Imperial Japanese navy aces, 1937-45
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Imperial Japanese navy aces, 1937-45
(Osprey aircraft of the aces, 22)
Osprey, 1998
Available at 1 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
"Osprey aerospace"
"Osprey aviation"
Description based on reprinted 1999
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The outcome of the Pacific War was heavily influenced by the results of naval battles between the Imperial Japanese fleet and the US Navy. One of the key weapons of the former force was its large fighter component, which had gained valuable experience supporting bombing sorties on Manchuria, China and Mongolia in the late 1930s. Flying A5M Claudes, at least 21 pilots achieved 'acedom' whilst securing total air superiority for the invading Japanese forces. Manufacturer Mitsubishi derived much from these limited campaigns, and subsequently produced one of the best fighters on eighter side during World War 2, the A6M Zero-Sen. Employing this fighter to telling effect, navy pilots proved to be both relentless and highly skilled when engaged by the Allied forces that attempted to stop the Japanese invasion of the Pacific. Pilots like Nishizawa, Iwamoto, Sagita and Sakai cach scored more than 60 kills apiece, dominating the skies until well into 1943. The tide of war slowly shifted following a series of key carrier battles, forcing navy pilots to operate predominantly from shore bases in New Guinea, The Philippines and finally the Japanese home islands.
New fighter types like the Raiden, Shiden/Shiden-kai, Gekko and later versions of the Zero only helped delay the inevitable defeat of Japan, and hundreds of naval pilots paid the ultimate price in the final months of war as kamikazes.
Table of Contents
The China War/Early Months of the Pacific War/Midway/New Guinea, Rabaul and the Solomons/Central Pacific to the Philippines/Home Defence/Appendices
by "Nielsen BookData"