Saburo Sakai
Encyclopedia
Sub-Lieutenant
was a Japan
ese naval aviator and flying ace
("Gekitsui-O", 撃墜王) of the Imperial Japanese Navy
during World War II
. Sakai was the Imperial Navy's fourth-ranking ace and Japan's second leading fighter pilot to survive the war (after Tetsuzō Iwamoto
).
Saburō Sakai was born on August 25, 1916, in Saga
, Japan, into a family of samurai
ancestry whose ancestors had taken part in the Japanese invasions of Korea but who were forced to make a living as farmers following haihan-chiken
in 1871. Sakai, the third born of four sons (his given name literally means "third son"), had three sisters. Saburō was 11 when his father died, leaving Saburō's mother alone to raise seven children. With limited resources, Sakai was adopted by his maternal uncle, who financed his education in a Tokyo high school
. However, Sakai failed to do well in his studies and was sent back to Saga after his second year.
With no other options, on May 31, 1933 at the age of 16, Sakai enlisted in the Japanese Navy
as a Sailor Fourth Class (Seaman Recruit) (四等水兵). Saburō Sakai describes his experiences as a naval recruit:
After completing his training the following year, Sakai was graduated as a Sailor Third Class (Ordinary Seaman) (三等水兵). Sakai then served aboard the battleship for one year. In 1935, he successfully passed the competitive examinations for the Naval Gunners School. Sakai was promoted to Sailor Second Class (Able Seaman) (二等水兵) in 1936, and served on the battleship as a turret gunner. He received successive promotions to Sailor First Class (Leading Seaman) (一等水兵) and to Petty Officer Third Class (三等兵曹). In early 1937, he applied for and was accepted into a pilot training school. He graduated first in his Naval Class at Tsuchiura in 1937, earning a silver watch presented to him by Emperor Hirohito himself. Sakai graduated as a carrier pilot, although he was never actually assigned to aircraft carrier duty.
Promoted to Petty Officer Second Class (二等兵曹) in 1938, he first took part in aerial combat flying the Mitsubishi A5M
in the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War
in 1938-1939 and was wounded. Sakai shot down a Soviet built DB-3 bomber in October 1939. Later he was selected to fly the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero
fighter in combat over China
.
When the war with the United States began, Sakai participated in the attack on the Philippines
as a member of the Tainan Air Group
. On 8 December 1941, Sakai flew one of 45 Zeros from the Tainan Kokutai that attacked Clark Air Base
in the Philippines. In his first combat against Americans, he claimed a Curtiss P-40
shot down and two B-17 strafed on the ground. Sakai flew missions the next day during heavy weather. On the third day of the battle, he shot down a B-17 Flying Fortress flown by Captain Colin P. Kelly. This was the first B-17 shot down during the Pacific war, and Sakai admired its capacity for absorbing damage. Japanese aviators destroyed most of the Allied air power in the Pacific in just a few months. Sakai's Tainan Kokutai became known for destroying the most enemy planes in the history of Japanese military aviation.
Early in 1942, Sakai was transferred to Tarakan Island
in Borneo
and fought in the Dutch East Indies
. The Japanese high command had instructed fighter patrols to down all enemy aircraft encountered, whether they were armed or not. On a patrol with his Zero over Java, just after shooting down an enemy aircraft, Sakai encountered a civilian Dutch Douglas DC-3
flying at low altitude over dense jungle. Sakai initially assumed it was transporting important people and signaled to its pilot to follow him; the pilot did not obey. Sakai came down and got much closer to the DC-3. He spotted a blonde woman and a young child through the window, along with other passengers. The woman reminded him of Mrs. Martin, an American who had occasionally taught him as a child in middle school
and had been good to him. He decided to ignore his orders and flew ahead of the pilot, signaling him to go ahead. The pilot and passengers saluted.
During the Borneo campaign, Sakai achieved 13 air victories, before he was grounded by illness. When he had recovered three months later in April, Petty Officer First Class Sakai joined a squadron
(chutai) of the Tainan Air Group
(kokutai) under Sub-Lieutenant Junichi Sasai
at Lae
, New Guinea
. Over the next four months, he scored the majority of his victories, flying against American and Australian pilots based at Port Moresby
. Sakai never lost a wingman in combat, and tried to pass on his hard-earned expertise to more junior pilots.
