[Milsurplus] Japanese WW2 avionics comment

[Hubert Miller]

Clearing up old mail, i found an interesting comment from a friend in CA. Excerpt:

"Regarding the Japanese aircraft radios, I believe they were already so short on strategic materials that aircraft from 1943 onward had radios in maybe only 1 out of 4 aircraft in a formation.  My dad commented that they shot down dozens of Zeroes and "Betty bombers" on Saipan where he was stationed, but that souvenir hunters were somewhat stymied when picking through the wrecks because there was no radio gear at all and only a couple of the most needed instruments, with the rest of the dash just empty holes and taped off wires.  Apparently they relied on the one plane in the formation with a radio or instruments to guide them, and if he got shot down, they were up the creek.  Of course by 1944 most of the attacks were suicide style and radios and instruments would have been pointless."

via: H.M.

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