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Greg mentions (at 14:35) that the Zero used “a special type of aluminum.” He’s getting to his own point with that phrase, but I think a little elaboration on this point might be interesting to other viewers:

Greg is referring to 7075 aluminum, which, 85 years later, is still the most commonly used high-strength aluminum alloy. It was a real breakthrough. The Allies were using 2000-series aluminum, which is Al alloyed with copper. 7000-series aluminum is alloyed with zinc, and about 12-15% stronger than 2000-series aluminum.

That may not sound like much, but part-for-part, a 15% weight savings is nothing to sniff at. Importantly, 2000-series aluminum is more vulnerable to corrosion (stress corrosion cracking) than 7075. This is a big deal for naval fighter aircraft, which are routinely exposed to salt spray. A good engineer would add more “meat” to any part vulnerable to corrosion, so 7075 saves a little more weight because it’s stronger in the face of corrosion: you can use less of it.

If you doubt that 7075 was different enough to make a difference, consider that Alcoa reverse-engineered it from captured Japanese aircraft in 1943 and it was used in non-Japanese aircraft production as of 1945. The aerospace industry adopted it as fast as they could.

For what it’s worth, I’m a mechanical engineer.

——————
One source for these claims (among many):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7075_aluminium_alloy

One underrated aspect of the Oscar is it appears to have the best and most modern canopy design of the early war period.

The Oscar is one of those "looks right" fighters.

IJN vs IJA used different ammo because there was no way in hell that either would degrade themselves to the point of depending upon their eternal enemy's supply chain.

Hi Greg.  That Statue that you displayed was a depiction of Miyamoto Musashi's duel with Sasaki Kojirō.  Musashi had a reputation for being a great swordsman throughout Japan (Nippon) at the time (1612), and Sasaki Kojirō who was also a well known swordsman challenged Musashi to a duel.  The two agreed to meet on an island called Ganryūjima for the duel.  Musashi got somebody to rake him to the island in a row boat from one of the local villages.  Musashi took his time getting there, and showed up late for the duel purposely to anger Kojirō, and maybe distract his focus.  Along this boat ride to the island Musashi carved a boken (a wooden practice sword) out of one of the boat's oars.  He carved this bokken to be longer than the sword that Kojirō was carrying in order to give him an advantage of reach by several inches.
    Musashi arrived on the island late as planned, with a bokken instead of his swords.  This insulted Kojirō who challenged Musashi to fight with the swords that Musashi typically used to fight with.  Musashi showing up  with a training weapon, and late for the fight got Kojirō pretty steamed.  Kojirō may have thought that Musashi was implying that he was going to be Kojirō's teacher  (I'm going to school you son.).  So the two rushed at each other, and Musashi struck downwards from over head hitting Kojirō in the head with his bokken, fatally wounding him.  It's not known is Kojirō died immediately or lived briefly before dying from this strike to the head, but die he did on April 13, 1612 from that duel.  Miyamoto Musashi was known for using the nito technique, which is using both of his swords, the Katana and Wakizashi (shorter sword) to fight as opposed to the single katana, which was standard at the time.  Kojirō must have been pretty ticked off that Musashi showed up with that Bokken instead of his swords.  That would have diminished any victory that Kojirō could have achieved from that duel, sort of like fighting with one hand tied behind your back.
   After this duel Miyamoto Musashi did everything he could to avoid dueling anyone.  He had great respect for Kojirō, and felt regret at having killed him.  Miyamoto Musashi later wrote a famous book titled Go Rin No Sho  (A Book Of Five Rings) and another book called  Dokkōdō (The Path of Aloneness).  The former is a book of combat strategy which I own.  SO when I saw that statue that was in your video, I knew, "Hey!  That's Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō!"   I imagine that the connection it has to the Japanese navy is the Battleship named after Miyamoto Musashi, which was the sister ship to the Yamato.

“Of course you don’t. Who does?
But I have that”

Got a chuckle out of me 😂

Regarding the Japanese 7.7mm ammo, the IJN used a rimmed cartridge, which made their 7.7mm ammo interchangeable with British .303 ammunition. Why? because the first IJN warplane was a flying boat armed with a direct copy of the British Air Service Lewis gun chambered in .303. Once adopted, the Japanese navy stuck with that caliber. The Army's MGs mostly used a rimless 7.7x58mm cartridge, which was compatible with the Arisaka Type 99 infantry rifle. The Japanese army also had a Type 92 rifle chambered in 7.7x56SR, a semi-rimmed case that was incompatible with the other two. Weird.

