[중일, 태평양 전쟁시 미군기 28대를 격추한 인물]사카이 사부로(坂井 三郞)

PO2/c Sakai in the cockpit of a Mitsubishi A5M Type 96 fighter (Hankow airfield, China in 1939)

 

사카이 사부로(일본어: 坂井 三郞, 1916년 8월 26일 ~ 2000년 9월 22일)는 일본 제국 해군 소속 전투기 파일럿이었다. 태평양 전쟁 종전을 맞았을 때, 최종 계급은 중위였다. 태평양 전쟁 때의 해군 소속 에이스 파일럿으로 알려져 있다. 전후에는 전쟁 시절의 경험을 바탕으로 자신의 인생관을 담은 책들을 출판했는데, 그중 대표적인 것이 '대공의 사무라이'다.

 

생애[편집]

1916년, 일본 사가현에서 태어났다. 사카이가 소학교 6학년 때 아버지가 사망해 집안이 곤궁했지만, 그는 성적이 우수해 동경에 있는 백부 댁에 보내져 아오냐마 중학에 진학하나 소행 불량이라는 이유로 퇴학 처분을 당하고 고향으로 돌아와 약 2년간 농업에 종사했다.

이 때 사카이는 자신의 장래에 대해 고민하다가 같은 사가현 출신인 사세보 항공대의 히라야마 고로(平山五郞) 해군 대위가 비행기를 모는 모습을 보고 매료되어 해군소년항공병에 지원한다.

그러나 시험에서 두 번의 불합격에 좌절하지만 끝내 포기하지 않고 1933년 4등 수병으로 사세보해병대에 입대한다. 그 후 전함 키리시마에 배치되어 15 cm 부포수가 된다. 1935년 요코스카 해군포술학교에 입학해 다음해 졸업시 200명 중 2등으로 졸업한다. 5월 14일, 전함 하루나(奉名)에 배치, 대함거포주의가 전성시대일 때 누구나 선망하는 36 cm 주포의 2등 사수로 발탁되지만 해군입대시 목표였던 탑승원의 길을 상관에게 이야기해서 밉보이는 바람에 포수 대신 전함 밑바닥에서 청소와 포탄나르는 일을 하는 고된 탄약병으로 일하게 된다. 그래도 단념하지 않고 기어이 조종연습생으로 시험에서 합격한다.

중일 전쟁과 태평양 전쟁

중일 전쟁

1937년 3월 10일 카스미가우라 항공대에 입대, 4월 1일 드디어 첫 비행을 하게 된다. 그의 희망대로 함상 전투기조종사로 선발되어 11월 30일에 제38기 조종연습생을 수석으로 졸업. 졸업식때 쇼와천황의 이름으로 은사품인 은시계를 수여받고 해군전투기 조종사의 길을 걷게된다. 사카이는 사에키 항공대에서 3개월의 교육과 연장교육을 마치고 1938년 오무라 항공대에 배치, 3등공조로 승진되어 대만의 까오슝 항공대로 이동 후 9월 11일、중국대륙의 저장(九江)에 진출한 역전의 항공대인 제 12항공대에 배속된다.

1938년 10월 5일 사카이는 상관과 함께 3번기로 출격해 첫 출전에서 중화민국 국군의 I -16 1기를 격추시킨다. 1939년 5월 1일、2등 항공병조로 승진, 난창(南昌)기지로 배속, 11월에는 상하이 기지로 배속된다. 1940년 6월 일본으로 돌아와 오무라 항공대에 배속되어 있다가 10월 다시 까오슝으로 이동한다. 거기서 하이난다오로 배속되었다가 육군의 인도차이나 진출로 베트남 하노이 기지로 배속된다. 1941년 4월 10일, 제12항공대의 요코야마 대위로부터 '사카이는 날 따라오라'라는 요청을 받고 중국으로 재진출, 중경공격에 참가한다. 6월 1일, 1등 비행조병으로 승진, 중국대륙에서 활약하였다.

