Text 16059, 61 rader
Skriven 2014-06-09 00:28:15 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
  Kommentar till text 16045 av Joe Delahaye (42523.fidonews)
Ärende: Re: For those who have forgot
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JD>WD> I doubt the Mitsubishi Zero was a copy.
 
JD> Over the years some of the documentation I read stated it was a copy.  I
JD> forgot now from which airplaine, and obviously with improvements.
 
It looks a bit like a Focke-Wulf 190, but it's vastly different.
 
JD>WD> The large majority was lost at sea, depth charged, rammed.
 
JD> I was under the impression they were launched from ships, or subs and
JD> somewhat steerable.
 
They were carried on submarines and a few surface vassels...
 
One of the main problems was that a sub launching a Kaiten was a sitting duck
and many were lost.
 
There were only 3 successful attacks. One on an oiler, one on a destroyer and
something else, but I forgot.
 
Their range was very limited and in order to launch them from a surface vessel,
that surface vessel had to be uncomfortably within firing range of enemy
vessels.
 
JD> Dont know, but I bet it killed every one of its pilots.
 
Actually, several survived, some even wrote books about their experience. The
Kaiten was very unreliable often with premature detonations or not detonating
at all.
 
There were plenty volunteers, not really for the honour of dying for their
country, but every volunteer received a one-time payment of 10,000 Yen as
encouragement. That usually took care of family debts accrued because of the
war.
 
The sub that torpedoed the USS Indianapolis had Kaitens aboard but the captain
did not want to waste any and used conventional torpedoes. The USS Indianapolis
was the cruiser that delivering parts of the uranium bomb to Tinian for the
attack on Hiroshima.
 
Luck dictated that the same sub also saw the USS Indianapolis on its run
towards Tinnian but could not plot a firing solution ... just imagine how it
would have been with that weapon several thousand feet deep and nothing for
Tibbets to load in his plane.
 
The USS Indianapolis also became famous because a large portion of its
surviving crew were mauled or killed by sharks. Saving the crew took a long
time because of the radio-blackout and due to a misunderstanding he was not
listed as overdue.
 
The captain survived and was courtmarshalled because it was said he wasn't
zigzagging. The defense called the captain of the Japanese sub on the stand and
his testimony that it wouldn't have made a difference got the USS Indianapolis'
commander of the hook.
 
The story was turned into a film for TV with Stacy Keach.
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 3.99
 * Origin: Many Glacier / Protect - Preserve - Conserve (2:292/854)