Speaking of military matters: The Russian Mi28 tactical helicopter; the unusual training of WW2 Japanese pilots
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[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hey usually operate very low, in pairs, covering each other with fire. Extremely low altitude makes MANPADs ineffective and the helicopters are protected from gunfire.
According to open sources, the Mi-28 has armoured front glass withstanding up to 12.7 mm gun shots, side glass protecting from AK-47 fire (7.62 mm), and the helicopter body is protected against up to 20 mm HE automatic cannon rounds. Rotor blades would continue to operate after a 30 mm HE round hit. The pilot and weapons operator are located in separate compartments in so-called "bathtubs" -- combined aluminium-ceramic armoured shells. Fuel tanks are filled with foam polyurethane and covered with a latex self-healing protector.
Mi-28 has a semi-automatic system that allows it to fly as low 5 m above the ground. The helicopter has a low heat signature and has IR decoy flares, which are frequently visible in video reports from Syria — those smoky fires fanning out of helicopters.
Cass Dean upvoted this
During the battle of Midway, after Japan lost all of the aircraft carriers they brought to the battle, what happened to the Japanese planes that were in the air? Did they just all ditch in the ocean? If so, were any rescued?
It should be remembered that three Japanese carriers were bombed and set aflame first, with one going untouched until later in the battle (Hiryu). Consequently there were no planes in the air except for the CAP when the Enterprise dive bombers caught the first three re-arming and refueling and sank them. Most of the pilots from those three carriers were rescued by other ships, although some were indeed badly injured or killed by the explosions and fires that ended up sinking the three carriers. Hiryu sent a full strike after the US carriers, and ultimately caught Yorktown, damaging but not sinking her (it was a submarine that ultimately sank Yorktown). Hiryu was caught and destroyed while that strike was still in the air, so that was the only flight for which returning flyers were in the air (along with the CAP from the other three) and had no place to land. Most of these landed in the water and were rescued by escorting cruisers and destroyers; it is not true that the Japanese lost most of their highly trained pilots (and other aircrew) at Midway. In addition to all those rescued, they had the surviving pilots from Shokaku and Zuikaku, which were not at Midway as a consequence of aircrew losses from one at Coral Sea and damage to the other at the same battle. So, in the aftermath of Midway, the Japanese had two fleet carriers (the two not at Midway) left from the original Kido Butai, and some smaller carriers, plus others building (especially Taiho), with most of their trained aircrews. The real depletion of the IJN air crews, especially pilots, happened during the long battle of attrition in the Solomons, including the carrier battles of Santa Cruz and Eastern Solomons, but also almost daily combat over Guadalcanal for several months, during which the US planes based at Henderson Field had only short flights to combat, and if shot down surviving pilots were mostly easily rescued, whereas Japanese pilots starting at Rabaul arrived with little gas left for combat before making the long return flight to base; many of those not shot down ran out of fuel on the way back and went down in the water and were not rescued, and those shot down and not killed near Guadalcanal were likewise not rescued by the IJN. It was this that killed the IJN pilot corps, together with their practice of not rotating experienced pilots back to train new ones, instead leaving them in combat units until they were killed or captured.
Generally good answer but to nit pick what you left out was the flawed Japanese pre war training program that was very elitist and purposely focused on a rather small highly trained cohort of pilots rather than quantity as well as quality. Look at the U.S. or British training system the contrasts are striking. Just the entrance criteria were so elitist that few could even qualify for pilot training and training was so tough and realistic that losses were high just as in say Japanese destroyer crews for example. Now there are benefits to this obviously but also costs as well. They were victims of their success in a way. In forty years of study I read that even the pre Midway losses were significant in the sense that these highly skilled and combat hardened pilots who fought over China were irreplaceable due to the flawed training system. Even the 29 planes shot down over Pearl Harbor or Manilla, Java, or Darwin was costly over time but yes the Solomons/ New Guinea fighting was the back breaker.
I have a book titled SAMURAI! that is out of print now…it tells the incredible story of pilot Suburo Sakai and his entire career…the training indeed was brutal..they had to flip off towers and land on their feet, they had to learn how to spot stars during the daylight hours…weird…but the trainers were merciless…it was more like torture than training…this is an incredible story..This man never once lost a plane or a wingman and he fought all the time…once he was shot up badly with one eye damaged and oil on the windscreen and his face…yet he landed that plane. The number one ace during that period was shot down on a passenger plane when he was travelling from one base to another…never had a chance…so these elitist pilots were so far superior in training than anything any adversary could throw at them…so when one died, it was a huge loss…plus, at first, their fighters were the best but soon our folks began to provide equal or better planes and in huge numbers. Suburo survived the war but lived in shame and poverty…the allies would not let any Japanese pilots work in any air industry…period…his nation, because they had surrendered, did not provide one dime for those who lived to the end…it was a disgrace to have been part of this Bushido code surrender…so he became a beggar, disgraced and a dishonor to the nation he gave so much for…if you can get a copy of this book buy it…you will love it.
