seydlitz_slith
Posts: 2036
Joined: 6/16/2002 From: Danville, IL Status: offline
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There is also a Lt. Cmdr Iyozoh Fujita. Etajima class of '38. Lt. Fujita was a flight leader in the second wave fighter escort from Soryu during the Pearl Harbor attack. He strafed ground targets and his zero was hit by ground fire. While gathering this escorts for their return flight, his formation was jumped by either P-36 or P-40 fighters and had a dogfight. He survived the dogfight in his damaged plane, led his pilots back to the carrier where, upon landing, a piece of his engine broke off. At Midway he intercepted the plane strikes from the U.S. carriers on the KB and shot down seven torpedo planes and three fighters before being hit by friendly fire and having to ditch at sea. He was picked up four hours later by a Japanese destroyer. Fujita was one of two naval pilots recognised as having shot down ten enemy aircraft in one day during the war. At Guadalcanal he served first as division officer on the carrier Hiyo, then in November 1943 was appointed as group leader of the 301st AG. Later in the war, Fujita fought in the air battles over Iwo Jima, Formosa, and Japan itself. He survived the war and became the president of the Zero Fighter Pilots Association and a pilot for Japan Air Lines (retired 1978). As of 200, he was still alive and living in Tokyo. His kill tally according to historians is 11, but other sources place it as high as 42. This may well be the pilot in AE....
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