A6M2 'Zero' vs F4F 'Wildcat' - An Unfair Fight in the Pacific?

Did you know that the Battle of the Coral Sea happened between May 4 - 8, exactly 75 years ago from the posting of this video?

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⚜ Sources ⚜
A6M2 Technical Manual, extracts;

Aerodata International U.S. Navy Carrier Fighters of WWII F2A Buffalo; F4F Wildcat; F6F Hellcat; F4U Corsair; F8F Bearcat;

Anthony G. Williams & Emmanuel Gurin, Flying Guns of World War II, The Crowood Press UK, 2003;

Army Air Forces, Memorandum Report on Japanese Zero Fighter, November 1943;

Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, Airplane Characteristics & Performance, Model F4F-4, July 1943, extracts;

Don Linn, Perry Manley and Don Greer, F4F Wildcat in Action (Aircraft In Action 1084), Squadron Signal (1988);

Detail specification for Model F4F-3 Airplane, SD-235-3-1B, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Report No. 1469A;

Detail specification for Model F4F-4 Airplane, SD-235-4-3A, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Report No. 1471C;

Edward Young and Jim Laurier, F4F Wildcat vs A6M Zero-sen - Pacific Theater 1942, Osprey Publishing (2013);

Francis H. Dean, America's Hundred Thousand: U.S. Production Fighters of World War II, Schiffer Publishing (1996),

Richard Dunn, Exploding Fuel Tanks, extracts, 2011

Inter-office memorandum, Army Air Forces, Performance and Characteristics of the Japanese Zero Model A6M2 Airplane, October 1942;

Intelligence Service U.S. Army Air Forces, Informational Intelligence Summary No.85, Flight characteristics of the Japanese Zero Fighter, December 1942;

John B. Lundstrom, The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2005), 452-453.

J. Horikoshi, A Research on the Improvement of Flying Qualities of Piloted Airplanes, extracts;

Headquarters, Twenty Third Fighter Group, General Technical Data and Flight Characteristics of the Japanese Zero Fighter Airplane, February 1943;

U.S. Naval Air Station, Model F4F-4 Airplane – Miscellaneous Tests (Droppable Fuel Tanks, Performance at Military Power, Combat Comparison), September 1942;

U.S. Naval Air Station, Model F4F-4 Airplane with Full Span Flaps – Performance Tests, September 1942;

R.A.A.F. Headquarters, Directorate of Technical Services – Special Duties and Performance Flight, Report on Brief Flight Trials of Japanese Fighter Type 0, October 1943;

Rene J. Francillon, Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero-Sen (Aircraft Profile 129), Profile Publications Ltd;

Irushi Yememoto, IJN Zero battle Diary: Victories and Losses for Zero over Solomon, Volumes 1 to 3, translated extracts;

[joaogomes]

"This caused some allied pilots to think the zero was hit and was going down, when it reality all was fine"
*shows footage of a zero on fire with a bailing pilot in a situation that can only be described as "all is not fine"*

[anzaca]

24:46 The Japanese also made the mistake of never rotating their experienced pilots back home in order to train new pilots. This meant that valuable combat experience was constantly being lost. In contrast, Allied aces were routinely transferred back home, allowing them to give new pilots the benefit of their experience. This meant that Allied pilots fresh out of flight school were effectively experienced pilots already.

[cryhavoc]

My uncle was a U.S. Marine who fought in the Pacific campaign. After taking an island from the Japanese runways were built from scratch or existing runways were repaired. He told me that sometimes the Wildcats and Hellcats would come back from flying a mission, and be so shot full of holes that you could "see daylight on the other side." Yet they were still flying well enough to get our pilots back to base.

[Ocrilat]

British pilot John Herbert, flying off the carrier Victorious: 'Concerning the Wildcat I echo the line of our best test pilots - it was probably the finest deck-landing aircraft ever built. I once landed a Wildcat with a hole in one wing big enough to put my desk through. I've landed with most of my tail shot away and with holes all over it, and bits dripping out of the engine, and the bloody thing still flew. It was incredibly good.'

[ThePremiumChicken]

The Thatch Weave was such a brilliant dogfighting maneuver.

[ajigglywhale]

Why can't the "History Channel" just hire people like you and other from YouTube that have a genuine passion to do pieces like these? This was really well made, entertaining and informative. Keep it up!

[FaCubeItches]

The Wildcat's toughness relative to the Zero can't be undersold - there was an (at the time, at least) famous quote to the effect that "a Wildcat could take 3 minutes from a Zero, but a Zero can't take 3 seconds from a Wildcat."

[callenclarke]

This video rises to the level of a master-class on historical aircraft performance. I am writing a novel about the Lexington (CV-2.) I consider this video invaluable.

[MeLancer]

Thank you! This must be the best video I've seen on combat aircraft. It has clearly been impeccably researched and presented in fine detail.

[Cheka__]

Those are amazing graphics, for 1946.

[justinpyke]

Determining performance of Japanese aircraft is a pain, even today. The Japanese didn't do us any favours by only recording performance on mil power, not WEP.

[airmackeeee]

@Military Aviation History. Love your channel mate! Keep up the good work. About 2 weeks ago I went to the museum at the Camarillo Airport in Camarillo, California. The museum hangar doors were open to view the ramp. Outside, 3 WW2 era planes were lined up, having their final checks & preflights conducted, prior to flying to Reno for the air races. What 3 old aircraft were lined up before me? A Japanese Zero, an F6F Hellcat, and the ONLY still-flying US NAVY B-25 Mitchell PBJ!! What a sight!! The museum curators not only let us stay after the museum had closed to watch these venerable aircraft, they led us out past the ramp, to along side the taxiway to watch the 3 aircraft takeoff. Amazing experience!!

[MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

excellent one! You clearly set a new bar!

[jj-nvkf]

When I talked to Saboro Saki, he said the biggest problem with the Zero was that it was too maneuverable and an inexperienced pilot would tear the wings off.

[nickhaynie]

Great video. Im happy that the wildcat gets some kudos for hanging in there when the fighting was most desperate. at Coral Sea and Midway the wildcat were hard pressed but with practical tactics they were able to hang on.

[pdoylemi]

Very good analysis. Possibly a tad generous to the F4F, but made the very real point that it was not the completely helpless plane it is often portrayed to have been.

[JamesSavik]

There is NO SUCH THING as a FAIR FIGHT. You go to war with what you've got.

[GodOfWar]

Amazing video, I can tell you put a lot of effort into it. As a fellow history buff, I can appreciate the small details. Great video!

[stevenboykin]

This is how much of a BADASS Jimmy Thach was, "In early 1940, he was placed in command of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3). There he met a young ensign just out of flight school,  Edward O'Hare, later a Medal of Honorrecipient. Thach made O'Hare his wingmanand taught him everything he knew." That's most of the first paragraph of the WWII section on the wikipedia page of Jimmy Thach. He taught Butch O'Hare (a man who has an air port named after him, A METAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT!!!) everything he knew.



MAD RESPECT!!!

[timsullivan]

Excellent work! Your carefully scripted presentation delivers a clear perspective that is strongly convincing, the width of its scope assuring a thorough investigation with sources supplied for all supporting data.
And this on You Tube of all places... who would've thought? Bravo.