Documentary about A5M and A6M
- Thread starter tomo pauk
- Start date
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Old Wizard
2nd Lieutenant
Cool!
NICE..!
DarrenW
Staff Sergeant
I recently sat down and watched this four hour gem and found it fascinating in every respect. I thought that I had a fair amount of knowledge concerning the Hellcat's arch-rival but I was sorely mistaken. Every minute detail of the Zero was discussed, which included the engineering concepts that were used during it's development, important aspects of the air frame and systems as well as their operation, and of course it's combat record. I found the personal commentary of Japanese pilots Kaname Harada, Sadamu Komachi, and Masaji Ogawa and their opinion of the Zero to be the most interesting of all. And although there was a great deal of adulation for the A6M throughout the show, it was tempered by some really honest appraisals of the aircraft which IMHO allowed for a very balanced and truthful presentation to be made.
One noteworthy discrepancy however concerned the raid on Japanese shipping in Simpson Harbor on 17 January 1944. The documentary states a 60-0 victory ratio for Zero pilots in their last great combat over Rabaul, but in reality the raid cost the Americans a total of 11 aircraft due to all causes. In return there were 18 Zeros claimed destroyed as well as many probables and the Kanshin Maru was sunk. While it's not unusual to see these types of contradictions in action reports from the two sides involved, I was truly expecting a more accurate presentation of the facts here but ended up disappointed. It smelled of propaganda and didn't fit well with the seemingly painstaking research given to other aspects of the documentary. But this is a minor flaw for 240 minutes of viewing pleasure and I can recommend this documentary to anyone without hesitation.
One noteworthy discrepancy however concerned the raid on Japanese shipping in Simpson Harbor on 17 January 1944. The documentary states a 60-0 victory ratio for Zero pilots in their last great combat over Rabaul, but in reality the raid cost the Americans a total of 11 aircraft due to all causes. In return there were 18 Zeros claimed destroyed as well as many probables and the Kanshin Maru was sunk. While it's not unusual to see these types of contradictions in action reports from the two sides involved, I was truly expecting a more accurate presentation of the facts here but ended up disappointed. It smelled of propaganda and didn't fit well with the seemingly painstaking research given to other aspects of the documentary. But this is a minor flaw for 240 minutes of viewing pleasure and I can recommend this documentary to anyone without hesitation.
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Escuadrilla Azul
Tech Sergeant
- 1,819
- Feb 27, 2020
I just found this vid about the A6M. I think is very balanced and interesting.
Was going to post in a new thread but found this one, so post here:
View: https://youtu.be/ApOfbxpL4Dg
Got to check
tomo pauk
vid when posible.
Was going to post in a new thread but found this one, so post here:
View: https://youtu.be/ApOfbxpL4Dg
Got to check
tomo pauk
vid when posible.