태평양 전쟁

사카이는 필리핀 공격시 참전해 미군에게서 아군을 엄호했으며 남하하는 일본군을 따라 라바울로 이동, 뉴기니아, 솔로몬 등지에서 싸웠는데 훗날 미국대통령이 된 린든 존슨 (당시 하원의원, 한국전에도 참가) 이 탑승한 B-26폭격기를 추격한 일화도 있다. 1942년 8월 7일, 과달카날 상공에서 사카이는 아군으로 오인해 불시에 적기의 기총소사를 받게 되는데 이때 관통한 탄환이 사카이가 쓴 비행안경에 명중되어 한쪽 눈이 보이지 않는 치명상을 입고 관통한 탄환이 머리를 통과해 출혈로 왼쪽 팔이 마비되어 잠시 실신했지만 바다로 추락할 찰나 정신을 차려 다시 비행고도를 회복하여 4시간의 사투끝에 기적적으로 라바울 기지로 귀환하였다.

마취없이 대수술로 회복되지만 오른쪽 눈의 시력은 거의 잃고 말았다. 그 후 일본으로 송환되어 탑승원 직을 맡을 수 없게 되자 <한쪽 눈으로도 젊은이들보다 더 잘 사용할 수 있다>라고 주장해 탑승원으로 복귀, 처음엔 교관으로 부임하지만 1944년 4월 13일, 다시 요코스카 항공대에 배치되었다.

전황이 격화되자 라바울 항공대장이었던 나카지마 마사 소위의 지휘하에 사카이를 포함해 27기의 제로전투기들은 1944년 6월 22일, 이오지마로 출격한다. 오랜만의 전투였지만 한 눈으로도 마리아나 해협전투에서 승리하자 미군은 항공기 70기와 항모 호넷, 요크타운, 바탐을 급파하자 사카이는 다시 출격, 미군기와 전투를 벌이는데 한 쪽눈만의 사각지대에 미군기의 기습을 받아 어깨를 관통당하지만 굴하지않고 미군기 2대를 격추시킨다. 사카이는 도중 미군기 15대의 포위에 빠지지만 놀라운 실력으로 360도 회전으로 도로 미군기 1대를 격추시키고 다른 미군전투기들을 당황하게 만든 후 유유히 사지를 빠져나왔는데 당시 미군 전투기 조종사였던 크래시 리치 소위는 사카이 1기의 공격으로 나머지 전투기들이 혼란에 빠져 한동한 당황했다고 수필에 남기고 있다.

사카이의 뛰어난 조종실력은 포위했던 미군들에게도 '대공(하늘)의 사무라이'라고 크게 알려져 유명해졌다. 전투가 거듭될수록 항공전력의 손실은 커져갔고 사카이에게 상부로부터 특공명령(자살공격)이 떨어지자 그는 작전도중 이에 회의를 느껴 부하 4기와 같이 돌아와버린다. 그는 생명을 경시하는 군부를 혐오해 이런 짓을 저지르는데 또 하나의 유명한 일화가 있다.1940년 필리핀 공격시 사카이는 도주하던 미군 군용기인 DC-3기를 발견하곤 격추하기위해 따라갔다. 사카이가 격추하려고 따라붙은 군용기에서 창문에 손을 모으고 기도하는 금발의 서양여자와 천진난만하게 손을 흔드는 어린이가 그의 눈에 들어왔다. 군용기 안에는 죽음에 두려워하는 사람들이 경악과 공포에 떠는 것이 보였다. 한 기라도 격추시켜 전과를 올리려는 조종사들 속에서 사카이는 차마 수송기를 쏠 수 없어 그냥 돌아왔다고 한다.

종전 후

전쟁이 끝난 후, 그는 인쇄공장을 차려 해군시절의 경험을 살려 자신의 인생관을 담은 책들을 출판했는데, 그중 대표적인 것이 '대공의 사무라이'다.

이 책은 세계각국에 번역되어 초 베스트셀러가 되었다. 이 책은 당시 일본조종사에 대한 부정적인 시각에서 탈피해 서구인들에게 신선한 충격을 주며 전 세계 파일럿의 필독서가 되었다. 또 이라크 공군에서는 이 책을 필독서로 의무적으로 읽게하고 있을 정도다. 그는 전후 미국을 방문해 기자들의 요청으로 세스나 기를 몰아보았는데 동승한 기자가 그의 녹슬지 않은 훌륭한 비행 실력에 혀를 내둘렀다고 한다. 또 대공의 사무라이는 사카이 사부로 역으로 출연한 후지오카 히로시가 열연한 영화'기암의 어머니'에서 제작, 연출을 담당해 1976년에 영화로 상영되었다. 그는 자살 공격과 당시 군부에 에 대한 비판을 서슴지 않았는데 '자살공격으로 사기를 올리려는 대본영의 발표는 미친 짓'이라고 오히려 사기를 떨어뜨린 짓이었다고 맹렬히 비난하였다.

