Battle of the Philippine Sea, Part 4: The June 20 Airstrike

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3 жыл бұрын

After the success of the Great Turkey Shoot on June 19, 1944, American planes began searching for the Japanese fleet in the Philippine Sea. They found it, and Admiral Marc Mitscher sent out his aviators to sink the Japanese ships that evening, with little daylight left. This video, part 4 in the Voices of the Philippine Sea series, explorers the successes and failures of this late afternoon mission.
These videos are written, directed, and produced by staff and volunteers at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.

Пікірлер: 37

@f4fanatic57 2 жыл бұрын

My great uncle was assigned to the USS Hornet and was the air group commander of Air Group Two and flew a F6F Hellcat during the battle. My understanding is he lead the attack on carrier division 1 in the late afternoon attack as the Hornet was the flagship of the operation. If I am wrong feel free to correct. He directed strikes on the Zuikaku and did dropped bombs and did a strafing run on the deck of Hiyo which set off the gas vapors and added to the damage already done by the dive bombers. He lead the group back to the fleet and waited until all of his men had landed on the Hornet. When he touched down last, he ran out of gas as he touched down, and nearly missed an airplane and ended up on the port 40mm mount. He hopped out but before he could get the photos he had taken, the men holding the airplane let it go overboard. He got a Navy Cross for his leadership and actions during the battle. His full biography can be found here: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_D._Arnold

@fredjones554 Жыл бұрын

Gotta love those flyboys taking off in the late afternoon. Amazing courage

@twolak1972 Жыл бұрын

Every one of those brave pilots who flew off the decks and their crews were TRUE HEROES, knowing the long flight ahead and most assuredly the prospect of running out of fuel were heavy on their minds but their LERS GIVE EM HELL SPIRIT was a thing to behold.

@mbryson2899 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for including the two fleet oilers that had to be scuttled. The carriers were important, but losing refueling vessels also significantly hampered future IJN operations. All in all this was a very, very well done video. Thank you all for creating and sharing it.

@amanacatandhisdog8836 3 жыл бұрын

Good series great narration.

@anthonycaruso8443 3 жыл бұрын

My dad was there. He was in an Avenger. He died in 2003.

@knightwatchman 3 жыл бұрын

My wife’s uncle Michael V. Shea was a gunner on an an Avenger off of Yorktown. His plane was shot down and he was killed in this attack. Did your father fly off of Yorktown?

@t.j.payeur5331 Жыл бұрын

That's awesome. My dad was a glider pilot.

@renatodemavibas4844 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for his service.

@merhimaq1011 3 жыл бұрын

Great... Very educative and interesting

@franklinbarrett4630 3 жыл бұрын

The Americans didn’t know that the Japanese Navy was already out of pilots and planes and Zuikaku’s last mission would be as a decoy with few planes on its deck.

@trouts4444 3 жыл бұрын

Congratulations, very well written narrative of the events of various phases of the battle. The reading is very good also.

@garymcaleer6112 3 жыл бұрын

What those boys went through, only they themselves know. The Japanese started the fight. We finished it!

@garyrunnalls7714 Жыл бұрын

Buell's book "Helldiver" is a great book.

@ditto1958 Жыл бұрын

I like the narrator’s voice

@wetwriterrr 3 жыл бұрын

GOOD JOB!!!!

@shaunboy340 3 жыл бұрын

Love this video series think you

@HRNavalMuseum 3 жыл бұрын

We're glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!

@graff324 Жыл бұрын

Respect and Honor for all of our brave American Naval Aviators . They delivered the Avenging Panche of the American Navy.

@ernienucup3703 3 жыл бұрын

Guts and smarts!

@knightwatchman Жыл бұрын

Aviator verses from Hymn of the Navy. Lord, guard and guide the men who fly Through the great spaces of the sky; Be with them traversing the air In dark'ning storms and sunlight fair O hear us when we lift our pray'r For those in peril in the air

@dennisyoung1783 Жыл бұрын

I asked this on a different video, then lost the link. Who is the young lady narrating these videos? Thank you.

