Show me - if thing were so exagerated why did they (the Japanese) loose control over the skies over Rabual, Guadalcanal, and New Guinea which ultimately led them getting kicked out of the Philippines. Even if you split the stats posted in half, the Japanese losses were devastating.
The Japanese airforce was still in strength well up to the end of 1943. After the start of 1944, then the whole thing fell apart.
And my source book for Japanese Loss's is for the IJN. It has an interesting appendix which compares the loss's of the IJN to that of the USAAF. It was astonishing to see how exagerated the claims for both sides were.
And yes the Japanese loss's were devestating. It was a combination of loss's in the air, lots of loss's on the ground and a breakdown of their logistics needed to keep them flying. But all three of those didnt occur untill late 1943. Remember, we didnt even take Bougainville untill Dec 1943 or The Admiralties untill Feb 1944. Untill those bases were taken, the Japanese air threat was still real.
Far and few as history played out...
Agreed. I didnt mean to say there were a lot of them.
A few? Look up FEAFs B-24 losses, they were next to nothing when compared to the European theater, mainly becuase the Japanese didn't have the planes to throw up against the bombers....
To the allied airplane that was about to be shot down by a Japanese fighter piloted by an experienced pilot, it was a "few" too many.
My wife's grandfather was in the 30th BG 819th BS - I read their history, from 1943 to 1945 you could almost count on two hands their losses to enemy fighters. During that time they bombed their way from Kwajalein to Siapan....
Thanks to the USN, the central pacific was wiped clean of all Japanese airforces. Flyboy, I know you are aware that the PTO covered a good chunk of the planet. There were five distinct area's where the air ops took place. Just because the 30th BG in the central pacific rarely (if ever) came up against a Japanese fighter, doesnt mean the 308th BG in the CBI or the 380th in the Western NG area or the 90th BG over eastern NG didnt come up against them.
And what happened to the experienced pilots at Midway? .
Most of the fighter pilots were in the air when the three carriers were bombed. The torpedo and dive bombers crews took most of those bad loss's
My whole point is on the infrequent occasions when the allied pilots came up against an experienced pilot flying one of the later model fighters, they had their hands full. On plenty of occasions, the bombers took a few loss's. Nothing that would crimp operations, but a loss either way you count it.
My question is if the B24's were just barely able to defend themselves against Japanese fighters, how could a Lanc with inferior defensive firepower do the same?
