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The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War

The Air Battle of Formosa-with Jon Parshall

The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War

Captain William Toti, USN

Halsey, Station Hypo, World War Ii, Macarthur, Seth Paridon, Pacific War, History, Stavridis, Cactus Air Force, Fargo, William Toti, Aircraft Carriers, Nimitz, Mush Morton, Wahoo, Imperial Japan, Cruisers, Wake Island, Battleships, Spruance, Courses, Submarines, Midway, Cincpac, Guadalcanal, Documentary, Naval History And Heritage Command, Society & Culture, Admiral King, Imperial Japanese Navy, New Guinea, Cincpoa, Cryptology, Navy, Sam Cox, Pearl Harbor, Education, Bill Toti, December 7, Us Navy, Bombers, Fighters

4.8654 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2024

⏱️ 119 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week Seth, Bill and great buddy Jon Parshall get together to discuss one of the more unknown events of the Pacific war, the Air Battle of Formosa. In early October 1944, Admiral William F, Halsey's Task Force 38 launched a series of devastating air strikes on the Japanese bastion of Formosa in preparation for the liberation of the Philippines and Leyte landings. The massive air battle that followed over the next four days was the single largest air-sea battle of the ENTIRE WAR and saw the single largest deployment of United States naval aviation to that point. The massive air battle consumed more Japanese resources than did the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and was essentially the prelude to the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Yet, the Air Battle of Formosa remains largely unknown to the general public. Tune in and see what the team has to say. #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #usnavy #usa #usarmy #medalofhonor #enterprise #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #cv6 #midway #wwii #wwiihistory #ww2 #worldwar2 #usnavy #usnavyseals #usmc #usmarines #saipan #usa #usarmy #aircraft #aircraftcarrier #battleship #battleships #ussenterprise #aircraftcarriers #museum #essex #halsey #taskforce38

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to episode 324 of an unauthorized history of Pacific War podcast.

0:19.0

My name is Seth Bairdon, historian and deputy director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum here at Camp Shelby.

0:23.7

And with me, as always, is retired Navy captain, Bill Toaddy, former skipper of the fast attack

0:28.1

submarine U.S.S. Indianapolis, Commodore, Submarine Squadron, Thayer, in Pearl Harbor,

0:31.8

and many other postings. How are you this fine February morning, Bill. I'm doing great. I want to say hi to my folks that listened to me talk yesterday in

0:43.3

Greenville, South Carolina. It was a great trip and I'm so happy to see several of you show up.

0:51.5

And so thank you for that. Bill's got a fan club. Yeah, he does. And as you can see,

1:00.6

if you were watching, we have our third member of our crew with us, John Parshall. John, how are you

1:05.2

this fine February 8th morning? I am great getting over my first bout of COVID. Good times. Yep. But,

1:15.0

is the shirt? Yeah. Is the shirt your therapy, John? Is that like, is that a therapeutic

1:22.8

short? You're wearing you look like a 1960s flower child. I know. I know.

1:28.7

It's ridiculous.

1:33.5

But actually, I got this, you know, right around Christmas.

1:35.9

I was like, New Year, New Me.

1:37.7

So here it is.

1:38.3

Yeah.

1:39.3

All right.

1:40.7

Great shirt.

1:41.2

New me. You don't blend in your, well.

1:43.6

You got no hair. You know, at least. Hey, man. New me. You don't blend any of you. You got no hair.

1:45.1

You know, at least.

1:47.1

Hey, man.

...

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