Zauriel
Mar 13, 2005, 12:57
Saburo Sakai- was Japan's greatest living WWII ace. He's credited with 64 kills of U.S. and Allied planes during the war, the highest score of any Japanese pilot to survive it. U.S. loss records corroborate his claims. He knocked down at least one of every type of plane the U.S. flew, including being credited with the first downing of a U.S. bomber in WWII, a B-17E, three days after the war started. He narrowly missed shooting down a B-26 that was carrying the future president, Lyndon Johnson. Sakai also claims to have shot down the last allied aircraft before WWII ended. Born in Saga, Japan in 1916, Saburo Sakai came from a family descended from Samurai, Japan's ancient warrior class. He was taught to live by the code of Bushido, which he defined in his book, "Samurai!" published in 1957 by E. P. Dutton, as living so as to always be prepared to die. He enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1933, at the age of sixteen. Basic training was brutally harsh with constant corporal punishment being administered. In spite of minimal education and little aptitude for formal study, he managed to finish at the top of his enlisted pilot training class in 1937. During World War II Sakai flew the legendary Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter aircraft, which for the first years of the war was considered the best fighter anywhere in terms of maneuverability and range. He soon became a living legend in World War II Japan. Japanese pilots invariably spoke in awe of his incredible exploits in the air. Among fighter pilots, he stood out, being the only Japanese ace never to lose a wingman, overshoot a landing--no matter how shot up his aircraft--or crash-land. By 1945, Sakai had logged some 3,700 flight hours, 1,700 of those in the Zero. Indeed, there are few aviators of the Pacific War who can claim such vast combat experience. Of the 150 pilots who began in his unit, only 3 survived the war. Of the five leading Japanese aces during the war--all of whom were friends--only Sakai remained at war's end, all the rest were dead. After retiring with the rank of lieutenant, Mr. Sakai became a lay Buddhist acolyte as an act of atonement. He had not killed any creature, "not even a mosquito," since last stepping from the cockpit of his Zero on a hot August day in 1945.
Saburo Sakai suffered a heart attack at Atsugi naval base in September 2000, while reaching across the table to shake hands with an American navy officer. He died at the hospital a few hours later, he was 84.
http://users.senet.com.au/~wingman/sakai.html
These other three figures below are the ones who planned and led the Pearl Harbor attack. The three were seen having pivotal roles in the movie Tora, Tora, Tora! They are also seen in Pearl Harbor movie and Midway Movie.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto- the naval fleet commander who led the Pearl Harbor attack. You might compare him to Osama Bin Laden but that is an unfair comparison. Yamamoto was a soldier who was following orders, not a terrorist who took joy in slaughtering civilians. I have likened him to General Robert E. Lee. He was hardly a coward but rather a realist. Yamamoto was a reluctant warrior whose opposition to war and disagreements with the Army who favored the expansion of the Japanese Empire made him an enemy of pro-war government and military officials. He also opposed the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the Imperial Japanese army's desires for an alliance with Germany. When Japanese planes attacked a U.S. gunboat on the Yangtze River in December 1937, he apologised personally to the American ambassador. He argued passionately for more naval air power and opposed the construction of new battleships. He recognizes the value of airplane and is always in favor of a naval air force when most of other admirals see little efficiency in using planes at sea. Yamamoto believed that in order to conquer the sea, they must also conquer the air. Yamamoto never believed Japan would win the war but that didn't stop him from still obeying orders. Yamamoto warned Premier Konoe Fumimaro not to consider war with the United States: "If I am told to fight... I shall run wild for the first six months... but I have utterly no confidence for the second or third year." Which is why he deemed a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor as viable if they would win the war. Following the invasion of Indochina and the freezing of Japanese assets by the US in July 1941, Yamamoto won the argument over tactics and the entire First Fleet air arm under Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was directed against the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, attacking on December 7. With around 350 planes launched from six carriers, eighteen American warships were sunk or disabled. Nagumo's failure to order a second search-and-strike against the American carriers and Yamamoto's disinclination to press him turned a tactical victory into a strategic defeat. In the movies Tora! Tora! Tora! and Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto's character says, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." Considerable doubt exists, though, whether he actually ever said (or wrote) anything like that; it was probably invented for the movies, although it may well have encapsulated some of his real feelings about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamamoto_Isoroku
Commander Minoru Genda- the Naval air staff officer and naval air tactician who strategically masterminded the Pearl Harbor Attack. You guys should have listened to his strategies on Pearl Harbor surprise attack in Tora, Tora, Tora!
