This Date in Aviation History: April 15 - April 17

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 04/17/2020 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, Planelopnik, TDIAH

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Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting of you caught up on milestones, important historical events and people in aviation from April 15 through April 17.

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Boeing B-52H Stratofortress based at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana (US Air Force)

April 15, 1952 – The first flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. By the end of WWII, Boeing had earned a solid reputation for making large bombers with the rugged !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the state-of-the-art !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . But with the coming of both the jet age and the nuclear age, the Air Force needed a new bomber with extreme range that could fly deep into enemy territory to deliver nuclear weapons. Initially, Boeing proposed the Model 462 in 1946, a straight-wing bomber that would be powered by six turboprop engines. Essentially, it would be a scaled-up version of a WWII bomber, with at least five defensive turrets and accommodations for two crews that could rotate during long-range missions. But over the next year of development, the Air Force kept changing the requirements, and Boeing kept changing the design. By the end of 1947, the program was on the verge of cancelation.

An early concept drawing for a six-engine postwar long range bomber. This program eventually led to the B-52. (Ben Holt)

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Though the turbojet engine was clearly the powerplant of the future, the Air Force wasn’t so sure, and wanted to hedge its bets by sticking with turboprops. After all, range was a primary concern, and early jet engines were notoriously thirsty. Boeing proposed yet another turboprop design in October 1948 and, when the Air Force wasn’t impressed with its capabilities, a team of Boeing engineers working in a hotel room in Dayton, Ohio came up with the preliminary design of an eight-engine turbojet bomber based on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and its 35-degree swept wing. Similar to the B-47, the engines on the Stratofortress would be housed in pods under the wings, and the landing gear would be centered on the fuselage with outriggers on the wings. To handle crosswind landings, Boeing came up with the innovative solution of having the main landing wheels pivot up to 20-degrees to stay aligned with the runway centerline. Like the B-47, the two pilots would be seated in a tandem configuration under a greenhouse canopy, but Air Force General !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a veteran of WWII bombing campaigns, insisted that the pilots be seated side by side. Only three copies of the initial B-52A model were built, and the first production model, the B-52B, entered service with the Air Force on June 29, 1955. This aircraft featured improved avionics and engines that could achieve an extra 12,000 pounds of thrust by using water injection.

Boeing XB-52, the prototype for the B-52 Stratofortress. Note the tandem cockpit, which would later be replaced by more traditional side-by-side seating for the flight crew. (US Air Force)

As a product of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the B-52's primary mission was to deliver nuclear weapons, and though it was never called on to carry out that mission, it still served as a powerful deterrent to Soviet aims around the world. When the arrival of the surface to air missile jeopardized the B-52's high altitude mission, the bomber showed its tremendous flexibility by adapting to low level penetration missions. And, in a further testament to its flexibility, the bomber that was originally designed solely to drop nuclear munitions became one of the most powerful weapons of conventional warfare when it went into battle in Vietnam. Beginning with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1965, and following modifications to carry still more bombs, B-52 crews flew a total of 124,532 sorties throughout the war. A typical bomb load for the B-52 in Vietnam was 54,000 pounds of conventional bombs, or about the same load as ten B-17s.

Following Vietnam, many of the older B-52s were retired due to their age, though newer G and H models were kept active for nuclear standby missions. Many were relegated to the Arizona desert, then destroyed as part of arms limitation treaties with the Soviet Union. When America went to war in the Persian Gulf, B-52s took part in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , flying from bases in England, Spain, Saudi Arabia and as far away as Louisiana to attack targets in Iraq. Despite efforts to replace the B-52, first with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Buff soldiered on, providing capabilities in firepower and mission flexibility that simply can’t be matched by newer designs. When the Lancer is replaced by the proposed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the B-52 will still be flying. In fact, the Air Force currently plans to keep the B-52 in service until 2045, an astonishing 90 years after it first entered service, and plans are currently underway to replace the eight Pratt & Whitney TF33 low-bypass turbofans with eight similarly sized regional jet engines.

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April 15, 1935 – The first flight of the Douglas TBD Devastator. The 1930s was an extraordinary decade for aircraft development. The fabric-covered metal and wooden frames of the biplane era were left behind in favor of the all-metal !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! monoplane, and each new aircraft brought further innovations in construction, capability, speed, or range. But with the outbreak of WWII in 1939, aircraft development revved into high gear, and warplanes that were innovative and groundbreaking when they rolled out were quickly rendered obsolete. Such was the fate of the Douglas TBD Devastator.

