World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseMichio Kobayashi was born in Fuirukawa, Sasebo, Japan. He attended the Navy Academy at Etajima, Japan between 1934 and 1937. In 1938, he began flight training, and by the start of the Pacific War he was a commander of a dive bomber unit aboard carrier Hiryu at the rank of lieutenant. He was commented as a "well-respected veteran" by historian Jonathan Parshall. During the Battle of Midway on 4 Jun 1942, at 1057, Kobayashi and his 18-dive bomber force took off from Hiryu to attack American carrier Yorktown, escorted by 6 fighters. Two-thirds of his attack force carried 250-kilogram semi armor-piercing bombs against Yorktown while the others carried high explosive bombs against the ship's crew. The force found Yorktown and commenced to attack, disabling Yorktown. A high cost was paid, however. Out of the 24 aircraft sent on the attack, 18 of them were lost, and of the 6 that returned only 2 were in undamaged condition. Kobayashi was among those killed, shot down by Enterprise VF-6 pilots Thomas Clinton Provost and James Alex Halford who arrived too late to save Yorktown from becoming disabled but in time to intercept the attackers. His possible last words were in the form of a radio message, "Number Two. Fire break out on carrier. 0901." The time, of course, was a mistake committed in the heat of battle; it should had been 0911 Tokyo Time when he or his subordinate sent the message.

Photographs

Michio Kobayashi Timeline

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