The dates of birth of some Japanes aces
 

Dear All,
Do you happen to know the exact dates of birth (including the days and months) of the following Japanese aces:
Koji Ishizawa (b. 1914)
Shigeo Nango (1917-1944)
Rikio Shibata (1917-1944)
Goro Nishikara (1916-2007)
Hironojo Shishimoto (b. 1920)
Yoshihiko Yajima (1917-1939)
Yoshitaro Yoshioka (b. 1920)?
I have come across them in this online book: https://books.google.pl/books?id=j0H...931-45&f=false,
but it gives only the years.
Thank you very much in advance.

Re: The dates of birth of some Japanes aces
 

Oops! I've just noticed th typo in the headline and I can't correct it!

Re: The dates of birth of some Japanes aces
 

Teresa,
The dates of birth of the Japanese aces listed in Japanese Naval Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces 1932-1945, by Hata, Izawa and Shores, and in Japanese Army Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces 1931-1945, also by Hata, Izawa and Shores, both published by Grub Street in England, can be found in appendices in the back of each volume.

I am afraid that I do not have time to extract the information for you. But there are several hundred (guessing) aces between the two books, with dates of birth (and usually prefecture) and death. Good investments.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: The dates of birth of some Japanes aces
 

Dear Frank,
Thank you for your answer, but I don't think I can afford to buy the book just to find a few pilots' dates of birth. I've looked for it on Amazon and it's quite expensive. (Talking about investments, I have recently invested in several books which are directly relevant to my work, i.e. technical English, English for physics, English for environmental science, etc., because English for Specific Purposes is one of my professional interests and I am quite likely to teach technical English in the near future.)

I realize that you don't have the time to look for the dates, but maybe somebody else has this book...?

Re: The dates of birth of some Japanes aces
 

That is not strictly correct, Frank.
As far as I can see, both the Army and Navy books only give a year of birth in the summaries, BUT the aces lists give full DoB. So if they made Ace with 8 or more kills, you get a DoB. Things like that detract from the overall appeal of both the books - why not include the information in the pilot summaries where it is available?? I have the former book and extracts from the latter.
The names given by Teresa are all Army. This book is available as an eBook for only $17 Australian, vs maybe $80 for the paper version. For some inexplicable reason, the Navy book (which in my opinion is not as good) is more than double that price for the eBook, yet the paper version can be found at around the same price. Go figure.

From the Aces list in the Army book -

Shibata 17/10/17
Nango 26/2/17
Ishizawa 1/1/14
Shishimoto 3/11/20
Nishihara 18/2/16 same first name, probably your Nishikara

Peter

Re: The dates of birth of some Japanes aces
 

Sincere best wishes with your teaching. You write very nice English at pretty much native fluency

Re: The dates of birth of some Japanes aces
 

Dear Peter,
Thank you very, very much for your answer. As for Nishihara, the form 'Nishikara' must have been either a typo I overlooked, or an automatic correction by the spellcheck, which can unfortunately, be quite unpredictable.

(By the way, isn't Yoshihiko Yajima (1917-1939) mentioned in the appendix to the book?)
Best regards.
Teresa

Re: The dates of birth of some Japanes aces
 

Dear Nick,
Thank you very much for your compliment and for your good wishes. I'm glad that, as a native speaker, you evaluate my English so positively. Well, two years ago I passed the CPE exam with a grade A, and I keep improving my English, and my knowledge of other languages too. Some time ago, one of our TOCH friends, Michael, a German, wondered whether I was Austrian or German on the basis of my private messages in German. He was quite strongly convinced that I was Austrian and was surprised to learn that I was actually Polish.
I know that, as a linguist, I'm a very unusual TOCH member, and I don't always meet with acceptance. For example, some time ago a member mocked me, saying that knowing Hans Beisswenger's (as far as I remember) biography wouldn't help me in my work as a linguist. Certainly, as for my research, I must concentrate on my post-doc in linguistics, but my interest in fighter pilots is more of a hobby. They just fascinate me a lot.
Have a nice day!
Best regards,
Teresa