Satoru Anabuki
Satoru Anabuki | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | "Flower of the Youth Flyers" |
Born | Yamada | 5 December 1921
Died | June 2005 |
Allegiance | Japan |
Service/ | Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJA) Japan Ground Self-Defense Force |
Years of service | IJA: 1941—1945 JGSDF: 1950-1971 |
Rank | Master Sergeant (IJA) Lieutenant Colonel (JGSDF) |
Unit | 3rd Chutai, 50th Sentai Akeno Army Flying School (Akeno Rikugun Hikō Gakkō) |
Battles/wars | World War II |
Satoru Anabuki (穴吹 智, Anabuki Satoru, December 5, 1921 - June 2005, sometimes Satoshi) was, depending on the source, the second or third[1] highest flying ace of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II, with 39 victories (51 claimed).[2][3] Strangely enough there are 53 claimed victories to be found in his autobiography "Soku no Kawa" (see below), where his first triple kill (nos. 10-12) was mis-counted as just one (next kill was noted as no. 11).
Early life
Born into a farming family, he entered the Tokyo Army Aviation School in April 1938. He was assigned to the 3rd Company of the 50th Air Squadron, stationed on Formosa in 1941.
Imperial Japanese Army Air Force career
With the outbreak of the Pacific War, he fought in the conquest of the Philippines, where he claimed his first victory, a Curtiss P-40, on December 22, 1941. On February 9, 1942, he shot down two more. Soon after, his unit returned to Japan to exchange their Nakajima Ki-27 "Nates" for more advanced Ki-43 "Hayabusa" (allied code name "Oscar"). The 50th Air Squadron was then sent to Burma in June 1942. On 24 January 1943 he shot down his first heavily-armed B-24 bomber. He claimed to have shot down three B-24s and one P-38 fighter escort in a single engagement on 8 October 1943, but this has been disputed.[4]
In 1944, he was reassigned to Japan to be a flight instructor at the Akeno Army Flying School. He flew in the defense of the home islands and survived the war. When the Japan Self-Defense Forces were formed in the early 1950s, he enlisted and flew a helicopter for many years before retiring.
Kill | Date | Flying | Victim | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 22/12/1941 | Ki-27 | P-40 | Lingayen, Philippines |
2 | - | Ki-27 | unknown | unknown |
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 | 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 | unknown | Fenny, Burma ? |
9 | 23/12/1942 | Ki-43 | Blenheim | Magwe, Burma (Night kill ) |
10-12 | 24/12/1942 | Ki-43 | 3 Hurricanes | Magwe, Burma |
13 | 30/12/1942 | Ki-43 | Blenheim | Meiktila, Burma |
14 | 14/01/1943 | Ki-43 | Hurricane | Inden, India ? |
15 | 16/01/1943 | Ki-43 | P-40 | Yunnan, China |
16 | 17/01/1943 | Ki-43 | Hurricane | Fenny, Burma ? |
17-18 | 19/01/1943 | Ki-43 | 2 Hurricanes | Akyab, Burma |
19 | 24/01/1943 | Ki-43 | Wellington | Rangoon, Burma |
20 | 26/01/1943 | Ki-43 | B-24 | Mingaladon, Burma (first B-24 daylight kill) |
21 | 30/01/1943 | Ki-43 | B-25 | Toungoo, Burma |
22 | 28/02/1943 | Ki-43 | Blenheim | Akyab, Burma |
23 | 28/02/1943 | Ki-43 | Hurricane | Akyab, Burma |
- | 02/03/1943 | Ki-43 | Hurricane | Fenny, Burma ? (probable) |
24 | 24/03/1943 | Ki-43 | B-25 | Meiktila, Burma |
- | 29/03/1943 | Ki-43 | Hurricane | Mindon, Burma (probable) |
25-26 | 30/03/1943 | Ki-43 | 2 Hurricanes | Mindon, Burma |
27-29 | 31/03/1943 | Ki-43 | 3 Hurricanes | Patenga, India |
30-31 | 04/04/1943 | Ki-43 | 2 Hurricanes | Dohazari, India |
- | 20/04/1943 | Ki-43 | Hurricane | Imphal, India (probable) |
32 | 20/04/1943 | Ki-43 | P-36 | Imphal, India |
33-34 | 21/04/1943 | Ki-43 | 2 P-36s | Imphal, India |
35 | 28/04/1943 | Ki-43 | P-40 | Kunming, China |
36 | 04/05/1943 | Ki-43 | Hurricane | Cox's Bazar, India |
37-40 | 15/05/1943 | Ki-43 | 4 P-40s | Kunming, China |
41-42 | 22/05/1943 | Ki-43 | 2 Hurricanes | Chittagong, India |
43-44 | 29/05/1943 | Ki-43 | 1 Hurricane 1 Spitfire? |
Chittagong, India Ki-43 "Fubuki" retired of service with 230 hours of flying |
45-48 | 08/10/1943 | Ki-43 | 1 P-38, 3 B-24s | Rangoon, Burma (heavily injured) flying Ki-43 "Kimikaze" |
49-52 | unknown | Ki-84 | 4 Hellcats | Philippines (In separated sorties) |
53 | unknown | Ki-100 | B-29 | Honshu, Japan |
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Anabuki, Satoru. Soku no Kawa (A Great River in the Blue Sky/Pale Blue River). Tokyo, Japan: Kojinsha Publishers, 1985. ISBN 4-7698-2111-5. (2nd edition 2000, ISBN 4-7698-2292-8).
- Bueschel, Richard M. Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa I-III in Japanese Army Air Force RTAF-CAF-IPSF Service. Reading, Berkshire, UK: Osprey Publications, 1970. ISBN 0-85045-022-5.
- Bueschel, Richard M. Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa in Japanese Army Air Force RTAF-CAF-IPSF Service. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Books, 1995. ISBN 0-88740-804-4.
- Coox, Alvin D. "The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Air Forces". Air Power History 27 June, 1980. pages 74–94.
- Harvey, A.D. "Army Air Force and Navy Air Force: Japanese Aviation and the Opening Phase of the War in the Far East". War in History 6 1999. pages 147–173.
- Hata, Ikuhiko with Yasuho Izawa and Christopher Shores. Japanese Army Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces, 1931-1945. London: Grub Street, 2002. ISBN 1-902304-89-6.
- Sakaida, Henry. Japanese Army Air Force Aces, 1937-45. Botley, Oxfordshire, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1997. ISBN 1-85532-529-2.
- Scott, Peter. Emblems of the Rising Sun: Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Unit Markings. Aldershot, Hertfordshire, UK: Hikoki, 1999. ISBN 1-902109-55-4.
- Stanaway, John. Nakajima Ki.43 "Hayabusa" - Allied Code Name "Oscar". Bennington, VT: Merriam Press, 2003. ISBN 1-57638-141-2.