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Okinawa

  • Thread starter DauntlessDriver546
  • Start date
D

DauntlessDriver546

Guest
Alright guys...

My next big project is about to get underway. I'm doing a film on the Okinawa Air War.

I'd like some help and some input.

1.) First, I need some color schemes for aircraft used in the Okinawa campaign. For the US. Japan seemed to use a hodge-podge of planes...

2.) Second, is there a definitive website for the Okinawa Air Campaign? I can't find one.

3.) Third, anyone got a list of planes used in the fight? Corsairs, Hellcats, Helldivers, Kingfishers, Dauntlesses, Avengers I know for sure... did the Japanese just use a hodgepodge of planes?

4.) How long should I make the movie? I'd love to do a four-parter, but I don't think everyone will watch all four. :argue:

DD
 
The USN Carrier no longer used the Dauntless,Enterprise and Lexington were the last to use them at the Marianas.


Talon
 
According to sources i found, the Japanese order of battle included the following air units:

Oroku Detachment, 951st Air Group IJN
Nansei Shoto Air Group IJN
46th Independent Air Company IJA
Detachment, 20th Air Regiment IJA

I don't know which bases exactly they all operated from, but without carrier support throughout the campaign, one can assume that any air units connected with bases on these islands were directly involved:

Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa being the largest of the chain)
Formosa (Taiwan)
Kyushu (the southern-most large island of the home island group)

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More weblinks:

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Okinawa/USMC-M-Okinawa-V.html

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/Huber/Huber.asp#02

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_okinawa1.html


******************************************************

If your hangar is anything like mine, you probably have a number of circa 1944-1945 skins for Japanese aircraft known to have been based in the locations listed above. Just plug 'em in and cross your fingers that the purists won't notice anything out of order...LOL

BTW, i have seen some recent TV documentary about Okinawa kamikazes flying out of Kyushu during the engagement, so there's something i would bet on.
 
Some of the IJN planes that were there,Betty-evening and night attacks,Judy Divebomber- some daylight attacks,Jill- daylight and night attacks.Fighters Zero - early and later versions.Vals and Kates-mostly Kamikaze attacks.In the end all were used for Kamikaze attacks.

USN Carrier planes-Corsair,Hellcat,Avenger and Helldiver.Some Avengers were radar equiped and used for night attacks on shipping and harbors.

Enterprise at this time used for night ops besides day ops.I believe Saratoga was also plus some CVL's.

The first 2 carriers equiped for night ops were Enterprise and I believe CVL Princeton.Saratoga was later equiped for night ops.


Talon
 
Also don't forget the major contributions made by the BPF (British Pacific Fleet) and their Commonwealth partners in the RNZAF and RAAF. Casualties to kamikazes would possibly have been much higher than reported had it not been for airfield suppression strikes and interceptions by CW naval air forces against planes and bases on Formosa, southern Kyushu and other Ryukyu islands. Here's a chance to highlight some Mark II Hellcats and Corsairs, as well as Tarpons and Seafires. They had some 17-19 BPF carriers operating in this campaign! I tell ya, this was some battle....
 
In many ways this Battle was the ultimate Battle of World war two as far as our forces where involve. Yes more of our troops died officialy in the Battle of the Bulge but in Okinawa there where less ground troops involve in much less ground to fight for and it also was fought in a 360 degree angle.

It was fought in the ground and in the Air and the waters around Okinawa. I"am beginging to believe we lost more troops in that campaign that we are let to believe. For example the Goverment claims that there over 23,000 noncombat casualties during the campaing. Well that means that there almost 300 noncombat casualties every day. Thats simply ilogical.

You have got to remember that our Goverment had every interest to lower our casualty count to the public as not to scare us in case we had to invade Japan at a later date.

I just hope you make a good movie like you are capable.

Looking forward for your finnish product.

Thank you!:jump:

I just found this Webpage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Forces_in_Okinawa

and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa

I hope it helps!
 
THIS:
The three-month battle for Okinawa was the largest, costliest operation of the Pacific War. The fighting involved a million combatants - Americans, Japanese, British, and Okinawans.

The slender island constituted an ideal staging base for the pending invasion of Japan, 350 miles away. The Japanese 32d Army, 100,000 strong, defended Okinawa. The desperate Japanese would launch 2,500 suicidal kamikaze aircraft against the invasion fleet.

On 1 April 1945 — nearly 30 years after the disastrous Allied landing at Gallipoli in World War I — the Fifth Fleet landed 60,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army on Okinawa in a flawless ship-to-shore assault.

The ground battle for Okinawa reflected attrition warfare at its worst — three months of bloody pounding into the teeth of well-prepared Japanese defenses at an average advance of 55 yards per day. The Marines had never faced such an abundance of heavy artillery. Nor had they previously fought amid such a concentration of civilians. "The children won our hearts," admitted PFC Sledge, but the brutal fighting would claim the lives of nearly one-third the Okinawan population.
Click to expand...

From HERE:
http://www.usmcmuseum.com/Exhibits_UncommonValor_p18.asp

Semper Fidelis brothers.

And then there is this:
http://www.answers.com/topic/battle-of-okinawa
and
http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/okinawa/default.aspx
 
PS I just want to say that the Battle of the Bulge was also a great bloody Battle. Both this Battle where fought by very brave men. They should never be forgoten. Its just a thought.
 
Was Okinawa taken for the sake of the B-29s? Or was that Iwo?
 
Nah...it was Iwo that was vital for the B-29's and their Mustang escorts, but Okinawa later served in the same way, especially for the P-47N squads that came online to augment the P-51's mission. The "N" Jugs were much improved in performance and range over earlier models, but they still lacked the extreme range of the Mustang which could operate from Iwo. So the captured Jap bases in the Ryukyu Islands were converted into P-47 and P-51 staging grounds.

But more to the point, we had to take the Ryukyu Islands (incl Okinawa) as the beginning of the process of the invasion of mainland Japan, otherwise the Jap forces on these islands would have been thorns in our left flank during the mainland invasions.
 
USS Laffey...

..., the ship that would not die, made her bones as radar picket #1 at Okinawa. A mission for the few fighters that tried to defend her against the onslaught of over 40 kamikazes might be appropriate. Especially since Collin's USS Laffey is readily available.

Just a thought...:kilroy:

The USS LAFFEY DD-724 fought at Normandy, Iwo Jima, Philippines and took on 22 kamikazes directly in 80 minutes at Okinawa. She survived the Korean War and 25 more years of Cold War sailing. She is currently the last Sumner Class destroyer afloat, and can be visited at Patriots' Point, Charleston, SC, where she was restored to WWII configuration by the surviving members of her crew and their families working summers.
 
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