Japanese Navy Warrant Officer Kenji Yanagiya, 1943. Yanagiya piloted an escorting fighter when Isoroku Yamamoto was shot down. He was the only Japanese pilot from that flight to survive the war.

Caption     Japanese Navy Warrant Officer Kenji Yanagiya, 1943. Yanagiya piloted an escorting fighter when Isoroku Yamamoto was shot down. He was the only Japanese pilot from that flight to survive the war. ww2dbase
Photographer    Unknown
Source    ww2dbaseImperial Japanese Navy
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Added By David Stubblebine

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Licensing  This anonymous work originating in Japan is in the public domain. Its copyright expired 70 years after the work was made available to the public.

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Commenter identity confirmed David Stubblebine says:
17 Apr 2024 09:52:35 PM

All surviving pilots from the Yamamoto flight stayed in combat roles for the duration of the war except Warrant Officer Yanagiya. On 7 Jun 1943 during an attack on an American airstrip in the Russell Islands, his right hand was shot off by an attacking F4F Wildcat. Yanagiya was able to fly back to Buin on Bougainville where he was treated by a doctor. Yanagiya did not talk about the Yamamoto flight for many years until he was interviewed by Japanese author Akira Yoshimura in the mid-1970s. That interview contributed almost all that is known about the Japanese perspective of the fighter-vs-fighter aspect of that engagement.

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