His squadron included fellow aces Hiroyoshi Nishizawa
and Toshio Ōta. On the night of May 16, Sakai, Nishizawa and Ota were listening to a broadcast of an Australian radio program, when Nishizawa recognized the eerie "Danse Macabre"
of Camille Saint-Saëns
. Inspired by this, Nishizawa came up with the idea of doing demonstration loops over the enemy airfield. The next day, at the end of an attack on Port Moresby that involved 18 Zeros, the trio performed three tight loops in close formation over the allied air base. Nishizawa indicated he wanted to repeat the performance. Diving to 6000 ft (1,828.8 m), the three Zeros did three more loops, without receiving any AA fire from the ground. The following day, a lone allied bomber came roaring over the Lae airfield and dropped a note attached to a long ribbon of cloth. The soldiers picked up the note and delivered to the squadron commander. It read "Thank you for the wonderful display of aerobatics by three of your pilots. Please pass on our regards and inform them, that we will have a warm reception ready for them, next time they fly over our airfield". The squadron commander was furious and reprimanded the three pilots for their stupidity, but the Tainan Kokutais three leading aces felt Nishizawa's aerial choreography of the "Danse Macabre" had been worth it.
.
On 7 August, word arrived that U.S. Marines had landed that morning on Guadalcanal
. The initial Allied landings captured an airfield, later called Henderson Field by the Allies, that was under construction by the Japanese. The airfield soon became the focus of months of fighting in the Battle of Guadalcanal, as it enabled U.S. airpower to hinder the Japanese attempts at resupplying their troops. The Japanese made several attempts to retake Henderson Field, resulting in continuous, almost daily air battles for the Tainan Kokutai.
U.S. Marines flying F4F Wildcat
s from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal
were using a new aerial combat tactic, the "Thach Weave
", developed in 1941 by the U.S. Navy aviators John Thach
and Edward O'Hare
. The Japanese Zero pilots flying out of Rabaul
were initially confounded by the tactic. Saburō Sakai described their reaction to the Thach Weave when they encountered Guadalcanal Wildcats using it:
On 8 August, Sakai scored one of his best documented kills against an F4F Wildcat flown by James "Pug" Southerland
, who by the end of the war became an ace with five victories. Sakai, who did not know Southerland's guns had jammed, recalled the duel in his autobiography:
They were soon engaged in a skillfully maneuvered dogfight. After an extended battle in which both pilots gained and lost the upper hand, Sakai shot down Southerland's Wildcat, striking it below the left wing root with his 20 mm cannon. Southerland parachuted to safety.
Sakai was amazed at the Wildcat's ruggedness:
Not long after he downed Southerland, Sakai was attacked by a lone SBD Dauntless dive bomber
flown by Lt. Dudley Adams of Scouting Squadron 71 (VS-71) from . Adams scored a near miss, sending a bullet through Sakai's canopy, but Sakai quickly gained the upper hand and succeeded in downing Adams. Adams bailed out and survived but his gunner, R3/c Harry Elliot, was killed in the encounter.
of eight SBDs, a mixed flight from Bombing Squadrons Five and Six (VB-5 and VB-6). Mistaking the SBDs for more Wildcat fighters, Sakai approached from below and behind, targeting a VB-6 Dauntless flown by Ens. Robert C. Shaw. The sturdy dive bombers with their rear-mounted twin 7.62 mm (0.3 in) machine guns proved tough adversaries, and a blast fired by one or more of the SBDs' rear gunners, possibly including Shaw's gunner, AO2/c Harold L. Jones, shattered and blew away the canopy of Sakai's Zero.
Sakai sustained grievous injuries from the return fire; he was struck in the head by a 7.62 mm (0.3 in) bullet, blinding him in the right eye and paralyzing the left side of his body. The Zero rolled over and headed upside down toward the sea. Unable to see out of his remaining good eye due to blood flowing from the head wound, Sakai's vision started to clear somewhat as tears cleared the blood from his eyes and he was able to pull his plane out of the steep seaward dive. He considered crashing into one of the American warships: "If I must die, at least I could go out as a Samurai. My death would take several of the enemy with me. A ship. I needed a ship." Finally, the cold air blasting into the cockpit revived him enough to check his instruments, and he decided that by using a lean fuel mixture he might be able to make it back to the airfield at Rabaul.