Commander Mitsuo Fuchida- the leader of the first wave pilot squadron [edit] at the Pearl Harbor [edit]attack. On February 19, 1942, Fuchida led the first of two waves of 188 planes in a devastating air raid on Darwin, Australia. In June, Fuchida was badly wounded at the Battle of Midway and spent the rest of the war as a staff officer. Fuchida wrote that he was in Hiroshima the day before the atom bomb was dropped, attending a week-long military conference with the Army. He had received a long distance call from Navy Headquarters, asking him to return to Tokyo. After the war in 1949, Fuchida encountered a missionary who converted him to Christianity. In 1952, Fuchida himself became a Christian missionary and toured the United States as a member of the Worldwide Christian Missionary Army of Sky Pilots. He spent the remainder of his life as an "ambassador of peace", sharing the gospel message of forgiveness through Christ.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsuo_Fuchida
Note: Special Thanks to my comrade Minoru who provided the info about rest of those aces.
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa 'The Devil of Rabaul' (87 Kills)-His unit,the Chitose Kokutai,was transfered,in February 1942,to the Marshal and Rabaul Islands where he enroled into the 4th Kokutai,finding there Saburo Sakai who trained him and Toshio Ota(34 Kills) in Aerial Combat.During his stay in Rabaul he faced the American and Neozeland P40 Warhawk,the F4F Wildcat and the F4U Corsair,from which he obtained most of his Victories.In September,1943 he ascended to the rank of Sargent and returned to Japan to teach young pilots.Nishizawa was not particularly fond of teaching inexperienced pilots therefore,after filling paper after paper,he went back to the front,enroling in the 201st Kokutai in the Philipines,where he escorted the first Kamikaze attack by four Zero fighters against an American Aircraft Carrier stationed in Leyte,on October 23,1944.On that mission he shot down two Hellcats and,upon returning,voluntered to participate in the upcoming Suicide attack.He was not allowed.
He died three days later on October 26 when the plane in which he was being transported to Mabalcat was shot by two Wildcats of the VF-14 Squadron.
[i]Other IJN Aces:[/i}
-Tesuzo Iwamoto (80 Kills)
-Shoichi Sugita (70 Kills)
-Naoshi Kano(25 Kills)
-Kiyoshi Ito(18 kills)
-Takeo Tanimizu(18 kills)
-Susumu Ishihara(16)
What do you think of them?
Saburo Sakai suffered a heart attack at Atsugi naval base in September 2000, while reaching across the table to shake hands with an American navy officer. He died at the hospital a few hours later, he was 84.
