Okay, So I'm Not Feeling Particularly American These Days

[frustratedpilot]

Explanations: Toho Movie #1 is Taiheiyo no Tsubasa/Wings of the Pacific, also known as Attack Squadron and marketed on home video as Kamikaze, which is a misnomer. It's the true story of a Japanese squadron whose commander refused to allow himself or his pilots to be used in suicide missions. One of the actual planes of this same squadron survived the War and is in the collection of the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL.

Toho Movie #2 is Ozora No Samurai/Samurai of the Blue Sky about the pilot Saburo Sakai, who became an ace against the Allies during the Guadalcanal campaign but then was wounded in the eye and forced to make an epic flight back to base alone and in horrible pain. While the fight that caused his wound isn't faithfully depicted here, it was the subject of an episode of PBS' Secrets of the Dead last year.

Rounding out the triptych is a video tribute to the F-5E Tiger II in the service of the Taiwanese (Republic of China) Air Force.