Here a story which I found in internet about an japanese fighter ace. In one flight he killed 1x P-38 and 3x B-24, the last one by a ram-attack. (Now thats something which will be very difficult to repeat at FH in the virtual world of super-ottos and jap-paper-planes ) ------ Anabuki Satoru's deed over Rangoon. Written by Diego Zampini. Like many other aces, Anabuki Satoru felt attraction for aviation since his early years. So, he entered in the Youth Preparatory Flight Program of the Japanese Army when he was still a teenager, and in 1938, at the age of 17, he passed the test of the Army Aviation School in Tokyo. After some more training, in March 1941 began his first duty tour in Formosa, where he was when the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7 1941. That very day Sgt Anabuki flew combat sorties over the Philippines and met a lone B-17D, but due to he was flying an almost obsolete and very slightly armed Ki-27, he couldn't shot the bomber down, despite he ran out of ammo. But he had his chance on December 22 1941, when during a combat against USAAF Kittyhawks of the 17th Squadron over Lingayen Gulf, he managed to shot one P-40E down. That was the first victory out of 51 he would be credited with along WW2. Still flying the obsolete Ki-27, Anabuki shot down two P-40s on February 9 1942, and few months later his unit was sent home to be re-equipped with the much more powerfull Ki-43 Hayabusa. His new destination was Mingaladon airbase in Rangoon outskirsts, Burma. Was there where he scored his greatest succeses against the Allied aircraft. On December 24 1942 the Japanese pilots in Mingaladon should scramble fast because the sudden raid of British Hurricanes against the airfield. During the take off, the nearby blast of a bomb caused a malfunction in the landing gear of this Ki-43, and Anabuki was forced to scramble with his landing gear extended. Despite that, Sgt Anabuki could fight, and he did it very well: three Hurricanes fell under the fire of his machineguns, including the one flown by Pilot Officer C. D. Fergusson. Anabuki's greatest deed happened on October 8 1943, when at 12:10 hs four Hayabusas (one of them flown by Sgt Anabuki) taxied in Mingaladon airstrip to take off and intercepte several B-24s which were raiding against a Japanese convoy in Rangoon harbour. However, a fouled spark plug caused that Anabuki should delay his take off during 5 minutes. When he finally could scramble, was unable to find his three buddies and a second flight of four Ki-43s (which were also tasked to intercepte the bombers) because of the haze. Suddenly, when he got out of the hazy area, saw his target: 11 B-24s together with two escorting P-38s, which apparently did not notice him. Anabuki realized that -due to the hazy weather- none of his comrades had found the enemy and that he was completely alone. But Anabuki also noticed that he was in a perfect attack position against both the enemy fighters and bombers, and the surprise factor was at his side. Being a hunter by nature, Anabuki decided to take that chance despite the odds were against him. So, Anabuki choose one of the unaware Lightnings, put it in the gunsight of his Ki-43 Hayabusa and badly shot it up (Anabuki saw the incendaries exploding around the P-38's cockpit), breaking his attack and diving only when he almost collide the American plane. As he turned to repeat his attack, saw the P-38 trying a loop while leaving a trail of black smoke. Suddenly the P-38 stalled and went downwards, crashing near Yangon river. Then Anabuki jumped the P-38 leader, but his adversary was an experienced pilot because it immediatelly rolled and steeply dove. Knowing that his Ki-43 Hayabusa was excellent in dogfighting and could out-turn the P-38, but could not compete with the Lightning in dive and climb rates, Anabuki did not even try to follow the American plane, instead he concentrated in the bombers. Sgt Anabuki closed to 1200 mts to the right of the bombers and 500 meters above them (he was flying at 5500 mts and the Liberators at 5000) and then rolled and dove. Anabuki knew that to shot down one heavily defended and huge four-engine bomber like the B-24 with the relatively weak weaponry of his Ki-43 (12,7 mm machineguns, with no cannons) was a very hard task, but he had the experience and the determination to do so, as himself accounted: "All I could see was the enemy. I'm diving straight down towards the dark jungle. Life or death didn't matter then. If the gods still need me they wouldn't let me die. I see an image of my mother's face. I think I heard her yelling `Go, Satoru,go!