Deep in the jungle of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, scattered among tall trees and thick, razor-sharp grasses, are the rusting remains of a World War II-era fighter plane. A fragment of the tail still bears traces of the light blue paint of U.S. Navy aircraft of the period, and the number 5192. Research confirms that the plane is the doomed Wildcat flown by James “Pug” Southerland in one of the most heroic and legendary dogfights in aviation history.
Now, on the heels of this important discovery, Secrets of the Dead: Dogfight Over Guadalcanal examines and recreates every dramatic moment of the showdown between 30-year-old Southerland in his Wildcat, and Saburo Sakai, 25, in his Mitsubishi Zero.
Watch the full episode online here on the Secrets of the Dead Web site.
Question to my mind: would the malfunction of a single M2 in either wing of the Hellcat cause the entire bank, both wings, to malfunction as well? This appears to be some fairly poor engineering on our part.
At 44:24, the narrator refers to the round being investigated by our archaeologist as a 50 millimeter round. This is incorrect; it is .50 caliber, having a bullet diameter of about half n inch. 50 millimeter would more like 2 inches, even larger than the 20-millimeter rounds carried by the Zero.
Answer to your question: no, it wouldn’t. The high g-forces involved in the dogfight may have caused the others to jam, however. This was a problem on the early P-51’s as well, until North American added power-assisted feed mechanisms.
Absolutely right, Dave, .50 cal machine gun feed mechanisms were touchy to say the least, and with all that banking and maneuvering, other issues could well have been at play in this instance (not just the damage to one machinegun by a 7.7mm Arisaka bullet). I’ve read accounts of P-40 (the Air Airforce’s frontline fighter circa the same operational time as the Wildcat) pilots early in the war having difficulties with their wing-mounted guns during dogfights (some P-40s also had fuselage-mounted machineguns as well). I did catch the Colonel’s mistake in referring to a .50 caliber bullet as a “fifty millimeter,” also. A .50 cal was one half inch in diameter, that is 12.7mm (depending on whether the lands or grooves of the rifling is measured, weapons of the same caliber can be named differently according to where the measurement is taken). The aerial Browning M2 Caliber .50 machinegun was used on fighter aircraft up through the Korean Conflict, but was woefully underpowered for jet combat. It was also used in a quad mounting on B-52 Stratofortress bombers before being replaced with a 20mm multi-barreled gun (eventually defensive armament on bombers was deleted altogether). The M2HB (heavy barrel) vehicle-mounted .50 is still in use with the United States armed forces (as well as many others) today.
One other thought. If one bank of guns malfunctioned due to impact of a bullet or other issue, it might be possible that the other bank was still working and was what Southerland used during the dogfighting with the two wingmen. He may have depleted his rounds from that bank of guns. The story DID make it sound as though he was in a heated dogfight with the two zeros before Sakai made his appearance which would indicate that he still had the use of at least some of his weapons after having attacked the Betties. (My father was in the CBI Theater and shot down a few Betties with the Bofors 40 MM of which I have a few lamps he made from the used shell casings. 40 MM is plenty huge.)
Not 51 or 2 years ago, but 1951 or 2
Your blog never ceases to amaze me,it is rather well crafted and gorgeous!
How do you start a website for a clothing company?
Hedduun gammada tv afaan kiyyaan dhagayuuf garuu yeroo diraamaa afaan oromootin dhiheeysitan sa’aan isaa hedduu gabaabadha kanaafuu akka sa’aa isaa nuuf dheeressitanii nuuf dabarsitan isiniin jedha. Magaalaa Canada irraa
Hmm i hope you dont get annoyed with this question, but how much does a site like yours earn?
Here is a Great Blog You might find Fascinating that people Motivate You.