I don't usually preemptively like a video, but I just did for this one.

Ki 43 is the main feature of the anime “Kouya no Kotobuki”, I recommend everyone take a look if you are interested in this magnificent plane.

The Oscar reminded me of the Macchi MC.200 Saetta.  Both planes were built along the same lines; Only 2 heavy machine guns in a light, maneuverable airframe.

It's always interesting to see how logistics and philosophy play into these aircraft comparisons. Simply changing the theatre can make or break a plane.

On another note: YouTube hasn't been notifying people of my uploads, so I figured I'd mention that I'll be completing a Bushby Mustang II kit plane build on my channel over the next year or two just in case you are interested and weren't notified.

This is HOW a youtube video should be done, it was obviously scripted, practiced and revised before final edit, which is why Greg's channel is so easy to follow and enjoy, great job.

Wow! Outstanding coverage of this under-appreciated fighter.
In addition to the problem of 'wings departing the airframe' in some of the early Hayabusa, some of the early models also shot themselves down when explosive rounds detonated when fired.
This from an old Japanese-language book on the Hayabusa I picked up at a swap meet at Yasukuni Jinja many years ago......

As someone who also follows Drachinifiel's channel, the  Oscar and Zero having incompatible ammunition is a result of the IJN and IJA's interservice rivalry that's second to none.

ki-43(Oscar)は零戦よりも優れた上昇力と加速力で終戦まで戦い抜きました。零戦が大戦後半に重武装・高防御力化とともに取り柄の機動力を失っていったのとは違い、隼は最後まで機動力と加速力を維持し、当初から装備されていた防弾装備も相俟って、最も信頼性の高い戦闘機として当時の操縦者に最後まで愛用されました。

A "spiritual successor" to the Oscar is what the "Fighter Mafia" that was later involved with the YF-16 and YF-17 wanted.  When I learned about John Boyd and what he wanted out of the Lightweight Fighter competition I immediately thought of the Ki-43, the A6M Zero, and the doctrines behind their designs.  A lightweight fighter that only had a gun (or maybe two missiles), no radar, no armor, and massive amounts of thrust sounds like a supersonic jet powered reincarnation of the Ki-43 and that is what Boyd wanted.  With "Fighting Falcon" the F-16 even inherits the name although it turned into a very capable multi-role fighter with longer range missiles and sensors as well as air-to-ground capabilities, much to the chagrin of Boyd.

This is a channel for people who are REALLY interested in military aviation. For me, it's an absolute gift !

We liked the Spitfire, it was a tough opponent, it was clear that when designing it, the designers implemented the same principles as in the Ki-43. But it had a significant drawback - a meager flight time, so in the battle with the Spitfire we did not try to outdo it in a duel, it was enough to stall for time without letting ourselves be shot down, and the Spitfire was forced to return to base, and you had a choice, either to also calmly withdraw from the battle, or to take advantage of the situation and attack it, when it was limited in both maneuver and time. Memories of Japanese pilots in Burma

In the book "Spitfire" (John Nichol), there is the story of how New Zealand pilot, Alan Peart, flying a Mark VIII Spitfire from a forward airfield in Burma, battled twenty Japanese Oscar fighters at low altitude for, according to the story, forty minutes. He managed to shoot one Oscar down and survived by "one of the most astonishing feats of aerial combat witnessed in the entire war". He was saved by his superlative skill and endurance and by the fact that he was flying the very latest Spitfire, with the power and agility to give him enough of an advantage over the enemy fighters until they eventually ran low on fuel and had to leave.
He was close to the end of his tether when he landed, and the toll on his aircraft – by then it was barely flyable – was huge: the g-forces he had pulled had bent the main spar and popped rivets all over the airframe, and the constant high power setting had almost wrecked the engine. Also, a cannon shell had hit the cockpit but struck nothing vital.
Peart seemed to have a thing about combat against the odds – in North Africa, flying a Mark V Spitfire, he had survived a battle with a dozen Me 109s.