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荻谷信男

Ensign Imperial Japanese Navy

War record

Born in Ibaraki Prefecture into a family of swordsmen; after graduating from 湊 Commercial School he set out for a time to be a swordsman, reaching 3rd dan → entered the navy in 1938; graduated from the 48th pilot trainee (the Pilot Trainee Course (Sōren)) class in 1940.1 and was posted to the fighter unit of 千歳 Naval Air Group (air defense of the Inner South Seas when the war began; no chance of air combat) → transferred to the 〔281st Naval Air Group〕 and moved up to the northern Kuriles → 1943.11 transferred to the 〔204th Naval Air Group〕, joining the fierce air fighting over Rabaul (he was then close to 26); his first kill came in the attack on Cape Merkus on 12.16 → in the daily fighting up to his transfer to the 〔253rd Naval Air Group〕 at the end of the following January he shot down 24 aircraft (confirmed), among them five single-handed in the interception over Rabaul on 1.20 → failed to return from the interception battle of 2.13; killed in action.

Set a densely packed record over Rabaul, shooting down 18 aircraft in 13 days

Unit: 千歳空→281空→204空→253空
Victories: 24 (official credit)sources 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.185

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