The Royal Navy also developed a new way of landing in a circular landing pattern to avoid the long nose restriction of visibility problem. Worth watching Armoured Carriers. F4U Corsair. "Taming the Beast".
Actually Skipper of Navy squadron VF-17, J. T. Blackburn, carrier qualified his entire squadron landing in the curved approach on their carrier USS Bunker Hill before the Navy decided to go with the Hellcat. That is the only reason the Hellcat had that record. Logistics of having two fighters on a carrier doomed the Corsair to land based early on. VF-17 we're the best. They fought the best of Japan's pilots at Rabaul.
They clipped the wings because their hangers were too small, the circular approach had been done before but the us navy had several options and went for easier to fly option,the rn had less options so they took the time and effort to work out the bugs
I love your videos. So well put together and edited. It's like watching that TV show from 2006 called, "Dogfights" again. I notice, too, that you're not shy with rudder input when you fly. hahahah. Full deflection every turn. Not quite how I use the rudder, but whatever gets the bullets on target is a win. lol I'm gonna binge my way through your EXCELLENT videos. Thanks for making them. They are soooo enjoyable.
@@TJ3 It's hard to be the pilot in a dogfight and the camera man, director, editor, (edits / cuts running through your head as your setting up both your video shots, and the shots on target too.) LOL That's some real multitasking going on there. All that matters is that the bullets / bombs hit the target. In that? You seem to do pretty damn good! hahahah
Boyington once told me that O’Keefe should never had followed the first Val down, but should have focused on breaking up and dispatching the formation that Val had been in. This was a discipline he instilled in the VMF 214.
Okinawa was mostly an army invasion. long side Marines Army units larger in size also invaded the island. They pushed to the south and the marine went to the north from the landing beaches. It was the army units that took on the majority off the fighting. The Marine Corp has better looking uniforms and a better PR, but Okinawa was mostly the big green machine. The largest US Forces amphibious landing in the entire War was at Latey Gulf which was 100% army and the second was Day in June also 100% Army, so get it right will ya.
@jt gardiner According to you, "the Army did it all at Okinawa" because "The Marine Corp has better looking uniforms and a better PR, but Okinawa was mostly the big green machine". Your words, jt gardiner, loaded with biased foolishness. Let's look at the real numbers. Okinawa KIA figures; Killed in action were 4,907 Navy, 4,675 Army, and 2,938 Marine Corps. Note that the Navy suffered more KIA than the Army. Note that the USMC suffered 39% of the ground casualties, even though the U.S Army in WW2 was 17 times LARGER than the USMC (11,200,000 USA / 660,000 USMC). Looking closely at the casualty figures makes it clear the USMC was punching WAY above its weight class compared to the Army. Every veteran of every service deserves our utmost respect and thanks.
My dad fought in the Pacific during WWII. We watched "Bah, Bah, Blacksheep", in the late 70s-early 80s, and he called the Corsairs "Vought Vultures" or "Bent Wing Bastards." He also said troops were glad to see them overhead, during the Guadalcanal and Bougainville battles.
predominately. The Imperial Army and Navy did have a few experienced pilots left, but they were rare. I believe the experienced pilots would train the new kamikaze pilots and also lead them into battle as a means to encourage the new recruits to complete their missions.
And they were only taught to take off cause they were never meant to land again. That must have been terrifying know if something happened to your aircraft right after take off, you didn't know how to actually land!
A special Thank You! for this video. I served with VMFA-323 (F-4 Phantoms) aboard the USS Coral Sea 1979-1980 West Pac. and on through 1982. The Death Rattlers (aka; Snakes) patch is that of a gun sight with a F4-U shadowing in on the bullseye. Still to this day! The squadron is now flying F-18's. I knew the squadron was formed during WW2 and served in the Pacific but, i was not aware of this story. Thank you again for making this video.
Another weapon that proved successful against Kamikaze planes was the invention of the proximity fuse. Considered the most important weapon behind the Atomic bomb, was the proximity fuse attached to anti-aircraft gun bullets that spewed machine gun fire from US warships. Once close to an attacking plane, it would detonate. Even damaging a plane would destroy them as Japanese planes had little or no armor. The Corsair was a great warplane but it was hard to land and take off from US aircraft carriers. The US Hellcats were much easier to pilot from aircraft carriers and were just as effective. The US Hellcats killed more Japanese warplanes than any other US warplane in the Pacific theater.
Yet the F4U fought on after WW2, outlasting the F6F, F8F, P-47, and others. The F4U was said to be one of the best dive bombers of WW2 (behind the A-36), and could carry up to 4000lb of ordnance. The carrier landing issues were remedied. The F4U was also an older design than the F6F. It's easy to rack up kills against fragile airplanes that start on fire easily with low skill pilots, while flying superior aircraft. Other aircraft were better, but also faced tougher opponents and aircraft. Don't get me wrong, the F6F was a great airplane, and was one of the most affordable US fighters of WW2 as it was designed to be simple and easy to manufacture. But total kills doesn't tell the whole story. F6F: $30k P-51: $50k P-47: $85k P-38: $105k
The Brits fixed the Corsair. By chopping off the end of the wings it stopped the "float" the aircraft suffered from over flight decks. The Royal Navy also developed the circular method of landing to solve the long nose problem and made landing easier. The US adopted it pretty quickly and it saved a lot of pilots lives.
