Mercy, imagine being assigned one of those death traps to fly and fight in???Originally Posted by Bill Greenwood
Oh don't give me a P39
The one with the engine behind
It will tumble and roll and dig a big hole
Oh don't give me a P39
I think you're right about the Japanese pilots being seasoned at the
junction of the war and I'll add a bit cocky... in fact when I met
Saburo Saki Japan's leading ace who survived over 200 dog fights and
scored over 64 air victories he was still feeling cocky as he signed
my book and oil painting at Yakota AFB...
Saki san asked me "where did I get this painting?"
I commissioned a artist while TDY in the Philippines, I shot back.
"Philippines?" he exclaimed with glee. "we conquered the Philippines".
Sakai sustained serious injuries from the return fire of Avenger rear
seat gunner. He was hit in the head by a 7.62 mm (0.3 in) bullet,
blinding him in the right eye and paralyzing the left side of his
body. The Zero rolled inverted and was descending toward the sea.
Unable to see out of his uninjured eye due to blood from the head
wound, Sakai's vision started to clear somewhat as tears cleared the
blood from his eyes, and he was able to pull his plane out of the
dive. He considered ramming an American warship: "If I must die, at
least I could go out as a Samurai. Finally, the cold air blasting into
the cockpit revived him enough to check his instruments, and he
decided that leaning the fuel mixture he might be able to return to
the airfield at Rabaul. Rabaul, 8 August 1942: A seriously wounded
Sakai returns to Rabaul with his damaged Zero after a four-hour,
47-minute flight over 560 nmi (1,040 km; 640 mi). Sakai's skull was
penetrated by a machine-gun bullet and he was blind in one eye, but
insisted on making his mission report before accepting medical
treatment. Sakai was evacuated to Japan on 12 August, where he endured
a long surgery without anesthesia. The surgery repaired some of the
damage to his head, but was unable to restore full vision to his right
eye.
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