Makes you cry how many didn’t come home, how brave these boys were. Going up in below zero temps in an unpressurized cabin, before the P-51s, having to go at it alone with no fighter escort over France, the low countries and Germany, at the mercy of the flak AAs and the wolfpacks of BF-109s and the Focke Wulf fighters. My uncle said in the pacific he rarely saw a Japannese aircraft and only a few times did he actually see a Zero fighter. Their problem was mechanical breakdowns, AA and dangerously low altitudes they flew at.
My Father told me that a Zero pilot, apparently out of ammo, tried to take out his B-24 with his plane but ended up only clipping the tip of their tail, which caused them to limp back into their base.