Hiroyoshi Nishizawa
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Hiroyoshi Nishizawa | |
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4th Kokutai 251st Kokutai | |
Battles/wars |
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Early life
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa was born 27 January 1920 in a mountain village in the Nagano Prefecture, the fifth son of Mikiji and Miyoshi Nishizawa. His father was the manager of a sake brewery. Hiroyoshi graduated from higher elementary school and then began to work in a textile factory.
In June 1936, a poster caught his eye, an appeal for volunteers to join the Yokaren (flight reserve enlistee training program). Nishizawa applied and qualified as a student pilot in Class Otsu No. 7 of the Japanese Navy Air Force (JNAF). He completed his flight training course in March 1939, graduating 16th out of a class of 71. Before the war, he served with the Oita, Omura and Suzuka
World War II
New Guinea
After the outbreak of war with the Allies, Nishizawa's squadron (chutai) from the Chitose Air Group, then flying the obsolete Mitsubishi A5M, moved to Vunakanau airfield on the newly taken island of New Britain. The squadron received its first Mitsubishi Zeros (A6M2, Model 21) the same week.
On 3 February 1942, Nishizawa, still flying an obsolete A5M, claimed his first aerial kill of the war, a
On 1 April 1942, Nishizawa's squadron was transferred to Lae, New Guinea and assigned to the Tainan Air Group. There he flew with aces Saburō Sakai and Toshio Ōta in a chutai (squadron) led by Junichi Sasai. Sakai described his friend Nishizawa as about 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) tall, 63 kg (140 lb) in weight, pale and gaunt, suffering constantly from malaria and tropical skin diseases. He was accomplished at judo, and his squadron mates, who nicknamed him the "Devil," considered him a reserved, taciturn loner. Of his performance in the air, Sakai, himself one of Japan's leading aerial aces, wrote, "Never have I seen a man with a fighter plane do what Nishizawa would do with his Zero. His aerobatics were all at once breathtaking, brilliant, totally unpredictable, impossible, and heart-stirring to witness."[1]
They often clashed with
Nishizawa was a member of the famed "Cleanup Trio" with
On 17 May 1942,
At about 21:00, Lieutenant Junichi Sasai wanted them in his office, immediately. When they arrived, Sasai held up a letter. "Do you know where I got this thing?" he shouted. "No? I'll tell you, you fools; it was dropped on this base a few minutes ago, by an enemy intruder!" The letter, written in English, said:[5]
To the Lae Commander: "We were much impressed with those three pilots who visited us today, and we all liked the loops they flew over our field. It was quite an exhibition. We would appreciate it if the same pilots returned here once again, each wearing a green muffler around his neck. We're sorry we could not give them better attention on their last trip, but we will see to it that the next time they will receive an all-out welcome from us."
Nishizawa, Sakai and Ōta stood at stiff attention and tried to suppress laughing out loud, while Lieutenant Sasai dressed them down over their "idiotic behavior" and prohibited them from staging any more aerobatic shows over enemy airfields. The Tainan Kōkūtai's three leading aces secretly agreed that the aerial choreography had been worth it.
Guadalcanal
In early August 1942, the air group moved to
On 8 August 1942, Saburō Sakai, Nishizawa's closest friend, was severely wounded in combat with U.S. Navy carrier-based bombers. Nishizawa noticed that Sakai was missing and went into a mad rage. He searched the area, both for signs of Sakai and for Americans to fight. Eventually, he cooled off and returned to Lakunai. Later, to everyone's amazement, the seriously wounded Sakai arrived. Struck in the head by a bullet, covered with blood and blind in one eye, he returned to base in his damaged Zero after a four-hour, 47-minute flight over 560 nmi (1,040 km; 640 mi). Nishizawa, Lieutenant Sasai and Toshio Ōta transported the obstinate but barely-conscious Sakai to the hospital. In frustrated concern, Nishizawa physically removed the waiting driver and personally drove Sakai, as quickly but as gently as possible, to the surgeon. Sakai was evacuated to Japan on August 12.