@HRNavalMuseum Жыл бұрын

Good morning! The narrator is Laura Lawfer Orr, the Director of Education at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.

@dennisyoung1783 Жыл бұрын

@@HRNavalMuseum Thank you.

@alexanderleach3365 Жыл бұрын

This battle marked the end of the Imperial Japanese carrier aviation.

@manuelmartins1967 2 жыл бұрын

I have a question: How were these colored videos of WW2 naval operations taken?

@HRNavalMuseum 2 жыл бұрын

A lot of the video was taken in Technicolor during the war. Some of it was colorized afterwards, and some of the video we used throughout the series was from movies that were made after the war. It's a pretty good mix, although there's a surprising amount of color footage that was taken during WWII. Hope this helps!

@isilder 2 жыл бұрын

This attack meant that they had no aircraft for the upcoming Phillipines invasion. Thats why mitcher had to attack. The dense packed islands wouldn't let radar work so well as yesterdays defensive operation.Midway was very very expensive in aircrew .. I guess they gave the total pilots and their losses. Rather than pilots ay target and their losses.

@Zerox_Prime 3 жыл бұрын

IMHO, Admiral should have recalled USN planes when he learned the true distance of the Japanese ships. He cost the USN more planes and airmen than the IJN. The task was to protect US forces on Saipan from the IJN, not to chase down a retreating, defeated enemy force..

@iansneddon2956 2 жыл бұрын

Agreed. Good to know the USN learned this lesson. Imagine if Admiral Halsey had followed that example and gone on to abandon the invasion fleet off Samar to take the Third Fleet off to chase after some carriers. Oh, damn.

@markpaul8178 2 жыл бұрын

@@iansneddon2956 But he did my good man,he did!

@martinmiller1087 3 жыл бұрын

The mission beyond darkness. ... The narrator didn't discuss the aircraft recovery operation. Mitscher ordered all the ships in his task force to turn on all their lights. IJN submarines were in the area then. The lights acted as beacons beyond the horizon at night to guide the inbound aviators back to the ships. Several pilots ran out of fuel and ditched into the water. I read that a Japanese night fighter followed the naval aviators back to the fleet, got his aircraft into the traffic pattern to land on a flat top and actually executed a touch and go on the deck of a US Navy carrier! ... Exceptional bravery was commonplace in the Battle of the Phillipine Sea.

@HRNavalMuseum 3 жыл бұрын

Hello! We actually cover the Mission Beyond Darkness and the aircraft recovery operation in the next video in this series. Here's the link to the entire playlist for the Battle of the Philippine Sea: kzfaq.info/sun/PLnUFiKFpP0K86Ar-joQRdITo9hZjai8PF And here's the specific link to our Mission Beyond Darkness episode, called, "Turn on the Lights!" kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r5OXfKmZnbbKen0.html

@martinmiller1087 3 жыл бұрын

@@HRNavalMuseum Thank you very much. Your research and narratiins are unexcelled. ... I read lots of military history. The US Navy in the Pacific in WWII is my chief area of interest at present. ... My father enlisted in the Navy after Pearl Harbor. He was a Machinists Mate on the USS Maumee, AO-2, serving during WWII in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific.. ... I was a US Army draftee '66 and served as an Advanced Individual Training - Infantry Drill Sergeant at Fort Dix 67-68, a Light Weapons Combat Infantry Platoon Sergeant and a Mechanized Combat Infantry Platoon Leader in the 1st Infantry Division, III Corps, RVN 68-69.

@shadeburst Жыл бұрын

@@HRNavalMuseum Readers Digest would you believe had an excellent set of illustrated books on the Pacific War. I don't know what I did with them -- got left behind on one of my many moves -- but I miss them greatly. Thank you most sincerely for reviving those memories.