The P-38 Lightning That Ended Yamamoto's War in Four Minutes
WWII Untold Stories
17,430 views
On April 18, 1943, four P-38 Lightning fighters flew a thousand miles on decoded Japanese radio orders to intercept the bomber carrying Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, architect of Pearl Harbor. Four minutes later, the Imperial Japanese Navy would never again put a mind like his in command of its fleet.
This is the story of Operation Vengeance: the 339th Fighter Squadron's interception of two Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty bombers and their six-Zero escort over Bougainville, built on a codebroken itinerary, a scavenged 330-gallon drop tank, and a six-leg dead-reckoning flight plan accurate to the minute. It covers the codebreakers of the Fleet Radio Unit Pacific, the authorization chain from Secretary Knox through Admiral Nimitz, the four-minute engagement that killed Yamamoto and cost America one P-38 and pilot Raymond Hine, and the decades-long dispute over which pilot, Rex Barber or Thomas Lanphier, actually fired the fatal shots.
Built from after-action reports, squadron loss tables, and the physical wreckage evidence that later reopened the credit dispute — not the version of the story that made it into the highlight reels.
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#WW2 #WorldWarII #PacificWar #USNavy #WWIIHistory #P38Lightning #OperationVengeance #Yamamoto #MilitaryHistory #USAInWW2
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The P-38 Lightning That Ended Yamamoto's War in Four Minutes
WWII Untold Stories
17,430 views
On April 18, 1943, four P-38 Lightning fighters flew a thousand miles on decoded Japanese radio orders to intercept the bomber carrying Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, architect of Pearl Harbor. Four minutes later, the Imperial Japanese Navy would never again put a mind like his in command of its fleet.
This is the story of Operation Vengeance: the 339th Fighter Squadron's interception of two Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty bombers and their six-Zero escort over Bougainville, built on a codebroken itinerary, a scavenged 330-gallon drop tank, and a six-leg dead-reckoning flight plan accurate to the minute. It covers the codebreakers of the Fleet Radio Unit Pacific, the authorization chain from Secretary Knox through Admiral Nimitz, the four-minute engagement that killed Yamamoto and cost America one P-38 and pilot Raymond Hine, and the decades-long dispute over which pilot, Rex Barber or Thomas Lanphier, actually fired the fatal shots.
Built from after-action reports, squadron loss tables, and the physical wreckage evidence that later reopened the credit dispute — not the version of the story that made it into the highlight reels.
Subscribe for the definitive history of the United States in the Second World War — new documentaries every few days.
#WW2 #WorldWarII #PacificWar #USNavy #WWIIHistory #P38Lightning #OperationVengeance #Yamamoto #MilitaryHistory #USAInWW2