The Deadly "Kamikaze Killer" Pilot of World War II

the kamikaze possibly the most feared and daring attack weapon in all of world war ii these attacks would be devastating to american ships but in their shadow they would also create the story of an american hero in this video we will look at a corsair pilot who would rise to the occasion in 1945 taking down five of the suicidal japanese planes in a single day and saving the lives of thousands of americans in the greatest battles of world war ii nations went to great lengths to protect their sense of information today in the digital world militaries are doing it even more and you should be too with one of my favorite products and the sponsor of this video yubico yubico is a cutting edge way to protect your important and sensitive information that is far safer than just using passwords alone they offer an advanced two-factor authentication system with their physical keys that protect you from hackers phishing attacks and everything else that you might need to defend against and before you ask it is super compatible it works seamlessly with google facebook youtube dropbox and a ton of other apps the yubikey works with pretty much any device and all of your favorite operating systems in addition it is crush and water resistant just in case you happen to have it on you when you're shot down behind enemy lines so don't let the enemy get to hold of your personal or sensitive information instead check out yubico today and their fantastic products for individual protection business security and everything in between thanks again to yubico and without further ado enjoy as the second world war in europe began to slow the advancing soviet and allied troops pushing towards berlin in the spring of 1945 the conflict in the pacific continued to rage with incredible zeal imperial japan intensely battled the allied forces on the sea and on the pacific islands with the americans advancing ever closer towards mainland japan but for the passionate followers of the emperor not an inch of ground would be given it could only be taken to effectively take on the japanese this close to their home the united states brought in a new and formidable aircraft to lead the assault the f4u corsair the corsair became known as the whistling death a terrifying name to be associated with the u.s naval aviators who would utilize its massive engine to carry out ground support missions and dogfights over the pacific the design for the f4u corsair was first developed in early 1938 by rex besel the chief engineer at the vaught aircraft company it had a unique inverted gold wing style and a massive pratt whitney r-2800 engine that provided a great deal of power and speed thus the corsair would become one of the fastest and most powerful planes in the entire war the plane did suffer some early setbacks but eventually it was picked up in early 1943 when the u.s marines were given access to f4u's for use across the pacific theater this created the famous squadron the jolly rogers who shot down 152 japanese aircraft as well as the marine fighting squadron vmf-214 better known as the black sheep who were commanded by medal of honor recipient gregory pappy boyington but despite these famous groups perhaps it's most memorable and influential moment of the war might have actually come in a perilous dogfight on the seas in 1945 as part of the infamous battle of okinawa after the american victory on iwo jima the american forces were made clearly aware of the mindset of the imperial forces that japan would fight on until the death and so the americans chose their next target to help prepare for an invasion of japan a small island called okinawa this would be known as operation iceberg through mid-1944 the allies had begun heavy shelling of japanese occupied territories and islands stretching across the pacific and as allied victories were won further towards mainland japan and so fairly soon in april of 1945 american marines began landing on the beaches of okinawa but as american forces awaited in the ocean and provided support for the invasion a new threat began to emerge and became a feared tactic in the pacific the kamikaze kamikazes or divine wind so named after the infamous 1281 typhoon that swept away the mongol naval fleet and prevented the invasion from landing on japanese soil were purposeful and suicidal crashes that were sought to strike valuable enemy targets primarily aircraft carriers and other large ships in the second world war as the japanese began to lose the battle in the air and on the ocean they needed to take more drastic measures to try and defend their homeland and thus the idea for the kamikaze came about over the course of the war kamikazes were responsible for several thousand allied casualties and over 3 000 japanese pilots were killed during these attacks in these suicidal missions japanese pilots sank 34 allied ships and hundreds of others were severely damaged throughout the war at the battle of okinawa alone it is estimated that the number of u.s sailors and marines that were killed from kamikaze attacks is well into the thousands and because of the gung-ho nature of these attacks often these kamikazes were difficult for anti-aircraft and pilots to defend against but despite all these difficulties there was one man who clearly showed that he had no problem taking down japanese kamikazes and perhaps the hero of the most famous anti-kamikaze mission in world war ii this would be jeremiah o'keeffe o'keefe was a corsair pilot serving with the renowned vmf 323 marine squadron better known as the death rattlers while at college the native mississippian enlisted in the navy like many of the others after the japanese attack on pearl harbor in 1941 and found himself assigned to the squadron a few years later in april of 1945 o'keefe now a first lieutenant and the rest of the death rattlers were headed out towards okinawa from the uss white plains assigned