방송에 출연한 그에게 질문자가 자동차와 전투기 중 어느 것이 더 좋은가라는 질문에 '자동차가 더 쉽다. 왜냐하면 전투기는 후진할 수가 없으니까'라고 말해 좌중을 웃긴 적도 있었으며, 풍부한 비행이론을 바탕으로 마이크로소프트사가 개발한 '컴뱃 플라이트 시뮬레이터 2'에 일본측 기술진과 미군전술이론가로 참가하기도 했다.

2000년 9월 22일, 아츠키 미군기지에서 개최된 미해군 서태평양함대사령부 50주년 기념만찬에 빈객으로 참가해 자신의 사명감을 말하고 식사 후 돌아가던 중 의식을 잃고 쓰러져 미해군병원에서 치료 중 의사에게 '이제 눈 감아도 좋겠지...'라는 최후의 말을 남기고 84세를 일기로 세상을 떠났다. [위키백과]

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[상세 해설 보기]

 

사카이 사부로 - 나무위키 2020.12.19.

위해 영전(零戰 , 통칭 제로센)을 타라면 타실 건가요?" "영전을요? 사양하겠습니다." - 인터뷰, 사카이 사부로의 대화 중 제2차 세계 대전시 일본 해군의 전투기 조종사. 에이스 파일럿. 최종 계급은 해군 중위...

namu.wiki/w/사카이 사부로 나무위키

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[영어위키 자료]

 

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 28-64 aerial victories (including shared) by official Japanese records,[1] while his autobiography Samurai!, co-written by Martin Caidin and Fred Saito, claims 64 aerial victories.[2] 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.

 

Early life[edit]

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 later forced to take up a livelihood of farming following haihan-chiken in 1871.[3] He is the third-born 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.

On 31 May 1933 at the age of 16, Sakai enlisted in the Japanese Navy as a Sailor Fourth Class (Seaman Recruit) (四等水兵). Sakai described his experiences as a naval recruit:

 

Sakai posing in front of the hinomaru on his Mitsubishi A5M Type 96 fighter (Wuhan, 1939).

"The petty officers would not hesitate to administer the severest beatings to recruits they felt deserving of punishment. Whenever I committed a breach of discipline or an error in training, I was dragged physically from my cot by a petty officer. 'Stand tall to the wall! Bend down, Recruit Sakai!' he would roar. 'I am not doing this because I hate you, but because I like you and want you to make a good seaman. Bend down!' And with that he would swing a large stick of wood and with every ounce of strength he possessed would slam it against my upturned bottom. The pain was terrible, the force of the blows unremitting."[4]

After completing his training the following year, Sakai graduated as a Sailor Third Class (Ordinary Seaman) (三等水兵). He then served aboard the battleship Kirishima for one year. In 1935, he successfully passed the competitive examinations for the Naval Gunners' School. Sakai was promoted to Sailor Second Class (Able Seaman) (二等水兵) in 1936, and served on the battleship Haruna as a turret gunner. He received successive promotions to Sailor First Class (Leading Seaman) (一等水兵) and to Petty Officer Third Class (三等兵曹). In early 1937, he applied for and was accepted into a pilot training school. He graduated first in his class at Tsuchiura in 1937 and earned a silver watch, presented to him by Emperor Hirohito himself. Sakai graduated as a carrier pilot, although he was never assigned to aircraft-carrier duty.

Promoted to Petty Officer Second Class (二等兵曹) in 1938, Sakai took part in aerial combat flying the Mitsubishi A5M at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938–1939 and was wounded in action. Later, Sakai was selected to fly the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter in combat over China.

Service in World War II[edit]

Southeast Asia[edit]

 

Saburō Sakai as a petty officer wearing life preserver

When Japan attacked the Western Allies in 1941, Sakai participated in the attack on the Philippines as a member of the Tainan Air Group. On 8 December 1941, Sakai flew one of 45 Zeros[5] from the Tainan Kōkūtai (a Kōkūtai was an Air Group) that attacked Clark Air Base in the Philippines. In his first combat against Americans, he shot down a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and destroyed two B-17 Flying Fortresses by strafing them on the ground. Sakai flew missions the next day during heavy weather.