@@gunnargundersen3787 Don't forget the British gave the Merlin engine to the P-51 fighter and made it a War winner by being able to give effective fighter escorts for Allied bombers all the way to and from German targets.
@@richpontone1 No, not forgotten. Another good example is the British Sherman Firefly and crab tanks (along with all the other "Hobart's funnies") improving the performance and utility of the American Sherman. Heck you can argue the M3 Grease Gun came from the idea of the Sten Gun.
@@gunnargundersen3787 It was a big thing that British military thought they could not retrofit their 17 pounder gun on the Sherman or that its gun flash would temporarily blind its gunner. The Germans were under orders to knock out first the Firefly before firing on the other Sherman tanks as it posed the greatest threat to their own tanks. British and Canadian tank commanders would wrap around old tank treads around their tank turrets to reinforce the inadequate armor of their Sherman tanks.
Actually Skipper of Navy squadron VF-17, J. T. Blackburn, carrier qualified his entire squadron landing in the curved approach on their carrier USS Bunker Hill before the Navy decided to go with the Hellcat. That is the only reason the Hellcat had that record. Logistics of having two fighters on a carrier doomed the Corsair to land based early on. VF-17 were the best. They fought the best of Japan's pilots at Rabaul. Definitely not to diminish any other Hog pilots, Blackburn's Irregulars' were amazing. The Jolly Rogers have been carried forward to present day in VFA-103 flying the Super Hornets F/A-18 F. Please read Blackburn's book "The Jolly Rogers". Love to all that love the Corsairs.
You mean Skipper Riley on Planes (2013) And yes i know his story with his squadron the Jolly Wrenches and i have a question what does VF-17 Mean you said
The F4U Corsair is tied with the Dornier Do 335 Pfiel as my favorite prop fighter of all time. Both are available in my Axis&Allies house rules with tech research. Japan can kamikaze any of their planes into any enemy vessels within 3 Sea Zones of the Home Islands, and can develop the J7W Shinden pusher prop fighter and upgrade it to use a jet engine if they develop (or get from Germany) Jet Engines. Thanks for the great video, I like these animations!
actually most of those Kamikaze pilots were barely trained at all ! many were green pilots with just a dozen hours of flying experience ! their airplanes were slow, heavy, not maneuvreable... many of those young Japanese pilots were totally unable to correct the trajectory and fell by themselves into the water far from the ship target... those kamikaze airplanes were sitting ducks just like in arcade games... now the question is how come this American pilots didn't shot 10 planes instead of only 5 🤔 there were no need to expand so much ammo.... just a few bullets and those Japanese planes were so badly protected that they would catch fire immediately...
Yes and thanks to the British common wealth airmen , this was 1 of the fastest and one of the most powerful aircraft in the naval aviation groups. The Vaught f4u corsair. 6 .50 cal machine guns and an engine powerful enough to flip the plane over in unexpected hands. She was a tiger ready to pounce on the Japanese zero.
When I was a kid, in 1966 we have found the german airkraft in about 130 km from Leningrad. My father supposed it is soviet crushed fw, couse he knew, the ussr was using german fw's after the war
@@aylyan not at all, the primary reason was reduced drag and to have a strong landing gear, the P47's and F6's used the R2800 as well with basically straight wings.
Great story!! Just everyday guys, mailman, teachers, farmers and neighbors doing heroic stuff everyday, risking everything like in the movies but this was for real, everyday stuff! It just blows my mind sometimes! I love in the movie Saving Private Ryan when Tom Hanks character finally tells his men what he did back home before the war. He was a high school English teacher! This guy who has been doing James Bond kinda crap everyday for 3 or 4 years is a nerdy English Teacher, I don't think they believed him.
you dive and clime against dangerous ennemy fighters .... But not on slow, badly armed ,badly protected heavy one engine bombers with little maneuverablity piloted by green pilots with barely a dozen hours of flyght training !
@@kenneth9874 At that stage of the war (1944-1945) most of the Kamikze were green pilots ! There were so few experienced pilots left that the Japanese would keep them for home defense.
come clean, the US navy refused to use it but the Fleet Air Arm of the British started using it on carriers in the Pacific, The Royal Navy ended with 17 carriers and an aircraft maintenance ship in the Pacific named Unicorn, so after watching the Royal navy using Corsairs from carriers the US Navy changed its mind and took up the whole production, once the war headed towards Japan the armoured flight decks of British carriers meant a kamikaze hit could be swept overboard the dent filled with cement and action continued, a US carrier needed 6 months in San Diego navy yard so using Seafires the Royal Navy got the job of protecting the whole fleet which they did rather well. so just to point out that yes Great Britain also took part in WW2 - see you learn something every day.
Hardly. Just in the battle of Okinawa, the Japanese launched over 3000 kamikaze attacks on ships supporting the invasion. Over 23,000 US Navy personnel were killed at the cost 3000 Japanese airmen. Almost as many US Navy servicemen were killed by them on ships than soldiers died in the land operation. At one stage the US was losing one warship a day sunk to kamikazes. US intelligence calculated that the Japanese had over 9000 more kamikazes on Taiwan and on the home islands in reserve. It was this threat that accelerated the dropping of the bombs as much as anything.
You’re confusing killed with casualties. And even at that there were not 23,000 naval casualties unless you’re taking the most minuscule injuries from anything that happened for example a cook burning his hand and being unable to join the gun crew loading ammunition at his general quarters post.
