Photo: US Navy

HISTORY

VF-2 pilots on board of USS Hornet on the morning of June 19, the day known later as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. This unit claimed 51 victories

out of 330 Japanese aircraft credited to US Navy pilots on that day. VF-2 was one of the American units inflicting heavy losses to Sakai´s Yokosuka

Kōkūtai.

June 2022

ner passengers.

After the war he even did not hesitate to criticize the Emperor Hirohito: ''whose name was

on the battle orders?'' he said in an interview in

1994 with The Daily Telegraph of London. ''Over

three million died fighting for the Emperor, but

when the war was over he pretended it was not

his responsibility. What kind of man does that?''

Not only criticizing the Emperor, but also his

frequent publicity, including Japanese edition

of Playboy, and contacts with former enemies

isolated him from many veterans including the

whole Zero Fighter Pilots Association. His former comrades did not like that Sakai used the

legendary Zero for his own benefits.

Probably most controversial was his meeting

Photo: Fold 3

kai assumed it must be due to the Dominator

interception , Komachi was having the same

worries and was even in hiding! But it turned

out that the Americans were interested in Sakai´s battle experiences and his former enemies gave him a surprising warm welcome.

However, difficult times were coming. He lost

his pension, was not allowed to work in a government office, was not allowed to fly, his

officer's sword was confiscated and he almost

had to sell his Leica camera. In 1947 his beloved

wife Hatsuyo passed away. They had married in

February 1945.

Sakai finally found a job in Nippon Tsuutransport

company. In 1950 he had saved enough money to

set up a printing company. In 1952 he remarried,

and together with his wife Haruko brought up

two daughters and a son. One of his daughters

studied college in USA and her father wished

she will also get familiar with political democracy. In 1953 he wrote his memoirs “Ozorano

Samurai'' (Samurai of the great sky ), it became

a bestseller and in 1957 was published in English as "Samurai !". There was also a Japanese

movie done based on this book. In the following

years he had many opportunities to meet with

former enemies and open new relationships.

He became a lay Buddhist acolyte as an act of

atonement. He told in one interview that 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. Following a US Navy

formal dinner on September 22, 2000, at Atsugi

Naval Air Station where he had been an honored

guest, Saburō Sakai died of a heart attack at the

age of 84.

Sakai was definitely not the usual Japanese

pilot. He did not hesitate to challenge his superiors, violate common Navy rules or lie to

excuse his action that saved the lives of airli-

in 1983 in Alabama with B-29 pilot Paul Tibbets

who dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Sakai assured Tibbets he fully understands he had

to obey orders and fulfill his mission. According to Sakai the full responsibility was on president Truman's shoulders.

According to some authors Saburō Sakai made

over 200 fights and achieved 64 victories. This

victory figure was mentioned for the first time

in book “Samurai!” and Sakai clearly stated

that he did not know where this figure was coming from. In the early 90´s Sakai stated that

the number of his victories could be around 28.

Author of this article believes total number of

his combat missions is in the range of 100.

According to researcher “Sam” Tagaya, Mr. Sakai is one Japanese ace, whose record of victories can be documented completely through

surviving official documents including unit war

diaries which continued to record individual

victories throughout the period of his active

combat career. He was credited with his first

shoot down over Hankow, China on October 5,

1938. That was the only official victory before

the Pacific War. During his career with Tainan

Kōkūtai, he was credited with 11 individual kills,

8 shared ones and 4 probables. So if we would

like to create one combined figure, we come to

24 claims in total before service in Yokosuka

Kōkūtai.

What was the secret of his success? Here's an

explanation that he gave to us: "The number

of downed aircraft was not the most important

to me. I knew that I could increase my score if

I would not care about my wingmen. But how

useless it would be to gain a victory for the loss

of a wingman. Being honest and a good leader,

a good trainer for more pilots, pay for them and

B-32-20-CF Dominator “Hobo Queen II” (42-108532) at an airbase in Philippines in 1945. One of nine B-32s assigned to the 312th Bombardment

Group, 386th Bombardment Squadron for combat tests. On August 17, 1945 over Japan although the war had ended, the bomber encountered anti-aircraft fire from Miyakawa Airfield and was intercepted by fourteen Japanese fighters over Chosi, including Saburō Sakai. This was one of the

last aerial combats between American and Japanese aircraft during World War II. There were several wounded crew members on board of Hobo

Queen II including photographer Sergeant Anthony Marchione, who later died of his wounds and became last US airman to be killed by enemy action

in world World War II.

INFO Eduard

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