On the third day of the battle, Sakai claimed to have shot down a B-17 flown by Captain Colin P. Kelly. Sakai, who has often been credited with the victory, was a Shotai leader engaged in this fight with the bomber, although he and his two wingmen do not appear to have been given official credit for it.[6]

Early in 1942, Sakai was transferred to Tarakan Island in Borneo and fought in the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese high command instructed fighter patrols to down all enemy aircraft encountered, whether they were armed or not. On a patrol with his Zero over Java, just after shooting down an enemy aircraft, Sakai encountered a civilian Dutch Douglas DC-3 flying at low altitude over dense jungle. Sakai initially assumed it was transporting important people and signaled to its pilot to follow him; the pilot did not obey. Sakai descended and approached the DC-3. He then saw a blonde woman and a young child through a window, along with other passengers. The woman reminded him of Mrs. Martin, an American who occasionally had taught him as a child in middle school and had been kind to him. He ignored his orders and flew ahead of the pilot, signaling him to go ahead. The pilot and passengers saluted him.[7] Sakai did not mention the encounter in the aerial combat report.[8]

During the Borneo campaign, Sakai achieved 13 more victories before he was grounded by illness. When he recovered three months later in April, Petty Officer First Class Sakai joined a squadron (chutai) of the Tainan Kōkūtai under Sub-Lieutenant Junichi Sasai at Lae, New Guinea. Over the next four months, he scored the majority of his victories, flying against American and Australian pilots based at Port Moresby.

On the night of 16 May, Sakai and his colleagues, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa and Toshio Ota, were listening to a broadcast of an Australian radio program, when Nishizawa recognized the eerie "Danse Macabre" of Camille Saint-Saëns. Inspired by this, Nishizawa came up with the idea of doing demonstration loops over the enemy airfield. The next day, his squadron included fellow aces Hiroyoshi Nishizawa and Toshio Ōta. At the end of an attack on Port Moresby that had involved 18 Zeros,[9] the trio performed three tight loops in close formation over the allied air base. Nishizawa indicated he wanted to repeat the performance. Diving to 6,000 ft (1,800 m), the three Zeros did three more loops, without receiving any AA fire from the ground. The following day, a lone Allied bomber flew over the Lae airfield and dropped a note attached to a long cloth ribbon. A soldier picked up the note and delivered to the squadron commander. It read (paraphrased): "Thank you for the wonderful display of aerobatics by three of your pilots. Please pass on our regards and inform them that we will have a warm reception ready for them, next time they fly over our airfield". The squadron commander was furious and reprimanded the three pilots for their stupidity, but the Tainan Kōkūtai's three leading aces felt Nishizawa's aerial choreography of the "Danse Macabre" had been worth it.[10]

Pacific Theater[edit]

On 3 August, Sakai's air group was relocated from Lae to the airfield at Rabaul.

 

Sakai in flightsuit

On 7 August, word arrived that U.S. Marines had landed that morning on Guadalcanal. The initial Allied landings captured an airfield, later named Henderson Field by the Allies, that had been under construction by the Japanese. The airfield soon became the focus of months of fighting during the Guadalcanal Campaign, as it enabled U.S. airpower to hinder the Japanese attempts at resupplying their troops. The Japanese made several attempts to retake Henderson Field, resulting in continuous, almost daily air battles for the Tainan Kōkūtai.

U.S. Marines flying Grumman F4F Wildcats from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal were using a new aerial combat tactic, the "Thach Weave", developed in 1941 by the U.S. Navy aviators John Thach and Edward O'Hare. The Japanese Zero pilots flying out of Rabaul were initially confounded by the tactic. Saburō Sakai described their reaction to the Thach Weave when they encountered Guadalcanal Wildcats using it:[11]

For the first time Lt. Commander Tadashi Nakajima encountered what was to become a famous double-team maneuver on the part of the enemy. Two Wildcats jumped on the commander’s plane. He had no trouble in getting on the tail of an enemy fighter, but never had a chance to fire before the Grumman’s team-mate roared at him from the side. Nakajima was raging when he got back to Rabaul; he had been forced to dive and run for safety.