My fave W2 Warbird. That sinister Blue showing thru the box. A Cox & a ukie. year was 1969 where it all got started. Would skip afternoon classes to watch , Black Sheeps.
That's not quite right. The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt had a top speed of around 430mph. Both the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and the North American P-51 Mustang had a top speed of around 440 mph. It's true the Vought F4U Corsair was faster with a top speed of around 450mph. But it was not the fastest plane. The German jet plane Messerschmitt Me 262 could reach speeds of 515 mph.
Famous Actor Toshiro Mifune trained Kamakazi Pilots during WWII. He struggled with alcoholism for the remainder of his life, knowing he was sending so many young men to their death. The night before the young men were to take off for their mission Mifune would share a bottle of Sake with them and have they write a Goodbye Letter to their Mother
Hi. Got an idea for a new vid. The Japanese are not represented on this channel, so how about a video on the Tainan Air Group? It contained many of Japan's recognized aces. Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Saburō Sakai, Junichi Sasai, Watari Handa, Masaaki Shimakawa, and Toshio Ōta, among others.
You should do a video about the men of the Normandy Niemen like Marcel Albert or Roger Sauvage (who was mixed race) or Roland de La Poype! All those free french aces from this squadron than fought on Yak-1 and 3, it's a great story! You could also do the one time one of the french pilot took his russian crew chief (Normandy Niemen had french pilots and russian mechanics, they were very close) behind his seat and they got an engine failure, the window was full of oil and the people on the ground and his poor crew chief told him to jump but he didnt want to abandon his russian camarade so he tried to land but they sadly died and were burried next to each other. Also how Stalin gave them their yaks to thank them and they went back to Paris with them! The squadron got a lot of victories butthey had 50 percent losses.
Keep in mind that for the most part, these were young/inexperienced Japanese pilots who had been instructed to fly directly to the American fleet and crash themselves into it. While Lt O'Keefe's accomplishments certainly were instrumental in saving many American lives, this sounds like more of a "turkey shoot" than a dogfight.
No it was picked up by the Uk Navy and made better - check facts bro. We showed you how to land it on carrier and how to curb the power of the fantastic beast.
@@spidennis not the plane of course, but how to handle it better on the flight deck, and landing, if you read the USN was not too keen on it at first. How old am I ? born In Singapore when it was still a part of the empire.
@@bradydunn5910 But it was the British Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm who came up with the concept that brought Corsairs to sea duty for good. The pilots developed a long, curving landing approach to keep the carrier’s deck in sight until the last moments before touchdown. This is just a snippet from A USA aircraft museum dear chum.
There are so many amazing storys in the most dangerous game in the world. Probably never be anything like ww2 air war again. The Japanese had a nickname for the corsair. The black death or the silent death. Unless putis losses the last of his marbles.
TJ THE HISTORY CHANNEL HAS A SHOW CALLED DOGFIGHTS THIS SAME GUY IS IN THE INTERVIEW I KNOW THE STORY VERY WELL. IT'S GREAT TO SEE YOU MAKE A VIDEO ABOUT THIS GUY! THE NAME OF THE EPISODE IS DOGFIGHTS KAMIKAZE I HOPE YOU WATCH IT!😉
This is one of my favorite planes of WW2!! But I think a lot of it comes from the show I watched Black Sheep with my dad as a child Enjoyed your video so I gave it a Thumbs Up
"If your arms are broken, fight with your feet. If your feet are broken, fight with your teeth. And if there is no breath left in your body, fight with your ghost.” “ 腕が折れたら、足で戦え。 足が折れたら、歯で戦え。 息が途絶えたなら、幽霊で戦え。” Sakurai Tokutarō Major General, 55th Division Imperial Japanese Army, Burma 1945
Europe, the eastern front, almost the complete Pacific ocean, Atlantic ocean, 1 epic battle after another for years on end, atomic bombs, Soviet invasion of Manchuria, china, unit 731...WW2 was unbelievable
A now deceased good friend, Dr. Mark Wilson DVM Oklahoma State University, flew Corsairs in WW2 Pacific Theater and had many exciting stories to tell about his combat experiences. I feel very fortunate to have had a long friendship with him. RIP Mark.
My JROTC commander in the early 70's was with the "Death Rattlers" he got 4 kills and 3 damaged on May 4th 1945 over Okinawa all total he had 7 kills. R.I.P. Colonel John Rusham.
Rip
🪦
I'm in Oklahoma, seeing a war hero from my state enlightens me that just because I'm from the middle of nowhere, I can still make my mark in history.
Dr. Wilson rest in peace sir you are a hero
Marine aviators, truly conversant in providing close air support to troops on the ground, are equally badass in the air to give hell to enemy when needed.
In my opinion one of the things that make marine pilots the best is that they train with the grunts before they become pilots
Pappy Boyington always taught his Black Sheep when you see the enemy to go right at the immediately ! ;) I liked his aggressiveness ! ;)
Had a teacher who was a Korean war Marine, he said once he absolutely loved the F4U.
It saved his ass more than once
I liked this vid...
A friend of mine is the son of a Corsair ace. His dad Capt. William P Brown, USMC flew in VMF-311 off the USS Breton. He shot down 7 japanese aircraft and was awarded The Navy Cross. After WW2 ended he stayed in the USMC and served with VMF-323 in Korea. Sadly he was shot down and KIA on a ground attack mission.
Respect to him and all who fought and contributed.
Deepest respect to him. RIP, sir!
