Japanese naval aviators were hands down the best pilots in the world at the onset of World War II. No other navy, including the US Navy, was even close to the Japanese naval aviators skill set. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) air wings had spent the five preceding years fighting the Chinese and honing their considerable skills. The IJN aircraft, the Kate torpedo plane, Val dive bomber and Zero fighter were also very fast, capable and maneuverable with very long range due to a lack of armor. Japanese doctrine and engineering was 100% offensive minded placing speed, maneuverability and range over any type of defensive armoring and self sealing fuel tanks to protect the pilots.
After an attack on the Aleutian Islands in June 1942, a Japanese Zero was recovered nearly intact on Akutan Island:
This particular Zero was recovered, repaired, made airworthy and then heavily studied/ dissected by the US Navy where its previously unknown performance and armor weaknesses were revealed and then exploited. This Zero capture was a true watershed moment in the War in the Pacific!
This reveal, combined with the massive loss of four of Japan’s core fleet aircraft carriers and numerous elite pilots at the Battle of Midway, led to a major downturn both in the number and effectiveness of the remaining Japanese aircraft carriers from mid 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. The IJN had very rigid pilot training programs which were unsustainable as they were never able to recover from their Midway losses.
This answer wasn’t written using AI, only brain, heart and a little research from 50+ years of studying WW2. Your upvote is appreciated!
NOTE: thanks for all your many comments as I appreciate and have read all your many contributions (since I am indeed human!) and am thrilled to have generated this much positive discussion with my answer.
This dialogue and information sharing is what Quora is all about…
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