On 7 August, Sakai and three pilots shot down an F4F Wildcat flown by James "Pug" Southerland, who by the end of the war became an ace with five victories. Sakai, who did not know Southerland's guns had jammed, recalled the duel in his autobiography:[12]

In desperation, I snapped out a burst. At once the Grumman snapped away in a roll to the right, clawed around in a tight turn, and ended up in a climb straight at my own plane. Never before had I seen an enemy plane move so quickly or gracefully before, and every second his guns were moving closer to the belly of my fighter. I snap-rolled in an effort to throw him off. He would not be shaken. He was using my favorite tactics, coming up from under.

They were soon engaged in a skillfully maneuvered dogfight. After an extended battle in which both pilots gained and lost the upper hand, Sakai shot down Southerland's Wildcat, striking it below the left wing root with his 20 mm cannon. Southerland parachuted to safety.[13]

Sakai was amazed at the Wildcat's ruggedness:[14]

I had full confidence in my ability to destroy the Grumman and decided to finish off the enemy fighter with only my 7.7 mm machine guns. I turned the 20 mm cannon switch to the 'off' position and closed in. For some strange reason, even after I had poured about five or six hundred rounds of ammunition directly into the Grumman, the airplane did not fall, but kept on flying. I thought this very odd — it had never happened before — and closed the distance between the two airplanes until I could almost reach out and touch the Grumman. To my surprise, the Grumman's rudder and tail were torn to shreds, looking like an old torn piece of rag. With his plane in such condition, no wonder the pilot was unable to continue fighting! A Zero which had taken that many bullets would have been a ball of fire by now.

Not long after he downed Southerland, Sakai was attacked by a lone Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber flown by Lt. Dudley Adams of Scouting Squadron 71 (VS-71) from USS Wasp. Adams scored a near miss, sending a bullet through Sakai's canopy, but Sakai quickly gained the upper hand and succeeded in downing Adams. Adams bailed out and survived, but his gunner, R3/c Harry Elliot, was killed in the encounter.[15] According to Saburō Sakai this was his 60th victory.[2]

Serious wounds[edit]

Shortly after shooting down Southerland and Adams, Sakai spotted a flight of eight aircraft orbiting near Tulagi.[16] Believing they were another group of Wildcats, Sakai approached them from below and behind, aiming to catch them by surprise. However, he soon realised that he had made a mistake - the planes were in fact carrier-based bombers with rear-mounted machine guns. Despite this realisation, he had progressed too far into the attack to back off, and had no choice but to see it through.[17]

In Sakai's account of the battle, he identifies the aircraft as Grumman TBF Avengers - he stated he could clearly see the enclosed top turret. He claimed to have shot down two of the Avengers (his 61st and 62nd victories) before return fire struck his plane. These kills were seemingly verified by the three Zero pilots following him, although no Avengers were reported lost that day.[2]

However, according to US Navy records, only one formation of bombers reported fighting Zeros under these circumstances. This was a group of eight SBD Dauntlesses from Enterprise, led by Lt Carl Horenberger of Bombing Squadron 6 (VB-6). The SBD crews reported being attacked by two Zeros, one of which came in from directly astern and flew into the concentrated fire from their rear-mounted twin 7.62 mm (0.3 in) .30 AN/M2 guns. The rear gunners claimed the Zero as a kill when it dove away in distress, in return for two planes damaged (one seriously).[18]

Whatever the case, Sakai sustained serious injuries from the bombers' return fire. He was hit in the head by a .30 caliber bullet, injuring his skull and temporarily paralyzing the left side of his body.[19][dead link] (The wound is described elsewhere as having destroyed the metal frame of his goggles, and having "creased" his skull, a glancing blow which broke the skin and made a furrow in, or even cracked the skull, but did not actually penetrate it). Shattered glass from the canopy temporarily blinded him in his right eye and reduced vision in his left eye severely. The Zero rolled inverted and descended toward the sea. Unable to see out of his left eye due to glass and blood from his serious head wound, Sakai's vision started to clear somewhat as tears cleared the blood from his eyes, and he was able to pull his plane out of the dive. He considered ramming an American warship: "If I must die, at least I could go out as a Samurai. My death would take several of the enemy with me. A ship. I needed a ship." Finally, the cold air blasting into the cockpit revived him enough to check his instruments, and he decided that by leaning the fuel mixture he might be able to return to the airfield at Rabaul.

 

Rabaul, 8 August 1942: A seriously wounded Sakai returns to Rabaul with his damaged Zero after a four-hour, 47-minute flight over 560 nmi (1,040 km; 640 mi). Sakai's skull was penetrated by a machine-gun bullet and he was blind in one eye, but insisted on making his mission report before accepting medical treatment.

