How a Corsair Pilot Got a Kill with No Weapons

imagine this terrible scenario you are in your fighter 35 000 feet above the ocean chasing an enemy aircraft then finally after an hour and a half chase you pull up behind him only to find out that you have no weapon in this video we will cover this very story that happened over the pacific in world war ii and how a legendary american pilot would find a way to complete the mission [Music] as we go through this story if you appreciate the remarkable visuals i have here then you will love this video's sponsor that i use to make them war thunder it is one of my all-time favorite simulator games and i'm thrilled to finally be able to tell you guys about them in case you haven't tried it yet war thunder is an incredible online military vehicle combat game it gives you the chance to drive or pilot all kinds of famous machines into combat and best of all it is absolutely free to play and is available on pc playstation and xbox and is fully cross platform it also doesn't require any complex 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famous checkerboards would make their mark would be at okinawa this was a bloody conflict for a small island in the pacific that would serve as an airbase for the united states heavy bombers and while the fighting on the ground was indeed brutal another horrible part of this engagement for the allied forces was in the waters surrounding the battleground here where the crucial u.s fleet was supporting the ground forces they would face an unprecedented attack by japanese aircraft but instead of traditional air attacks these would be repeated waves of nightmarish kamikazes these suicide attacks would wreak devastating results on the american forces killing thousands of sailors and sinking or damaging dozens of ships this would create the primary role of the f4u corsair during this time to take to the skies and defend the allies from these lethal attacks robert klingman and other fighters of the 312 participated in these missions in 1945 trying to keep the japanese aircraft far away from the u.s naval forces one such mission that they would take part in would be on may 10 of 1945 u.s commanders had come to the realization that these kamikaze attacks were actually fairly coordinated the japanese had apparently been doing in-depth reconnaissance on the american fleets and from their aerial images they were assigning detailed battle plans and specific targets for individual pilots this allowed the attacks to be more organized and more successful thus the united states commanders realized that if they could prevent these recon missions they would decrease the success of the kamikazes so on may 10th clingman and three other corsairs were sent to go and take out a recon plane that had been sighted taken to the air that afternoon this would likely be a ki-45 nick twin-engine aircraft now there would be one major problem with this assignment this was no normal japanese heavy fighter this aircraft was specifically outfitted for the high level recon roll the ki-45 had been upgraded and souped up to fly as high as possible well over 35 000 feet of altitude this allowed it to fly completely out of the range of any american anti-aircraft guns additionally it also allowed them to consistently fly above the ceiling of most allied fighters this made these recon aircraft extremely difficult targets for the allies but nonetheless robert klingman and the checkerboards would have to find a way to take it out as they made their way up the lone nick was confirmed to be at 36 000 feet above the american ships once the four corsairs made it up to 20 000 feet the air began to get cold and thin they had to do anything possible to try and continue to gain height to get near the japanese aircraft so their flight leader captain ken rooser ordered the men to fire off some of their 50 caliber ammunition to try and reduce weight each pilot fired off around 2000 rounds lightening their corsairs by nearly 700 pounds each shortly after this at around thirty thousand feet two of the corsairs experienced engine trouble due to the high altitude and had to turn away heading back towards the fleet below the pair of remaining corsairs continued upward on wartime emergency power pushing their engines to the absolute limits of their ability around this time as they approached 38 000 feet the american pilots were slowly gaining on the ki-45 but feared that they would not be able to get much closer captain rooser used most of his remaining ammunition to fire a desperation shot from a distance spooking the nick and causing it to increase throttle lieutenant robert klingman now had one final shot he currently had a speed advantage over the ki-45 but it would not last long his corsair was low on fuel and could not survive this level of throttle power for much longer he came up close behind the japanese plane making sure that he would not miss his shot the twin engine aircraft entered his crosshairs and he pulled the trigger but as he expected to hear his 50 caliber guns fired to life there was instead utter silence the incredibly low temperature of the high altitude had caused the lubrication on his guns to thicken rendering his weapons completely inoperable after beating his own gun with his hands the japanese gunner let out a burst from his own weapon right at klingman's corsair which left bullet holes in his wing but luckily his guns quickly jammed as well klingman was now right above an enemy plane that was a crucial objective with no weapon to take it out he had been attempting to catch the ki-45 for over an hour and a half and likely lacked the fuel to make it all the way back home and so in the mind of the bold young pilot there was but one thing left to do robert klingman radioed to his wingman i'm going to hit him with my plane he immediately followed through pointing his nose downward right at the recon aircraft the propeller of his corsair struck the fuselage and tail section of the ki-45 multiple times in just a few seconds the gunner and his gun were reportedly thrown out of the plane in the initial impact and then in the next instant his propeller tore into the supporting area of the tail section sawing it completely off the impact quickly put both planes into an uncontrolled spin hurdling them back to earth clingman had accomplished his goal but was now in quite a predicament himself his corsair was shaking violently so much so that he could not even read his instrument panel to his relief however after falling thousands of feet he was eventually able to regain control of the fighter he found a way to control the shaking and was able to glide his corsair down to a lower altitude with the aid of his wingmen they were able to set a course for a nearby american airfield at around 10 000 feet of altitude he was completely out of fuel and his propeller was totally inoperable from the damage sustained in the collision captain rooser suggested that he bail out but klingman insisted on bringing his f4u in for a normal landing miraculously the corsair made it to the american airfield and came in safely on the runway klingman and his warbird bounced along the ground and came to a stop where upon exiting his plane he was quoted as famously saying it's a hell of a way to earn a buck coincidentally just a few days later robert klingman would actually have to bail out after combat his plane sustained damage to its landing gear causing it to be unsafe to land after he jumped from his corsair however and was safely in his parachute his fighter continued to glide right at the nearby american fleet the young american hero received quite a bit of jokes after his pilotless plane drifted dangerously close to his own ships and actually had to be shot down by the u.s fleet robert klingman would go on to survive the war serve in korea and pass away in 2004 at the age of 87. quick reminder for you guys don't forget to try war thunder today use the link below to go to battle in over 2 000 beautiful military vehicles 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Channel: TJ3 History

Views: 178,386

Keywords: IL-2 Sturmovik, F4U Corsair, Corsair, Klingman, Corsair Okinawa, f4u corsair whistling death, Corsair WWII, f4u corsair documentary, Corsair Collision, Ki-45, Robert Klingman, f4u corsair war thunder, Corsair Fighter, IL2, Flight Sim, World War II Flight Sim, IL-2 Great Battles, IL2 Game, IL-2 Highlights, IL-2 Flight Sim, Combat Flight Sim, War Thunder, Realistic, History Channel Dogfights, Historic, Documentary, Mark Felton, Yarnhub, TJ3 Gaming, Dark Skies, wW2 Air Combat

Id: gb-gicD4hQ8

Length: 10min 27sec (627 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 26 2022