[WWII U.S. NAVY FIGHTER PILOT TRAINING]

[Music] all right so it's blue green red red blue red red there were more red hips and blue right there so I win a box away oh you [ __ ] you're a very lucky guy what do you mean lucky I just did what they taught me to do and it works sure so without plenty of luck all the rules in the 4-pack gonna help you when you're up playing tag with those jabs where the whole thing is like any of those guys have been out there I'll tell you that without plenty of luck they don't even get back to tell you you better quit smoking those cigars they're about ready for the fleet aren't they yes they are sir this last gonna replay pretty good yeah they're plenty good I'm a little worried about him though I don't think it'll do any harm you gotta talk when I bought this luck business all right do you think it'll help any send them or how all right sir I'll do it there he is come on [Applause] relax relax you're not in any trouble yet what I mean is there's not so much of a gamble in aerial combat as you've seen them now I'm not going to give you a lecture because nobody can tell a fighter pilot how to meet all combat situations but there are certain definite rules I like to call these laws for air combat we didn't make these laws they made themselves in battle the hard way and the enemy will be quick to enforce these laws the penalty well it may mean more than the loss of a plane in power I think it would be a good idea if I could show you exactly what happened one day in the Pacific then you can decide for yourselves whether it's better to trust a lock or stick to the rules you got a match no I don't want I don't want to light I just want something to use for a flattop is our carrier task force we're moving in at high speed against a strongly held [ __ ] base if we can catch these Japs flat-footed that's half the battle we can really take over but if we allow an enemy Scout to spot us and radio a contact report we'll have to fight our way all the way in and that will cost us plenty we have fighters on combat air patrol soldering at patrol speed to save gas they're flying about 500 feet below the clouds because we're on radio silence and they've got to keep the carrier in sight take a look at this fighter section these pilots know their business the wingman fly's stepped down a comfortable distance away from his leader so that he can cross on the back and forth when they make their turns and so that he won't lose sight of his leader or get left behind on any sudden turn the section leader keeps a sharp lookout through 180 degrees of horizon in the direction of his wingman no matter whether they're flying right or left echelon while the wingman keeps a sharp eye over the other half of the horizon in the direction of the section later by following this ironclad rule all parts of the sea and sky are always within range of vision of the fighter section so far everything is proceeding smoothly and according to plan suddenly the radar picks up an enemy scout about 30 miles away it is absolutely necessary to intercept him and knock him off before he spots the taskforce scarlet 1 this is scarlet base scarlet 1 this is scarlet base vector 0 for fire over at the scarlet 1 vector 0 for 5 Wilco out one bulky angels for range 30 Buster or this is scarlet one will go uh the fighter section leader makes a sharp turn to get on the course and the wingman stays right with him the enemy is reported at 4,000 feet so the section has for the interception point climbing to 6500 feet for an altitude advantage both pilots have gone over their checkoff lists on the way out but now they double check to make sure their gun switches are on start at one look for bandit east of you ten miles mrs. cartlett - one bogey 1 o'clock below Ally ol 1 bandit to an engine land plane this is scarlet one out it's a twin-engine land-based bomber and it fairly bristles with armor fixed guns forward and three guns above and below nevertheless without a fighter escort it ought to be cold meat just the same this section isn't taking any chances the chap lookout doesn't see the fighters approaching why because the section is taking full advantage of every break in order to make sure of getting the Snooper before he can send back a contact report the section leader wants the elements of surprise in position on his side so he makes use of cloud cover and stays in the Sun as he gets set front overhead attack he parallels the course of the Scout coming out from behind the cloud in proper position to begin his run just as the [ __ ] comes into view the leader rolls over and down on him with his leader out of range the wingman follows in as the leader closes the range he takes careful aim to hit the starboard engine and opens fire he breaks away to the land beautiful timing the wing man reaches firing range opens fire and breaks away to the right now the section is placed itself in position to bracket for a new attack but no second attack is necessary it's a quick kill [Music] scarlet bases scarlet one enemy shot down in flames requests vector over got it one this is scarlet base vector two three five out this section followed the rules made no mistakes took advantage of the Sun and clouds made an excellent choice of attack didn't waste any time and the enemy Scout had