中途岛和瓜达尔卡纳尔岛战役之后，日本损失了大部分优秀的飞行员，候补的往往是被半逼半骗青年。在跟着的菲律宾海海战中，日本调动了包括9艘航空母舰5艘战列舰的50多艘战舰，450 carrier based planes and 300 land-based planes (it is too hard to input Chinese) to attack the Allies. However, the hot headed Japanese pilots were extremely incompetence and hardly landed any blow to the Allies. The first way, 49 Japanese aircraft were shot down. Among them, 9 Japanese dive bombers had 7 of them shot down by a single American rookie pilot, David McCampbell. Those 9 bombers evaded American interceptors, and went on attack. McCampbell had his V-15 hit by the American land AAA, and while returning, he found those 9 bombers. He tailed them and shot them one by one. Those Japanese bomber pilots instead breaking their formation to dodge the attack, they kept their formation as their "honor." It ended up these bombers couldn't make any harm to their intended target.

The battle of Philippine Sea is known for the nick name the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. It ended with 600 Japanese airplanes got shot down, 3 carriers sunk. Only 123 American airplanes were lost and most of them, about 80 to night landing. That is the honor of Japanese pilots.