Dogfights: Guadalcanal Part 2

[SolutreanWarrior]

Great video wonderful ace's Great Warriors !

[Bushy556]

F4f had 6 .50s but only had about 18 sec worth of ammo. The pilots wanted more ammo so they changed to 4 .50s in the fm2 and got 30 sec of ammo. One navy commander said if you can't hit them with 4 50s you can't hit them with 8. The later f6f hellcats had 6 50s.

[no1kiyoko]

Why were US fighters so ugly but P51?

All Japanese planes were so looking good.

[Finkie147]

@no1kiyoko because of their theatre and purpose. They have big Pratt & Whitney engines, more guns, armour plating, ammo and larger fuel tanks for greater range from carriers. Japanese fighters were designed for aerial combat agility and shorter ranges as Japan was involved in an island-hoping expansion. Overall, the America design was better as they could take more punches and throw more powerful punches. Japanese planes flew well and looked pretty, but looks don't win fist fights!

[mcstaal]

wildcat got 4 x 50 cal machineguns, the hellcat got 6. Why do the always get this wrong when the animations clearly shows it?

[bfahren]

@mcstaal F4F-4 had 6 .50 machineguns (the F4F-3 had 4). Navy pilots complained about this model because the additional machineguns added weight cutting (even more) the agility and climbing speed of the fighter.

Also FM-1/2 (General Motors built Wildcat) had 4 guns, but it was mostly used for escort and light carriers.

[strikezero01]

What a brave guy! He knew his plane was cripple however he keeps ready to be a sharks value meal...

[generalzod4life]

4 kills in a day! Smith was the Man!

[MontezumaUH60]

psh, dumb japansies. Army and Marines on the ground and Navy with em in the air equals triple ass-kicking

[Ralfast]

I gotta say that these Marines (not a fan) had guts going after Zeroes with Wildcats. I known tropical conditions like those on Guadalcanal. It ain't no picnic. Add an enemy desperate to obliterate you and you're in for a world of hurt.

[bucnomore11]

@Ralfast not a fan of the marines? do you find the whole" first one in last one out " to be overrated or soemthing

[Ralfast]

@bucnomore11 More like the Halls of Montezuma bit.

[DumDumNews1]

the Japanese guy would've be okay been OK but he kept reversing his turn which allowed the f4f to stay on his 6:00.

[dj17q]

One thing I dont like about this tv series is it only show the allied side. The japanese pilot and planes are just as good, but 'em pro yanks just dont want to talk about it. Sheeesh!!!

[bucnomore11]

@dj17q only "pro yanks" are the "pro"fessional american fighters like DeBlanc who shit on the Japs

[dj17q]

@bucnomore11 Then you just dont know everything. Time to do a bit of history lesson mate, you certainly need it.....

[aitouammi]

good docu but a lot of music !!

[Mattebubben]

in the Guadacanal Campaign 42 Zeros where shotdown and 41 wildcats

[SilverSurfer3o]

It says the zero is faster and much more maneverable so it should easily escape the attack but i saw the 2 planes going at the same speed.

[kepler98]

i cant download it, damn

[MrTony079]

in this tv show you dont see any allied losses.

[FilipinoZeroFighter]

this guy fatso - he's probably mad at "flyers" because he can't get his arse off the ground.

[XFatsoX78]

fuck all of you aircraft flyers hope you all die in the war we are in and go to hell bitches have a nice day :)

[driftkingz109]

when the guy said 6 .50 cal @1:57 it looks more like 4 .50's

[bangerrify]

remember the 20mm would have had a slower rate of fire so four .50cals could have put more bullets in the air and done more damage to a lightly armored opponent

[Point50Cal]

@bangerrify Not to mention that the 20mm has piss-poor effective range, so it can only do damage if the Zero is really close, and the only thing the Zero has to match the Wildcat at longer ranges are its 7.7mm machine guns. The Wildcat's .50 cals can easily murder a Zero before it can even get close enough to use the 20mm cannons.

[IIIJG52]

@Point50Cal so would you say that even at Thunderbolt has better armament than lets say the FW190 ?because 8 50.cal are better than 2 7.9mm-13mm and 4 20mm?it may be better against the zero because it has nearly no armor but against that you can even use a single 30.cal and have a good armament.

[Point50Cal]

@IIIJG52 Pure firepower wise, I'd say the Fw-190 wins. But there's a lot more to overall effectiveness of weapons than just sheer hitting power. .50 cals are more effective during WWII because they manage to balance both effective range and hitting power. Of course, with the advent of jet fighters, range of guns hardly mattered because jets can close in with each other so much faster, so cannons completely replaced machine guns.

[Point50Cal]

@Point50Cal However, back when prop-driven fighters still ruled the skies, the range of the guns mattered a lot more. As the old adage goes, you can't kill what you can't hit. That, of course, and generally, whoever hits first usually wins the fight. The .50 cal machine guns gave all US fighters this capability to hit first, and with the proper ammo, can easily pack a serious punch on their own right.

[Point50Cal]

@Point50Cal Therefore, in conclusion, .50 cals back in WWII are superior to both cannons and light caliber machine guns, simply because they are so well-balanced. They sure hit harder than .30 cals, but can hit further than cannons could.

[StryderK]

@Point50Cal

It also depends on the barrel length of the 20mm. Early A6M2/M3 version of the Zero had piss poor barrel length for its 20mm's. This mean that the bullets stayed in the barrel far shorter and had piss poor initial velocity, meaning that its range were poor and short. This became a big problem when the Japanese had to stare down the barrels of the F4f and later, the P-38 and worse, the Hellcats and Corsairs. By the M5 model, the barrel length was increased, at the expense of firerate

[Point50Cal]

@StryderK Very true. Barrel length is a serious difference maker when it comes to effectiveness of a gun, especially since it affected velocity. Thanks for sharing the info on the A6M5s, I always knew they were the better Zeroes, which honestly came too late to make much of a difference.

[StryderK]

@Point50Cal

ACtually M5 model of the Zero had alot of upgrades, but they are all incremental, and only forced on by the ultra conservative Japanese Army when they are being slaughtered by the Hellcats and Corsairs. These included not only the more effective 20mm, but an uprated engine, more armor for the pilot, and better range. But it did nothing to solve Zero's greatest weakness, the lack of self-sealing fuel tanks and armor for them.

[justforever96]

Is it really accurate to say that the Wildcat was "more heavily armed" than the Zero? I was under the impression that the Zero's twin-20mm cannon were considered heavier armament than the .50cals of the F4F. I suppose considering rate of fire, number of barrels, and the relative power would be about equal. Lets say that a few .50cal bullets will damage a Zero about as much as a 20mm cannon shell will damage a Wildcat. But I'd still say they wre roughly equal as far as all that goes.

[TheLoonyMonk]

I think he meant more heavily armored

[justforever96]

I was talking about what he says (and writes) in the video. He says "armed" and and the text says "armament", which both refer to weaponry. They would just say "armor" if that's what he meant. He did through "tougher" in with "more heavily armed", but that's cheating.

[DamnControl2]

I hope youtube don't delete these videos.

[whitesox889]

Somebody post the supersonic episode, please.

[Historystartsnow]

I already did

[manwithcam15]

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