Saburo Sakai

[Leo Etgen]

Hi guys

Interesting thread about the total number of claims recorded by this ace. It is my impression that due to a host of factors arriving at a specific number of victories for Japanese aces is often quite difficult. In the case of Saburo Sakai the most common number given is 64 but nearly all sources agree that this number was basically invented by Martin Caidin when he wrote Samurai! According to Japanese Naval Fighter Aces by Hata, Izawa and Shores, official records show that Sakai had claimed 28 victories by the time he was wounded in action on 7 August 1942. I hope this helps and any comments or corrections will be appreciated.

Horrido!

Leo

[focusfocus]

hi

your feeling Leo is probably right because it's impossible to know certainty the score of Sakai
even the authors do not agree between them:Hata and Izawa WITHOUT Shores in their book of 1989 gives 64 kills( only 2 in china!) and now with Shores creditent Sakai with 28!!

one example:

in the Tainan Kokutai Kodochosho : 6/4/42 to 7/8/42 = 40 kills for Sakai alone or in collaboration and still it is necessary to forget to compare with the RAF and US real losses( I made the comparaison,and we are far from 28 even by including the kills before 6/4/42

regards

[Stig Jarlevik]

Sakai was an interesting and a bit controversial character.

There is an interview with him here
http://www.warbirdforum.com/sakai.htm

Beside his feelings for Genda (which are interesting), can anyone say why he was so upset about the Kawanishi N1K1-J? Perhaps not an absolute world beater in 1945 but most pilots at least seems to have considered it to be better than the 'Zero'

Cheers
Stig