Japanese aircrew bailouts, prisoners?

[Laurent Rizzotti]

One example:

On 8 August 1942, during the Betty attack off Guadalcanal, many bombers were shot down. You will find in several books that the destroyer USS Bagley approached a floating Betty and saw the crew sitting in the wings. The Japanese airmen fired their pistols on the US sailors and then commited suicide. But in the book "the first team and the guadalcanal campaign", I learned that at the same time, US ships captured 9 survivors of the Japanese bombers.

Another:

Tainan Kokutai lost 20 aircraft over New Guinea in 1942 according to one source. I know that at least two pilots were captured, so prisoners are at least 10% of the total losses (not counting pilots that survived being shot down and returned to their unit).

For what is worth, my own opinions is that percentage of Japanese airmen in Allied POW camps is far superior to the percentage in Japanese overall losses (KIA+POW).