The Douglas XTBD-1, the prototype for the TBD Devastator. Note the original flat canopy, which was changed for production aircraft. (US Navy)

In 1934, the US Navy was seeking a new dive bomber to operate from its carriers, and the Devastator entered into competition for a Navy contract against the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (which would later evolve into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). The Devastator, which won the competition, provided many firsts for the Navy. It was the first monoplane to enter carrier service, it was the Navy’s first all-metal aircraft, and the first with a fully enclosed cockpit. It was also the first to have hydraulically powered folding wings. The semi-retractable landing gear allowed the wheels to protrude from under the wings and protect the airframe in the event of a wheels-up landing. The Devastator could carry up to 1,200 pounds of bombs or a single torpedo, had a single forward-firing .30 or .50 caliber machine gun, and a rear-firing .30 caliber machine gun for defense against enemy fighters. Power came from a single !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! radial that gave the Devastator a maximum speed of 206 mph, which was relatively fast for its day. However, despite all of these innovations, by the Japanese !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1941, the Devastator was already almost completely obsolete, just six years after its maiden flight.

Devastators off the coast of Hawaii in 1941 (US Navy)

Nevertheless, Devastator pilots fought well in the opening stages of the war in the Pacific, effectively attacking ground and shipping targets while flying from the carriers !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   (CV 6), !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (CV 5) and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   (CV 2). But the pivotal !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on June 3-7, 1942 showed that the Devastator’s time had completely passed. In the opening stages of the battle, 41 Devastators, nearly all the TBDs in operation at the time, were dispatched against the Japanese fleet from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (CV 8), Enterprise and Yorktown . Due in large part to its lack of maneuverability and slow speeds, the Devastator proved to be a sitting duck for Japanese guns. On torpedo runs, the TBDs had to maintain a mere 115 mph in order to drop their torpedoes, which made them easy prey for Japanese !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! fighters and antiaircraft gunners. Of the 41 aircraft that took off, only six returned from the mission, and they had scored no hits on the Japanese carriers. Part of this was due to malfunctioning !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but clearly, the Devastator’s days as an effective torpedo bomber were over. However, the loss of the Devastators and their crews was not entirely in vain, as the attacks left the Japanese carriers vulnerable for the follow-up attacks by Dauntless dive bombers which ultimately resulted in a lopsided victory for the US Navy and heralded a titanic shift in the balance of power in the Pacific.

After Midway, the Navy immediately removed the TBD from frontline service, and the remaining aircraft were relegated to flight training duties or served as training pieces for mechanics and firefighters. The final Devastator was scrapped in 1944, and none of the 130 production aircraft remain today. Though the Devastator’s replacement, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , fared little better at first, shifting tactics and the gradual achievement of air superiority in the Pacific finally allowed the torpedo bomber to become an effective weapon later in the war.

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Short Takeoff

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(US Air Force)

April 15, 1986 – United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft attack Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon. In response to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that killed three and injured more than 200 others in a Berlin discotheque frequented by US soldiers, the United States launched airstrikes against Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi after Libya was suspected of orchestrating the bombing. Eighteen !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! tactical bombers and four !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! electronic warfare (EW) aircraft flew from bases in Britain, combined with attack and EW aircraft from the carriers !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! sailing off the Libyan coast in the Gulf of Sidra. The Americans struck numerous aircraft and radar stations at 2:00 am local time, and Gaddafi himself may also have been a target, though he escaped injury. The Libyan government reported at least 40 casualties from the bombing, including one who may have been Gaddafi’s infant daughter. One American F-111 was shot down with the loss of its two-man crew.

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(Royal Air Force/Sgt. Jack Pritchard)

April 15, 1965 – The first flight of the Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma, a medium transport/utility helicopter originally developed by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to meet a requirement by the French Army for a helicopter that could carry 20 troops or cargo in all weather conditions. After the purchase of the Puma by the Royal Air Force, France and England entered into a production partnership that eventually included Romania and South Africa. The Puma has seen action in numerous conflicts, including the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and is also a popular civilian transport helicopter, particularly for offshore oil corporations.

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(Tim Shaffer)

April 16, 1988 – The first flight of the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk, a fully carrier-capable trainer developed from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The Goshawk entered service in 1991 and eventually replaced the older !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for the US Navy and US Marine Corps. The T-45 provides a platform for intermediate and advanced strike pilot training, with aircraft currently based at NAS Meridian in Mississippi and NAS Kingsville in Texas. Though the US Air Force has selected the Boeing T-X as its next generation trainer, the Navy plans to keep flying the Goshawk until at least 2035.

