Recent content by shiro_amada_jp

I tried landing an A6M Zero on a carrier during a thunderstorm. Although I managed to get the plane on the deck, I had a difficult time correcting the plane's orientation during the final approach as the winds would blow it off to the starboard side of the ship. I had to use extensive left...

These are all very interesting. Thanks for your inputs! I do have a couple of questions further: TBF Avengers were typically armed with bombs and torpedoes. Were there actual incidents in the war that they had to use rockets against targets? (Similar to what F4U Corsairs used for close air...

I'm writing an article about WWII combat aircraft. One of the points of interest in the article is about evasive tactics. What were the tactics that TBF Avenger pilots used to evade enemy fighters that attacked them? Let's assume that the Avengers are flying without any fighter escort.

What is the best way to avoid antiaircraft fire during ground attack missions?

Wildcat, the article originated from Manila Bulletin, a newspaper in the Philippines. Most Filipinos call WWII-era planes as Tora-Toras, regardless of the plane's country of origin. Up to now I'm still unsure as to why they call it as such, but perhaps this can be attributed to the film that was...

Very interesting. I haven't thought of it that way. What about IJN pilots though? Did they have the same average number of kills?

For USN pilots during the later years of WWII, what was the average number of kills?

Yeah, I've done the same thing on a carrier once my landing gear was damaged from battle.

I've flown missions where my landing gear was damaged. How do you land on a carrier when this happens? During final approach for landing, I fly the plane as if everything were normal: flaps down for landing, hook down and I have managed to put my plane on the deck of the carrier (with damage of...

Capt. Vick, my apologies for confusing you. The "unit" that I was referring to in my initial post refers to individual aircraft, not groups of aircraft.

An article in wikipedia claims that the IJN captured some F4U Corsair units during the war. Is there any proof of this claim? F4U Corsair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It seems to me that the gauges on the instrument panel of WWII fighter aircraft are more readable when the panel lights are turned on (even during the day). Were pilots known to do this in combat in WWII?

Yeah, I'm in the cockpit with a pilot's view. Although I can land on the carrier, the approach is unstabilized--I tend to pitch up and down and correct the Corsair's flight path to compensate for the plane's long snout.

I just started flying the F4U Corsair and I noticed that it is relatively easier to land it on a carrier as compared to the A6M Zero. I made my first trap on my first attempt. The Corsair has a longer tailhook than a Zero's. Would this have an effect on the ease of landing on a carrier?

In Pacific Fighters, how should you use the combat flaps on a fighter aircraft, say the A6M Zero? Do you deploy them when you want to turn in a dogfight or if you want to slow down to force an enemy aircraft into an overshoot?