our basic training, some of us were sent offshore to places like Singapore. I was bound for Singapore at first, but my orders were changed to Oita. This is where cadets were taught how to fly Model 32 Zero fighters. I was dispatched to Oita in January 1944 with about 50 others. Being in a bomber meant you were one of a team of seven, whereas the Zero pilot was captain of his own machine. It was what all of us desired most.
Arriving in Oita, I was dismayed to see three “Military Spirit Bludgeons” hanging ominously in the barracks. Three veterans were sitting in a circle. They stared long and hard at us wondering whether we would be able to hack it. I knew we were in for a difficult time but couldn’t let the negativity get to me.
I boarded the fabled Model 32 Zero for the first time. It was markedly different to the Red Dragonfly I was accustomed to. The rhythmic sound of the engine was powerful and soothing. It handled sublimely, and I felt as if vapor from the engine was engulfing my body. The Zero and I were one.
The training Zero came with a back seat for an instructor. We graduated from these before long and flew solo in single-seated models. The Model 32 was very stable. There was one instructor for each trainee team of four. We mainly practiced taking off and landing to start with, then progressed to standard flight drills and finally aerial dogfight maneuvers against other Zeros.
A month passed, and we started to sense a change in mood around base. Instructors would fire us up by screaming that we had no more time to waste in training. “It’s time to get where the action is.” Before long, we were deployed to operational units. Our original four-month training schedule was concluded in a little over a month. I was transferred to Kasanohara Airbase in Kagoshima Prefecture.7
Kasanohara Airbase
There were three naval air bases in Kagoshima: Kanoya, Kokubu, and Kasanohara. I moved to Kasanohara in the middle of February 1944. Naval Fighter Wing squadrons of the 1st Air Fleet were referred to with animal designations—Lion, Tiger, Panther, and Wolf. Those in the 2nd Air Fleet’s 221st Naval Air Group 312th Fighter Wings were named after natural phenomena: Storm, Lightning, and Thunder. I was attached to the 312th Wing in the “Storm” (Arashi) Corps, and this is where the real fighter pilot drills began.
Trainings at Kasanohara started out as usual. After a week or so, a senior officer told us that things were about to get serious. “Your seniors have been annihilated in the Truk Islands. The stakes are higher now. Get ready for hell lads.” The Navy had been secretive about the defeat in Truk. The Imperial General Headquarters never disclosed discouraging news, but the details trickled down to us by word of mouth anyway.8
With squadrons in the 1st Air Fleet all but gone, the 2nd Air Fleet was called in to bolster air attacks in the southwest Pacific. We trained relentlessly from morning to night. Aside from on rainy days, we were usually not allowed to sleep in our quarters. Instead, we kipped under the wings of our aircraft outside. There was no bathing or change of underwear. We became scabby and filthy, and constantly beleaguered with itchy skin.
Drills were of a much higher level than before. Taking off and landing on aircraft carriers required pinpoint accuracy. A long line of white linen was laid out on the runway in the shape of a carrier platform. Precise landing demanded careful consideration to the velocity and direction of the wind. If a landing came up short, the instructors would be furious. “You moron! You just smashed into the stern of the carrier!” Conditions on grass and tarmac runways were also different, so we had to learn to cope with various environments.
For shooting practice, a Zero dragging 200 meters of rope from its tail with a 5-meter streamer attached to the end would serve as the target plane. It took off first with the rope and streamer trailing behind. Four attack Zeros followed suit and fired their 7.7mm machine guns in turn at the streamer. They were each loaded with different colored bullets—red, blue, yellow, or purple—so that hits could be identified.
There were two ways to strike. One method was called the “upper-rear attack” and entailed chasing the target Zero from 1,000 meters above and then descending rapidly from behind on a 45-degree angle to shoot at the streamer at the closest point before pitching away in a “hit and split” maneuver. The other method was called the “upper-front attack.” This was also initiated from above at 1,000 meters, but we came in from the front in a rapid dive firing a burst at the streamer just as we crossed paths and suddenly rolling out of the way.
The trainers checked the colors marking the target streamer to identify who was successful. If your color was not there, the insults would fly. Some trainees found the task very difficult and met with little to no success. I wasn’t bad but tended to fire a little too deeply.
We also practiced chasing tactics. The lead Zero was piloted by an instructor and we had to keep on his tail being careful to not to get too close. We tried to keep around 200 meters to the rear, but a slight miscalculation meant that the lead Zero would vanish before us.
“Team fighting” and “advantage vs. disadvantage” training was designed to be as realistic as possible. The former comprised of mock dog-fights with four vs. four, or eight vs. eight planes. The latter involved four Zeros soaring at 5,000 meters above sea level and the other four flying from the opposite direction at the lower altitude of 4,000 meters. One group flew in formation from the direction of Mount Kaimon, the other from Shibushi Bay. The point of engagement was just above Kasanohara base from where senior instructors watched the dogfights through binoculars. The four fighters at higher altitude were expected to capitalize and take their lower flying prey to task. The disadvantaged fighters, on the other hand, were supposed to somehow escape and maneuver to turn the tables.
Mock dogfights required mastery of rapid ascents, descents, and circling at maximum speed. A Zero that exceeded its speed threshold in rapid descents was in danger of breaking up through stress on the frame. It was crucial to keep speed within the limits and carefully time the climb. The joystick had to be pulled fully back which took immense strength in the arms. The transition into rapid ascent would generate incredible Gs, pushing my body and head back into the seat and distorting my face. I would start to see yellow, purple, and finally black as I all but lost consciousness. It was dangerous but the only way to learn.
Combat tactics also depended on the weather. If we flew under clouds, we risked easy identification by the enemy because of the Zero’s distinctive silhouette. On overcast days we flew in the clouds meaning that visibility was non-existent. We flew out from the clouds momentarily to confirm each other’s position, and then back in again.
The time frame for each simulated dogfight was only five to six minutes but it was exhausting. Some cadets failed to pull the control up sufficiently and ended up crashing into the hills. There were four such accidents during my time at Kasanohara. Senior officers made us go and recover the bodies. Debris would be strewn everywhere as we clambered up to the crash site, so it usually took some time to locate the pilot’s remains. In one case we were unable to find any sign of a body at all. When a body (or its parts) were recovered, everything was taken back for immediate cremation. A funeral was never held. Relatives would come about a week later to collect the ashes.
Flying in formation was another important skill that we were drilled in thoroughly. We practiced keeping 16 airplanes flying neatly in formation, which was not easy especially if visibility was poor. Night flying was the worst. Lights were not allowed so it was virtually impossible to see other planes flying in proximity.
The daily routine varied. We sometimes had formation training right after breakfast, followed by lunch, an hour-long afternoon nap, then battle training, and night flying after dinner. Sometimes we flew before breakfast in dawn exercises. Each day’s agenda was posted on a board in advance with our initials placed underneath to indicate which activity we were assigned to.
The
