cold war again 4567

D.J.

We can play whatif forever, but for one more iteration

1. Japan had thousands of aircraft, but it was planning to use the in kamakaze attacks because they had almost no fuel for them. Fuel restrictions limited training (and yes dissolution attackers benefit from training), and it was not clear how many of those planes would have fuel enough for their attacks given that Japan had essentially no petroleum reserves and limited coal reserves, their mechant marine was decimated, and the shipping lanes from their resources in southeast asia had become increasingly convoluted and subject to attacks with the US capture of the Phillipines, Marianas and Okinawa.

2. By the end of the war Japan had produced a grand total of two complete jet (test) aircraft, and the first one produced had crashed on its second test flight after starting testing in August, the other never flew. It had some jet airframes in production, but with materials shortages, and other production problems from the air raids, production was slow. By the end of the war the US had produced the largest number of jet aircraft of any country, and while some designs were flawed P-80 eventually worked well, and the FH Phantom (a carrier aircrft) had started extensive flight testing in January 1945 and apeared to meet requirements. While production of the Phantom only started in late 46 (delivery early 47) that was only because the end of the war reduced the immediate need. While the japanese jets had potential to cause problems, their limited production, their large fuel use, and the availability of US jet fighters as counter measures reduced the probable impact of these jets.

3. The capture of Okinawa and Iwo Jima reduced the need for carrier operations hear Japan.

Unlikely. Before the war Japan had only minor amounts of uranium, and its main accelerator was destroyed in the planting campain. Although German tried to ship most of its uranium to Japan near the end of the war, it never got there, as the captain of the ship (submarine?) decided to surrender to the allies. This plan has sometimes been raised as a what if should Japan have recieved the German uranium, in the end they never had enough radioactive material to make this worthwhile.

The main Japanese submares were large and fast, with excellent range. Excellent characteristics for taking on isolated merchant ships. But they also had thin hulls (limited diving range, and vulnerable to depth charges) and noisy, characteristics you did not want to have to engage warships. Their large size also made them more visible to aircraft and ships. They were not a good design for the IJN doctrine. Typical captatin logs at the time noted ship sightings at too far a distance, suggesting either the captains were unwilling to close because of their vulerability, or their visibility allowed the enemy to avoid them.