windhund116

72 kills is amazing. And stay a Warrant Officer. Never to make CO. So very little about him. Even though he was 3rd or 4th leading Japanese ace (Army and Navy) of the war.

Thanks, for that. Will need to follow-up.

dwb993

My family is rife with WW2 veterans: Dad was a B25 pilot instructor stateside. His brother was a navigator in Europe on B24s and was shot down over Yugoslavia. He made it into partisan hands and was returned to service. My mother's brother flew B25s in the Pacific and was beheaded in New Guinea after crash landing behind enemy lines. My stepfather was infantry and stepped on a landmine in the Hurtgen Forest, losing a leg and an eye in the process. He just turned 93 and is still going strong!

I was able to go through my uncle's (Yugoslavia) papers and medals and found this picture with a notation on the back "Bailout over Yugoslavia". Obviously this was not his plane (he was in a B24), but a very cool picture nonetheless. You can see both starboard engines are feathered and I was able to count 2-3 crewmen who have left the plane.

windhund116

Quite impression!

My Mom had a friend, Al Shower, who was the only CO to go to England with his BG (Oct 1943). Remain the group's CO the entire stay in England and return to the US, with his BG in June 1945. His BG (467th, Rackheath Aggies) flew B24H,J, L, and M models.

467th holds the record for most accurate bombing, in the 8AF. 467th "Witchcraft" holds B24 record for 130 combat missions, no turn-backs. Had him sign my copy of Roger Freeman's "Mighty Eighth" book.

467TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP

Chuck S

There was an article in Proceedings or Naval History (both these come with my USNI membership) a month or so ago regarding Mitsuo Fuchida at Pearl Harbor and Midway. I don't have the details and knew nothing about him up to that. War experiences can slide toward self aggrandization and I believe much of the immediate post-war documentation is being reexamined in light of this.

Memory of extremely stressful events varies by the participants. When SLA Marshall started doing detailed after action reviews of infantry engagements during WW2 and Korea there were often wildly differing facts presented by the participants depend on where they were in the event. Some accounts can be fabrications but even facts are often at variance. That's why we have instant replay in football.

The only difference between a Fairy Tale and a war story is the preamble. "Once upon a time." vs "Now this is no BS, guys, there I was..."

-- Chuck

tof

Both books sound interesting. If you wait a year you may find that Japanese Anti-Submarine Aircraft in the Pacific War can be picked up on Amazon or the bookstore discount table for a small fraction of the cover price. If I happen to run across it at that point I would definitely be interested.

I just ordered a used copy of the Midway book on Amazon for 12 bucks. Sounds like a great read.