Although in agony from his injuries (he had a serious head wound from a bullet that had passed through his skull and the right side of his brain, leaving the entire left side of his body paralyzed, and was left blind in one eye,) Sakai managed to fly his damaged Zero in a four-hour, 47-minute flight over 560 nmi (1,037.1 km; 644.4 mi) back to his base on Rabaul, using familiar volcanic peaks as guides. When he attempted to land at the airfield he nearly crashed into a line of parked Zeros but, after circling four times, and with the fuel gauge reading empty, he put his Zero down on the runway on his second attempt. After landing, he insisted on making his mission report to his superior officer before collapsing. His squadron mate Hiroyoshi Nishizawa drove him, as quickly but as gently as possible, to the surgeon. Sakai was evacuated to Japan on 12 August, where he endured a long surgery without anesthesia
. The surgery repaired some of the damage to his head, but was unable to restore full vision to his right eye. Nishizawa visited Sakai while he was recuperating in the Yokosuka hospital in Japan.
pilots. With Japan clearly losing the air war, he prevailed upon his superiors to let him fly in combat again. In November 1943, Sakai was promoted to the rank of warrant officer (海軍准尉). In April 1944, he was transferred to Yokosuka Air Wing, which was deployed to Iwo Jima
.
On 24 June 1944, Sakai approached a formation of 15 U.S. Navy Grumman F6F Hellcat
fighters which he mistakenly assumed were friendly Japanese aircraft. In a chase that has become legendary, Sakai demonstrated his skill and experience. Despite his loss of one eye and facing superior enemy aircraft, Sakai eluded attacks by the Hellcats for more than 20 minutes, returning to his airfield untouched.
Sakai was ordered to lead a kamikaze mission on 5 July, but he failed to find the U.S. task force. He was engaged by Hellcat fighters near the task force's reported position, and all but one of the Nakajima B6N2 "Jill"
torpedo bomber
s in his flight were shot down. Sakai managed to shoot down one Hellcat, then escaped the umbrella of enemy aircraft by flying into a cloud. Rather than follow meaningless orders, in worsening weather and gathering darkness, Sakai led his small formation back to Iwo Jima, preserving the aircraft and pilots for another day.
In August 1944, Sakai was commissioned an ensign (少尉) — a record-breaking 11 years from enlistment to commissioning in the very rank-conscious Japanese navy. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant (中尉) one year later, just before the war ended.
About the same time, Sakai married his cousin Hatsuyo, who asked him for a dagger so she could kill herself if he fell in battle. His autobiography, Samurai!
, ends happily with Hatsuyo throwing away the dagger after Japan's surrender, saying she no longer needed it.
Sakai destroyed or damaged more than 60 Allied
planes during World War II, mostly American. He was one of just three pilots from his pre-war unit who had survived. Sakai never said how many victories he had. His total of 64 was determined by Martin Caidin
, co-author of Sakai's autobiography.
Saburo Sakai participated in the IJNAF's last wartime mission, attacking two reconnaissance B-32 Dominator
s, Hobo Queen II s/n 42-108532, and unnamed 42-108578, on 18 August, which were conducting photo-reconnaissance and testing Japanese compliance with the cease-fire. He initially misidentified the planes as a B-29 Superfortress
es. Both aircraft returned to their base at Yontan Airfield
, Okinawa. (Saeki says in his book Samurai, that he did not attack any planes on this date or time, (Caidin) therefore making a mistake.
acolyte and vowed he would never again kill any living thing, not even a mosquito. Sakai harbored no animosity toward those who had been "the enemy" during WW2, and urged others not to do so either. When asked about Japan's eventual surrender, he responded: "Had I been ordered to bomb Seattle or Los Angeles in order to end the war, I wouldn't have hesitated. So I perfectly understand why the Americans bombed Nagasaki
and Hiroshima
."
Times were difficult for Sakai; finding a job was difficult for him because of conditions imposed by the Allies, and because of anti-military provisions placed into the new Japanese Constitution. He eventually started a successful printing shop, which he used to help his former comrades and their families with employment. Sakai's wife died in 1954 and he later remarried.
He visited the U.S. and met many of his former adversaries, including the tail-gunner who had wounded him. In 2000, Sakai served briefly as a consultant for the popular computer game Combat Flight Simulator 2
.
In his later years, Sakai was asked to appear as a motivational speaker at Japanese schools and corporations. His theme was always the same, the credo by which he lived his entire life: "Never give up."
