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Post by volkssturm on Feb 2, 2019 13:38:51 GMT -5
Here's a little bit of forgotten history. It isn't always the guys on the frontline who have big brass you-know-whats. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN2J_eBP8OQThe Sikorsky JRS-1 was a flying boat, looking something like the PBY Catalina but smaller. The Navy and Marines had some at Pearl Harbor, where they were assigned to Utility Squadron 1, hauling people, mail and other stuff around. They were sometimes described as pick up trucks. They were also used for aerial photography. Utility Squadron 1 had as its logo a Pelican with a photographer in its beak and a sack of mail in its claws. When the Japanese attacked the air field and sea plane base on For Island they destroyed or damaged all the Catalinas. Only three Catalinas survived because they were out on patrol when the attack occurred. But the Japanese missed the JRS-1's. With the loss of the PBY's the Navy lost it's long range patrol capability, which was bad because they didn't know where the Japanese fleet was or what it was planning. So they pressed the JRS-1's into service as patrol planes. The JRS-1 had a top speed of 190 mph, which meant it couldn't outrun a Zero, and it had no defensive armament. So they sent up volunteer sailors and marines who sat at the open doors with rifles to shoot at any attacking Japanese planes. As the video says, its was effectively a suicide mission. They were really only hoping that the planes would survive long enough to get a radio message off. Fortunately, the Japanese fleet was withdrawing and the JRS-1's never found them or encountered enemy planes.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Sept 8, 2019 14:24:34 GMT -5
Can you imagine the courage that it took to go on those missions? The unknown, together with the devastation you couldnt miss throughout the islands meant you probably believed as you went out that there was a good chance you weren't coming back.
The mentality at the time was that islands were going to be invaded.
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