The extended conflict over Guadalcanal was costly for Nishizawa's air group (renamed the 251st in November) as American aircraft and tactics improved: Sasai (with 27 victories) was shot down and killed by Captain
Return to Japan
In mid-November, the 251st was recalled to Toyohashi air base in Japan to replace its losses, with the ten surviving pilots all being made instructors, including Nishizawa. Nishizawa is believed to have had around 40 full or partial aerial victories by this time (some sources claim 54).
Nishizawa, while staying in Japan, visited Saburō Sakai, who was still recuperating in the Yokosuka hospital. Nishizawa complained to Sakai of his new duty as an instructor: "Saburō, can you picture me running around in a rickety old biplane, teaching some fool youngster how to bank and turn, and how to keep his pants dry?" Nishizawa also ascribed the loss of most of their comrade pilots to the ever increasing material advantage of the Allied forces, the improved U.S. aircraft and tactics. "It's not as you remember, Saburō," he said. "There was nothing I could do. There were just too many enemy planes, just too many." Even so, Nishizawa could not wait to return to combat. "I want a fighter under my hands again," he said. "I simply have to get back into action. Staying home in Japan is killing me."
Nishizawa publicly chafed at the months of inaction in Japan. He and the 251st returned to Rabaul in May 1943. In June 1943, Nishizawa's achievements were honored by a gift from the commander of the 11th Air Fleet, Vice Admiral Jin'ichi Kusaka. Nishizawa received a military sword inscribed "Buko Batsugun" ("For Conspicuous Military Valor"). He was then transferred to the 253rd Air Group on New Britain in September. In November, he was promoted to warrant officer and reassigned to training duties in Japan with the Oita Air Group.
In February 1944, he joined the 203rd Air Group, operating from the
Philippines campaign
In October, however, the 203rd was transferred to Luzon. Nishizawa and four others were detached to a smaller airfield on Cebu.
On 25 October 1944, Nishizawa led the fighter escort consisting of four A6M5s, flown by Nishizawa, Misao Sugawa, Shingo Honda and Ryoji Baba for the first major kamikaze attack of the war, targeting Vice Admiral Clifton Sprague's "Taffy 3" task force, which was protecting the landings in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
While flying fighter escort to this kamikaze mission, Nishizawa recorded at minimum, his 86th and 87th victories (both Grumman F6F Hellcats), the final aerial victories of his career.[6]
Nishizawa had a
Instead, Nishizawa's A6M5 Zero was armed with a 250 kg (550 lb) bomb and flown by Naval Air Pilot 1st Class Tomisaku Katsumata. A less experienced pilot, he nevertheless dove into the escort carrier USS Suwanee off Surigao. Katsumata crashed on Suwanee's flight deck and careened into a torpedo bomber which had just been recovered. The two planes erupted upon contact as did nine other planes on her flight deck. Although the ship was not sunk, she burned for several hours, and 85 of her crewmen were killed, 58 were missing and 102 wounded.
Death
The following day, his own Zero having been destroyed, Nishizawa and other pilots of the 201st Kōkūtai boarded a
back to their airfield in Cebu.Over
Upon learning of Nishizawa's death, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral
References
Notes
- ^ ISBN 9781472821454.
- ISBN 9780785838340.
- ISBN 9781855327276.
- ISBN 9781472821454.
- ^ Guttman, Jon. "Hiroyoshi Nishizawa: Japan's World War II Ace of Aces." Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine historynet.com, 12 June 2006 (originally published in Aviation History, July 1998 issue). Retrieved: 9 April 2015.
- ^ "Hiroyoshi Nishizawa". acesofww2.com. Archived from the original on November 29, 2012.
- ^ Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (1920-1944) - Find a Grave Memorial
Bibliography
- Kojinsha, Yositake Kori.Saburo Sakai. (in Japanese) 2009. ISBN 978-4-7698-1442-9.
- Sakai, Saburō, Martin Caidin and Fred Saito. ISBN 978-0-5531-1035-7.
- Sakaida, Henry. "Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No. 22 - Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45" London: Osprey Publishing, 1998. ISBN 978-1-8553-2727-6.
- Sakaida, Henry. Winged Samurai: Saburo Sakai and the Zero Fighter Pilots. Phoenix, Arizona: Champlin Fighter Museum, 1985, ISBN 0-912173-05-X.