Sakai expressed concern for Japan's collective inability to accept responsibility for starting the war, and over the popular sentiment that only the military — not the political leaders — were responsible. He decried the kamikaze campaign as brutally wasteful of young lives; Sakai also drew attention with his critical comments about Emperor Hirohito
's role. "Who gave the orders for that stupid war?" he asked in an interview reported August 10, 2000, by The Associated Press. "The closer you get to the emperor, the fuzzier everything gets."
Just months before he died, Sakai officially admitted to reporters that he still prayed for the souls of the airmen (Chinese, American, Australian and Dutch alike) he had killed in action. "I pray every day for the souls of my enemies as well as my comrades," he said. "We all did our best for our respective countries...Glorifying death was a mistake; because I survived, I was able to move on - to make friends in the U.S. and other countries."
Saburo Sakai died of a heart attack
in 2000, following a U.S. Navy
formal dinner - where he had been an honored guest - at Atsugi Naval Air Station
. He was 84. Sakai had sent his daughter to college in the United States "to learn English and democracy." There she married an American, and gave Saburo two American-born grandchildren. He is survived by all three.
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...
was a Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese naval aviator and flying ace
Flying ace
A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...
("Gekitsui-O", 撃墜王) of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Sakai was the Imperial Navy's fourth-ranking ace and Japan's second leading fighter pilot to survive the war (after Tetsuzō Iwamoto
Tetsuzō Iwamoto
Sub-Lieutenant Tetsuzō Iwamoto was one of the top scoring fighter aces of the Empire of Japan, during World War II. His total of confirmed claims is believed to be about 80....
).
Early life
Saga Prefecture
is located in the northwest part of the island of Kyūshū, Japan. It touches both the Sea of Japan and the Ariake Sea. The western part of the prefecture is a region famous for producing ceramics and porcelain, particularly the towns of Karatsu, Imari, and Arita...
, Japan, into a family of samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
ancestry whose ancestors had taken part in the Japanese invasions of Korea but who were forced to make a living as farmers following haihan-chiken
Abolition of the han system
The was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...
in 1871. Sakai, the third born of four sons (his given name literally means "third son"), had three sisters. Saburō was 11 when his father died, leaving Saburō's mother alone to raise seven children. With limited resources, Sakai was adopted by his maternal uncle, who financed his education in a Tokyo high school
Aoyama Gakuin
is an educational institute in Tokyo, Japan, which comprises Aoyama Gakuin University, Aoyama Gakuin Women's Junior College, Aoyama Gakuin Senior High School, Aoyama Gakuin Junior High School, Aoyama Gakuin Elementary School, and Aoyama Gakuin Kindergarten....
. However, Sakai failed to do well in his studies and was sent back to Saga after his second year.
With no other options, on May 31, 1933 at the age of 16, Sakai enlisted in the Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
as a Sailor Fourth Class (Seaman Recruit) (四等水兵). Saburō Sakai describes his experiences as a naval recruit:
- "The petty officers would not hesitate to administer the severest beatings to recruits they felt deserving of punishment. Whenever I committed a breach of discipline or an error in training, I was dragged physically from my cot by a petty officer. 'Stand tall to the wall! Bend down, Recruit Sakai!' he would roar. 'I am not doing this because I hate you, but because I like you and want you to make a good seaman. Bend down!' And with that he would swing a large stick of wood and with every ounce of strength he possessed would slam it against my upturned bottom. The pain was terrible, the force of the blows unremitting."
After completing his training the following year, Sakai was graduated as a Sailor Third Class (Ordinary Seaman) (三等水兵). Sakai then served aboard the battleship for one year. In 1935, he successfully passed the competitive examinations for the Naval Gunners School. Sakai was promoted to Sailor Second Class (Able Seaman) (二等水兵) in 1936, and served on the battleship as a turret gunner. He received successive promotions to Sailor First Class (Leading Seaman) (一等水兵) and to Petty Officer Third Class (三等兵曹). In early 1937, he applied for and was accepted into a pilot training school. He graduated first in his Naval Class at Tsuchiura in 1937, earning a silver watch presented to him by Emperor Hirohito himself. Sakai graduated as a carrier pilot, although he was never actually assigned to aircraft carrier duty.
