Jekyll I can only say what I have heard from people who have read both versions, that the English language version is not the same at all. AFAIK nobody has done another translation, and I don't read or speak Japanese (ok I know a few words, like Gojira
) so that's all we have.
I can't speak for all of the books on your list but I have also read criticism of a few of them that indicated some exaggeration of statements made to Caidin by pilots. The only one I have read is "Thunderbolt", and there are several statements in there which will make any serious student of WWII aviation call "BS". I have the distinct impression that Caidin was more interested in selling books than in writing history.
I don't have the time or resources to write a great expose on Martin Caidin but I thought everyone should consider that some of the words attributed to Sakai are not his.
[This message has been edited by funked (edited 03-27-2001).]