Although in agony from his injuries[20] Sakai managed to fly his damaged Zero in a four-hour, 47-minute flight over 560 nmi (1,040 km; 640 mi) back to his base on Rabaul, using familiar volcanic peaks as guides. When he attempted to land at the airfield he nearly crashed into a line of parked Zeros but, after circling four times, and with the fuel gauge reading empty, he put his Zero down on the runway on his second attempt. After landing, he insisted on making his mission report to his superior officer before collapsing. His squadron mate Hiroyoshi Nishizawa drove him to a surgeon. Sakai was evacuated to Japan on 12 August, where he endured a long surgery without anesthesia. The surgery repaired some of the damage to his head, but was unable to restore full vision to his right eye. Nishizawa visited Sakai while he recuperated in the Yokosuka hospital in Japan.

Recovery and return[edit]

After his discharge from the hospital in January 1943, Sakai spent a year training new fighter pilots.[21] With Japan clearly losing the air war, he prevailed upon his superiors to let him fly in combat again. In November 1943, Sakai was promoted to the rank of flying warrant officer (飛行兵曹長). In April 1944, he was transferred to Yokosuka Air Wing, which was deployed to Iwo Jima.

On 24 June 1944, Sakai approached a formation of 15 U.S. Navy Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters which he had mistakenly assumed were friendly Japanese aircraft. William A. McCormick saw four Hellcats on the Zero's tail, but decided not to get involved. Sakai demonstrated his skill and experience. Despite facing superior enemy aircraft, Sakai eluded attacks by the Hellcats, returning to his airfield untouched.[22]

Sakai claimed to have never lost a wingman in combat; however, he lost at least two over Iwo Jima.[23]

Sakai said as follows: he was ordered to lead a kamikaze mission on 5 July, but he failed to find the U.S. task force. He was engaged by Hellcat fighters near the task force's reported position, and all but one of the Nakajima B6N2 "Jill" torpedo bombers in his flight were shot down. Sakai managed to shoot down one Hellcat, then escaped the umbrella of enemy aircraft by flying into a cloud. Rather than follow meaningless orders, in worsening weather and gathering darkness, Sakai led his small formation back to Iwo Jima.[24] While, according to the aerial combat report, his mission was to escort bombers to and from their targets, and it was afternoon 24 June the day Sakai joined the attack on the U.S. task force.[clarification needed][23]

In August 1944, Sakai was commissioned an ensign (少尉). After he was transferred to 343rd Air Group, he returned to the Yokosuka Air Wing again.

About the same time, Sakai married his cousin Hatsuyo, who asked him for a dagger so she could kill herself if he fell in battle. His autobiography, Samurai!, ends happily with Hatsuyo throwing away the dagger after Japan's surrender, saying she no longer needed it.

Saburo Sakai participated in the IJNAS's last wartime mission, attacking two reconnaissance Consolidated B-32 Dominators on 18 August, which were conducting photo-reconnaissance and testing Japanese compliance with the cease-fire. He initially misidentified the planes as Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. Both aircraft returned to their base at Yontan Airfield, Okinawa. His encounter with the B-32 Dominators in the IJNAS's final mission was not included in Samurai!.

He was promoted to sub-lieutenant (中尉) after the war ended.

Back to civilian life

 

Sakai's A6M2 Zero, tail code V-173, preserved at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra[25]

After the war, Sakai retired from the Navy. He became a Buddhist acolyte - vowing to never again kill anything that lived, not even a mosquito.[19]

Likewise, although Japan had been defeated in the Second World War with great loss of life, Sakai serenely accepted this outcome: "Had I been ordered to bomb Seattle or Los Angeles in order to end the war, I wouldn't have hesitated. So I perfectly understand why the Americans bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima."

Times were difficult for Sakai: he had trouble finding a job; Hatsuyo died in 1947.[26] He remarried in 1952 and started a printing shop.

Sakai sent his daughter to college in the United States "to learn English and democracy."[27]

Sakai visited the US and met many of his former adversaries, including Harold "Lew" Jones, the rear-seat gunner who had wounded him.[28]

Following a US Navy formal dinner in 2000 at Atsugi Naval Air Station where he had been an honored guest, Sakai died of a heart attack at the age of 84.

 

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.[29]

Saburo Sakai was survived by his second wife Haru, two daughters, and a son.[30]