Aviation Art…

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ONE THE HARD WAY – Dan Zoernig

Christmas Day, 1941. American Volunteer Group Flight Leader Parker Dupouy finds his guns jammed during combat high over the Gulf of Martaban. Determined to bring down his adversary, he rams the Hayabusa Oscar of Lt. Hiroshi Okuyama of the JAAF 64th Sentai. Though he lost four feet of his wingtip and his entire aileron, Dupouy made it back to his base to fight another day. Lt. Okuyama’s aircraft, however, broke up in flight and carried him to his death. Dupouy went on to score 6.5 victories in the air before war’s end.

Comments

Aviation Art… — 9 Comments

  1. It’s always good to hear that the good guy survived. We built ’em tough back then. (The men? or the planes? Yes)

  2. Really enjoy these aviation posts of yours…thanks much.

  3. Ed, the 6.5 comes from sharing a kill with a fellow pilot.
    Two on one was the preferred way to fight a Zero.
    Damn Zero was turned too tight for a P-40 and other early war fighters to follow.
    That gave rise to the “Thatch Weave.” Incorrectly named as Jim first used it over the trenches of WWI.

  4. I read the Flying Tigers figured out real fast that they couldn’t turn with them, so went to the dive, run, and gun ’em, and carry the speed to outrun them going away.