Thanks yes I read those facts in other books and they often cite Sakai, nursing his damaged Zero back to Rabaul was epic. For decades I have wondered about the stars in daylight quote. I suspect it must be planets like Venus visible in morning or sunset. I will look for the book, did not know he became penniless beggar but I guess it makes sense given what I know of Japanese culture. Having studied them my whole life I have grown to have a deep admiration of their very unique culture but like all societies they have strengths and weaknesses. If Sakai had killed himself in 1945 he would have been venerated by his nation.
The introduction of the A6M3 model 32 “Hamp” with reduced range compared to the older A6M2 didn’t help either. Fuselage fuel tankage was reduced 38 liters to make room for the new more powerful and thirsty Sakae 21 engine. The later A6M3 model 22 had an 45 additional liters in new wing tanks but that didn’t help those pilots who had previously run out of gas and were lost.
Here is a bit more correct information for you. At Midway the Japanese lost 3 fleet carriers in the first attack. The Hiryu was separated and survived the initial destruction, but the admiral on Hiryu, Yamaguchi, was very sharp and aggressive. He may have gotten some planes from sunk carriers, but he sent everything he could to attack the American carriers. The Yorktown was reported sunk at least twice, and while it was damaged, it was a Japanese sub that torpedoed her, finally sinking her. Many of the Japanese planes were lost in the attack including a Japanese officer who took off knowing he had a fuel leak and would never make it back. Our radar gave us warning and Japnese attacks met resistance from our fighter planes as well as our anti-aircraft guns. The Hiryu was destroyed in a follow on attack. By the time this was done all the Jap carriers were burning and the planes were low on fuel from combat. The Japanese had two very small carriers with other elements but because of the strange and dispersed arrangement of fleet elements they were not that close (one escort carrier was with the battleships with Yamamoto) and I do not think any planes found refuge with them. There were two medium sized carriers that made the diversionary attack on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, but they were way way too far away. The Japanese plan was quite ridiculous and obfuscated, based on a foolish assumption that the American Navy would do what the Japanese expected and nothing else. The so called victory disease led them into thinking everything would keep going their way. Their dispersal of their ships and imagination of expected events was bizare. They had a convoluted plan to confuse and surprise us, but it backfired badly. They lost over 250 of their best pilots. Carrier division 3, Shokaku and Zuikaku, was back in Japan. One for repairs from Coral Sea and the other ship for replenishment of planes. Their philosophy of operating carriers in pairs was a basic tenet of their doctrine. At Midway they lost a cruiser also. As part of the fast cruiser group thet had been ordered to speed ahead to bombard the island and possibly sink American carriers, but they were recalled when Yamamoto decided to cut his losses and withdraw. In maneuvering to avoid an American submarine attack SW of Midway the cruisers Mogami and Mikuma collided, doing serious damage. One was sunk by dive bombers and the other limped back to Japan.
What, exactly, do you think happened to IJN aircraft that did not have a serviceable carrier deck to land on in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?
Turning off the snark for a moment, the IJN never had a consistent doctrine as to rescue of downed pilots. If a IJN captain was feeling in the mood the pilot would be picked up (if the vessel did not have better things to do). This, as you might imagine resulted in the loss of innumerable well trained flight crew that, it turned out, the Japanese simply could not replace.
Suburo Sekai (the highest surviving Japanese ace) calculated that 1% (going up to 3–5% as the war progressed) of planes that took off for a maximum range engagement in the Pacific did not return regardless if there was any engagement. In the huge Pacific expanses the planes just did not return. That might not sound so bad but if you were flying one sortie per day that meant that you would be missing/dead in three months even if you never saw an enemy aircraft. Japan lost the air war by late 1942 as it lost its experienced pilots (which, in December of 1941, were the best pilots in the world) and Allied pilots learned how to fight the modern Japanese aircraft. After 1942 it simply was not a contest-it was a slaughter.
That is why the Japanese flagrant disregard of pilot survival was so counter productive and damaging to Japan. An experienced pilot was simply irreplaceable and should have been a top priority for saving.
Interesting the Red Army had the same problem for the same reasons with their tank crews. When the Soviets were losing tanks in thousand tank bunches in the first several months of Barbarossa the Red Army ordered its tank crews to stay with their tanks until they (both the tank and usually the crew) burned. Even if the tank crewman survived they were immediately impressed as untrained infantrymen only to be lost with the other millions of Red Army infantry men were lost. It was only late in the war when the Soviets learned that experienced tank crews were a very valuable asset that should not be wasted by either ordering them to be killed in their knocked out tanks or impressed as ad hoc infantry men. Only in late 1944 were Soviet tankers allowed to exfiltrate a battle area and crew a new tank (and infantry commanders were ordered NOT to impress de-horsed tank crews as new-found infantrymen). Soviet tank crews were finally surviving long enough to become trained tank crews.
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