What happens
The Pacific Story examines Japan's air power during the Second World War. Narration traces how Japanese aviation, built with help from German experts, struck early at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines and Malaya, then suffered heavy defeats at the Coral Sea and Midway. The program describes the captured Zero fighter that came down in an Aleutian swamp and was studied by American engineers, and compares Japanese aircraft, carriers and production with American equipment. It then turns to the rise of suicide attacks and the fighting at Okinawa, where the Japanese lost many planes. The episode is dated July 22, 1945.
The Pacific theater of the Second World War, including Japan, Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Malaya, the Coral Sea, Midway, the Aleutians and Okinawa
Characters: Colonel Friedrich, Mr. Haynes, Mr. Suzuki, General Yamashita, Admiral Yamamoto
Listen for: The comparison of Japanese and American aircraft performance and the account of the captured Zero studied by American engineers
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.