Highest scoring Japanese Ace who survived WWII:

 Highest scoring Japanese Ace who survived WWII:

Saburō Sakai, an outstanding pilot in the Tainan Kōkūtai, finished the war with between 28 and 64 confirmed kills. 

It is difficult to establish an exact number because at times Japanese flight leaders received credit for aircraft shot down by anyone in their flight. 

Sakai participated in the attack on the Philippines following Pearl Harbor and the Japanese campaign through the Dutch East Indies before being assigned to Lae, New Guinea. 

His kills came against Brewster F2A Buffalo, P-36, P-39 and P-40 fighters. He never encountered a P-38. 

In August 1942 the Tainan Kōkūtai was transferred from Lae to Rabaul because the U.S. Marines had invaded Guadalcanal. 

The Zeros could escort bombers from Rabaul, located on an island north of mainland New Guinea, to attack Allied forces on Guadalcanal or mainland New Guinea. 

On August 7, 1942, Sakai engaged and shot down his first U.S. Navy aircraft, an F-4F Hellcat and a Douglas, SBD Dauntless dive bomber. 

Shortly afterward Sakai attacked a Navy aircraft with a rear gunner. Sakai was hit in the head by a .30 caliber round. Severely injured, he managed to fly for almost five hours and return to Rabaul.

Sakai recuperated, but full vision could not be restored in his right eye. He spent a year training new pilots before returning to combat.

 He was not the same pilot he had been before his injury, but he was one of the few Japanese aces who survived the war.

Describing events during his tour at Lae, Sakai wrote the following:

“The willingness of the Allied pilots to engage us in combat deserves special mention here, for, regardless of the odds, their fighters were always screaming in to attack. And it is important to point out that their fighter planes were clearly inferior in performance to our own Zeros. 

Furthermore, almost all of our pilots were skilled air veterans; coupled with the Zero’s outstanding performance, this afforded us a distinct advantage. 

The men we fought then were among the bravest I have ever encountered, no less so than our own pilots who, three years later, went out willingly on missions from which there no hope of return.”Highest scoring Japanese Ace who survived WWII:

Saburō Sakai, an outstanding pilot in the Tainan Kōkūtai, finished the war with between 28 and 64 confirmed kills. 

It is difficult to establish an exact number because at times Japanese flight leaders received credit for aircraft shot down by anyone in their flight. 

Sakai participated in the attack on the Philippines following Pearl Harbor and the Japanese campaign through the Dutch East Indies before being assigned to Lae, New Guinea.

 His kills came against Brewster F2A Buffalo, P-36, P-39 and P-40 fighters. He never encountered a P-38. 

In August 1942 the Tainan Kōkūtai was transferred from Lae to Rabaul because the U.S. Marines had invaded Guadalcanal.

 The Zeros could escort bombers from Rabaul, located on an island north of mainland New Guinea, to attack Allied forces on Guadalcanal or mainland New Guinea. 

On August 7, 1942, Sakai engaged and shot down his first U.S. Navy aircraft, an F-4F Hellcat and a Douglas, SBD Dauntless dive bomber. 

Shortly afterward Sakai attacked a Navy aircraft with a rear gunner. Sakai was hit in the head by a .30 caliber round. Severely injured, he managed to fly for almost five hours and return to Rabaul.

Sakai recuperated, but full vision could not be restored in his right eye.

 He spent a year training new pilots before returning to combat. He was not the same pilot he had been before his injury, but he was one of the few Japanese aces who survived the war.

Describing events during his tour at Lae, Sakai wrote the following:

“The willingness of the Allied pilots to engage us in combat deserves special mention here, for, regardless of the odds, their fighters were always screaming in to attack. 

And it is important to point out that their fighter planes were clearly inferior in performance to our own Zeros. 

Furthermore, almost all of our pilots were skilled air veterans; coupled with the Zero’s outstanding performance, this afforded us a distinct advantage. 

The men we fought then were among the bravest I have ever encountered, no less so than our own pilots who, three years later, went out willingly on missions from which there no hope of return.