Скачать или смотреть U.S. Test Pilot Flew Captured Zero Fighter — Then Discovered It Couldn't Roll Right Above 200 Knots

In September 1942, Lieutenant Commander Eddie Sanders climbed into the cockpit of a captured Japanese Zero fighter at Naval Air Station North Island, becoming the first American to systematically test-fly and expose the legendary aircraft's hidden weaknesses. This meticulously researched documentary reveals how Sanders discovered the Zero couldn't roll right above 200 knots and how its engine died during negative-G maneuvers—tactical intelligence that transformed American fighter tactics overnight. Through declassified test reports, firsthand pilot accounts, and Japanese military records, discover how twenty-four test flights of a single captured aircraft changed the Pacific air war, improving American kill ratios from 1:1 to nearly 6:1 within months. Featuring the stories of Medal of Honor recipient Kenneth Walsh, test pilot Frederick Trapnell, and Japanese ace Saburo Sakai, this historical investigation explores how technical knowledge proved as decisive as technological superiority in World War II. Learn how a nineteen-year-old Japanese pilot's crash landing in an Alaskan marsh inadvertently handed America the intelligence needed to dominate Pacific skies, and why Japanese commanders later ranked this intelligence loss as devastating as their defeat at Midway. Based on Naval History and Heritage Command records, Smithsonian archives, and official military documentation, this account demonstrates how innovation in warfare often comes not from advanced technology but from understanding exactly how to exploit an enemy's limitations.