`. I think of what a strong woman my mother is. I think to myself I must be as strong. Distance closes further. 300, 200, I see my bullets get sucked into the gigantic B-24. Getting closer. 150, 100. I start firing my final burst. The enemy's defensive fire is fierce. Their formation is trailing a lot of gun smoke, raining bullets in successive bursts, but I know as long as I'm at this angle, they can't hit me. My target starts smoking from the wing root. Even as I'm firing, the white smoke is getting bigger and bigger. I'm near collision and I break off to the left and to the rear of the enemy, diving vertically. Fifty some enemy machine guns are firing at me, but not a single bullet hit me as I speeded away out of their range. " When Anabuki prepared himself for a second pass against the badly hit B-24, saw that it slipped at one side, the crew bailed out and the bomber began to spin. So, in few minutes he added one P-38 and one B-24 to his killboard. But when he was ready to attack the bombers for the second time, suddenly saw tracers passing very close to his port wing. Anabuki sharply broke to starboard, avoiding the burst, but a second one struck his plane, being the Japanese pilot badly wounded in his left hand. Anabuki realised that the P-38 leader which had previously escaped was back, and it was willing to take him out. Despite the intense pain, Anabuki performed a series of the sharp turns, exploiting the superior turn capability of the Ki-43 Hayabusa and forcing the American pilot to gave up. When the P-38 pilot did so, Anabuki rolled his plane and reversed towards the Lightning. At point-blank range (about 30 mts) the Japanese ace fired and black smoke emerged from the P-38, together with oil which splattered over the windshield of the Ki-43 and temporarily blinded Anabuki. When he recover the sight, the P-38 was diving away again, this time definitively. Despite he was wounded and his plane damaged (Anabuki noticed that at full throttle the engine airlocked), Anabuki made an provisional bandage with his muffler to stop the bleeding of his left hand, and performed his second pass against the B-24s. setting on fire one of them. When Anabuki climbed to began another pass saw that the crew of this Liberators could bail out (actually only 2 crewmembers). Then Anabuki began his third pass: "At this point, the overwhelming thought in my mind was that today's combat was over. I was about to turn back to base, and threw a final glance at the B-24s, which I presumed were by now too far away to follow. But alas! The bombers had apparently slowed down to cover their damaged comrade during my attack and was still within my attack range! Looking back, it was a foolish thing to do, but I started to position myself for another attack despite my injury and the plane's damages. The pain and the gas kept me hardly conscious, and my sight had deteriorated badly. My arm was hurting badly as the tightly wound muffler blocked blood circulation. But there was a thought that dominated my fading consciousness; if the enemy is within range, it was a fighter pilot's duty to attack. To do otherwise would disgrace my family blood. My mother's face flashes back. To go into combat now may mean my demise. Mother forgive me! But then I thought I heard her say 'Charge, Satoru, and the way will open.'. I had no regrets. The enemy was there. I will just charge. I was slowly gaining altitude to attack position for the third time. I was hardly conscious. All I could think about was 'Charge, charge!' Call me a foolish rustic warrior, I couldn't have cared less. I was fighting to keep my consciousness and charging at the enemy at full throttle. The pain of my left hand was getting unbearable. I untied the muffler from my arm. As the blood started flowing, the pain went way, but the hand started bleeding like a dam burst open. " So, Anabuki choose a third B-24 as his mark, and began his run against it. But as he was attacking it, suddenly ran out of ammo. In a normal situation, he