Promoted to Petty Officer Second Class (二等兵曹) in 1938, he first took part in aerial combat flying the Mitsubishi A5M
Mitsubishi A5M
The Mitsubishi A5M, Japanese Navy designation was "Type 96 carrier-based fighter" was a Japanese carrier-based fighter aircraft. It was the world's first monoplane shipboard fighter and the direct ancestor of the famous Mitsubishi A6M 'Zero'...
in the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
in 1938-1939 and was wounded. Sakai shot down a Soviet built DB-3 bomber in October 1939. Later he was selected to fly the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero
A6M Zero
The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a long-range fighter aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was designated as the , and also designated as the Mitsubishi A6M Rei-sen and Mitsubishi Navy 12-shi Carrier Fighter. The A6M was usually referred to by the...
fighter in combat over China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
Southeast Asia
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
as a member of the Tainan Air Group
Tainan Air Group
was a fighter aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The flying portion of the unit was heavily involved in many of the major campaigns and battles of the first year of the war...
. On 8 December 1941, Sakai flew one of 45 Zeros from the Tainan Kokutai that attacked Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base
Clark Air Base is a former United States Air Force base on Luzon Island in the Philippines, located 3 miles west of Angeles City, about 40 miles northwest of Metro Manila. Clark Air Base was an American military facility from 1903 to 1991...
in the Philippines. In his first combat against Americans, he claimed a Curtiss P-40
Curtiss P-40
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational...
shot down and two B-17 strafed on the ground. Sakai flew missions the next day during heavy weather. On the third day of the battle, he shot down a B-17 Flying Fortress flown by Captain Colin P. Kelly. This was the first B-17 shot down during the Pacific war, and Sakai admired its capacity for absorbing damage. Japanese aviators destroyed most of the Allied air power in the Pacific in just a few months. Sakai's Tainan Kokutai became known for destroying the most enemy planes in the history of Japanese military aviation.
Early in 1942, Sakai was transferred to Tarakan Island
Tarakan Island
Tarakan is an island off the coast of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is a marshy island situated in the eastern Celebes Sea, off the northeastern coast of Borneo. The island occupies an area of .-Petroleum:...
in Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
and fought in the Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
. The Japanese high command had instructed fighter patrols to down all enemy aircraft encountered, whether they were armed or not. On a patrol with his Zero over Java, just after shooting down an enemy aircraft, Sakai encountered a civilian Dutch Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
flying at low altitude over dense jungle. Sakai initially assumed it was transporting important people and signaled to its pilot to follow him; the pilot did not obey. Sakai came down and got much closer to the DC-3. He spotted a blonde woman and a young child through the window, along with other passengers. The woman reminded him of Mrs. Martin, an American who had occasionally taught him as a child in middle school
Aoyama Gakuin
is an educational institute in Tokyo, Japan, which comprises Aoyama Gakuin University, Aoyama Gakuin Women's Junior College, Aoyama Gakuin Senior High School, Aoyama Gakuin Junior High School, Aoyama Gakuin Elementary School, and Aoyama Gakuin Kindergarten....
and had been good to him. He decided to ignore his orders and flew ahead of the pilot, signaling him to go ahead. The pilot and passengers saluted.
Squadron (aviation)
A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...
(chutai) of the Tainan Air Group
Tainan Air Group
was a fighter aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The flying portion of the unit was heavily involved in many of the major campaigns and battles of the first year of the war...
(kokutai) under Sub-Lieutenant Junichi Sasai
Junichi Sasai
Lieutenant Commander was a Japanese naval aviator and fighter ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Lieutenant Sasai was killed leading his fighter squadron during an attack of Henderson Field during the Battle of Guadalcanal....
at Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
, New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. Over the next four months, he scored the majority of his victories, flying against American and Australian pilots based at Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
. Sakai never lost a wingman in combat, and tried to pass on his hard-earned expertise to more junior pilots.
