When the Corsair arrived in the South Pacific, the pilots that they faced were some of the best Japan had to offer. In Fact, one of the first major F4U opps became known as the 'St Valentine's day Massacre' when several F4Us, P40s, and a P38 were shot out of the sky by Japanese fighters. The book 'Fire in the Sky: Air War in the South Pacific' illustrates vividly the differences between American and Japanese doctrine, and the destruction of the Japanese air arm in the skies over the South Pacific. The attrition suffered in the SoPac Japan never fully recovered from. The drain of skilled pilots paid dividends during the later battles in the central pacific. In all honesty, it was aircraft like the F4F, P40, and land based F4Us that faced the last of Japan's skilled aviators, and sent them down in flames.
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