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(NASA)

April 16, 1972 – The launch of Apollo 16, the tenth manned mission of the Apollo program and the fifth mission to land astronauts on the Moon. Commander !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and Lunar Module Pilot !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! spent 71 hours on the lunar surface, where they conducted three moonwalks and collected over 200 pounds of lunar samples, some of which served to disprove the theories about volcanic origins for some of the Moon’s features. Young and Duke also drove the second !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (LRV) a total of 16.6 miles. Command Module Pilot !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! completed 64 orbits of the Moon in the Command Module, and performed a spacewalk on the return flight to retrieve film capsules from the exterior of the Service Module. There would be just one more launch in the Apollo program, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , eight months later. Apollo 16 returned to Earth on April 27, 1972.

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(US Air Force)

April 16, 1949 – The first flight of the Lockheed F-94 Starfire. Following the failure of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Starfire was hastily developed from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! as an all-weather day/night interceptor. When it entered service in 1950, the Starfire replaced both the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and was the first operational US Air Force fighter to employ an afterburning engine and the first all-weather fighter to see service in the Korean War. Though produced in large numbers, the Starfire served for just eight years before being replaced in the interceptor role by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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(US Library of Congress)

April 16, 1912 – Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly across the English Channel. In 1911, Quimby became the first woman to earn a pilot’s license in the United States, and her exploits were an inspiration to many women of her day who railed against male-dominated society. Quimby’s cross-Channel flight was unfortunately overshadowed by news of the sinking of the RMS !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! just one day after her historic flight. Quimby died on July 1, 1912 when, for unknown reasons, her !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! monoplane suddenly pitched forward, ejecting both her and her passenger at an altitude of 1,500 feet. Ironically, the plane came to earth relatively undamaged.  

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(Tim Shaffer)

April 17, 1973 – Federal Express delivers its first overnight package. Starting with 14 Dassault Falcon business jets and 389 employees, Federal Express began operations from Memphis, TN by delivering 186 packages to cities on the East Coast of the United States. Adopting the name FedEx in 2000, the company now employs more than 425,000 workers and operates a fleet of more than 650 aircraft serving more than 375 airports worldwide. Each day, FedEx delivers more than 14 million packages. FedEx’s first airplane, a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! nicknamed Wendy , is on display at the Smithsonian’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! near Washington, DC.

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(US Air Force)

April 17, 1969 – The first powered flight of the Martin Marietta X-24A, the fourth in a series of experimental aircraft developed to explore the concept of the lifting body design following the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Built without traditional wings, lifting bodies rely on the aerodynamic shape of the fuselage to generate lift and allow for controlled flight. The X-24A was carried aloft by a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! mothership, then released to fly under rocket power before gliding back to Earth. Data gathered over the course of 28 X-24A flights, along with the other lifting body aircraft, would be used in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to develop landing characteristics for the unpowered Shuttle landings.

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April 17, 1934 – The first flight of the de Havilland Dragon Rapide, a short-range biplane airliner constructed primarily of plywood that had accommodations for six to eight passengers. Designed as a successor to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Dragon Rapide was a scaled down derivative of the larger four-engine !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and entered service in 1934, providing flights around England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. During WWII, the Rapide was pressed into service with the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy for passenger and communications duties, where it was known as the Dominie. A total of 731 Rapides were produced, and it became one of the most successful small airliners of the 1930s.

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April 17, 1934 – The first flight of the Fairey Swordfish. Designed in the 1930s, the Swordfish torpedo bomber was obsolete by the start of WWII. However, the “Stringbag” continued in front line service throughout the war. It’s most significant victory came in the hunt for the German battleship !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , when Swordfish pilots crippled the ship by disabling her rudder with a torpedo strike, rendering the ship unable to maneuver. Bismarck was then sunk by surface ships of the Royal Navy. Nearly 2,400 Swordfish were produced, and it was retired at the end of the war.

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Connecting Flights

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If you enjoy these Aviation History posts, please let me know in the comments. You can find more posts about aviation history, aviators, and aviation oddities at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 12:47

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I never bothered to look up this plane which I spotted at KDWH, my home airport while I was training. Now I know what it was! Thanks for another excellent post, ttyymmnn!

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 12:49

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I wonder how many torpedos were launched from the air during the war and how many from submarines, and what the relative % success rates were. Probably a meaningless statistic, but that’s where my mind goes.

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/17/2020 at 12:52

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Probably from NAS Kingsville. That picture from the article was taken at KAUS. The Air Force also shows up from time to time in their T-38s.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 04/17/2020 at 12:53

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I’m guessing that they weren’t all that effective. Torpedo bombers worked pretty well at Pearl Harbor (I think), but those ships were all lying at anchor. 