His squadron included fellow aces Hiroyoshi Nishizawa
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa
Lieutenant Junior Grade was an ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during World War II.It is possible that Nishizawa was the most successful Japanese fighter ace of the war; he personally claimed to have had 87 aerial victories at the time of his death...
and Toshio Ōta. On the night of May 16, Sakai, Nishizawa and Ota were listening to a broadcast of an Australian radio program, when Nishizawa recognized the eerie "Danse Macabre"
Danse Macabre (Saint-Saëns)
Danse macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based in an old French superstition...
of Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
. Inspired by this, Nishizawa came up with the idea of doing demonstration loops over the enemy airfield. The next day, at the end of an attack on Port Moresby that involved 18 Zeros, the trio performed three tight loops in close formation over the allied air base. Nishizawa indicated he wanted to repeat the performance. Diving to 6000 ft (1,828.8 m), the three Zeros did three more loops, without receiving any AA fire from the ground. The following day, a lone allied bomber came roaring over the Lae airfield and dropped a note attached to a long ribbon of cloth. The soldiers picked up the note and delivered to the squadron commander. It read "Thank you for the wonderful display of aerobatics by three of your pilots. Please pass on our regards and inform them, that we will have a warm reception ready for them, next time they fly over our airfield". The squadron commander was furious and reprimanded the three pilots for their stupidity, but the Tainan Kokutais three leading aces felt Nishizawa's aerial choreography of the "Danse Macabre" had been worth it.
Pacific Theatre
On 3 August, Sakai's air group was relocated from Lae to the airfield at RabaulRabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
.
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
. The initial Allied landings captured an airfield, later called Henderson Field by the Allies, that was under construction by the Japanese. The airfield soon became the focus of months of fighting in the Battle of Guadalcanal, as it enabled U.S. airpower to hinder the Japanese attempts at resupplying their troops. The Japanese made several attempts to retake Henderson Field, resulting in continuous, almost daily air battles for the Tainan Kokutai.
U.S. Marines flying F4F Wildcat
F4F Wildcat
The Grumman F4F Wildcat was an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that began service with both the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy in 1940...
s from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
were using a new aerial combat tactic, the "Thach Weave
Thach Weave
The Thach Weave or Beam Defense Position is an aerial combat tactic developed by naval aviator John S. Thach of the United States Navy soon after the United States' entry into World War II....
", developed in 1941 by the U.S. Navy aviators John Thach
John Thach
John Smith "Jimmy" Thach was a World War II naval aviator, air combat tactician, and United States Navy admiral. Thach developed the Thach Weave, a combat flight formation that could counter enemy fighters of superior performance, and later the big blue blanket, an aerial defense against Kamikaze...
and Edward O'Hare
Edward O'Hare
Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare was an Irish-American naval aviator of the United States Navy who on February 20, 1942 became the U.S. Navy's first flying ace and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. Butch O’Hare’s final action took place on the night of November 26, 1943,...
. The Japanese Zero pilots flying out of Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
were initially confounded by the tactic. Saburō Sakai described their reaction to the Thach Weave when they encountered Guadalcanal Wildcats using it:
- "For the first time Lt. Commander Tadashi Nakajima encountered what was to become a famous double-team maneuver on the part of the enemy. Two Wildcats jumped on the commander’s plane. He had no trouble in getting on the tail of an enemy fighter, but never had a chance to fire before the Grumman’s team-mate roared at him from the side. Nakajima was raging when he got back to Rabaul; he had been forced to dive and run for safety."
On 8 August, Sakai scored one of his best documented kills against an F4F Wildcat flown by James "Pug" Southerland
Pug Southerland
James Julien "Pug" Southerland II was a United States Navy fighter pilot during World War II. He is credited with scoring 5 victories , flying Grumman F4F Wildcats...
, who by the end of the war became an ace with five victories. Sakai, who did not know Southerland's guns had jammed, recalled the duel in his autobiography:
In desperation, I snapped out a burst. At once the Grumman snapped away in a roll to the right, clawed around in a tight turn, and ended up in a climb straight at my own plane. Never before had I seen an enemy plane move so quickly or gracefully before, and every second his guns were moving closer to the belly of my fighter. I snap-rolled in an effort to throw him off. He would not be shaken. He was using my favorite tactics, coming up from under.
They were soon engaged in a skillfully maneuvered dogfight. After an extended battle in which both pilots gained and lost the upper hand, Sakai shot down Southerland's Wildcat, striking it below the left wing root with his 20 mm cannon. Southerland parachuted to safety.
Sakai was amazed at the Wildcat's ruggedness:
Not long after he downed Southerland, Sakai was attacked by a lone SBD Dauntless dive bomber
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
flown by Lt. Dudley Adams of Scouting Squadron 71 (VS-71) from . Adams scored a near miss, sending a bullet through Sakai's canopy, but Sakai quickly gained the upper hand and succeeded in downing Adams. Adams bailed out and survived but his gunner, R3/c Harry Elliot, was killed in the encounter.