Fing legend mate rip to him and other soul lost 🫡
I grew up with several Mr. Jerry's children, never knew about this until recently. He was also our city's Mayor and owned and managed the local funeral home.
Good episode. I met Pappy Boyington when I was 13 or 14 years old I got his autograph when he went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. I also grew up watching Baa Baa Blacksheep which was a TV series about his squadron.
Fun fact, the real Boyington made two cameos in that TV series.
He was a Drunk wild man, my kind of guy.
live through ww2 youd become a drunk wild man too. they dont make humanity like they used to. people are so fucking soft today. ouch words hurt , pathetic people offended by words have no honor in their entire lives @@bullbutter2931
Wouldn't you be after all that too? I always thought about that, his responsibilitys alone would stress me to death.
Absolutely freaking lutlee not only did he have to worry about his own safety but from what I understand he was very concerned about his squadron mates. I have studied about him quite a bit. Another funny fact... he could never get his aircraft started. It was a running joke that he kept flooding the motor. His crew chiefs always had to start the plane.
Another great story TJ!! This was another favorite episode from Dogfights and you did a great job portraying the Corsair in its anti-kamikaze role!
the .50 cal machine guns made that bone chilling whistle (my USMC daddy's words, many decades ago) as air passed over them when the plane was flying. if you heard that sound during the pacific campaign, you were saved.
Actually that whistle comes from the air coolers mounted on the wings
Thank you for this! Dad was a US Marine Corp artilleryman on Okinawa. His brother was a Corsair pilot in that battle. I often wondered about the details they did not mention.
Very cool how you even got the video detail down to the shadow of the crashing P38 on the ground, TJ! I'm pretty certain you've covered this most famous P38 Lockheed Lightning great adventure (or have it at least on your list) but I love the story of the P38 vengeance attack to take out Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto! From planning stage to intelligence and coordination, this was easily one of the top missions of the US Army Air Corps!! Jim C.
No, you cannot run your planes into those ships over there. - O'Keefe
This cracked me up
You shall not PASS!
So don't even try!
Go Irish ! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
The proximity fuse was the real reasons Kamikase were so much less effective than Japan's leadership hoped. It was technology with such impact, the security was strict: VT rounds were not allowed to be used over land to avoid enemy discovery
Admiral Willis A. Lee (or Ching Lee) told the Bureau of Ordinance to expedite shipping 5-inch VT fused rounds to the front lines. The original design had no self-destruct mechanism. Lee wrote to B. Ord.and told them to put one in, sending them a sketch of a possible design. When B. Ord replied that they had no plans to incorporate one, Lee replied that their initial response was unacceptable and told them to do it. Gotta love someone who walks all over B. Ord. No wonder Earnest King liked him.
@@johnferguson1970, I really and truly believe that the BuOrd was the best weapon the Japanese had to use against us during the war. They sure didn't seem to care about the lives their decisions were costing on our side.
I read the thumbnail as Deadly Kamakazi Kitten.
I though, "This is gunna be great!" 🤣😻
I thought it was about The Hell Cat.
I've had a soft spot for the Corsair since I was a kid.
Great vid. Keep up the good work. 👍👍
Fun Fact, As part of a Military family, I stayed three years in Okinoia and even had two Brothers born while there is an Old American established hospital, I later found out the Hospital was made during World War II upon taking it, so stories like this are always ones I love to here, I'm now back in America and this Texen don't even wanna live in another country again lol
I knew the kamikaze attacks were brutal and to deny all 80+ of them is a testiment to the skill and courage of those aviators and ship's compliment.
The kamikazes didn't teach the main fleet that day but the raised holly hell with the picket destroyers. The USS Laffey was either hit by Kamikazes or bombed by no less than a combination on 22 this day
You’re correct on that one as the ship almost didn’t survive but it did. It’s at Patriot’s Point now. I read the book “The Ship That Wouldn’t Die” and couldn’t put it down; finished it in less than 2 hrs.
My father's Destroyer, DD-579, William D. Porter, a picket ship, was sunk by a kamikaze on June 10, 1945. The Val bomber exploded in the water underneath the ship, splitting the hull. No one was killed, but Dad had to swim for it. Dad was out of a job and had to muster on shore at Okinawa for the rest of the war. Thanks to TJ for these stories!
In WW2, the navy had 3 fighters. It started with the Grumman Wild Cats, and later got the Hell Cats and Corsairs. After having all 3, the Navy used them, to get the most effective distribution vs carriers. The Grumman planes had wings that folded back (rather than the outer portion of the wings folding up). When the Japanese carriers still had a lot of experienced pilots, it was imperative to get as many planes on a carrier as feasible. Grumman planes took up less space, therefore more planes fitted on a carrier. The fast fleet carriers got Hell Cats. The small escort carriers got the older and smaller Wild Cats. Corsairs were mainly used land based, though they were carrier operations capable. all 3 were combat effective planes, though the Hell Cats and Corsairs were better.
There's plenty reasons why the Vought Corsair was nicknamed the "Ensign Eliminator" among Navy and Marine aviators.
Because it killed more Americans than Japanese pilots
Might have been nice to mention that the British worked out how to use these terrifying machines on carriers? The US Navy and Army had already decided they were only fit for land-based operations. Hey ho. Fabulous aircraft.
