June 20th 1944
the Imperial Navy has been sent to halt
an American offensive at Saipan
the US fleet has been putting up a
vicious fight blasting hundreds of enemy
planes out of the sky yet enterprise and
her carrier comrades have been unable to
locate the main enemy fleet now the
skies over the Philippine Sea are filled
with American airplanes on the hunt for
Admiral ozawa target the Japanese fleet
objective drive the remains of Ozawa's
task force from the Philippine Sea
strategy fly constant searches until the
Imperial ships are spotted and destroyed
but the seek and destroy mission goes on
for hours and still Admiral Marc
Mitscher cannot find at home Osama
tension is high aboard the big e as the
afternoon wears on
but at 3:40 p.m. they hit paydirt 300
miles away enterprise search planes
finally discovered
6:30 p.m. finally after two hours in the
air
killer Kane's Air Group spots the enemy
fleet 12,000 feet below they've
discovered a major part of Ozawa's force
three carriers rioja jr. and Hyo and
cruisers Megami and Nagato it's a
free-for-all Cain's forces immediately
split up and make a run for the enemy
vessels the Japanese surface ships open
up with a deadly fusillade of flak as
the dive bombers and Hellcats begin
their assault but they keep right on
coming
Jib dog ramage and 5s b DS line up from
farming front on the carry
jig dog brings over and makes a steep
dive on the enemy ship
I put the pepper as we called it just
forward of the bow and went down to the
2,000 feet maybe a little lower
dropped my bomb Ramage delivers 1,000
pounds of tear and immediately pulls out
of his die
it's a crippling near-miss one by one
for other SBDS drop their payloads over
the Imperial flattop from his rear seat
position calling it's a choice
opportunity to admire the grisly work of
his comrades Rio ho has been mauled and
carrier Hyo is wounded by torpedoes and
his burning enterprise bomb hits help
finish her off
just as the Hellcats rejoin the
dive-bombers flash gordon spots a target
of opportunity
[Music]
we're down on the water maybe 10 miles
east saw zero headed west 900 feet
gordon immediately firewalls the hellcat
and pulls the big plane into a half loop
and a half roll he races after the zero
draws a bead and cuts loose with his
rapid-fire 50s pulled up and the top of
loops and shot him down he blew up and
we came back down and and joined up with
the Bombers the zero is Flash Gordon
seventh and final kill of world war ii
he and his fellow pilots escaped the
last enemy flak bursts and head for home
[Music]
the Battle of the Philippine seas a
disaster for the Japanese Navy admiral
ozawa has failed to drive the US fleet
from Saipan and the defeat has cost him
hundreds of Imperial pilots and three
aircraft
tae ho and she'll conquer some of the
best news we got there was to hear that
our own name assists the shukaku have
been put down the Japanese the aftermath
the battle is recognition their carrier
forces finished they may still have
vessels but they no longer have aircraft
or pilots to put aboard those vessels
but the Japanese fleet is not finished
yet the biggies nemesis zuy Kaku is
still afloat and so are the battleships
massive battle wagons Musashi in you
Monty along with the ramada of cruisers
and destroyers are ready to meet the
enterprise in battle the bloody combat
on Saipan goes on for another three
weeks it becomes one of the most costly
battles of the entire Pacific War
you