would disengaged and headed home, but Anabuki took a very different decision: he would ramm the bomber: "If I was my normal self, I would have banked my wings at the enemy and wished them luck and break away, but my mind was just obsessed with getting the enemy. My consciousness was nearly fading from the gasoline and the injury, my hand kept on bleeding, and I was out of ammunition. All these negative factors were piling up on me, but all I had in my mind was the existence of the powerful enemy in front of me. I was completely taken over by one of the fighter pilots' instincts; the fighting spirit. At that moment I was, by chance, right above the enemy. Although I was out of ammo, reflexes got the better of me and I instinctively put my plane in a dive. However, to start your dive from directly above the enemy means that by the time you are actually shooting, your attack will be at a shallow angle, presenting an ideal target for the enemy's rear gunner. Just as the enemy started firing away, I maneuvered my plane to present the smallest possible target for the enemy, and charged on. Just as I expected, I found myself facing a wall of fire, and my plane shook as their bullets hit her. To makes matters worse, my engine output went down, and my angle was now so shallow that I was in their propeller wake and being thrown around wildly. I was totally obsessed with getting the enemy. I decided to ram the bomber. 'Take this! Yankee!' I pulled up, but perhaps my action was too acute, and the next moment, my plane careened into the middle of the fuselage of the third plane of the left formation. Although I had intended to ram her, I instinctively yanked my stick to evade the crash. The next moment a tremendous shock hit me with a thunderous roar and I just sat there dumbfounded watching my propeller eating away at the enemy's starboard rudder at full 1130HP. There was nothing I could do now. It was as if the plane was being controlled by some gigantic force from outside. And all the while, I just sat there with the throttle pinned open. The next thing I knew, the port wing of the "Kimikaze" hit the enemy's elevator. With a great shock, the enemy's elevator broke upwards, and my plane was thrown around about 45 degrees to the left, bouncing on the stabilizer and crash -landed on the enemy's fuselage. I would guess that the enemy was surprised, but so was I. In spite of my surprise, my plane proceeded to eat away at the fuselage of the B-24 and stopped at around the US insignia. I think it was just for a moment, but it felt like a long time, sitting on top of the enemy like that. While I was on top of the enemy, they didn't shoot at me. I saw them staring at this rude intruder from their turrets and windows. They were probably not firing because I was too close, but I also had a strange worry in myself. I was seriously worrying about being carried to their base like this!" Fortunatelly for him, "Kimikaze" slid off bomber's back, and despite initially fell, later it began a controlled glide, and Anabuki was able to restart the engine, crash-landing in a beach shore near Rangoon, where he was rescued and cured, rejoining to active duty only 5 days later. It was then, when he accounted this combat to the journalist Eiji Suzuki, that he became famous. Anabuki was even officially credited with five kills that day, including the second P-38 (which he considered only damaged). After that, the Japanese High Command grounded him with propaganda purposes and sent it home to train new students at Akeno Fighter School. In late October 1944 he was promoted to Master Sargeant and came back to action over the Philippines when he shot down six F6F Hellcats with his new tool, the Ki-84 Hayate. Anabuki scored the last victory over Japan, it was a B-29. In the 1950s he joined to the Japanese Self-Defense Air Force and became a helicopter pilot. Here the Killboard of Anabuki Satoru. Courtesy of Ooishi Naoaki Kill # Date (*) Type of plane flown Type Comments (Place, etc) 1 22/12/1941 Ki-27 P-40 Lingayen/Philippines 2 - Ki-27 unk. unk. 3 09/02/1942 Ki-27 P-40 Bataan/Philippines 4 25/10/1942 Ki-43 P-40 Chinskia/India 5 10/12/1942 Ki-43 Hurricane Chittagong/India - 15/12/1942 Ki-43 Hurricane 2C Chittagong/India, probable. 