no chance to spot the taskforce or radio contact report these gents did a nice piece of work but that's only the end of round one now the radar picks up a second shadow and another section is vector down this time on a Southwest course turn intercepted and it's the same story get the Snooper before he spots the taskforce on radios a warning to his base [Music] but right off the bat this section finds itself in for a little trouble the enemy has the advantage of being between the fighters and the Sun there are scattered cloud formations that will give the [ __ ] a sense to take cover however these boys are on the ball an advantage of no advantage they're out to knock down this Snooper as soon as they get on the course they complete their checkoff lists the fighter director reports the enemy scout at 8,000 feet so they climb 2,000 feet above him just under the oxygen level Tallyho one painted hog this is scarlet 3-over this one is a highly maneuverable carrier basis cow farmer fixed guns forward and a free gun app the [ __ ] who has visibility advantage in his favor spots the fighters wasting no time at all the Snooper turned sharply and hightails it for the nearest cloud the section leader makes an opposite course overhead approach to get the enemy before he can take cloud cover as he goes into his dive the jab keeps a close watch on him [Music] when he nears the firing position the chaff free kana let's go with a burst he's hit by the fighter but he doesn't come apart the leader continues on down in his dive and levels off to fly along the lower edge of the cloud bang the wingman stays on top if the fighters had radar they could bore right into the cloud after their target as it is they know that if they can keep the chap on a relatively straight course they'll get him when he runs out of cloud so the leader stays below and to the side of the cloud bank while the wingman on the same side flies above and behind as every smart fighter pilot knows they must keep each other constantly in sight in order to box the champ in from above and below because their lines of vision intersect at a point beyond the cloud they'll spot the enemy if he should break cover on the far side if the [ __ ] had been lucky enough to duck into a big cloud he could have circled and stayed there all day but these are scattered clouds and aren't large enough for the [ __ ] to maneuver so by putting the squeeze on him from above and below the fighters make him hold his course he's out diving toward the water Scala for for Scala three mattress [Music] there's a great temptation to go barreling on in but even though the chap has had time to report carrier-based claims he hasn't cited the task force so there's no need to risk a stern approach and give the chap free gun or a potshot this chap is smart he knows that if he stays within a couple of hundred feet of the surface the fighters can't make overheads or high side runs on him because they won't have enough airspace to pull out but the section is smart too they bracket the chap for a flat side approach the leader starts his run while the wingman stands by to go in from the opposite side just as the leader comes into firing position the [ __ ] noses down and turns toward him sharply crossing him up on his lead the leader has to break off to keep from hitting the water and seeing this the wingman swings smartly to the opposite side of the target out of range of the gunner and the [ __ ] is still bracketed the Japs saved himself on the first pass but now the team is in better position than before because the chap is too close to the water to pull the same trick again the wingman makes a run to draw the fire of the free gunner who doesn't know whether this is only a feint or the old one-two knockout punch timing is run to begin when the wingman is about halfway to the target the leader starts a flat side approach the [ __ ] is on the spot he can't repeat his nose down turn he pulls up into a steep climb but the fighter holds his lead and that's the end of shed number 2 all the breaks were against these fighters they had the Sun in their eyes and the enemy had cloud cover but by using their heads and sticking to the rules they squeezed and jock at the chap into a position where his next move had to be a wrong move and in this case his last move but before this section had returned to the carrier the radar picks up a third Snooper and another section is vectored out to intercept the first two sections did a swell job but it won't mean a thing unless the third section comes through the leader of this third section is lieutenant lug and his wingman is Anson hazy looking for you wingman lieutenant there he is out of position lagging way behind fat dumb and happy lug knows this isn't a very good fighting formation so he zooms signaling hazy to come up into position hazy sees the signal but he adds only a peewee amount of throttle and doesn't close up fast enough Scarlet's six this is scarlet fire what's the matter they're being engine trouble having engine trouble oh no everything's okay well then close up okay that's great your program is coming in five and you have a very interested audience scarlet five this is scarlet bass correct your vector scarlet bass this is scarlet fire what is the vector vector zero six zero he is