The Great, Constantly Changing Picture Gallery, Troisième partie: la vengeance!

[Llarry]

Yes, just to correct my inaccurate info, the photo is of a Marine FG-1D that tangled with Genda's 343rd Air Group over Kyushu. The pilot was a lucky man to make it home with his life!

In 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy's had the best IJN fighter of the war -- the Kawanishi N1K2-J -- and their pick of the best pilots as well.

 

[Llarry]

The Japanese Army Air Force had an excellent late-war aircraft as well: The Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (Allied Frank) had excellent handling and performance and by that time the Japanese had figured out that .30 caliber ammunition was not going to cut it. But Japan was being strangled by B-29s, submarines and carrier task forces and high-octane aviation fuel was virtually unavailable. Not to mention that experienced combat pilots were very few by 1945 -- Genda's 343rd Air Group managed to corral most of the remaining effective Navy pilots.

After the war, the U.S. tested Japanese aircraft using high-quality high-octane U.S. fuels and the engine performance of many of the Japanese aircraft was transformed.