http://users.senet.com.au/~wingman/sakai.html
These other three figures below are the ones who planned and led the Pearl Harbor attack. The three were seen having pivotal roles in the movie Tora, Tora, Tora! They are also seen in Pearl Harbor movie and Midway Movie.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto- the naval fleet commander who led the Pearl Harbor attack. You might compare him to Osama Bin Laden but that is an unfair comparison. Yamamoto was a soldier who was following orders, not a terrorist who took joy in slaughtering civilians. I have likened him to General Robert E. Lee. He was hardly a coward but rather a realist. Yamamoto was a reluctant warrior whose opposition to war and disagreements with the Army who favored the expansion of the Japanese Empire made him an enemy of pro-war government and military officials. He also opposed the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the Imperial Japanese army's desires for an alliance with Germany. When Japanese planes attacked a U.S. gunboat on the Yangtze River in December 1937, he apologised personally to the American ambassador. He argued passionately for more naval air power and opposed the construction of new battleships. He recognizes the value of airplane and is always in favor of a naval air force when most of other admirals see little efficiency in using planes at sea. Yamamoto believed that in order to conquer the sea, they must also conquer the air. Yamamoto never believed Japan would win the war but that didn't stop him from still obeying orders. Yamamoto warned Premier Konoe Fumimaro not to consider war with the United States: "If I am told to fight... I shall run wild for the first six months... but I have utterly no confidence for the second or third year." Which is why he deemed a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor as viable if they would win the war. Following the invasion of Indochina and the freezing of Japanese assets by the US in July 1941, Yamamoto won the argument over tactics and the entire First Fleet air arm under Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was directed against the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, attacking on December 7. With around 350 planes launched from six carriers, eighteen American warships were sunk or disabled. Nagumo's failure to order a second search-and-strike against the American carriers and Yamamoto's disinclination to press him turned a tactical victory into a strategic defeat. In the movies Tora! Tora! Tora! and Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto's character says, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." Considerable doubt exists, though, whether he actually ever said (or wrote) anything like that; it was probably invented for the movies, although it may well have encapsulated some of his real feelings about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamamoto_Isoroku
Commander Minoru Genda- the Naval air staff officer and naval air tactician who strategically masterminded the Pearl Harbor Attack. You guys should have listened to his strategies on Pearl Harbor surprise attack in Tora, Tora, Tora!
Commander Mitsuo Fuchida- the leader of the first wave pilot squadron [edit] at the Pearl Harbor [edit]attack. On February 19, 1942, Fuchida led the first of two waves of 188 planes in a devastating air raid on Darwin, Australia. In June, Fuchida was badly wounded at the Battle of Midway and spent the rest of the war as a staff officer. Fuchida wrote that he was in Hiroshima the day before the atom bomb was dropped, attending a week-long military conference with the Army. He had received a long distance call from Navy Headquarters, asking him to return to Tokyo. After the war in 1949, Fuchida encountered a missionary who converted him to Christianity. In 1952, Fuchida himself became a Christian missionary and toured the United States as a member of the Worldwide Christian Missionary Army of Sky Pilots. He spent the remainder of his life as an "ambassador of peace", sharing the gospel message of forgiveness through Christ.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsuo_Fuchida
Note: Special Thanks to my comrade Minoru who provided the info about rest of those aces.
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa 'The Devil of Rabaul' (87 Kills)-His unit,the Chitose Kokutai,was transfered,in February 1942,to the Marshal and Rabaul Islands where he enroled into the 4th Kokutai,finding there Saburo Sakai who trained him and Toshio Ota(34 Kills) in Aerial Combat.During his stay in Rabaul he faced the American and Neozeland P40 Warhawk,the F4F Wildcat and the F4U Corsair,from which he obtained most of his Victories.In September,1943 he ascended to the rank of Sargent and returned to Japan to teach young pilots.Nishizawa was not particularly fond of teaching inexperienced pilots therefore,after filling paper after paper,he went back to the front,enroling in the 201st Kokutai in the Philipines,where he escorted the first Kamikaze attack by four Zero fighters against an American Aircraft Carrier stationed in Leyte,on October 23,1944.On that mission he shot down two Hellcats and,upon returning,voluntered to participate in the upcoming Suicide attack.He was not allowed.
He died three days later on October 26 when the plane in which he was being transported to Mabalcat was shot by two Wildcats of the VF-14 Squadron.
[i]Other IJN Aces:[/i}
-Tesuzo Iwamoto (80 Kills)
-Shoichi Sugita (70 Kills)
-Naoshi Kano(25 Kills)
-Kiyoshi Ito(18 kills)
-Takeo Tanimizu(18 kills)
-Susumu Ishihara(16)
What do you think of them?