P-39s, Zeros & A-24s

Tony.Williams@q

Some 90mm would have settled his hash.
I doubt that - the heavy AA guns were only really effective against
aircraft flying a steady and predictable course, like bombers. A
fighter doing aerobatics would reduce the gunners to a nervous
breakdown

Do you really think he would have continued his antics once flak began bursting
in the general vicinity? Sakai may have been arrogant, but I doubt he was
stupid. All flak is addressed "To Whom It May Concern." It doesn't have to
have your name on it to give you a really bad day.


Chris Mark

Subject: P-39s, Zeros & A-24s
From: ost (Chris Mark)
Date: 7/22/03 8:29 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

Tony.Williams@q

Some 90mm would have settled his hash.
I doubt that - the heavy AA guns were only really effective against
aircraft flying a steady and predictable course, like bombers. A
fighter doing aerobatics would reduce the gunners to a nervous
breakdown

Do you really think he would have continued his antics once flak began
bursting
in the general vicinity? Sakai may have been arrogant, but I doubt he was
stupid. All flak is addressed "To Whom It May Concern." It doesn't have to
have your name on it to give you a really bad day.


Chris Mark


But sometimes it really looks as though it has your name on it.


Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Do you really think he would have continued his antics once flak began bursting
in the general vicinity? Sakai may have been arrogant, but I doubt he was
stupid. All flak is addressed "To Whom It May Concern." It doesn't have to
have your name on it to give you a really bad day.

These stories always strike me as urban legend, or the WWII
equivalent. Every theater of operations has them. For the AVG Flying
Tigers, it was the crew chief at Mingaladon airport being strafed by
low-flying "Zeros" who threw a wrench at one and knocked it down.
Everyone seemed to believe this story, but it always seemed
fantastical to me.

This is not to say that tales of mad bravado can't ever be true. There
was a well-documented case in China where three Japanese pilots landed
on a Chinese base, destroyed some aircraft that hadn't come up to
challenge them, and took off again. That was in 1938 or thereabouts. I
suspect they got more cautious by 1942.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at http://www.danford.net/index.htm
Vietnam | Flying Tigers | Pacific War | Brewster Buffalo | Piper Cub

Subject: P-39s, Zeros & A-24s
From: Cub Driver
Date: 7/22/03 2:59 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:


That certainly makes a lot of sense...it would seem that there's
lots less problems to contend with down low.

You're joking, right? (Irony is not a safe weapon on the internet. We
can't hear the tone of your voice!)

If it's safer down below, why did the B-17s and B-24s (not to mention
the B-29s) go to all that effort to fly at 25,000 and 30,000 feet?


Ah Danny boy you can ask embarrassing questions can't you? No joke is safe
around here especially when couched in sarcasm. (sigh)

Arthur Kramer
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer