I saw a TV program about fighting between Saburo Sakai and James Sutherland took place over Guadalcanal in 1942, on history chanel. It was amazing in showing real Zero and F4F mock fighting over Lake Mathews near Chino. Steve Hinton's commenting on those two types of fighters was great also.
But there was one point in the program I would like to comment on. That was about the way Imperial Japanese Naval Aviators trained as explained by an American researcher. I can say it was incorrect and didn't cover the whole of the training syllabuses the Japanese naval aviators had taken in those days.
According to "Ozora no Samurai" by Saburo Sakai (original Japanese book written in a very different style as compared with famous "Samurai"), he received flight trainings similar to the ones the other nations gave own military pilot students. There were some brief footage of Kendo (mock sword fighting) and other traditional physical activities included in the show but I can say these types of training alone never make even a pilot. One has to take flying lessons prior to excercising Samurai spirit and shooting in the air!
Sakai for example learned to fly in the course like the "Flying Enlisted" of the US Navy. Before joining it Sakai spent few years on the battleship Kirishima as a plain seaman. The enlisted students were separated into the courses for the land planes and the float plane at the very beginning and there was no carrier trainings included in the former.The students started flying almost immediately, and it took only six months to finish the basic course before starting training on the fighters, the torpedo bombers and the dive bombers.
But there was one point in the program I would like to comment on. That was about the way Imperial Japanese Naval Aviators trained as explained by an American researcher. I can say it was incorrect and didn't cover the whole of the training syllabuses the Japanese naval aviators had taken in those days.
According to "Ozora no Samurai" by Saburo Sakai (original Japanese book written in a very different style as compared with famous "Samurai"), he received flight trainings similar to the ones the other nations gave own military pilot students. There were some brief footage of Kendo (mock sword fighting) and other traditional physical activities included in the show but I can say these types of training alone never make even a pilot. One has to take flying lessons prior to excercising Samurai spirit and shooting in the air!
Sakai for example learned to fly in the course like the "Flying Enlisted" of the US Navy. Before joining it Sakai spent few years on the battleship Kirishima as a plain seaman. The enlisted students were separated into the courses for the land planes and the float plane at the very beginning and there was no carrier trainings included in the former.The students started flying almost immediately, and it took only six months to finish the basic course before starting training on the fighters, the torpedo bombers and the dive bombers.
