Dog fight over Guadalcanal

[Don Martin]

I don't know if any one has the tube on , but on PBS, Secrets of the Dead has a piece called Dogfight over Guadalcanal featuring the guys from Pacific Warbirds
(On right now)

[PhantomAce08]

I just caught the last 10 minutes of it... I wish I would have found it sooner!

[Sabremech]

Incredible story. Even my wife was moved by both mens events in history.
David

[bdk]

Lots of good Planes of Fame footage over Chino. Not sure I believe all the conclusions made from one single round of ammunition that was picked out of the South Pacific wreckage though.

[DSmith]

Same here, Great show, but hard to say that Pug's gun jammed due to that one round he found.

[Shade Ruff]

Same here, Great show, but hard to say that Pug's gun jammed due to that one round he found.

To all:

Let alone the fact that his plane had five other .50 cals on board. Were they all jammed too or just depleted of ammo?

I, too, found the retired USAF Colonel's conclusion to be somewhat of a stretch.

Regards,

Shade Ruff

[TimAPNY]

I enjoyed the show a lot, would love to see more like it. But the 1 rnd theory also seemed a bit of a stretch to me, would have loved to see more of the F4F site.

Anyone know where the footage of the Zero and I think it was a Frank(?) came from? That was one sharp looking aircraft what ever it was!

Tim

[AFD94]

I saw that too, about the last 15-20 mins. Makes you wonder how many more aircraft are ditched out there.

Doug

[TAdan]

I watched it. I thought it was pretty good. I liked how they got both sides of the dog fight.

I have to agree about the jammed gun theory. Like said above...he had 5 more .50's...

[TimAPNY]

How are the Guns and the Trigger linked in an F4F, electronic, mechanical? With the amount of shots that Wildcat took I could see that system being knocked out, if that is possible.

Tim

[Richard W.]

The ex-crash investigator seemed a little too eager to wrap up this "mystery". I wonder how much of that was the show's producer pushing for a tidy conclusion.

Nobody involved with the program seemed to be especially expert with firearms. At one point, the narrator calls it a "50 millimeter cartridge".

They called the discovery of the F4F wreckage "recent", but the Pacific Wrecks site says it was found in 1998. How about that mudslide scattering and hiding the bulk of the wreckage?

I'm glad that the heroic efforts of the Guadalcanal islanders in aiding the Americans were described, as well as the Japanese cruelty that resulted.

Next week: the "Dambusters"!

[Pat Carry]

I thought the Wildcat sitting adjacent to the village was in pretty good shape considering its been there for over 60 yrs!

[Jack Cook]

I was disappointed in the program. The Sutherland vs. Sakai story is not new and the F4F is a old discovery and nothing much is left of it. He found part of the motor and prop. How the guy figured Sakai shot up a rear cylinder of the P & W while firing from astern all the while telling how the armor saved Sutherland's life is beyond me. I think the guy was half dead from hiking up to the site! His explaination on how finding a distorted .50 round and putting a .30 bullet in the hole in it answers any questions is strange when you put could place any number of things in it. I don't see what this whole investigation solved.
I believe the F4Fs guns are mechanically charged and electrically fired.

[phil65]

I can't believe Sakai got shot through the head and lived

The 2nd show "Warplane" I thought sucked,went right through WWII and never said a word about the P-51 and many others

The History Channels friday line-up is good.
Shootout A+
The Lost Evidence B+
Dogfights A

[oz rb fan]

[quote="phil65"]I can't believe Sakai got shot through the head and lived
not only lived but fought again and got a couple of more kills
try reading either the samuri or the winged samuri both biographies of saburo sakai
paul