American Fighters Couldn't Beat the Zero — Until This Pilot Used Matchsticks to Find the Answer скачать в хорошем качестве

American Fighters Couldn't Beat the Zero — Until This Pilot Used Matchsticks to Find the Answer

September 22, 1941. Commander John Thach read the intelligence report twice—the Japanese Zero could out-turn, out-climb, and out-maneuver every American fighter. His pilots would be obsolete before the war even started. That night, Thach sat at his kitchen table in Coronado, California, and pulled out a box of matchsticks. For months, he moved those wooden sticks around the table, each one representing a fighter, searching for a formation that could let inferior aircraft defeat superior ones through teamwork alone. June 4, 1942, Battle of Midway—outnumbered six Wildcats against twenty Zeros—Thach used his matchstick tactic in combat for the first time. It worked perfectly. He shot down three Zeros, and his formation survived against impossible odds. The "Thach Weave" became standard doctrine across the Navy, saved thousands of American lives, and remained in use through Vietnam. Japanese ace Saburō Sakai later wrote that pilots "were raging" when they encountered it—forced to flee from aircraft they'd previously dominated. ► WW2 Aviation Legacy:    • WW2 Aviation Legacy   Leave a comment and let me know where you're watching from and whether you'd heard about the Thach Weave. These stories take serious research, and I read every comment. #ww2 #thachweave #zerofighter #f4fwildcat #battleofmidway #johnthach #navalaviator #fightertactics #pacificwar #aviationhistory