Why did the Japanese lose so many aircrafts?
I have been reading Wikipedia's account of all the major naval battles in PTO, and it struck me as bizarre that the vaunted Japanese air groups were taking disproportionate losses in aircraft and men from Coral Sea to Guadalcanal, even in the battles that they nominally won, such as Santa Cruz; on a similar vein, the Japanese Imperial Navy inflicted severe tonnage losses on the Americans during Guadalcanal, but their loss of aircrafts and manpower was astounding.
I know the Japanese Navy had negligible rescue and recovery capabilities and their downed pilots and sailors were pretty much on their own. But that does not explain the lop-sided loss of aircrafts even in victorious engagements. What's up with that?
I have been reading Wikipedia's account of all the major naval battles in PTO, and it struck me as bizarre that the vaunted Japanese air groups were taking disproportionate losses in aircraft and men from Coral Sea to Guadalcanal, even in the battles that they nominally won, such as Santa Cruz; on a similar vein, the Japanese Imperial Navy inflicted severe tonnage losses on the Americans during Guadalcanal, but their loss of aircrafts and manpower was astounding.
I know the Japanese Navy had negligible rescue and recovery capabilities and their downed pilots and sailors were pretty much on their own. But that does not explain the lop-sided loss of aircrafts even in victorious engagements. What's up with that?
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