Поскольку сегодня в ленте в очередной раз помянули "великого японского аса" ака Сабуро Сакаи, не могу отказать себе в удовольствии процитировать некоторые фрагменты переписки американский историков, пытавшихся в очередной раз разобраться, сколько же он настрелял на самом деле.
"I doubt there ever was an 'official' Japanese victory board (or its equivalent) either during or after the war. You will not find any official Japanese score list sanctioned by any Japanese Government body. What we have are historians and enthusiasts trying to put Japan on par with the rest of the scoring nations during WW 2. If this has changed I would very much like to know where and how this 'official' body in Japan works and on what grounds it bases its findings.
The Japanese never to my knowledge acknowledged any scores or aces during the war. Presumably the leadership, schooled in old traditional warrior values such as Bushido and Samurai, saw little use in doing that.
Rather naturally this provoked a reaction at the front and and at local level (unit), something was felt to be done. This probably ensured that each unit kept records and unofficially gave credits in a rather hap hazard way since no real set up rules existed. No doubt differences also existed between units not to mention between IJAAF and IJN.
Neither did there exist any real post mission control.
What a pilot said stood. No one question if 'his word' was correct or not, if witnesses existed etc. It was a question of honour, of not loosing face etc.
Hence the very varied listings which keep appearing over and over again."
Мне вот почему-то сразу вспомнился анекдот "тут-то мне карта и поперла"...
"Sakai is attributed with 64 victories, but this was a marketing gimmick tied to the advertisements for his book in Japan. In his ads, it stated that he was the "Miyamoto Musashi of Aerial Combat, with 64 kills." In Japanese folklore, Miyamoto Musashi was a Medieval Samurai who slew 64 opponents with his sword. Now do you get the idea?"
"The last word on TAINAN KU pilots comes from the masterpiece EAGLES OF THE SOUTHERN SKY by Lucas Ruffato and Michael Claringbould.
According to their research and methodology, they give Sakai credit for 4.3 victories. This doesn't include his two victories over Tulagi (SBD and a F4F which are verified through US Navy records). Don't ask me to explain how they arrived at the score, just get the book if you really want to know. I support their work.
SAMURAI! by Martin Caidin, Fred Saito, and Saburo Sakai is horrible and I consider it almost fiction. WINGED SAMURAI by Henry Sakaida is much better, but EAGLES OF THE SOUTHERN SKY is the best! The authors compared Allied and Japanese losses, and that's how they arrived at the scores.
4.3 + 2 = 6.3 victories with the Tainan KU. Sakai's China War claims of 2 are unverified. Neither are his claims prior to Tainan KU. And neither are his claims at Iwo Jima.
A Japanese researcher told me that Sakai had around 10 victories and I believe him. I asked Sakai if he had 64 victories and he said he didn't remember how many he shot down...he made claims only but could not confirm them because there was no confirmation process like the Americans had.
Whether 6.3 or 10, such a score would be incredible for a Japanese pilot. We are too used to seeing the scores of Luftwaffe aces with their scores of 100, 200, 301, and 352 victories.
Treat Japanese aerial victory scores as a CLAIM, and not CONFIRMED. Sakai admitted that he survived because he was wounded and sent back to Japan. The truly great pilots flew from 1937 until the end of the war.
When I met the Zero pilots, they would never mention scores, but would tell me that so and so was a great pilot, "he survived Rabaul" or "he fought at Guadalcanal" or "he flew against B-29s...""
"
When veterans talked about their pilot friends, they would freely say, "Oh, Isozaki-san shot down over a hundred planes!" So when I met Mr. Chitoshi Isozaki, I would mention that his friend said that he shot down over a hundred planes. He would laugh, wave his hand, and say "Nonsense!"
A friend of Warrant Officer Sadamu Komachi told me that he shot down over 40 planes, and I asked Komachi if this was true. He laughed and said, "Maybe half!" These pilot veterans always spoke highly of their comrades and attributed them with high scores because high scores impressed score-obsessed Westerners.
Sakai was ostracized from the Zero Fighter Pilots Association because members were critical that he made his living off the Zero fighter. Think of the Seal Team 6 members who claimed that they killed Osama Bin Laden. While the public think he was a great hero, the guys are looked down upon my their comrades who have chosen to remain silent. If you are a survivor of a unit and almost everyone else was killed, and you start making $$$$ with books, talks, interviews, movies...you will be perceived as making money off their dead comrades. Can you live with that?
When Sakai's movie OZORA NO SAMURAI came out in 1976, Zero pilot veterans shunned it. The ZFPA did not support Sakai nor his movie."
"Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (
https://www.jacar.archives.go.jp/aj/meta/default-en )
reference code C13120487500
“Sent^o Sh^oh^o (Detailed Combat Report)” Yokosuka Kaigun K^ok^utai Iwo T^o Haken Tai Sent^oki Tai (Fighter Sq., Iwo Jima Detachment Unit, Yokosuka Naval Air Group), from 24 June 1944 to 3 July 1944.
The report says Warrant Officer Sabro SAKAI got in an interception mission of US Naval aircraft on 24 June in the morning, and an escort mission for torpedo bombers on the same day in the afternoon. The report says victories of the Sq. (17 F6Fs including 6 probable in the morning, 1 F6F in the afternoon) but not individual ones."
"13th January 2019, 23:18
Anyone want to guess what the actual US air-to-air losses were over the course of the 6-24-1944 strikes?
knusel
14th January 2019, 12:28
None ? ;-)
Frank Olynyk
15th January 2019, 16:45
6 F6F-3 Hellcats:
3 from VF-50 off Bataan.
2 from VF-1 off Yorktown.
1 from VF-2 off Hornet.
Enjoy!"
В общем, если кто-то хочет знать о реальных великих японских пилотов, стоит спрашивать об этом самих японцев, а не перепев Карузо Рабиновичем :)))
https://kris-reid.livejournal.com/960972.html
grossfater_m спросил о судьбе компании Унтлер. Поскольку у меня если не все, то некоторых ходы записаны, то я сумел найти «один старый рассказ». Привожу в оригинале, кто не читает на буржуйском – гугл-транслейт в помощь.