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 12:58

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Which weren’t warned about the attack and sporting   fully manned guns.

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 13:03

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My favorite photo of that plane was taken earlier in the day. I had to wait for him to take off. :)

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Chariotoflove 04/17/2020 at 13:27

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I listened to a podcast on arieal sub hunting and the amount of hours/fuel/resources that went into it compared to the small amount of success.

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 13:39

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How many engines do you want on this Bomber?

Yes

How many years do you want to keep it operational?

Yes

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 04/17/2020 at 13:49

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Sort of like when Billy Mitchell made a big deal about sinking the Ostfriesland. Yes, it heralded a change in warfare, and the ascendancy of the airplane, but the ship was lying at anchor and not firing back. A bit like shooting fish in a barrel.

ttyymmnn > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 04/17/2020 at 13:54

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Courtesy of McMike from this older post .

McMike > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 14:01

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Hanging in the wall in my basement. Pulled it out of the frame since I’m home to get the caption from the back.

Caption on the back:

K & KE 175 - A KC-97A “Stratotanker” refuels B-52 “Strato fortress” heavy bomber in flight. Both aircraft are attached to the 4 017th Combat Crew Training Squadron , Castle AFB, Calif, 1 Feb. 1956

U.S. AIR FO RCE PHOTO

My caption:

Last ever photo of KC-97 refueling a B-52 before they realized there was no way this was going to work in level flight and gear/flaps up.

ttyymmnn > McMike 04/17/2020 at 14:02

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That’s an early Buff, maybe even an A model. You can tell by the tall pointy tail. 

InFierority Complex > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 14:09

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I’d have to argue that the raid on the Italian fleet at Taranto was the Swordfish’s finest hour. 

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 14:15

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Bet it could fit another 4 more in the wing roots

user314 > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 14:29

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The 4017th was stood up in 1955 with B-52Bs and KC-97s.

user314 > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 04/17/2020 at 14:30

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Start adding engines on top of the wings!

user314 > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 04/17/2020 at 14:31

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BUFFs are so old the first models ran on peat:

ttyymmnn > user314 04/17/2020 at 14:32

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Now that I think of it, they only built a few A models. (checks Wiki.....) Yes, They only built three B-52As, and those all went for testing. The B-52B was the first to enter service.

McMike > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 14:44

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Maybe.... B ut the A models never entered service, and the livery on this one looks exactly like the early B models (below, at Castle ) , which also had the pointy stabilizer.

Wish we could read the tail number to be sure, or figure out what that “K & KE 175" meant.   Could be crew classes, but I have not found anything.  

user314 > McMike 04/17/2020 at 14:54

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Yeah, I’m not finding anything for KE175 past a rather popular and long- running model of motorbike from Kawasaki.

user314 > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 15:03

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The last A model was later converted and used as a mothership for the X-15 program.

Balls 3, aka “The High and Mighty One”, was retired in ‘69 and is on display at Pima:

ttyymmnn > McMike 04/17/2020 at 15:04

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I replied to Skyfire (or at least I thought I did) that I looked at Wiki and saw that they only built 3 A models and those all went for testing. The B model was the first to enter USAF service.

McMike > user314 04/17/2020 at 15:11

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Makes sense.

user314 > Chariotoflove 04/17/2020 at 15:40

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FWIW, most types of torps the US had at the beginning of the war, aerial, surface and submarine, all used the same basic arming and detonating units, which sucked. Torpedoes were expensive to procure and the contractor was slow to build (at some points they were only producing 250 units per year ), and as a result the Navy was reticent to test them to destruction. As a result most US torps had numerous flaws, not limited to :

R unning   deeper than set due to live warheads being heavier than test units

M agnetic detonators often causing premature firing, or failing to fire at all.

C ontact detonators often failing to fire the warhead.

Torpedoes of various marks tended to run “circular”, failing to straighten course once set on its prescribed gyro-angle setting, and instead running in a large circle, returning to strike the firing ship. At least two subs, the Tullibee and t he Tang were both sunk by their own torpedoes, and several more were suspected of meeting the same fate.

3point8isgreat > user314 04/17/2020 at 16:07

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Replace the wings entirely with just more engines.  Get forward thrust and lift from engines at different angles.  