I think that the Brits recalibrated the oleo strut gear hydraulic compression rate to minimize the "bounce/rebound" as the gear compressed/rebounded upon carrier deck landing making the the F4-U much more carrier capable landing without the dangerous bounce causing many fatal accidents
Not quite, the US navy didn't feel the need to work on it having another great carrier plane at their disposal whereas the british not having a decent naval fighter of their own had a great deal more interest in getting a front line fighter on their carriers. With all of the f6 production going to the US navy they had no choice if they wanted to be able to compete.
British also figured out that coming in at an angle made it much easier to land on carriers.
The British fixed the F4U. They chopped down the wing to fix the problem the Corsair had with "float" over the flight deck. The Royal Navy also developed a new way of landing in a circular landing pattern to avoid the long nose restriction of visibility problem. Worth watching Armoured Carriers. F4U Corsair. "Taming the Beast".
I watched that just a few weeks ago. Fascinating story.
Actually Skipper of Navy squadron VF-17, J. T. Blackburn, carrier qualified his entire squadron landing in the curved approach on their carrier USS Bunker Hill before the Navy decided to go with the Hellcat. That is the only reason the Hellcat had that record. Logistics of having two fighters on a carrier doomed the Corsair to land based early on. VF-17 we're the best. They fought the best of Japan's pilots at Rabaul.
@@rogerrynearson2500 Yeah but Blackburn only did that after finding out how the UK navy solved the problem with the F4U.
They clipped the wings because their hangers were too small, the circular approach had been done before but the us navy had several options and went for easier to fly option,the rn had less options so they took the time and effort to work out the bugs
Anyone who's watching this video from Biloxi, Mississippi can be proud because that's how badass their former mayor was...
I love your videos. So well put together and edited. It's like watching that TV show from 2006 called, "Dogfights" again. I notice, too, that you're not shy with rudder input when you fly. hahahah. Full deflection every turn. Not quite how I use the rudder, but whatever gets the bullets on target is a win. lol I'm gonna binge my way through your EXCELLENT videos. Thanks for making them. They are soooo enjoyable.
Thanks! I must say that sometimes it may be automated rudder depending on the settings I'm using. But sometimes it's me! Haha.
@@TJ3 It's hard to be the pilot in a dogfight and the camera man, director, editor, (edits / cuts running through your head as your setting up both your video shots, and the shots on target too.) LOL That's some real multitasking going on there. All that matters is that the bullets / bombs hit the target. In that? You seem to do pretty damn good! hahahah
What an AMAZING story … and RIP Jeremiah O’Keefe!! 🙏🙏
This post was easily worthy of my subscription. Very well done!
Boyington once told me that O’Keefe should never had followed the first Val down, but should have focused on breaking up and dispatching the formation that Val had been in. This was a discipline he instilled in the VMF 214.
Okinawa was mostly an army invasion. long side Marines Army units larger in size also invaded the island. They pushed to the south and the marine went to the north from the landing beaches. It was the army units that took on the majority off the fighting. The Marine Corp has better looking uniforms and a better PR, but Okinawa was mostly the big green machine. The largest US Forces amphibious landing in the entire War was at Latey Gulf which was 100% army and the second was Day in June also 100% Army, so get it right will ya.
@jt gardiner According to you, "the Army did it all at Okinawa" because "The Marine Corp has better looking uniforms and a better PR, but Okinawa was mostly the big green machine". Your words, jt gardiner, loaded with biased foolishness.
Let's look at the real numbers. Okinawa KIA figures; Killed in action were 4,907 Navy, 4,675 Army, and 2,938 Marine Corps. Note that the Navy suffered more KIA than the Army. Note that the USMC suffered 39% of the ground casualties, even though the U.S Army in WW2 was 17 times LARGER than the USMC (11,200,000 USA / 660,000 USMC). Looking closely at the casualty figures makes it clear the USMC was punching WAY above its weight class compared to the Army.
Every veteran of every service deserves our utmost respect and thanks.
@@63DW89A
Well you just save me a whole lot of writing because you just wrote what I would have.
Thank you!
My dad fought in the Pacific during WWII. We watched "Bah, Bah, Blacksheep", in the late 70s-early 80s, and he called the Corsairs "Vought Vultures" or "Bent Wing Bastards." He also said troops were glad to see them overhead, during the Guadalcanal and Bougainville battles.
I love that show
The kamikaze pilots only had rudimentary training, and were easy targets for a fighter pilot
predominately. The Imperial Army and Navy did have a few experienced pilots left, but they were rare. I believe the experienced pilots would train the new kamikaze pilots and also lead them into battle as a means to encourage the new recruits to complete their missions.
And they were only taught to take off cause they were never meant to land again. That must have been terrifying know if something happened to your aircraft right after take off, you didn't know how to actually land!
And I don't think you could call Okinawa a "small island". Its about 2000 sq km.
perhaps, compared to Japan I would say it's 'small'.
A special Thank You! for this video. I served with VMFA-323 (F-4 Phantoms) aboard the USS Coral Sea 1979-1980 West Pac. and on through 1982. The Death Rattlers (aka; Snakes) patch is that of a gun sight with a F4-U shadowing in on the bullseye. Still to this day!
The squadron is now flying F-18's.
I knew the squadron was formed during WW2 and served in the Pacific but, i was not aware of this story. Thank you again for making this video.
Another weapon that proved successful against Kamikaze planes was the invention of the proximity fuse.
Considered the most important weapon behind the Atomic bomb, was the proximity fuse attached to anti-aircraft gun bullets that spewed machine gun fire from US warships. Once close to an attacking plane, it would detonate. Even damaging a plane would destroy them as Japanese planes had little or no armor.
