太平洋の鷲 movie poster.
Movie (1953)
Japanese title :
太平洋の鷲
English title : Eagle of the Pacific or Operation Kamikaze
Starring:
Denjirō Ōkōchi / 大河内傳次郎 (Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto / 山本五十六)
Hiroshi Nihonyanagi (Commander Furukawa)
Eijirô Yanagi (Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai)
Minoru Takada (Prince Fumimaro Konoe)
Events from the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack and the death of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (18 April 1943), focusing on the admiral's point of view about the Tripartite Pact and the American industrial power.
Please, read the Discussion tab for a few thoughts on the sequences in which the aircraft appear and the special features of this page.
Nakajima Ki-43[]
Take off.
Archive footage.
Matte painting
Nakajima Ki-43-III 64th Sentai (Group) 1st or 3rd Chūtai (Squadron).
@ 1h15.
Aichi E13A[]
Yokosuka K4Y[]
Just over 200 of this single engined two-seat biplane were built between 1933 and 1940, serving as the Imperial Japanese Navy's basic floatplane trainer.
Nakajima B6N Tenzan[]
The B6N Tenzan began reaching front-line units in August 1943 and so could not be used months before the Pearl Harbor attack during training as shown during this action.
Torpedo away !
Still anachronistic at the time of Midway (June 1942).
@ 1h30.
Nakajima B5N[]
@ 57 minutes.
Aircraft of the 20th attack bomber of the Kure Naval Air Corps.
Mitsubishi A6M Zero[]
Mitshubishi A6M2 type21 ZERO, Shōkaku aircraft carrier, 7 December 1941.
Mitsubishi A6M5 filmed on the Zuiho aircraft carrier on 24 october 1944 ... long after the 7 December 1941 !
AI-158, A6M2 of Masao Taniguchi taking off from the Akagi with the first wave.
Another Mitsubishi A6M5, still anachronistic for the Rabaul fightings (seen at 1h41).
Mitsubishi G4M[]
Night attack on the US fleet known as 'The Betty attack' although the action was carried out with Nakajima B5Ns, one of them crashing on a US battle ship (the real attack by G4Ms was on daylight).
Kaga & Nakajima B5N[]
Nakajima B5N on the deck of the Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga sunk by US dive bombers during the Battle of Midway, 4 June 1942.
Aichi D3A[]
Archive footage of the Pearl Harbor raid.
Same aircraft in other movies at Frequently Seen Aircraft (Military Fixed-Wing).
A model used for the bombing scene.
Consolidated PBY Catalina[]
Japanese footage filmed during the bombing of the Ford Island (7 December 1941).
Same footage in other movies at Frequently Seen Aircraft (Military Fixed-Wing).
Another one seen twenty minutes later (during the Battle of Midway).
North American B-25 Mitchell[]
Shape to evoke the air raid on Tokyo on 18 April 1942.
Boeing B-29 Superfortress[]
... but clusters of bombs emerge from the bays of a B-29, which would not bomb Japan until 2 years later.
Brewster B-339[]
The Brewster B-339 (or Brewster Buffalo Mk I for the RAF) was the de-navalized F2A-1.
Thirty minutes later, at 1h43.
Hawker Hurricane[]
Hawker Hurricane & Brewster B-339[]
Mitsubishi G3M[]
This cockpit view could be from a Mitsubishi G3M or a Mitsubishi G4M ...
Nakajima B5N (models)[]
Full-scale replicas were used for the key moment of the Battle of Midway and for close-ups of certain characters. All these replicas ended up in pieces, as small explosions used by the special effects team simulated the devastating dive-bombing of the US Navy.
At least one scale model was used in this scene showing how the lift works :
Aichi E13A[]
A matte painting Aichi E13A (with lot of errors) seen at 1h18.
Douglas C-47 Skytrain[]
Curtiss P-40E Warhawk[]
One of the few Curtiss P-40Es seized by the Japanese during the first weeks of 1942. They received Japanese markings but one was painted again with US roundel in order to be shot for a propaganda movie. This footage seems from this Japanese movie.
This footage is seen again 20 minutes later!
Grumman TBF Avenger[]
Bomb bay open and it seems the left (port) landing gear is down (?).
Grumman F6F Hellcat[]
Replica of Grumman F6F Hellcat which is slighty anachronistic as the type saw action only on September 1943.
Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk[]
Seen during a Japanese night attack of the US fleet. This Curtiss SC Seahawk is too anachronistic (not in service before 1944).
Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate[]
Another type shown by error as the first front line unit received it only in 1944.
Unidentified Aircraft[]
Several Japanese aircraft under maintenance.
Unidentified twin-engine aircraft.
Work on the engine.
Lockheed Hudson[]
Unidentified Aircraft[]
Several Japanese aircraft under heavy fire ...
North American P-51D Mustang[]
Footage reused in 12 O'Clock High (TV series) Ep. 16 In Search of My Enemy.
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt[]
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress[]
Lockheed P-38G Lightning[]
Lockheed P-38G Lightning of 339th Fighter Squadron, 347th Fighter Group. This USAAF unit was assigned to the Operation Vengeance (18 April 1943) which was specifically to kill Admiral Yamamoto. Codes were not applied on the front line.
Mitsubishi Ki-21[]
Last flight of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto... We see a Mitsubishi Ki-21 Sally but History says Admiral Yamamoto aboard the Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty Tail Code 323. And escort fighters were Mitsubishi A6Ms not Nakajima Ki-43s as seen on the screen.
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