February 1942. While the Japanese army closed in on Singapore, the Allied Forces had their backs against the wall. They tried desperately to slow the Japanese advance. If they could be stalled even for a short time, the Allies would be able to "advance to the rear" and fight another day. Coordinated attacks by Japanese air and ground forces with superior and more modern equipment gave the retreating Allies little reason to hope. A decimated RAF tried in vain to halt the aerial onslaught. Outnumbered and outgunned by 16 to one, Royal New Zealand Air Force pilots slugged it out against the enemy's Zeros.
But the Zeros did most of the "slugging." The outdated and under-powered F2A Brewster Buffalos were no match for the tightly turning, agile Zeros. Whether flying a Buffalo or a Kittyhawk, though, one Allied pilot exploited a weakness in Japan's aerial tactics. The account that follows is from 11-kill-ace Flight Officer Geoffrey Fisken RNZAF, who fought during the early days of WW II in the South Pacific.
To be successful against the Japanese, especially the Zero, you had to have an altitude and attitude advantage. I thought the Buffalo was a delight to fly-a beautiful airplane but a bit under-powered. The Zeros were too fast, and they could turn inside of us. If you got into a dogfight with them, you were committing suicide.
Being young I still had aspirations of growing old back in New Zealand, but being somewhat foolhardy, when we saw a flight of Japanese fighters coming in, we climbed to attack-as high as we could get above them. As they drew closer, we pushed the old Buffalos over-throttles to the stops-and went screaming down, firing through them. We were always outnumbered, but to me, this was an advantage, as it gave me more targets to pick from!
This story is from the September - October 2023 edition of Flight Journal.
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This story is from the September - October 2023 edition of Flight Journal.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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Scourge of the Allied Fighters
IT HAD TO BE THE MOST HELPLESS FEELING in the world: you're at 25,000 feet over Europe knowing that your primary function is to drop bombs-or flying escort for the bombers while being a slow-moving target for some of the world's finest shooters. However, you have John Browning's marvelous .50 caliber invention to give some degree of protection. Unfortunately, you're absolutely helpless against flak. Piloting and gunnery skills play no role in a game where sheer chance makes life and death decisions. For that reason, the Krupp 88 mm Flak 18/36/37 AA cannon could be considered WW II's ultimate stealth fighter. You never saw it coming.
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