The Corsair was a great warplane but it was hard to land and take off from US aircraft carriers.
The US Hellcats were much easier to pilot from aircraft carriers and were just as effective.
The US Hellcats killed more Japanese warplanes than any other US warplane in the Pacific theater.
Yet the F4U fought on after WW2, outlasting the F6F, F8F, P-47, and others. The F4U was said to be one of the best dive bombers of WW2 (behind the A-36), and could carry up to 4000lb of ordnance. The carrier landing issues were remedied. The F4U was also an older design than the F6F.
It's easy to rack up kills against fragile airplanes that start on fire easily with low skill pilots, while flying superior aircraft. Other aircraft were better, but also faced tougher opponents and aircraft.
Don't get me wrong, the F6F was a great airplane, and was one of the most affordable US fighters of WW2 as it was designed to be simple and easy to manufacture. But total kills doesn't tell the whole story.
F6F: $30k
P-51: $50k
P-47: $85k
P-38: $105k
The Brits fixed the Corsair. By chopping off the end of the wings it stopped the "float" the aircraft suffered from over flight decks. The Royal Navy also developed the circular method of landing to solve the long nose problem and made landing easier. The US adopted it pretty quickly and it saved a lot of pilots lives.
@@gunnargundersen3787 Don't forget the British gave the Merlin engine to the P-51 fighter and made it a War winner by being able to give effective fighter escorts for Allied bombers all the way to and from German targets.
@@richpontone1 No, not forgotten. Another good example is the British Sherman Firefly and crab tanks (along with all the other "Hobart's funnies") improving the performance and utility of the American Sherman. Heck you can argue the M3 Grease Gun came from the idea of the Sten Gun.
@@gunnargundersen3787
It was a big thing that British military thought they could not retrofit their 17 pounder gun on the Sherman or that its gun flash would temporarily blind its gunner. The Germans were under orders to knock out first the Firefly before firing on the other Sherman tanks as it posed the greatest threat to their own tanks.
British and Canadian tank commanders would wrap around old tank treads around their tank turrets to reinforce the inadequate armor of their Sherman tanks.
It wasn't like a dogfight, your enemy is flying towards a target. There was no opposing fire. A proper case of shooting fish in a barrel.
Love those Corsairs!
Actually Skipper of Navy squadron VF-17, J. T. Blackburn, carrier qualified his entire squadron landing in the curved approach on their carrier USS Bunker Hill before the Navy decided to go with the Hellcat. That is the only reason the Hellcat had that record. Logistics of having two fighters on a carrier doomed the Corsair to land based early on. VF-17 were the best. They fought the best of Japan's pilots at Rabaul. Definitely not to diminish any other Hog pilots, Blackburn's Irregulars' were amazing. The Jolly Rogers have been carried forward to present day in VFA-103 flying the Super Hornets F/A-18 F. Please read Blackburn's book "The Jolly Rogers". Love to all that love the Corsairs.
You mean Skipper Riley on Planes (2013) And yes i know his story with his squadron the Jolly Wrenches and i have a question what does VF-17 Mean you said
@@aaronnormanbigalbal7601 vf=heavier than air, fighter squadron 17
@@rogerrynearson2500 Oh
The F4U Corsair is tied with the Dornier Do 335 Pfiel as my favorite prop fighter of all time. Both are available in my Axis&Allies house rules with tech research. Japan can kamikaze any of their planes into any enemy vessels within 3 Sea Zones of the Home Islands, and can develop the J7W Shinden pusher prop fighter and upgrade it to use a jet engine if they develop (or get from Germany) Jet Engines. Thanks for the great video, I like these animations!
Kamikaze pilots were not trained fighter pilots. They were pretty much trained as flying bomb pilots.
actually most of those Kamikaze pilots were barely trained at all ! many were green pilots with just a dozen hours of flying experience !
their airplanes were slow, heavy, not maneuvreable... many of those young Japanese pilots were totally unable to correct the trajectory and fell by themselves into the water far from the ship target...
those kamikaze airplanes were sitting ducks just like in arcade games... now the question is how come this American pilots didn't shot 10 planes instead of only 5 🤔 there were no need to expand so much ammo.... just a few bullets and those Japanese planes were so badly protected that they would catch fire immediately...
@@didierdenice7456 Pretty sure that is what I said in my post? Just like in arcade games? Is that what your conception of war is?
Yes and thanks to the British common wealth airmen , this was 1 of the fastest and one of the most powerful aircraft in the naval aviation groups. The Vaught f4u corsair. 6 .50 cal machine guns and an engine powerful enough to flip the plane over in unexpected hands. She was a tiger ready to pounce on the Japanese zero.
Try the version with 20mm cannon
I’d love to see one about the P-51 pilot that flew under the Eiffel Tower chasing an ME-109
“Mustang got the glory, but the Corsair got you home”
Apparently all of the Death Rattlers were excellent pilots because initially landing a Corsair on carriers was very difficult during WW II.
Minor thing. The story is near Okinawa, but that island is Iwo Jima.
When I was a kid, in 1966 we have found the german airkraft in about 130 km from Leningrad. My father supposed it is soviet crushed fw, couse he knew, the ussr was using german fw's after the war
Imagine becoming an ACE in a single day.
That's the Iwo Jima map in War Thunder. This make me want to play again.
Thank you, Lt. O'Keefe! SALUTE!
One of my 1st and one of favourite 2ww aircraft that I made as a kid. Good show. 👍
Another great video TJ. They used the gull wings so the huge prop would clear the ground. Please keep em coming. Have a great weekend buddy.
but the nickname " whistling death " was invented by American PR writers , the Japanese never did call it that
But it should be noted that it wasn't a unique design, as claimed at 2:45
It was done primarily to reduce drag at the wing root, being able to use a shorter landing gear for strength was an additional bonus
@@kenneth9874 it was done to fit a bigger prop to take advantage of engine performance
@@aylyan not at all, the primary reason was reduced drag and to have a strong landing gear, the P47's and F6's used the R2800 as well with basically straight wings.
The concept of kamikaze is basically ‘any vehicle is an aircraft carrier if you try hard enough’
Great story!! Just everyday guys, mailman, teachers, farmers and neighbors doing heroic stuff everyday, risking everything like in the movies but this was for real, everyday stuff! It just blows my mind sometimes! I love in the movie Saving Private Ryan when Tom Hanks character finally tells his men what he did back home before the war. He was a high school English teacher! This guy who has been doing James Bond kinda crap everyday for 3 or 4 years is a nerdy English Teacher, I don't think they believed him.
he killed 1 enemy plane for every 16 opponents
Diving and climbing attacks were not a new technique. General Claire Chennault taught this to his pilots in the American Volunteer Group in 1941.
you dive and clime against dangerous ennemy fighters .... But not on slow, badly armed ,badly protected heavy one engine bombers with little maneuverablity piloted by green pilots with barely a dozen hours of flyght training !
@@didierdenice7456 you do if you want to keep energy in your airframe for the following waves. Basic ACM concept...
@@didierdenice7456 not all kamikaze were green recruits
@@kenneth9874 At that stage of the war (1944-1945) most of the Kamikze were green pilots ! There were so few experienced pilots left that the Japanese would keep them for home defense.
@@didierdenice7456 you would think, but.....
come clean, the US navy refused to use it but the Fleet Air Arm of the British started using it on carriers in the Pacific, The Royal Navy ended with 17 carriers and an aircraft maintenance ship in the Pacific named Unicorn, so after watching the Royal navy using Corsairs from carriers the US Navy changed its mind and took up the whole production, once the war headed towards Japan the armoured flight decks of British carriers meant a kamikaze hit could be swept overboard the dent filled with cement and action continued, a US carrier needed 6 months in San Diego navy yard so using Seafires the Royal Navy got the job of protecting the whole fleet which they did rather well. so just to point out that yes Great Britain also took part in WW2 - see you learn something every day.
Hardly. Just in the battle of Okinawa, the Japanese launched over 3000 kamikaze attacks on ships supporting the invasion. Over 23,000 US Navy personnel were killed at the cost 3000 Japanese airmen. Almost as many US Navy servicemen were killed by them on ships than soldiers died in the land operation. At one stage the US was losing one warship a day sunk to kamikazes. US intelligence calculated that the Japanese had over 9000 more kamikazes on Taiwan and on the home islands in reserve. It was this threat that accelerated the dropping of the bombs as much as anything.
What? The US Navy had a total of TOTAL personnel killed at Okinawa. Where do you get a figure of 23,000 ?
Around 4900 Naval killed and around 4800 wounded and MIA still a very tragic loss for the USN
You’re confusing killed with casualties.
And even at that there were not 23,000 naval casualties unless you’re taking the most minuscule injuries from anything that happened for example a cook burning his hand and being unable to join the gun crew loading ammunition at his general quarters post.
Great Episode as always TJ!
F-4U Corsair was the best piston engine fighter of WW2.
Second was the P-51 Mustang.
Third was the P-47 Thunderbolt.
Lol yes
My fave W2 Warbird. That sinister Blue showing thru the box. A Cox & a ukie. year was 1969 where it all got started. Would skip afternoon classes to watch , Black Sheeps.
Kina nice to have that show on DVD now😎
at 10:58 you can hear a “ding!” sound in the background from this guy getting the kill lol
Watched this guy in the Dogfights episode “Supersonic”.
What a hero
The Corsair was the Only 400+ mph plane in the War. It was a BEAST too, with those Massive wings.
That's not quite right. The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt had a top speed of around 430mph. Both the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and the North American P-51 Mustang had a top speed of around 440 mph. It's true the Vought F4U Corsair was faster with a top speed of around 450mph. But it was not the fastest plane. The German jet plane Messerschmitt Me 262 could reach speeds of 515 mph.
Famous Actor Toshiro Mifune trained Kamakazi Pilots during WWII. He struggled with alcoholism for the remainder of his life, knowing he was sending so many young men to their death. The night before the young men were to take off for their mission Mifune would share a bottle of Sake with them and have they write a Goodbye Letter to their Mother
Goooooöd!(Corsair my favorite aeroplane!)
Hi. Got an idea for a new vid. The Japanese are not represented on this channel, so how about a video on the Tainan Air Group? It contained many of Japan's recognized aces. Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Saburō Sakai, Junichi Sasai, Watari Handa, Masaaki Shimakawa, and Toshio Ōta, among others.