6 20/12/1942 Ki-43 Hurricane Magwe/Burma 7 20/12/1942 Ki-43 Blenheim Magwe/Burma, injured 8 23/12/1942 Ki-43 unk. Fenni/Burma? 9 23/12/1942 Ki-43 Blenheim Magwe/Burma, Night kill 10-12 24/12/1942 Ki-43 3 Hurricane 2Cs Magwe/Burma, one of them was P/O C.D. Fergusson (POW) 11 30/12/1942 Ki-43 Blenheim Meiktila/Burma 12 14/01/1943 Ki-43 Hurricane Inden/India? 13 16/01/1943 Ki-43 P-40 Yunnan Station/China 14 17/01/1943 Ki-43 Hurricane Fenni/Burma? 15-16 19/01/1943 Ki-43 2 Hurricanes Akyab/Burma 17 24/01/1943 Ki-43 Wellington Rangoon/Burma 18 26/01/1943 Ki-43 B-24 Mingaladong/Burma, first B-24 daylight kill 19 30/01/1943 Ki-43 B-25 Toungoo/Burma 20 28/02/1943 Ki-43 Blenheim Akyab/Burma 21 28/02/1943 Ki-43 Hurricane Akyab/Burma - 02/03/1943 Ki-43 Hurricane Fenni/Burma?, 22 24/03/1943 Ki-43 B-25 Meiktila/Burma, probable - 29/03/1943 Ki-43 Hurricane 2B Mondo/Burma, probable 23-24 30/03/1943 Ki-43 2 Hurricane 2Bs Mondo/Burma 25-27 31/03/1943 Ki-43 3 Hurricanes Pataga/India 28-29 04/04/1943 Ki-43 2 Hurricanes Dohazali/India - 20/04/1943 Ki-43 Hurricane Imphal/India, probable 30 20/04/1943 Ki-43 P-36 Imphal/India 31-32 21/04/1943 Ki-43 2 P-36s Imphal/India, Maneouvre flap used 33 28/04/1943 Ki-43 P-40 Kunming/China 34 04/05/1943 Ki-43 Hurricane 2C Cox's Bazar/India 35-38 15/05/1943 Ki-43 4 P-40s Kunming/China 39-40 22/05/1943 Ki-43 2 Hurricane 2Cs Chittagong/India 41-42 29/05/1943 Ki-43 "Fubuki" 1 Hurricane, 1 Spitfire? Chittagong/India, "Fubuki" retired of service with 230 hours of flying 43-46 8/10/1943 Ki-43 "Kimikaze" 1 P-38, 3 B-24s Rangoon/Burma, heavily injured 47-50 unk. Ki-84 4 Hellcats Philippines. In separated sorties 51 unk. Ki-84 B-29 Honshu
prop at threw b17 at 11000 rpm and was in tackt enogh to kick start engine and fly again??? wierd shit happes. but dont see how prop could survie that.
this text is second time at this forum, and there where some critical discussion about that... for example try to model the last ram described. i cannot.
It actually didn't. He crash landed at beach shore next to rangoon. (B-24s were bombing rangoon harbor) So he did only 10km at max with that defect prop. It's easy to even glide that range considering engagement was at 5000m. Ps. Ki-43s max rpm is 2700 btw. Max hp is around 1100. PPs. Seems that story is quite propagandised tho just by sound of it. Lot of editing by censors to add some extra braveness there i guess.
I've read this story in last month's issue of Britain's "FlyPast" magazine..... It contained a post-war interview with this Mr. Satoru in whihc he stated the exactly same things.
Even if he had only shot down obly one P-38 and only one instead of the three B-24 with an obsolete ki-43 in late 1943 it would be a very impressive action. I am still amazed about some japanese aces who made multi-kills in single filights even in the end of the war. I also read something of a Zero-ace who attacked alone a group of P-38, including an US-ace, and after this fight 2 P-38 were killed (including the US-ace) and 2 other damaged while the Zero escaped. Must make some search to find out the names of this fight. EDIT: I found the datas : January 7th 1945 1x Zero piloted by the japanese ace Shoichi Sugita (70-120 kills) against 4x P38 Thomas McGuire (38 kills) and his "Satans Angels" The Zero mad a surprise attack against the 4 P-38, killing the first P-38. In the following dogfight McGuire made the mistake to try to turn to the Zero and crashed with 700 km/h in the sea. The other two P-38 were not able to kill the Zero of Sugita and the three surviving planes of this battles returned to their bases. Sugita was killed in battle three months later.
There are alot of odd posibilitys that can lead to those records for example...Scared pilots may just jump without to much of a fight, the plane crashes, and a kill is scored....fuel fires......as stated above, pilots can crash "manoover kills"....pilot kills... there are just so many things that could effect the records, but anyway, you got to give credit to any war pilot with ANY kills that lived to see the end of the war...even some that didnt.
ive hrd plane getiing stuck on or in buffs b4, just found the whole prop thing hard to bileve. exepsily consdering that birds have been know to cause extream and frequitnt eninge disorder, more so in a jet that sucks one in to the intake, but also to some degree for any plane.