to provide cover for the invading ground forces and bombarding japanese airfields and fortifications when possible it would be here on this day that his name would be cemented into history as the vmf 323 squadron flew over okinawa on the 22nd of april 24 corsairs in total roared through the sky here they would spot a large flight in the distance and based on their fixed landing gear and the direction from which they were coming it could only be the japanese the sky quickly filled with more than 80 val dive bombers a clear indicator that this was yet another kamikaze attack headed right towards the american ships stationed by the island despite being vastly outnumbered however o'keeffe and the death rattlers leapt into action flying out to break up the formation of imperial aircraft the young o'keefe chose a target and dove in with the corsair being an aircraft much faster than his opponent the obvious attack method was what would become known as boom and zoom meaning that the attacker would dive into his opponent open fire hitting them and then used superior speed and momentum to pull away from the dogfight leaving the enemy far behind this would be the exact strategy that o'keefe would use to open up this engagement diving in his corsair right at the val in his crosshairs he opened up and drilled the poorly armored japanese plane his six 50 caliber m2 browning machine guns destroyed it immediately sending it downward in a ball of flames splash one kamikaze for the young american immediately after pulling up from this attack however he spotted another group of kamikazes and turned to take them on as well he opened up but this time misses with his initial burst of fire this causes the vowel to pull away from the rest of the group and dive down towards the ocean o'keeffe chooses to follow him trying not to pass the slower aircraft in the intense dive eventually the val arrives at the ocean and has nowhere else to run o'keeffe opened up and tallies his second kill of the day as the japanese pilot meets the ocean like the first but then just a few seconds later another vowel appears passing by him in a blink but this one seems far more aggressive than the first two that he has faced this vowel actually appears to be attacking the corsair instead of running from it o'keeffe turns with the vowel and quickly finds himself in a deadly scissors dogfight right above the surface of the ocean this may be a kamikaze but clearly has the mind of a dog fighter this particular engagement is fairly dangerous for the american as the val is much slower and can likely turn at a sharper angle which makes it difficult to fight against at low altitude but fortunately the american comes out on top and o'keeffe gets a shot at the japanese plane he hits it hard but it does not go down immediately the val in a last-ditch effort to try and make a difference tries to ram o'keefe's corsair and narrowly misses just before crashing into the ocean now splash 2 and splash 3 for jeremiah o'keefe with 3 kills on the day now the corsair pilot opts to use his speed advantage and gain some altitude there are still planes covering the sky and he will need to climb back up to the dogfight to do his job as he gets back up to the action he spots another vow this one however appears to be oblivious to o'keeffe on his 6 o'clock and barely moves as he lines him up in front of him he opens up and it goes down immediately for an easy kill splash 4 japanese planes then finally o'keeffe spots one last japanese aircraft but this one appears to already be in his attack run headed right for the american ships it is clear that he must stop it but there is a new limiting factor quickly coming into play his ammunition the corsair's 50 caliber machine guns are certainly low on ammo by this point and he knows that he cannot have many rounds left but nonetheless he goes after the final kamikaze as the final japanese plane in his sight levels off for the attack run o'keefe comes up behind and puts the vowel right in front of him fortunately for o'keefe most of the kamikaze bombers lack tail gunners as they only need one pilot to crash into a ship so at as close of range as he can possibly get to to make sure that any remaining rounds find their target he pulls the trigger and watches tracers fly the valve sustains heavy damage and catches fire quickly going down towards the sea well clear of the american ships now o'keeffe realizing the feat of what he has just accomplished turns for his carrier and leaves the engagement upon linking up with his group and safely landing back on the carrier they find out that the death rattlers have had a historic day taking down a total of 17 japanese val dive bombers loaded to the brim with explosives in the engagement they would not lose a single corsair and not one japanese kamikaze would make it to the american fleet in addition o'keeffe found his fighter to be completely out of ammunition when he landed on the carrier fully exhausting his machine guns the contributions of the death rattlers on this day no doubt saved the lives of hundreds or even thousands of american men led by the incredible actions of jeremiah o'keeffe the famous airmen would survive the war finishing with seven kills and would pass away in 2016 at the age of 93 i hope you enjoyed please consider subscribing

Channel: TJ3 History

Views: 439,685

Keywords: IL-2 Sturmovik, WW2 Air Combat, Japanese Kamikaze, Kamikaze, Kamikaze Okinawa, Marianas Turkey Shoot, F4U Corsair, Kamikaze WWII, Corsair, Corsair Fighter, Kamikaze Killer, Jeremiah O Keefe, Kamikaze Plane, IL2, Flight Sim, Corsair War Thunder, World War II Flight Sim, Kamikaze vs Corsair, IL-2 Great Battles, IL2 Game, IL-2 Flight Sim, Combat Flight Sim, War Thunder, Realistic, History Channel Dogfights, Historic, Documentary, Mark Felton, Yarnhub, TJ3 Gaming, dark Skies

Id: qpaL6Mnvx0s

Length: 12min 47sec (767 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 24 2022