Chariotoflove > user314 04/17/2020 at 17:06

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That's interesting.  And yet despite all those limitations, my understanding is that submarines, notably the notorious U-boats, were terrifyingly effective instruments for disrupting shipping.  This deserves more research.

user314 > Chariotoflove 04/17/2020 at 17:21

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Well, we all know the Germans always make good stuff , so it stands to reason that their torpedoes were b etter than the USN’s, especially early in the war. By ‘43 or ‘44, the reliability issues with our torps was being worked out , and war-time production was also being picked up by Westinghouse, American Can , Pontiac, and International Harvester.

Chariotoflove > user314 04/17/2020 at 17:42

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Yeah, but I bet depreciation was killer. Maybe it’s  time for Unnecessary Torpedo Shopping.

ttyymmnn > user314 04/17/2020 at 18:09

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When the B-1 and B-2 (and B-21) are parked in the desert for good, the crews will ride home in a B-52. 

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/17/2020 at 18:10

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Something tells me the Navy guy has a little bit more pickup. Best not to try and race him for pinks. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 18:19

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Very true!

It was also the first time either I or my instructor were ever told to taxi back to the threshold before taking off. There was traffic piling up at Hotel and the controller wanted to get us off the tarmac as quickly as possible without putting us at risk of wake turbulence. By taxiing back to Lima, we would lift off earlier and be above the expected wake turbulence from that Goshawk. In fact, it’s the only time I’ve ever had to taxi back on a runway!

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Chariotoflove 04/17/2020 at 23:28

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Torpedos are extremely effective, even in ww2 with low probablity of striking, connecting does an enormous damage, and more importantly damage below the waterline. It can take dozens or hundreds of shells to knock a ship out, but a reala tively few torpedos could bring an armored ship to the bottom, let alone a lightly armoreddestroyer or unarmored supply ship.

the major difference is you could make and man a thousand aircraft for the cost of one capital ship.

Uboats enjoyed much more initial success due to the slow convoys they were attacking with excellent torpedoes. US ship early in the war were plagued with mark 14, in some cases having to launch all tubes hoping 1 or 2 might detonate. when they only carried 24 this severely limited their fighting capability. It should be noted, that although the uboats get the most attention for sub attack,s ( sinking 3.1million tons) the US navy sank 8 million tons of the IJN .

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 04/17/2020 at 23:47

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A couple weeks old. 

“More aircraft were launched after 10 ships, than the Japanese launched in the attack at the start of the war ”

ttyymmnn > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 04/18/2020 at 00:08

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The US so outmatched the Japanese at that point that it was almost ridiculous. The Japanese were up against Murderer’s Row, perhaps the strongest fleet ever assembled in history.

Here’s the tale of the tape. Ten aircraft lost. 

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 04/18/2020 at 01:05

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It really was insane. 2 of the “ cruisers” Alaska and guam had 12" guns Thats ww1 battleship size. .

ttyymmnn > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 04/18/2020 at 01:14

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I just got through reading the Wiki article about the battle. Imagine what it would have been like to be a US pilot at the time, knowing that you had complete mastery of the air and the battle space. Then imagine being a Japanese sailor, knowing that you were likely going to your death. We fought Midway with three carriers and lost one. We fought this battle with EIGHT carriers and 400 aircraft. We lost TEN aircraft in the battle. It’s just crazy. Arsenal of Democracy FTW.   

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Chariotoflove 04/18/2020 at 01:20

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dr%C3%B8bak_Sound

In terms of effectiveness, the Norwegians were able to sink a brand new German heavy cruiser with just 2 ancient torpedos.

Lesson in war, don’t slowly steam your ship up a narrow channel

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 04/18/2020 at 01:36

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The idea there were more aircraft than the ja panese had AA guns. T he first wave On you , also knocks out over 1/2 your escorts. Oh and you’re still 8 hours (max speed) from your objective. 

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ttyymmnn > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 04/18/2020 at 01:47

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Well, that was horrifying to watch. The scene where the Japanese gunners thought they had shot down an American plane, only to have the PBY swoop in and pick up the pilot. Damn. I’d really rather not think of how horrible the entire Pacific war was for all the combatants. The Wiki article does say that some Japanese survivors said that the Americans strafed survivors in the water, while other reports say that the Americans stopped the attacks as the Japanese  destroyers moved in to pick up survivors. I would like to believe the latter is true.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 04/18/2020 at 03:03

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It’s a bit rich of the Japanese to complain about the helpless. Let alone for them on a suicide mission. For 2+ hours you had a airborne feeding frenzy. While launching kamikazes at the carrier fleet. Given the hell of the pacific theatre and  Japanese actions of shooting survivors it is difficult to have any remorse, of removing a destroyer threat

Chariotoflove > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 04/18/2020 at 08:27

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And of course I immediately thought of this: