Talk:Historical Formations/@comment-202.156.178.77-20150430074541/@comment-25459687-20180811122611

What Midway cost the IJN was not pilots. Most of them survived. What it cost them was their first team Mechanics and flight crew. Eastern Solomons and the fight over Rabaul decimated the skilled fighter pilot ranks. Japan had no way to replace their pilots, and little fuel to train them in the bargain. And when flying deathtraps with no pilot protection, that's a bad combo!