You should do a video about the men of the Normandy Niemen like Marcel Albert or Roger Sauvage (who was mixed race) or Roland de La Poype! All those free french aces from this squadron than fought on Yak-1 and 3, it's a great story! You could also do the one time one of the french pilot took his russian crew chief (Normandy Niemen had french pilots and russian mechanics, they were very close) behind his seat and they got an engine failure, the window was full of oil and the people on the ground and his poor crew chief told him to jump but he didnt want to abandon his russian camarade so he tried to land but they sadly died and were burried next to each other. Also how Stalin gave them their yaks to thank them and they went back to Paris with them! The squadron got a lot of victories butthey had 50 percent losses.
Keep in mind that for the most part, these were young/inexperienced Japanese pilots who had been instructed to fly directly to the American fleet and crash themselves into it. While Lt O'Keefe's accomplishments certainly were instrumental in saving many American lives, this sounds like more of a "turkey shoot" than a dogfight.
in addition the dive bomber Val was well outdated in 1945, certainly it was a "turkey shoot"
By late 1944 any air battle was a turkey shoot for the allies in the pacific
How many air to air kills to you have?
@@mightyjimbo7681 None, but I'm not portraying myself as a daring hero either. I just think we have to view this in context.
TJ that advertisement you made sounds like it comes straight out of a newspaper in 1940- just the way you talk about it lol
No it was picked up by the Uk Navy and made better - check facts bro. We showed you how to land it on carrier and how to curb the power of the fantastic beast.
“We”? Taking credit for this? How old are you?
@@spidennis not the plane of course, but how to handle it better on the flight deck, and landing, if you read the USN was not too keen on it at first. How old am I ? born In Singapore when it was still a part of the empire.
@@mrlodwick to bad you did none of that nor did the uk
@@bradydunn5910 But it was the British Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm who came up with the concept that brought Corsairs to sea duty for good. The pilots developed a long, curving landing approach to keep the carrier’s deck in sight until the last moments before touchdown. This is just a snippet from A USA aircraft museum dear chum.
The fact that all of you are able to debate “we” or “us” today is due to the men who fought back then.
Give the Brits their due. The RN figured we’re first to make the Corsair work on an aircraft carrier.
I didn't know that Kamakasies had any guns at all.
Do you know how they managed to prove a kill? Did a camera film the action at the same time the gun trigger was pressed? Great videos, enjoying them.
Yes thats correct.
There are so many amazing storys in the most dangerous game in the world. Probably never be anything like ww2 air war again. The Japanese had a nickname for the corsair. The black death or the silent death.
Unless putis losses the last of his marbles.
Semper Fi! Y’all Awesome video.
One shot, one kill. Marksship is everything.
TJ THE HISTORY CHANNEL HAS A SHOW CALLED DOGFIGHTS THIS SAME GUY IS IN THE INTERVIEW I KNOW THE STORY VERY WELL.
IT'S GREAT TO SEE YOU MAKE A VIDEO ABOUT THIS GUY! THE NAME OF THE EPISODE IS DOGFIGHTS KAMIKAZE I HOPE YOU WATCH IT!😉
You are the only person I have heard say recipient of medal of honour. +1 good sir.
This is one of my favorite planes of WW2!! But I think a lot of it comes from the show I watched Black Sheep with my dad as a child
Enjoyed your video so I gave it a Thumbs Up
An effort easily worth a Navy Cross.
Although other ace in a day pilots would be awarded the Medal of Honor
Great video and presentation.
The F4u also saved uss laffey from numerous kamikazes during the invasion of Okinawa
He joined the USMC, not the USN.
I think that's where the expression the whole nine yards comes from they had nine yards of ammo.
"If your arms are broken, fight with your feet.
If your feet are broken, fight with your teeth.
And if there is no breath left in your body, fight with your ghost.”
“ 腕が折れたら、足で戦え。
足が折れたら、歯で戦え。
息が途絶えたなら、幽霊で戦え。”
Sakurai Tokutarō
Major General, 55th Division Imperial Japanese Army, Burma 1945
I absolutely love the F4U’s my cousin was on a CARRIER with F4Us in the pacific theatre
Thanks for sharing this great story.
Now THIS is podracing.
The Marine Corp was to use the Corsair extensively more than the Navy aviation squadrons.
Love how war thunder is used for some of the clips
If I ever won a big lottery, I would own a Corsair and learn to fly it.
I saw a stat that Corsairs had 4000+ victories in WW2...As an Aussie God bless you Yanks
I love the Corsair
Europe, the eastern front, almost the complete Pacific ocean, Atlantic ocean, 1 epic battle after another for years on end, atomic bombs, Soviet invasion of Manchuria, china, unit 731...WW2 was unbelievable
It wasn't, the British who figured out utilizing the Corsair it was the Usmc
"Wold wore too": A big fight that happened a long time ago.
"Okie-now-uh": A small island populated with refugees from the Oklahoma dust bowl.
Kamakikazi pilot:BANZ
not today
Kamikazees did not engage in dogfights. These pilots could barely fly
Agreed, trained just enough to take the 'plane from here to there and drop it on a ship.
Thanks for sharing this. I can't wait to look this pilot up.
F 4U Corsair,great plane,prone to spins in its early life.,but sorted out..known as Whispering Death....Wonderful.!!
Very goog historical information and what a hero, he did save lives there's No doubt. Good video
Lovin the videos bo, just enough knowledge and pleasure of action……. Strictly planes
0:50 I HAVE THAT SAME B-24 AT MY HOUSE
*Jeremiah O'Keefe, July 12, 1923 - August 23, 2016. Was 83, not 93.*