Serious wounds
During the air group's first mission of the battle of Guadalcanal, having just shot down Southerland and Adams, Sakai was seriously wounded in a failed ambush near TulagiTulagi
Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...
of eight SBDs, a mixed flight from Bombing Squadrons Five and Six (VB-5 and VB-6). Mistaking the SBDs for more Wildcat fighters, Sakai approached from below and behind, targeting a VB-6 Dauntless flown by Ens. Robert C. Shaw. The sturdy dive bombers with their rear-mounted twin 7.62 mm (0.3 in) machine guns proved tough adversaries, and a blast fired by one or more of the SBDs' rear gunners, possibly including Shaw's gunner, AO2/c Harold L. Jones, shattered and blew away the canopy of Sakai's Zero.
Sakai sustained grievous injuries from the return fire; he was struck in the head by a 7.62 mm (0.3 in) bullet, blinding him in the right eye and paralyzing the left side of his body. The Zero rolled over and headed upside down toward the sea. Unable to see out of his remaining good eye due to blood flowing from the head wound, Sakai's vision started to clear somewhat as tears cleared the blood from his eyes and he was able to pull his plane out of the steep seaward dive. He considered crashing into one of the American warships: "If I must die, at least I could go out as a Samurai. My death would take several of the enemy with me. A ship. I needed a ship." Finally, the cold air blasting into the cockpit revived him enough to check his instruments, and he decided that by using a lean fuel mixture he might be able to make it back to the airfield at Rabaul.
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
. The surgery repaired some of the damage to his head, but was unable to restore full vision to his right eye. Nishizawa visited Sakai while he was recuperating in the Yokosuka hospital in Japan.
Recovery and Return
After his discharge from the hospital in January 1943, Sakai spent a year training new fighter pilots and young kamikazeKamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
pilots. With Japan clearly losing the air war, he prevailed upon his superiors to let him fly in combat again. In November 1943, Sakai was promoted to the rank of warrant officer (海軍准尉). In April 1944, he was transferred to Yokosuka Air Wing, which was deployed to Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
.
On 24 June 1944, Sakai approached a formation of 15 U.S. Navy Grumman F6F Hellcat
F6F Hellcat
The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a carrier-based fighter aircraft developed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat in United States Navy service. Although the F6F resembled the Wildcat, it was a completely new design powered by a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800. Some tagged it as the "Wildcat's big...
fighters which he mistakenly assumed were friendly Japanese aircraft. In a chase that has become legendary, Sakai demonstrated his skill and experience. Despite his loss of one eye and facing superior enemy aircraft, Sakai eluded attacks by the Hellcats for more than 20 minutes, returning to his airfield untouched.
Sakai was ordered to lead a kamikaze mission on 5 July, but he failed to find the U.S. task force. He was engaged by Hellcat fighters near the task force's reported position, and all but one of the Nakajima B6N2 "Jill"
Nakajima B6N
The Nakajima B6N Tenzan was the Imperial Japanese Navy's standard carrier-borne torpedo bomber during the final years of World War II and the successor to the B5N "Kate"...
torpedo bomber
Torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
s in his flight were shot down. Sakai managed to shoot down one Hellcat, then escaped the umbrella of enemy aircraft by flying into a cloud. Rather than follow meaningless orders, in worsening weather and gathering darkness, Sakai led his small formation back to Iwo Jima, preserving the aircraft and pilots for another day.
In August 1944, Sakai was commissioned an ensign (少尉) — a record-breaking 11 years from enlistment to commissioning in the very rank-conscious Japanese navy. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant (中尉) one year later, just before the war ended.
About the same time, Sakai married his cousin Hatsuyo, who asked him for a dagger so she could kill herself if he fell in battle. His autobiography, Samurai!
Samurai!
Samurai is a 1957 book by Martin Caidin, based on the life and career of Saburō Sakai, the Japanese combat aviator who fought against American fighter pilots in the pacific theater of World War II, surviving the war with 64 kills as one of Japan's leading flying aces...
, ends happily with Hatsuyo throwing away the dagger after Japan's surrender, saying she no longer needed it.
Sakai destroyed or damaged more than 60 Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
planes during World War II, mostly American. He was one of just three pilots from his pre-war unit who had survived. Sakai never said how many victories he had. His total of 64 was determined by Martin Caidin
Martin Caidin
Martin Caidin was an American author and an authority on aeronautics and aviation.Caidin wrote more than 50 books, including Samurai!, Black Thursday, Thunderbolt!, Fork-Tailed Devil: The P-38, Zero!, The Ragged, Rugged Warriors, A Torch to the Enemy and many other works of military history...
