Author Topic: Sakai's Long Flight Home 5/25/05 (Read 857 times)

Nefarious · « **on:** May 23, 2005, 02:01:49 PM »

On August 7, 1942, 18 Zeroes received the order to attack Guadalcanal. The range from Rabaul was 560 miles, barely within the range of the Zero fighters. Sakai shot down 3 F4F's in this battle and then found 8 enemy planes in the distance, which he presumed to be F4F’s as well ... he was wrong. They were SBD Dauntless dive-bombers, with eager rear machine gunners. Sakai's Zero became a target for 16 guns. Never the less, Sakai shot down 3 SBD’s before being hit in the forehead head by a bullet which almost blinded his right eye and left him somewhat paralyzed. He survived, flying 4 hours and almost 600 miles back to Rabaul. He barely had eyesight but was able to land his plane. By the time he landed, his gas tank was empty. In this Snapshot, we will designate two pilots. One As Sakai, and another as his wingman.

http://events.hitechcreations.com/snapshots/snapshot.php?snapshot_id=92

See ya Wenesday Night, at 10PM EST in the Special Events Arena. All Welcome.

Karnak · « **Reply #1 on:** May 23, 2005, 03:19:22 PM »

I am familiar with his flight, but I have never seen those kill claims along with it. The F4Fs yes, but no SBDs. The way I read it he was hit on his first pass, knocked unconsious and woke up spiraling towards the sea at 10,000ft.

Personally I doubt he got 3 F4Fs either. I'd bet he hit them with some 7.7mm and they dove to the deck and withdrew, looking like a kill. I think that was a common occurance and is a big reason the Japanese overclaimed so much. I don't think they really appriciated how tough American fighters were,

SuperDud · « **Reply #2 on:** May 23, 2005, 03:21:27 PM »

Still takes some big ones(and luck) to get shot in the face and fly 600 miles home lol:D

68DevilM · « **Reply #3 on:** May 23, 2005, 05:52:24 PM »

i get a dead link?

ChickenHawk · « **Reply #4 on:** May 23, 2005, 06:20:16 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Karnak
I am familiar with his flight, but I have never seen those kill claims along with it. The F4Fs yes, but no SBDs. The way I read it he was hit on his first pass, knocked unconsious and woke up spiraling towards the sea at 10,000ft.

Thats how it was in the book I read.

Pongo · « **Reply #5 on:** May 24, 2005, 12:11:45 AM »

The japanese set new records for overclaiming at GC. Their intel folks figured they had it wiped out 3 times over and never really contributed enough force to suppress the place becuase they believed their pilots claimes.

increadable flight though.

FiLtH · « **Reply #6 on:** May 24, 2005, 04:49:31 AM »

I read they were TBFs, and he came up from below thinking they were SBDs, and got popped in the noodle.

T0J0 · « **Reply #7 on:** May 24, 2005, 07:34:19 AM »

Everyone overclaimed when the film ran out... Someone matched missing pilot records against Sakai's claims and proved he was over claiming kills...

TJ

SunTracker · « **Reply #8 on:** May 24, 2005, 01:11:33 PM »

Its not quite that easy. Pretend you are a Zero pilot. You fire a burst and hit an American plane a few hundred yards in front of you. Smoke and chunks of metal fly off the plane, and it rolls inverted and falls straight down.

Is the American plane dead? Do you circle to watch it go in, or continue fighting the other planes in the area?

Sabre · « **Reply #9 on:** May 24, 2005, 02:10:55 PM »

I read Sakai's book, and remember it being Avengers as well. That's why he though it was safe to come in from below them. As for over-claiming kills, yeah, I'm sure he did (not intentionally, but just because of fog of war). Nonetheless, an incredible story of survival. Even more amazing is what happened after. He was shipped home, and told he'd never fly again. He went under the knife to have the remnants of his one eye removed, and have the other eye repaired (took some glass in it). As I recall, he was concious during the operation (still gives me heeby-jeebies when I recall the account). He resumed flying, training pilots, then raised heck to get the IJN to send him to Okinawa to defend it from the coming invasion. They finally relented, figuring a half-blind Saburo Sakai was probably 10 times more effective than 95% of the IJN pilots available. He fought in the opening air battles, until there were no more planes to fly (didn't take long), then got shipped out on the last boat/plane/sub (can't recall) that made it out ahead of the Marines. He survived the war, which is perhaps the most amazing feat of all.

SunTracker · « **Reply #10 on:** May 24, 2005, 03:24:06 PM »

Sakai was impressed by the new F6Fs. He said that while they couldnt turn quite as well as the Zero, they could outrun and outclimb them. I believe he ran into a flight of them thinking they were Zeros, but the F6F pilots were inexperienced and kept spinning their planes.

AKFokerFoder+ · « **Reply #11 on:** May 24, 2005, 03:32:11 PM »

Did he get any kills on Okinawa?

His head shot reminds one of the simular plight of the Red Baron. Basically the German high command and popular opinion forced him to fly when he should have been grounded for the rest of his life.

As for flying with one eye, Edward Mannock, the highest scoring British Ace of WW1 was blind in one eye from a cataract.

Karnak · « **Reply #12 on:** May 24, 2005, 03:57:46 PM »

He claimed 5 more after resuming combat flight in A6M5s. At least one of those, from his description, was a definate kill.

Even though his total wasn't that high in reality (I've seen guesses of 20s and 30s) he is one of my favorite aces because of his integrity, honor and attitude. Be glad he didn't have fighters like the Germans, Americans and British to use.

Flyboy · « **Reply #13 on:** May 25, 2005, 08:21:07 AM »

its today, come fly it you dweebs!

Nefarious · « **Reply #14 on:** May 25, 2005, 07:00:37 PM »

-2 Hours, See ya there!