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The Last Zero Fighter: Firsthand Accounts from WWII Japanese Naval Pilots

This book is rich with firsthand accounts from interviews conducted in Japan with five WWII Japanese Naval aviators. All are veterans of the pivotal battles of the Pacific War including; the sinking of the USS Panay, Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Rabaul, Port Darwin, the Indian Ocean Raid, Ceylon, Midway, Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the advent of the Kamikaze in the Philippines, the home defense, and the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Approximately, 78 photos are included (many from the veterans' own albums), in addition to 9 original maps and illustrations. The book also includes an introduction to the Japanese pilot training system for both officers and enlisted men. Each pilot is followed from the time he joined the Imperial Japanese Navy until war's end. They explain in their own words why they joined the navy, what they thought about the war, about the aircraft they flew, how they felt about their friends and their former adversaries. The interviews were conducted in Japanese by the author, who is a linguist and Pacific War historian who spent 10 years living in Japan.

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 292
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9781468178807
  • Genres
  • history, aviation
  • Release date
  • 2012