Saburo Sakai

[Puck]

I was looking at that banner up there and realized how little I know about Japanese aces in WWII.  I did some hunting (about three seconds worth) and ran into this page.  Some of the paraphrased quotes are nice, and give some (additional) perspective on various aircraft.

http://www.danford.net/sakai.htm

[Curval]

Sakai, Nishizawa and Ota were referred to as "The Cleanup Trio" by their fellow pilots.

Over Port Moresby the three of them decided to show off and performed ariel manouvers over the base.  Many of the American gunners were reported to have been so impressed they stopped firing and applauded.

[Fancy]

Take that idiot [Minoru] Genda. He could barely fly, but he jumped up and down about the Shiden-kai ["George"], so everybody else pretended to like it, too. That plane was a piece of crap, put together by a third-rate firm [Kawanishi].

lol

[akak]

Originally posted by Curval
Sakai, Nishizawa and Ota were referred to as "The Cleanup Trio" by their fellow pilots.

Over Port Moresby the three of them decided to show off and performed ariel manouvers over the base.  Many of the American gunners were reported to have been so impressed they stopped firing and applauded.

One problem with that is that Saburo Sakai wasn't there and there is no record of that happening other than Sakai's story.

After Sakai left the China theater, he was stationed at Tainan, where he flew attacks against the U.S. in the Philippines and later on over Guadacanal after the Marines landed.  It was over Guadacanal that he got injured and was sent back to Japan to recover.  In Japan, he rejoined the Tainan Wing but when the wing shipped off to Rabaul in '43, Sakai was left behind because he still hadn't fully recovered his sight.  When the Tainan Wing arrived in Rabaul in April of '43, they were slaughtered by the U.S., losing 49 fighters in four missions.  In the meantime, Sakai recovered enough to fly again and was transfered to the Yokosuka Wing bases on Iwo Jima.

Because Sakai was still recovering from his wounds back in Japan, he couldn't have been at Port Moresby.  Not to belittle Sakai's skill as a flyer and a marksman, but he did like to stretch things a bit.

Nishizawa, Ohta and Sakai were also not referred to as 'The Cleanup Crew', they were known amongst their fellow airmen and the Allies as the 'Ace Trio'.  Probably from when the flew together in the Philippines and Guadacanal.


Ack-Ack

[Raubvogel]

Hey Puck, do youself a favor. Take a few days and read his biography "Samurai"

It's worth the time.

[Puck]

Originally posted by Raubvogel
Hey Puck, do youself a favor. Take a few days and read his biography "Samurai"

It's worth the time.

Just ordered it off Amazon.  Just so happens Thunderbolt! is back in print, and they offered the set at a discount, so I got them both.

My next project (which this isn't a part of) is to learn more about the war on the Eastern front.  Of the several hundred books I've read over the years on WWII history I've never seen more than a passing reference to the German-Russian war.  This is probably because I was too busy reading about the 'merkins and the brits.

Probably didn't help that I got interested in the subject at an early age because my dad was there at the time.

[Urchin]

Akak, that thing over Port Moresby happened before he got his bellybutton shot off over Guadalcanal, at least according to his book Samurai.

[Nefarious]

Originally posted by akak


.

Because Sakai was still recovering from his wounds back in Japan, he couldn't have been at Port Moresby.  Not to belittle Sakai's skill as a flyer and a marksman, but he did like to stretch things a bit.

Nishizawa, Ohta and Sakai were also not referred to as 'The Cleanup Crew', they were known amongst their fellow airmen and the Allies as the 'Ace Trio'.  Probably from when the flew together in the Philippines and Guadacanal.


Ack-Ack

He flew at Port Moresby in April of 42 when Tainan group was at Rabaul. Tainan Group was rotating Zero pilots between Rabual and Lae.

He shot down a lone RAAF Boston of 32 Sqn piloted by Plt Off Warren Cowan. The Boston made erratic manuevers causing his flight of 8 Zero's to be dispersed, before he shot the Boston down.

he even wrote a letter a testimonial to the Austrailian Defense Minister in 1997. Requesting Cowan and his crew be cited for Bravery. It was denied.

In 7 August 1942 he flew his first long range mission to Guadacanal.

[Puck]

One of the comments from that page that really stuck was about the kamakazis.  As he pointed out, putting a kid with 20 hours in a cockpit is pretty much murder (or suicide, depending how you look at it) anyway.

I seem to recall the Germans used some pretty untrained pilots towards the end of both world wars, and we had the "turkey shoot" against the Japanese.  

So, really, what _was_ the difference?  Those pilots were going to die; either by getting shot down or ramming something.

Seems to me once the chain of command ordered them in the cockpit their fate was pretty much sealed either way.  The Kamakazis did some damage on their way out, as opposed to the untrained pilots who tried to fight the more conventional air war.  They died for no reason at all.

Then again, maybe I need more sleep and better information.  Opinions?

[Squire]

Osprey has 2 excellent books on IJ Aces:

"Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45" and

"Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Aces 1937-45"

Recent books written by a JAPANESE historian, and another great addition to Ospreys "Aircraft of the Aces" series of books. A fine publisher, and no, I have no stock in the company, just a big fan.

Get them. Read them.

Regards.

[Nefarious]

Originally posted by Squire


Get them. Read them.

 

I'm working on my collection,I currently own-

13 Aicraft of the Aces

1 Combat Aircraft

25+ Squadron's "In Action Books"

[runny]

So, really, what _was_ the difference?  Those pilots were going to die; either by getting shot down or ramming something.
[/B]

The kamikaze never has a chance, though.  The chain of command doesn't *want* them to live, and will probably be quite pissed off if they come back.

The case of the relatively green pilot is different, however, because their commanders actually want them to survive,

Practically, there'd be no difference, but ethically, the difference is quite great.

[Lizard3]

You want a good book on the eastern front, try: The war diary of Helmut Lipfert, isbn 0-88740-446-4

That ones a good read, these others are listed in the back and I haven't read them:

German Fighter Ace Erich Hartmann isbn 0-88740-396-4

Stuka Pilot Hans Ulrich Rudel isbn 0-88740-252-6

German Fighter Units Over Russia isbn 0-88740-246-1


If you want something more along the ground war, unspeakable carnage and wonton death etc., try The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer isbn 1-57488-285-6. Its a very good read, I really don't know how much of it to believe, but it very engrossing. Half French half German kid from France gets tossed into the German Army and sent to the East.

[Samm]

The problem with the kamikaze is that none of the good ones lived through practice .

[SKurj]

Samurai is a good read as well as Thunderbolt!  but take what you read with a grain of salt...

Caidin should have never been permitted to write some of that stuff...

me 209's....   oops or was it 290's..



SKurj