工藤重敏

War record

Born 1920 to a farming family in Ōita Prefecture → entered the navy 1937, at first as a maintenance rating → 1940.8 graduated from the 53rd pilot trainee (the Pilot Trainee Course (Sōren)) class and moved to land-based reconnaissance flying → by way of 佐伯 Naval Air Group, posted 1941.10 to Tainan (Taiwan) Naval Air Group, taking part in the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies operations as a guide and reconnaissance aircraft for the fighter units, and moving up to Rabaul in the spring of 1942 → at that time Rabaul was under continuous night attack by enemy heavy aircraft from Port Moresby and other bases; the material damage was small but the psychological effect could not be ignored, and a new night fighter was awaited → the Gekkō fitted with oblique-firing guns, advocated by 小園, commanding officer of the 〔251st Naval Air Group〕, was devised → he returned to the homeland in autumn 1942 and worked on training with the new night fighter until moving up to Rabaul again in May of the following year; on 5.21 CPO 工藤 scored the long-awaited first night kill (around 2 a.m. he caught a B-17 with the help of moonlight and friendly searchlights and shot it down with the oblique guns, and shot down another around 3:30) → from this beginning, a handful of Gekkō won back command of the night sky over Rabaul, and in July he moved forward to the Ballale base for night interception → his score was one B-17 each on 6.11 and 6.13, two on 6.26, one on 6.30, and one Hudson over Buin on the evening of 7.7 with the downward-firing oblique gun; he destroyed eight in two months, was called 'king of the night', and received a sword inscribed outstanding distinction in action (outstanding military merit) from 草鹿, Commander-in-Chief of the Southeast Area Fleet → from autumn 1943 the bombing shifted to daylight and night kills became difficult; in February of the following year he returned to 〔Yokosuka Naval Air Group〕 for homeland air defense → 1945.5 he was injured in a forced-landing accident and was still convalescing when the war ended; he died of illness in 1960 as a result of that injury.