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笠井智一

Senior Flight Petty Officer Imperial Japanese Navy

War record

1942 10th Ko-class Yokaren (Tsuchiura) → 1943.11 completed the 32nd training course; PO2c, 263rd Naval Air Group → 1944.3 moved up to the Marianas (force-landed on Pagan) → force-landed on Saipan; flew as wingman to CPO 杉田 → 1944.5 Halmahera, Kau base → Palau → lost his aircraft in an attack on enemy ships off Saipan → 1944.7 ground fighting from Guam; Palau → Davao → 1944.7.10 the 263rd Naval Air Group was disbanded; he joined Squadron 306 of the 303rd Naval Air Group (forward to Yap) → interceptions of B-24s (withdrew to Cebu) → skip-bombing training → after the Leyte offensive of 1944.10 he flew as wingman to 菅野 and 杉田 on offensive sweeps, interceptions and close escort of special attacks → 1944.12 returned to Japan; Squadron 301 of the 343rd Naval Air Group; end of the war

A remarkably fortunate airman who survived repeated forced landings

Unit: 263空→201空306→343空301
Victories: individual victories claimed: 10sources differ

No fragment for this person is in the Archive yet.

What is still not known

Photograph: none yet. Unless a person was reported on during the war, almost no portrait survives that is free to use ⚪️
Afterwards: how he lived after the war is not written in this source.

This card is made only of facts copied from one book 🟡 index. It is not a biography. An empty field means the book does not say. Nothing has been filled in by guesswork.

Source: Japanese Naval Fighter Units, p.243

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