, co-author of Sakai's autobiography.
Saburo Sakai participated in the IJNAF's last wartime mission, attacking two reconnaissance B-32 Dominator
B-32 Dominator
The Consolidated B-32 Dominator was a heavy bomber made for United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and has the distinction of being the last Allied aircraft to be engaged in combat during World War II. It was developed in parallel with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as a fallback design...
s, Hobo Queen II s/n 42-108532, and unnamed 42-108578, on 18 August, which were conducting photo-reconnaissance and testing Japanese compliance with the cease-fire. He initially misidentified the planes as a B-29 Superfortress
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
es. Both aircraft returned to their base at Yontan Airfield
Yontan Airfield
Yontan Airfield is a former military airfield on Okinawa, located near the village of Sobe on the Okinawa western coast. It was closed and turned over to the Japanese government in 1972...
, Okinawa. (Saeki says in his book Samurai, that he did not attack any planes on this date or time, (Caidin) therefore making a mistake.
Back to Civilian Life
After the war, Sakai retired from the Navy. He became a BuddhistBuddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
acolyte and vowed he would never again kill any living thing, not even a mosquito. Sakai harbored no animosity toward those who had been "the enemy" during WW2, and urged others not to do so either. When asked about Japan's eventual surrender, he responded: "Had I been ordered to bomb Seattle or Los Angeles in order to end the war, I wouldn't have hesitated. So I perfectly understand why the Americans bombed Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...
and Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
."
Times were difficult for Sakai; finding a job was difficult for him because of conditions imposed by the Allies, and because of anti-military provisions placed into the new Japanese Constitution. He eventually started a successful printing shop, which he used to help his former comrades and their families with employment. Sakai's wife died in 1954 and he later remarried.
He visited the U.S. and met many of his former adversaries, including the tail-gunner who had wounded him. In 2000, Sakai served briefly as a consultant for the popular computer game Combat Flight Simulator 2
Combat Flight Simulator 2
Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2: WWII Pacific Theater is the successor to the highly successful Combat Flight Simulator WWII Europe Series and Fighter Ace Series. CFS1 Was the first combat conversion of the Microsoft Flight Simulator series...
.
In his later years, Sakai was asked to appear as a motivational speaker at Japanese schools and corporations. His theme was always the same, the credo by which he lived his entire life: "Never give up."
Sakai expressed concern for Japan's collective inability to accept responsibility for starting the war, and over the popular sentiment that only the military — not the political leaders — were responsible. He decried the kamikaze campaign as brutally wasteful of young lives; Sakai also drew attention with his critical comments about Emperor Hirohito
Hirohito
, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...
's role. "Who gave the orders for that stupid war?" he asked in an interview reported August 10, 2000, by The Associated Press. "The closer you get to the emperor, the fuzzier everything gets."
Just months before he died, Sakai officially admitted to reporters that he still prayed for the souls of the airmen (Chinese, American, Australian and Dutch alike) he had killed in action. "I pray every day for the souls of my enemies as well as my comrades," he said. "We all did our best for our respective countries...Glorifying death was a mistake; because I survived, I was able to move on - to make friends in the U.S. and other countries."
Saburo Sakai died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in 2000, following a U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
formal dinner - where he had been an honored guest - at Atsugi Naval Air Station
Naval Air Facility Atsugi
is a naval air base located in the cities of Yamato and Ayase in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the largest United States Navy air base in the Pacific Ocean and houses the squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 5, which deploys with the aircraft carrier...
. He was 84. Sakai had sent his daughter to college in the United States "to learn English and democracy." There she married an American, and gave Saburo two American-born grandchildren. He is survived by all three.
External links
- "Tainan Air Corps In Sakai Saburou"
- The Last Samurai
- "Saburo Sakai passed away September 22, 2000"
- Memorial To Saburo Sakai
- Copy of Sakai's New York Times Obituary
- Excerpt from Samurai
- WarbirdForum: An afternoon with Saburo Sakai
- Sakai's Mercy over Java
- Interview with Sakai during the production of "Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2'"'
- "A new-found friend, the man who killed my father"
- PBS: Secrets of the Dead