Saburo Sakai
| Saburō Sakai (坂井 三郎) | |
|---|---|
PO2/c Sakai in the cockpit of a Mitsubishi A5M Type 96 fighter (Hankow airfield, China in 1939)
|
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| Nickname(s) | Sky Samurai |
| Born |
25 August 1916 Saga, Japan |
| Died | 22 September 2000 (aged 84) Atsugi Naval Air Station, Japan |
| Allegiance |
 Empire of Japan
|
| Service/branch |
 Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJN) |
| Years of service | 1933–45 |
| Rank | 海軍中尉 (Kaigun-chūi) |
| Unit | Tainan Air Group Yokosuka Air Wing |
| Battles/wars | |
Second Sino-Japanese War
Pacific War
Sub-Lieutenant Saburō Sakai (坂井 三郎 Sakai Saburō?, 25 August 1916 – 22 September 2000) was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace ("Gekitsui-O", 撃墜王) of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
Sakai had 28 aerial victories (including shared) by official Japanese records, while his autobiography Samurai!, co-written by Martin Caidin and Fred Saito, claims 64 aerial victories. Such discrepancies are common, and pilots' official scores are often lower than those claimed by the pilots themselves, due to difficulties in providing appropriate witnesses or verifying wreckage, and variations in military reports due to loss or destruction.
Claims have been made that his autobiography Samurai! includes fictional stories, and that the number of kills specified in that work were increased to promote sales of the book by Martin Caidin. The book was not published in Japan, and differs from his biographies there.
Saburō Sakai was born on 25 August 1916 in Saga in Japan. Sakai was born into a family with immediate affiliation to samurai and their warrior legacies and whose ancestors (themselves samurai) had taken part in the Japanese invasions of Korea between 1592 to 1598 but who were all later forced to take up a livelihood of farming following haihan-chiken in 1871. He is the third-born out of four sons (his given name literally means "third son"), and had three sisters. Sakai was 11 when his father died, leaving his mother alone to raise seven children. With limited resources, Sakai was adopted by his maternal uncle, who financed his education in a Tokyo high school. However, Sakai failed to do well in his studies and was sent back to Saga after his second year.
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