HISTORY

Stanford University Libraries

Saburō Sakai during his war time service

in China before outbreak of World War 2.

Photo: Shori Tanaka via Yoji Sakaida

GUADACANAL

Americans landed at Guadalcanal on August 7,

1942 and completely surprised the Japanese

occupying forces in the area. The nearest base

from where Japanese could launch an aerial

counterattack was Rabaul located 550 miles

northwest. Command of 25th Air Flotilla promptly organized an attack with 27 G4M Betty

bombers from the 4th Kōkūtai. Japanese fighter pilots at Rabaul were outraged by American

invasion. But they were also excited about upcoming fight with an elite part of US aviation naval fighters. Formation took-off at 9.50 from

Vukanau airfield. Soon one of the Zeroes had to

return, and at 13.15 only 17 escort fighters reached Savo island north of Guadalcanal.

By co-incidence, the Americans had in the air

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only two flights of four Wildcats from the VF-5

squadron (USS Saratoga). The fighters were directed toward the Japanese bomber formation.

During the fight the outnumbered Americans,

some of them Midway veterans, successfully

attacked the group of bombers, but they could

not evade clashing with their escort fighters.

Due to weight reduction the Zeroes were not

equipped with radios and when bombers got

under attack, they had to use gunfire to notify

their escort! One of successful shooters was Lt.

jg. W. M. Holt, who together with Ens. J. R. Daly

downed two Bettys (both were awarded to Daly).

Saburō Sakai and his wingmen started to chase attackers, but the Americans escaped. When

Sakai disengaged from combat, he discovered

that his wingmen were not following him. Then

he saw something unexpected, his two wingmen

were being chased by a lone Wildcat! However

he misjudged the situation. In reality his wingmen Kakimoto and Utō with one more colleague were chasing the Lt. J. J. Southerland from

Scarlet 2 formation of VF-5 (USS Sataroga).

In the last few moments, his life was saved several times by armor plate and robust structure

of the Wildcat.

Sakai joined fight under impression that his

protégés were in danger, and he fired at the

American from 600 m distance! After a wild

chase, Sakai finally managed to outmaneuver

him and photographed his opponent from fifty

meters distance! Then he fired his guns. But the

badly damaged aircraft suddenly slowed down,

and a surprised Sakai unintentionally flew in

June 2022