The 400mph Carrier Monster That Broke Japan

It's 1943, and fifty Mitsubishi Zeros slice over the Pacific. After two years of ruling these skies, their pilots have grown cocky. The American fighters will turn and run in a moment. Except they don’t. They're climbing up to meet them. The fight is on. The Zeros open fire first. Tracer rounds slam into fuselages. The Japanese pilots expect the familiar sight of enemy aircraft exploding, but their 20-millimeter cannons, normally enough to shred American fighters to pieces, seem to bounce off their wings. But heavy armor means slow aircraft - they'll easily outmaneuver them. Wrong again. The newcomers pull into a steep climb, their 2,000-horsepower engines roaring at full throttle. What should be impossible is happening - these heavy fighters are gaining altitude faster than the lightweight Zeros can follow. The Americans fire back. Six .50-caliber machine guns per aircraft unleash streams of destruction that rip through Zero formations like paper. The Grumman F6F Hellcat has entered the fight for the Pacific, and now, it's an even match. --- Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between. As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.