Thumpalumpacus
Major
I don't doubt you. While I don't know enough about the matter to argue his claim, I defer to your knowledge, sure.
He has a smug and smarmy mien that inspires distrust in me, but I watched to entire show anyway.
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That's completely bogus. There are signal message exchanges between AHQFE and Mingaladon asking about the status of their intelligence holdings, with specific mention of intelligence about the A6M. Mingaladon responded that they had received the information. There's also traffic from 67 Sqn noting that P/O Wigglesworth, one of the pilots, had been tasked with the secondary duty of Squadron Int Officer and that he'd set up an intel table in the squadron ops room where all pilots could access and peruse available intel.
AFAIK, the actual source of the "locked in a draw" comment has never been discovered. It sounds like hearsay and is certainly not supported by (the admittedly limited) available files in the UK National Archives.
The AVG was the 1st group (fighter) the 2nd group was to be bombers (never got there) and a 3rd group (fighters) was planned. A total of 500 aircraft were planned for the 3 groups plus use by the Chinese air force. Granted this may have taken until some time in 1942 to complete.
Could be.Plus a British Volunteer Group comprising one squadron each of Blenheims and Buffalos that was being recruited just as the Japanese attacked. I suspect the provision of 32 Buffalos to Mingaladon just for 67 Sqn was actually meant to equip the BVG Buffalo squadron as well.
More were enroute.I don't know if the Philippines had gotten all their allotted P-40s or if more were scheduled to arrive.
More were enroute.
The Pensacola (or Republic) convoy TG 15.5 was a joint Army/Navy reinforcement convoy intended to land men and material in the Philippines and enroute during the attack on Pearl and the Philippines. It was rerouted to Australia and received RAN protection during it's final leg to Australia.
I believe some of the crated P-40s and USAAC personnel delivered from that convoy were lost while in transit from Australia to Ceylon when the IJN sank the USS Langley.
Japan had some good kit. Too bad they were on the wrong side.
I'm not sure, perhaps - I'm going by memory on the convoy, so some better detail will be lacking since I don't have my books handy.Weren't some also taken on charge by RAAF? Or am I confusing something I "remember" reading?
I'm not sure, perhaps - I'm going by memory on the convoy, so some better detail will be lacking since I don't have my books handy.
Hopefully one of the guys here can provide a better detail on the disposition of the crated P-40s diverted from the PI to Australia.
There's a couple guys here who are really sharp on finite PTO details.I'm going on mems too, no foul. Hope like you that others will flesh this out.
Agreed. Imagine their success if they'd played for the other side and joined Britain in 1939-41 in exchange for British recognition of Manchukuo. IJN vs. Italy's horn colonies and at Matapan. We'd probably see Japanese ownership of Korea and Formosa even to today.They didn't just have good kit, they had good doctrine, tactics, and training. Look at Java Sea or Savo Island, they used nightfighting to advantage. Their defeat was nigh inevitable after Pearl Harbor, but that didn't mean they could not exact a cost -- and they did.
Agreed. Imagine their success if they'd played for the other side and joined Britain in 1939-41 in exchange for British recognition of Manchukuo. IJN vs. Italy's horn colonies and at Matapan. We'd probably see Japanese ownership of Korea and Formosa even to today.
I imagine had a new government in Tokyo approached Churchill's nascent government in August 1940 with an offer to join her traditional ally and declare war on both Germany and Italy in exchange for easing of British sanctions and a recognition of Manchukuo, Churchill (or his opposition) might have been tempted, no matter what atrocities Japan was guilty of in China. A couple of IJN fast fleets alongside HMS Illustrious at Taranto that November would be useful.The West would have had to treat the Japanese as equals, and I don't know that our socio-cultural mores of the time would have permitted that. The Japanese atrocities in the China war, and the revulsion they engendered in the UK and especially the US, were a major obstacle too.
I imagine had a new government in Tokyo approached Churchill's nascent government in August 1940 with an offer to join her traditional ally and declare war on both Germany and Italy in exchange for easing of British sanctions and a recognition of Manchukuo, Churchill (or his opposition) might have been tempted, no matter what atrocities Japan was guilty of in China. A couple of IJN fast fleets alongside HMS Illustrious at Taranto that November would be useful.
The Brits were shafted by the WNT as well, it's common ground if anything. Sure, they got parity with the upstart former colonists and their USN, but while the Exchequer may be relieved, the WNT was a humiliation for the RN and Britain.The Japanese had already signed on with the Axis by 1940, and again, you're going to have to find some way to wipe away 17 years of bitterness after WNT in the minds of Japanese naval officers, and likely their Army as well. No one likes being treated that way. They saw the derogated limitations as a humiliation (Hara, Destroyer Captain) and were not likely to pursue your suggestion as a result, I don't think.
Although I agree with you, the Japanese militarists didn't see it that way.The Brits were shafted by the WNT as well, it's common ground if anything. Sure, they got parity with the upstart former colonists and their USN, but while the Exchequer may be relieved, the WNT was a humiliation for the RN and Britain.
Per Wikipedia, Japan isn't so hard done by.
The agreement solidified Japan's position as a great power; it got parity in the Pacific with the two leading global navies, was allowed to maintain a larger naval force than France and Italy and was treated as a colonial power with equal diplomatic interests, a first for a non-Western nation.
The Brits were shafted by the WNT as well, it's common ground if anything. Sure, they got parity with the upstart former colonists and their USN, but while the Exchequer may be relieved, the WNT was a humiliation for the RN and Britain.
Per Wikipedia, Japan isn't so hard done by.
The agreement solidified Japan's position as a great power; it got parity in the Pacific with the two leading global navies, was allowed to maintain a larger naval force than France and Italy and was treated as a colonial power with equal diplomatic interests, a first for a non-Western nation.