BUILT

Lt. Masaji Suganami, Sōryū Fighter Squadron, first attack wave

In the first wave, eight Zeros from Sōryū, led by

Suganami, attacked Wheeler and Ewa airfields.

They destroyed 27 aircraft on the ground and shot

down five planes in combat. Suganami then lost

orientation, so he decided to return over the target and sacrifice himself. However, he encountered other planes and returned to the carrier. After graduating Naval Academy in 1933, he served

in 13th and Tsukuba Kōkūtais. He led fighters on the

carrier Ryūjō till November 1941, after that Sōryū

fighters until June 1942. At the Battle of Midway,

in the first attack wave, his formation shot down

six American fighters. From July 1942 he served as

Hikōtaichō of fighters at Genzan Kōkūtai (later Kōkūtai 252). Suganami went missing on November

14, 1942 while escorting Rear Admiral Tanaka's destroyers off Guadalcanal. Six Zeros under his command provided the 4th CAP. They first attempted

to attack a "beautiful formation" of B-17s. After that

attack on ten F4Fs from VF-10 brought them four

victories. On return Suganami, over the protests

of his subordinates, separated from the formation

and headed southwesterly. He apparently joined

the attack on SBDs from VB-10 and later, before

running out of fuel, shot down Lt. Col. "Joe" Bauer,

commander of VMF-212 and Medal of Honor recipient.

ACCESSORIES USED:

481076

648692

648693

648694

648722

landing flaps (PE-Set)

A6M2 type 21 cockpit PRINT (Brassin)

A6M2 wheels (Brassin)

A6M2 engine PRINT (Brassin)

A6M2 exhausts PRINT (Brassin)

November 2022

INFO Eduard

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