many books claimed that the pilot trainning is not as good as the american is one of the reason why japanese was defeated. So you know what makes American pilot trainning problem much better than the japanese ones?
thanks for answering
At the beginning this was not the case. Its a myth that in 1941 US pilots were better than Japanese ones. The Japanese had a good training system for the size of their force in the mid to late 30’s. Japanese Carrier aircrew had much more experience and hours than their Allied counterparts, together with much more capable aircraft.
The US didnt even think the Zero existed etc before Pearl harbour.
The trouble the Japanese had was that once they started the war their training system didnt allow for a thorough programme in the timescale they were allowed. US pilots typically spent 2 years before reaching a Sqn.
After Midway, the most experienced and best Japanese crews were gone and to replace them quickly meant rushing the new guys through. Also the japanese were fuel strapped (they went to war for fuel) and this further curtailed flying training.
So the factors of loss rate and fuel supply really affected a proper training programme which led to the implementation of the Kamikaze attacks in the latter stages of the war. They werent brought about through any particular warrior zeal but through desperation.
Try here for more information:
That is true, but it is also a sign of Japan’s eventual failure to supply a healthy reinforcement of pilots as war went on. Their strategy of a small corps of elite pilots, in the end, was a complete failure compared to the US strategy of a large corps of ok pilots.
That’s thanks to the complete lack of intelligence in the American military system. The Zero actually made its debut (http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=62) as early as summer 1940 against Chinese elements, and mass produced by zaibatsu-controlled plants at Mitsubishi way before Pearl Harbor. The complete ineptitude of American intelligence gave the opportunity for a rude awakening among Americans. The US in the pre-war years viewed intelligence as something unethical. In Eisenhower’s memoirs, he said “within the War Department a shocking deficiency that impeded all constructive planning existed in the field of Intelligence”, so it’s not something that should surprise anyone. During the years between the two World Wars ZERO DOLLARS were provided for military intelligence. The only method of gathering intelligence was via military attaches in foreign capitals, but even that was ineffectual as most military attaches were appointed base on their tenure and popularity, not due to their intelligence gathering abilities.
The owner of that site (Combined Fleet/Nihon Kaigun), Jon Parshall, is a good friend of mine, I’m glad you linked his site for info. I am very much looking forward to the book on Midway Jon and his colleague Tony Tully are going to release towards the end of this year.
Another problem was the complete disregard of pilot officers towards more experienced sergeant pilots.
The Japanese ace Sakai Saburo complained bitterly about this (in an interview in “Japan at War, an Oral History”, by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook).
He describes for instance how the officers took all the food to their mess in the next village, leaving the NCOs and enlisted men to fend for themselves. Or how an experienced sergeant pilot with many kills had to fawn to a subaltern fresh from officer’s school, with the only gratification in the knowledge that the snotty young pr*ck would soon be killed.
Jan
temujin77
I wouldnt mind a PM when this book becomes available if you can, Ive always been a great enthusiast of the Pacific War. Also the link to the WW2 DB was very good, I shall spread that around, is it yours?
FF
Firefly,
Yes, WW2DB is mine, started working on it 6 months ago and had a couple of people join me on the way. Thanks for the compliments and helping me spread the word!
For news on Jon’s book, he set up a form to collect email addresses for when the book is released: http://www.combinedfleet.com/MidwayBook.htm, you can sign up there. The book is scheduled to come out October or so the last I heard, just in time for the Christmas season 
Thanks for the link…
The japanese also had A LOT more experiance then the american pilots in 1941. They had many veteran pilots from wars/expanasions in China, Phillipines and south-eastern Asia.
Before and at the beginning of the war the Japanese philosophy was the same as Germany’s- develop a cadre of excellent pilots. When it was found that Allied pilots who received very good training were able to often best the excellent enemy pilots it was too late. Both Germany and Japan fielded pilots with too few hours of flight and combat training late in the war.
It was far better to have a greater number of “very good” pilots compared to the time and training needed to seek out and produce “excellent” pilots.
Was the Corsair a better fighter/bomber than that of the Zekes?