Footage from November of 1943 shows a group of Naval dive bombers conducting attack runs against the Imperial Japanese Navy near Rabual.

Today seemed like a good day to post some classic gun tape from World War 2. Imagine a world where your job was to fly a prop-engine plane directly towards the Ocean and the Japanese Navy so that you can drop bombs onto their ships. Not only do you have to survive aerial dog fights with Japanese interceptors in superior aircraft, you also have to survive the anti-air defenses of the ships the entire time you're flying a directly vertical path straight towards the ocean. Then, once you drop your payload, you have to pull out of your nose-dive and continue to evade anti-aircraft fire while those same Japanese interceptors attempt to chase you all the way home.

If you survive all of that, you have to land a on a moving runway in the middle of the ocean with a probably damaged prop engine aircraft with absolutely no computer guidance systems on board to assist you in the trigonometry of hitting your runway.

Guys that fought, flew and sailed during World War Two were just built different.

About the Author

Josh Brooks

Josh is an American writer and former USMC machine gunner with eight years of experience in ground combat arms throughout the GWOT. He is currently based in Texas and specializes in combat footage analysis and digital marketing.Follow Josh at OfficialJoshBrooks.com