Quote:
Originally Posted by bookworm_020
Chuck Yeager Said that a good pilot in a bad plane can beat a bad pilot in a good plane.
I read the the combat history of the Japanese Ace Saburo Sakai, He fought 6 F6F's off Iwo, despite being outnumbered, flying an outdated Zero and blind in one eye, he damaged one and managed to return to base without a single bullet hole in his plane!
Remember early in the war Japan had a large force of combat experienced pilots, but by the end of the war, most of the pilots were lucky to have more than a dozen flight hours.
|
from what I recall from his memoirs, Sakai singlehandedly fought off
15 F6 in that battle off Iwo. He would wait until the fighter was in firing position on his tail and roll away before the pilot could react. When he got back to base, he said his whole body was mush from the stress and he had to be helped from the plane.
but the greatest performance was probably that of the japanese ace Muto over the japanese mainland in february 1945. He took on 12 corsairs (or hellcats, the accounts differ) in a Zero and shot down 4.