HISTORY

there is no information about the place of his

burial (according to other data he is listed as

killed in a flying accident and buried at Hami).

Sakai was promoted to Petty Officer Second

Class rank on May 1, 1939. Almost a year later

after his first victory, on October 3, 1939, Sakai

claimed a SB-2 bomber with Chinese insignia

over Icheng. “Surprisingly, they were much

faster than I expected.” Sakai had to fly more

than 150 miles before hitting one of the bombers

that had raided Hankow Airport, which was already in hands of the Japanese. Thanks to this

performance he became famous overnight and

returned home as a hero. The reality was slightly different, first of all, Japanese airbase was

located beyond range of SB bombers.

On this day, the airbase prepared festivities for

the receipt of new aircraft ferried from Japan.

Here representatives of the fleet command and

the city authorities were assembled. Nine DB-3s crewed by Soviet airmen led by Capt. G. A.

The A6M2 from Tainan Kōkūtai (c/n 3372) became the first Zero to reach Allied hands in

repairable condition. One of Sakai's colleagues crashed it on Chinese territory on November 26, 1941 and was captured. For details,

see the April 2022 issue of INFO magazine on

page 12, or the Zero Zero Zero! scale kit.

Photo: AWM

This image from the Chinese base shows

the machine undergoing repairs with the

code painted over on the tail surfaces. The

aircraft bore the typical design of the Tainan Kōkūtai markings from the early months

of the Pacific War - a white code with red

outline. In the spring of 1942, the code design was changed to black, which made the

codes easier to read during air operations.

The purpose and color of the stripes on the

tail surfaces and fuselages bands of the Tainan Kōkūtai planes are still the subject of debate. The bands on the fuselage (one or two)

may have assigned the machines to different

fighter Divisions (Buntai) within an Air Group

(Kōkūtai) by their colour. However, other explanations are possible. The stripes on the

tail surfaces are usually assigned to identify

the leaders of tactical formations. One horizontal stripe apparently identified the leader

of the Shōtai (three planes) and two stripes

probably identified the leader the Chūtai

(usually made up of three Shōtai).

(Photo: USAF)

Saburō Sakai posing on a 250 kg bomb during his assignment

in China.

Kulishenko flew to the target secretly, in a tight

wedge, maintaining radio silence. They attacked

as the ceremony was in progress. Aircraft stood

in four rows, wingtip to wingtip. From an altitude of 8,700 meters the Soviets dropped mix

of high-explosive, fragmentation-high explosive, and incendiary bombs. According to the reports of the crews, most of the bombs exploded

along the rows of aircraft, which were tossed

in every direction from the force of the blasts,

with many burning. Antiaircraft weapons remained silent. Only a single fighter (Sakai) took

off from the enormous bonfire below, but

he was unable to catch the departing

and lightened DB-3s.

On the airfield, 64 aircraft were

found destroyed or damaged

with 130 people killed and 300

wounded. The fuel reserves

burned three hours. Japanese

sources confirm the loss of 50

machines, seven senior officers of

Captain and higher rank were killed,

and 12 more were wounded. Amongst the latter

ones was Rear Admiral Tsukahara, commander

of the Japanese Air Flotilla. The airfield commandant was killed as well. After this disaster,

a mourning period was ordered.

8

INFO Eduard

Next task for Sakai was to join Ómura Kōkūtai

in mid-1940, where, as an instructor, he had to

pass on the experience to newcomers. In the

meantime, 12th Kōkūtai became the first navy

unit to enter the fight with revolutionary Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter (Chunning raid on September 13, 1940).

In April 1941 Sakai returned to his

old 12th Kōkūtai and in June he

was promoted to Petty Officer 1st

Class. He gained another victory

on August 11, when he shot down

over, with Zero marked as 3-116,

a “beautifully colored biplane”

over Chengdu, identified as Polikarpov I-15. It was a dawn attack on

Chengdu and four I-153s of the 29th PS scrambled. Squadron Commander Tang Zhouli and

two of his deputies, Wang Chongshi and Huang

Rongfa were killed in the ensuing combat. During this combat the last I-153s were destroyed.

According to his logbook, Sakai´s last victory

in China came on August 21, 1941, when he shot

down an I-16. However official records of 12th

Kōkūtai confirm only first of Sakai´s victories

over China. This discrepancy with official unit

records is typical for many parts of English edition of book “Samurai!” as well as for some entries in Sakai´s logbook as presented by Henry

Sakaida in his book Winged Samurai.

PHILIPPINES

Sakai was transferred in October 1941 to newly

formed Tainan Kōkūtai in Tainan on Formosa

(Taiwan), subordinated under 23rd Air Flotilla

(Kōkū Sentai). Tainan Kōkūtai was commanded

by Captain Masahisa Saitó, the executive officer

was Commander Yasuna Kozono and the fighter

pilots were led by Hikótaichó Lt Hideki Shingó.

Before the outbreak of war in the Pacific the

Tainan Kōkūtai had at disposal 45 fighters A6M

Zero Type 21 and twelve older A5M Type 96 Claude fighters along with six reconnaissance C5N

Babs. Another fourteen A6Ms and several A5M

May 2022