Tetsuzo Iwamoto, LtJg Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force 15 June 1916- 20 May 1955 Highest scoring Japanese pilot to survive the war. Officially credited with 80 victories, researchers in 1971credited him with with more than 87 and his diary claims 202. From the northern island of Hokkaido, his father was a police officer. A good student, he was not afraid to disagree with teachers.In 1934 Iwamoto took the Navy exams and passed as a Naval Airman 4th Class instead of college entrance exams his family had expected him to take. In 1936 when an aircraft mechanic on CV Ryuho, he took the highly selective pilot training exam and passed. His training started in April 1936, and he graduated as Airman1C that December followed by another six months intense training on carriers and land. Iwamotp scored his first four victories on 2/25/38 over Nanking, China against Chinese flown Polikarpov 1-15’s and I-16’s. Upon landing his flight commander read him out due to his reckless flying, but he was awarded a citation all the same. He scored 14 victories in China becoming the leading ace in the Naval Air Force and was awarded the Order of the Golden Kite Fifth Class. He was ordered back to Japan to train pilots. Iwamoto served on CV Zuikaku in the Pearl Harbor Operation and the Indian Ocean Operation, then became a flight instructor until March 1943 when he was stationed with the 281st Kokutai in the Paramushiro (Northern Japan) area, then was posted to Rabaul, the scene of desperate air combat, in November 1943. After two months at Rabaul Iwamoto was posted to Truk Atoll seeing action against American B 24’s then back to the homeland in June 1944. In the spring of 1945, he claimed 20 victories and five probables in one month flying with the 204th Kokutai. His diary claimed 142 allied aircraft in the Rabaul area, and instead of the total of 202 claimed, his claims have been paired down to the 80 area. Japanese squadron records are sketchy and individual victories were not recorded by many. Iwamoto certainly shot down 80 Allied aircraft, but some argue he had more victories than Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, the top Naval Ace with 103 victories. Iwamoto survived the war: for a Japanese Naval pilot an achievement in itself. At the very least, he was number two and well ahead of Saburo Sakai at number three.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 04:00:20 +0000
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