There has been lot's of discussion about this. Only thing im sure about is that ace stories version of this incident is very faulty. I think there was no zeke's involved. The problem possibly is that most of allied pilots called all japanese fighters zekes. I believe there was Ki.43 piloted by Akira Sugimoto and the second japanese plane was Ki.84 of Mizunori Fukuda. Sugita was zeke pilot who died being vulched by F6F. I believe he belonged to same unit as Sakai. I guess someone has mixed Sugimoto and Sugita. Sugita fought in different area and was a navy pilot IIRC. Here's more believable description: On January 7, 1945, McGuire flying Fred Champlin's P-38 #112, was back leading an unauthorized flight over the Negros Islands, Phillipines when they attacked a lone IJAAF Ki. 43 "Oscar" piloted by Warrant Officer Akira Sugimoto of the 71st Sentai. McGuire gave an order to "Save droptanks..." The fiesty Sugimoto amazingly, turned to fight and immediately got strikes on Douglas Thropp's P-38 but was chased off by Frank Rittmayer. Sugimoto turned and again dove on McGuire and Edwin Weaver who stayed in a defensive circle close to the deck. Sugimoto was later chased into the clouds and out of the fight by Thropp. Damaged in the scrap, Sugimoto bellied-in on Negros Island only to be captured and later shot by Filipino guerillas. Coming out of the clouds over Negros, Thropp witnessed an aircraft burning on the ground which he later realized was the P-38 of McGuire. Over 30 years later, it was learned that a second E/A, an IJAAF Ki.84 "Frank", piloted by Master Sgt. Mizunori Fukuda, had entered the fight and immediately shot down Maj. Rittmayer. McGuire had then tried to rack his Lightning in a violent turn to help out but only managed to stall his heavily loaded and underspeed P-38 which then dropped into the jungle below and crashed. McGuire was too low to bail-out and was killed instantly. In attempting to engage the E/A, McGuire disregarded some of his own "rules of engagement" which included: - Never attempt combat at low altitude. - Never let your airspeed fall below 300 mph. - Never keep your wing tanks on in a fight. Here's a report from macguires wingman (note again how they say Zero): http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/afp/tmcr.htm Also here is what certain japanese pilot in TW said about Sugita: "Anyway, no japanese book I have quotes him in context of McGuire story, so I guess this is invention of the guy who posted it on the polish site."
Btw. Im quite sure that Anabuki Satoru scored those 4 kills that day. Area was in japanese hand so all wrecks could have been easily identified. This must have been practice in IJAAF too? And about killing b-24 being an impossibly great deed in Ki-43. It's only so in FH. Ie. read finnish pilot accounts if you want to find multiple bomber kills with rifle calibre mgs. In that another sim you just need to get close in at place a good burst into wing fuel tank or engine. 12,7mm HO-103s in Ki-43 have good HE ammo and incendiaries. First will make even self sealing fuel tanks leak fast and second will set it on fire. A good burst in tank does this almost guaranteed.
Here's some more quotes, about the McGuire incident Maybe you can make up your own view of what actually happened: " The mission of Jan.7, 1945, which cost McGuire his life also claimed his friend Jack Rittmayer. The combat lasted only seconds and everything went so fast that Weaver and Thropp, the survivors, hardly knew what had happened. Thropp, Rittmayer, and Weaver had all been fired on by a japanese plane. Rittmayer was killed but Weaver and Thropp returned to base ten minutes apart with different ideas about what had happened." "The Japanese fighter pilot seemed to be superhuman. He had attacked the P-38's as if by magic. Later it was learned that more than one Japanese plane was involved in that fatal day of combat. This fact eluded the two survivors because of the furious nature of the battle." "the second Japanse fighter was a Ki-84 flown by Sgt. Mizunori Fukuda. The account states that Fukuda was on final at Manapla with gear and flaps down. (He had been flying with Sugimoto earlier) He glanced around and saw Sugimoto engaged with the lightnings and came to his aid. McGuire was trying to clear Weaver's tail as Sugimoto was boring down on him. At very low speed McGuire's lightning snap-rolled inverted and went into the jungle upside down at a 30 degree angle. Sugimoto pulled up into the overcast as Fukuda entered the combat. Fukuda was able to get a good shot at Rittmayer causing him to crash and also got a shot at Thropp. Weaver was able to put a few shots into Fukuda's Hayate and Fukuda was forced to crashland at Manapla." Just pasted from several postes from other forums... Here is also a wise comment from our friend biles. "I heard somethin' else. And I don't know if it is a load of barf either: Those guys in those P38s were up a ways. Way up, in the place where things freeze. And MacGuires wing tanks were frose to his plane... Yes, he violated his own maxim."
