Satoru Anabuki

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Satoru Anabuki
Satoru Anabuki poses in front of a Nakajima Ki-43 aircraft in late 1944.
Native name
穴吹 智
Nickname(s)"Flower of the Youth Flyers"
"Momotarō in Burma"
Born(1921-12-05)5 December 1921
Yamada
DiedJune 2005 (2005-07) (aged 83)
Allegiance Empire of Japan
 Japan
Service/branch Imperial Japanese Army Air Service
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
Years of serviceIJA: 1941—1945
JGSDF: 1954-1971
RankSergeant major (IJA)
Lieutenant colonel (JGSDF)
Unit3rd Chutai, 50th Sentai
Akeno Army Flying School (Akeno Rikugun Hikō Gakkō)
Battles/warsWorld War II

Lieutenant Colonel Satoru Anabuki (穴吹 智, Anabuki Satoru, December 5, 1921 – June 2005, sometimes Satoshi) was, depending on the source, the second or third[1] highest-scoring flying ace of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II, with 39 victories (51 claimed).[2][3] Strangely enough there are 53 claimed victories to be found in his autobiography Soku no Kawa (see below), where his first triple kill (nos. 10-12) was mis-counted as just one (next kill was noted as no. 11).

Imperial Japanese Army Air Force career[edit]

Born into a farming family in the Kagawa Prefecture,[4] he graduated high school to take the entrance examination for the Juvenile Flying Soldier School and entered the Tokyo Army Aviation School in April 1938, graduating in March 1941 in the 6th Juvenile Soldier Course and receiving a promotion to corporal in October. He was assigned to the 3rd Company of the 50th Air Squadron, stationed on Formosa in 1941.[4]

With the outbreak of the Pacific War, he fought in the conquest of the Philippines, where he claimed his first victory, a Curtiss P-40, on December 22, 1941. On February 9, 1942, he shot down two more.

Soon after, his unit returned to Japan to exchange their Nakajima Ki-27 "Nates" for more advanced Ki-43 "Hayabusas" (allied code name "Oscar"). The 50th Air Squadron was then sent to Burma in June 1942. He was promoted to sergeant in December. On 24 January 1943, he shot down his first heavily armed B-24 bomber. He claimed to have shot down three B-24s and one P-38 fighter escort in a single engagement on 8 October 1943, but this has been disputed.[5] The third B-24 claimed was reported rammed by him causing great damage to his aircraft in which he crash landed on the shoreline to be rescued three days later. In recognition of this achievement he was awarded an individual citation - at that time unprecedented for a pilot who was still alive.[6]

In 1944, he was reassigned to Japan to be a flight instructor at the Akeno Army Flying School. He flew in the defense of the home islands. In December 1944, he was promoted to sergeant major and returned to action over the Philippines, where he claimed at least four F6F Hellcats shot down flying the Ki-84 "Hayate". Anabuki scored his last victory over Japan, a B-29.

Postwar[edit]

After the war in 1950, he enlisted in the National Police Reserve before joining the Japan Self-Defense Forces when it was founded in 1954. He served as a pilot flying Ground Self-Defense Force helicopters and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1971, subsequently joining Japan Airlines and retiring in 1984.