over shot in closing up and is flying in a kind of sandwich formation above his leader so he doesn't see the turn come on hazy get back into position meanwhile the JAF grateful to this information bureau changes his course but even though he's in the fighters range of fish and lug and hazy don't see him and good reason and some hazy is keeping proper lookout to starboard but log is looking to starboard too as a result they missed the chap in the hundred and eighty degrees of horizon on the port side why just going out sir they missed him how the hell credit a messy damn to find no but they did scarlet five hey rube hey rube vector three three five gate over welcome and finally by the time the phyto director puts them back on the course they're in for a long stern chase tell me ho one fender it's a Ashima Nicoya it's a Kawanishi no that's a flying boat mr. lug is the eager type no time wasted on thinking just boils right in from a rotten position with no altitude advantage his angle is wrong he aims it the whole plane instead of the far side engine opens far too soon and gets pulled flatter than a flounder what's more he gets himself sprayed nicely by the Jeff kennel gun there goes hazy on his way to win the war good position then fundamental gunnery runs mean little to him he thinks the hazy version of a flat side is good enough his angle of approach isn't too good but at least he's lined up on the target he squeezes the trigger uh-oh he forgot to flip his gun switch and now instead of bracketing these masterminds have Ronda boot on the port side and a flying bee-utiful formation the [ __ ] with true oriental courtesy feels that three's a crowd and not wishing to intrude on the happy pair he gracefully withdraws into cloud cover they failed to box him in from above and below and he makes his getaway using the cloud as a smokescreen the [ __ ] is really making saps out of these people what's like the diverging yeah I know they've lost him again [Music] garlic fire from scarlet base vector 0 8 5 over once again the fighter director has to lead them by the hand to put them back on the trail and when they finally catch up lug barrels in for another attack was hazy the simple Shiba riding his tail so close they're practically lined up for the [ __ ] kana bug opens far too soon and wastes ammunition hazy falls in too soon he's hit lugs wing that's a big help [Music] this time they've rendezvous to starboard of the enemy but by now luck has figured out that their system doesn't seem to be working so well bracket bracket repeat bracket get over on the other side now that the boys have started to give a reasonable imitation of a fighter section that knows its business the [ __ ] realizes that they are getting smarter and he eases down to 500 feet lug starts a flat side approach and it looks like the [ __ ] is finally in for plenty of trouble log gets into effective firing position and now what's the matter this engine hasn't been hit but it won't run on an empty tank lug this makes the job gun a very happy and he nearly rips lugs wing off so because log thought he could trust his memory instead of the checkoff list he missed his chance to get the chap and almost got himself shot down as far as AZ is concerned this thing has gone far enough he sees red he forgets everything accepts teaming in and getting that [ __ ] he makes a steep hi side on a target that's too close to the water the [ __ ] promptly turns toward him tricking hazy and just deepening his dive still more it's a fatal error you can't pull out [Music] Schuyler based at the scarlet flame wingman killed super still on same course a sad report the mission hasn't been accomplished the section leader is helpless his wingman has been lost and all because of bad judgment bad teamwork and bad gunnery what's worse the Snooper will soon be close enough to sight the task force and send back a contact report scarlet 7 this is scarlet base vector 1 1 zero gate over the fighter director quickly vectors another section to get on the jab Tallyho one bogey 12 o'clock Scarlett 7 there he is see him that tiny speck dead ahead just above the horizon a head-on attack may get him before he cites the carrier Macario tasks call it a flat side the wingman pulls up for a flat side to draw the chaps attention away from the leader [Music] the job is time but the wingman wants to get his tuple it's worth just to make certain that this chap radio is off the air forever [Music] [Music] all but one of these teams knew their business the business of destroying or being destroyed they followed the rules rules that are as vital as flying sense they utilized the elements of surprise Sun and cloud cover they sized up the enemy properly chose the right approaches in a smartly the successful sections worked as teams and lookout and bracketing and making faints in fact in all their strategies they use the teamwork that it takes to blast these snoopers out of the sky so don't be a log and don't you be a Z keep these laws of combat they'll make you top fighter pilots but break them and they'll break you what's worse they can break a lot of people along with you much may depend on you and what do you do in a tight spot gee thanks commander thanks very much sir shall we say good luck no sir we'll make our own luck well [Music]