Brewster Buffalo Series Pt 10 Onslaught in Malaya

The first blow in the Pacific War against the western Allies was directed not against the Americans, but the British. Just before Pearl Harbor, Japanese troops landed at Kota Bharu on the east coast of Malaya. This was part of their plan to eliminate the Allied air forces in preparation for their main blow against territories of the British and Dutch empires. Pitted against them were four squadrons of Brewster Buffalo fighters piloted by British, Australian, and New Zealand airmen. The struggle for control of the air over northern Malaya would take place over the next two days in a series of actions that would set the tone for the remainder of the campaign.

Source Material:

Singapore at War! - Bob Hackett:

Buffaloes over Singapore - Brian Cull

Brewster F2A Buffalo Aces of World War Two - Kari Stenman and Andrew Thomas

Aircraft Profile 217: The Brewster Buffalo - Christopher Shores

Royal Air Force 1939-1945, Vol II The Fight Avails - Denis Richards and Hilary St.G Saunders:

[RichardGoth]

Great work! never seen a video about this in such detail before!

[SAIUN]

Watched it once yesterday, here we go again. It seems like I'm always listening to Mark Seven while I'm working. You are a legend, dude. I've learned so much about these "obscure" chapters of WW2 thanks to your hard work! Keep doing what you are doing!

[TotalGarbo]

Your channel deserves way more subs. Always solid work

[nicjones]

Great stuff. The British and Commonwealth response to the Japanese invasion is almost a model of how not to defend territory and as such transcended the undeniable bravery of service personnel on the ground. On a practical note, I was intrigued by the 'clipped' appearance of the Blenheim's left wing tip and the semi-solid appearance of the nose in the shot covering the 15-16 minute mark. Presumably this is the heavy work of an official censor of the day.

[MartinMcAvoy]

Thank you very much for the hard work you have put into this series. The loss of Malaya and Singapore was a shameful episode in the history of the UK but as you know, the British were involved in a life a death struggle of their own and the losses the Royal Navy suffered in the Mediterranean in 1941, were appalling. The 16th century Elizabethan spymaster said that the (price of) “Knowledge is never too dear” and the disaster suffered by the Commonwealth troops was as much an intelligence failure as it was of logistics. What a mess!

[JayGuitars]

I’d read about 30yrs ago that the Finn’s inverted the oil rings in their buffalo to stop crankcase pressure and hence not have the oilling windshield issue.

[nowthenzen]

Another great one, Mr. 7. History buffs like your viewers are continually open mouthed at the mistakes made by allied commanders in those early days of the Pacific war (who puts an airdrome a short walk away from the invasion beach?) but we are fully in possession of a vast amount of hindsight and must temper out judgements or at least our criticism, accordingly. However, while it is true no capital ship had been sunk while underway and at sea up until Adm. Philips made history that day, Phillips was entirely aware that one fortunate aerial torpedo hit started the chain of events that sent Bismarck to the bottom. Also, Phillips had to be aware that Warspite was so battered by German bombers in action around Crete she was out of the war for 6 months being repaired. While It may have been a defensible opinion capital ships were bomb resistant, Billy Mitchell proved two decades before enough high explosives will sink anything.

[garyhooper]

Excellent narrative of the early set backs of the Pacific . Thanks Mark

[Dannyt]

Delighted you're still around. Out of curiosity why were your spotify podcasts removed? I really miss them.

[shengyi]

If the Brits had some submarines with aggressive commanders using Wolfpack tactics, they would have targeted the troop transports. But that’s just fantasy I know … but that would have been crucial given what the Hudsons did to some troop transports. Infantry struggling in the water don’t last long and will be finished off by the elements.

For Matador to have succeeded, you would have needed an airborne division to execute a mini Markey Garden to secure Singora and Patani