Victory claims of Satoru Anubiki, data from[3][7]
Kill Date Flying Victim Comments
1 1941-12-22 Ki-27 P-40 Lingayen, Philippines
2 - Ki-27 unknown unknown
3 1942-02-09 Ki-27 P-40 Bataan, Philippines
4 1942-10-25 Ki-43 P-40 Chinskia?, India (modern Bangladesh)
5 1942-12-10 Ki-43 Hurricane Chittagong, India
- 1942-12-15 Ki-43 Hurricane Chittagong, India (probable)
6 1942-12-20 Ki-43 Hurricane Magwe, Burma
7 1942-12-20 Ki-43 Blenheim Magwe, Burma (injured)
8 1942-12-23 Ki-43 unknown Fenny, Burma ?
9 1942-12-23 Ki-43 Blenheim Magwe, Burma (Night kill )
10-12 1942-12-24 Ki-43 3 Hurricanes Magwe, Burma
13 1942-12-30 Ki-43 Blenheim Meiktila, Burma
14 1943-01-14 Ki-43 Hurricane Inden?, India (modern Bangladesh)
15 1943-01-16 Ki-43 P-40 Yunnan, China
16 1943-01-17 Ki-43 Hurricane Fenny, Burma ?
17-18 1943-01-19 Ki-43 2 Hurricanes Akyab, Burma
19 1943-01-24 Ki-43 Wellington Rangoon, Burma
20 1943-01-26 Ki-43 B-24 Mingaladon, Burma (first B-24 daylight kill)
21 1943-01-30 Ki-43 B-25 Toungoo, Burma
22 1943-02-28 Ki-43 Blenheim Akyab, Burma
23 1943-02-28 Ki-43 Hurricane Akyab, Burma
- 1943-03-02 Ki-43 Hurricane Fenny, Burma ? (probable)
24 1943-03-24 Ki-43 B-25 Meiktila, Burma
- 1943-03-29 Ki-43 Hurricane Mindon, Burma (probable)
25-26 1943-03-30 Ki-43 2 Hurricanes Mindon, Burma
27-29 1943-03-31 Ki-43 3 Hurricanes Patenga, India
30-31 1943-04-04 Ki-43 2 Hurricanes Dohazari, India
- 1943-04-20 Ki-43 Hurricane Imphal, India (probable)
32 1943-04-20 Ki-43 P-36 Imphal, India
33-34 1943-04-21 Ki-43 2 P-36s Imphal, India
35 1943-04-28 Ki-43 P-40 Kunming, China
36 1943-05-04 Ki-43 Hurricane Cox's Bazar, India
37-40 1943-05-15 Ki-43 4 P-40s Kunming, China
41-42 1943-05-22 Ki-43 2 Hurricanes Chittagong, India
43-44 1943-05-29 Ki-43 1 Hurricane
1 Spitfire?		 Chittagong, India
Ki-43 "Fubuki" retired of service with 230 hours of flying
45-48 1943-10-08 Ki-43 1 P-38, 3 B-24s Rangoon, Burma (heavily injured)
flying Ki-43 "Kimikaze"
49-52 unknown Ki-84 4 Hellcats Philippines (In separated sorties)
53 unknown Ki-100 B-29 Honshu, Japan

Many of Anabuki's victory claims during the Burma Campaign have been contested by comparing them to Allied records of lost aircraft on particular occasions. In several cases, there were no records of Allied planes even operating in the area where the claims were made.[8]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Warbird colors Archived 2009-12-23 at the Wayback Machine via http://www.warbirdcolors.com
  2. ^ Sgt. Satoru Anaubuki downs three B-24s and a P-38 via http://www.j-aircraft.com
  3. ^ a b Anabuki Satoru's deed over Rangoon via http://www.elknet.pl Archived 2009-04-18 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b Hata (2002), p.188
  5. ^ Error oft repeated -- The Anabuki hoax via http://www.j-aircraft.com
  6. ^ Hata (2002), p.189
  7. ^ "Satoru Anabuki". ww2db.com. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  8. ^ Shores (2005)

Bibliography[edit]

  • Anabuki, Satoru. Soku no Kawa (A Great River in the Blue Sky/Pale Blue River). Tokyo, Japan: Kojinsha Publishers, 1985. ISBN 4-7698-2111-5. (2nd edition 2000, ISBN 4-7698-2292-8).
  • Bueschel, Richard M. Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa I-III in Japanese Army Air Force RTAF-CAF-IPSF Service. Reading, Berkshire, UK: Osprey Publications, 1970. ISBN 0-85045-022-5.
  • Bueschel, Richard M. Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa in Japanese Army Air Force RTAF-CAF-IPSF Service. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Books, 1995. ISBN 0-88740-804-4.
  • Coox, Alvin D. "The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Air Forces". Air Power History 27 June, 1980. pages 74–94.
  • Harvey, A.D. "Army Air Force and Navy Air Force: Japanese Aviation and the Opening Phase of the War in the Far East". War in History 6 1999. pages 147–173.
  • Hata, Ikuhiko with Yasuho Izawa and Christopher Shores. Japanese Army Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces, 1931-1945. London: Grub Street, 2002. ISBN 1-902304-89-6.
  • Sakaida, Henry. Japanese Army Air Force Aces, 1937-45. Botley, Oxfordshire, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1997. ISBN 1-85532-529-2.
  • Scott, Peter. Emblems of the Rising Sun: Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Unit Markings. Aldershot, Hertfordshire, UK: Hikoki, 1999. ISBN 1-902109-55-4.
  • Stanaway, John. Nakajima Ki.43 "Hayabusa" - Allied Code Name "Oscar". Bennington, VT: Merriam Press, 2003. ISBN 1-57638-141-2.
  • Shores, Christopher. Air War for Burma: The Allied Air Forces Fight Back in South-East Asia 1942-1945 (The Bloody Shambles Series, Vol. 3). London, UK: Grub Street Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1904010954.

External links[edit]

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