斎藤三朗

War record

Born in Yamagata Prefecture; entered the navy in 1934 and, after fleet service, graduated from the 44th pilot trainee (the Pilot Trainee Course (Sōren)) class in 1939.1, training at Ōita and 〔Omura Naval Air Group〕 → October posted to the 〔12th Naval Air Group〕 (moved up to Hankou, then soon to the Qinzhou base in South China, where he served in Lt 相生's division; the attacks on Guilin on 12.30 and on 1.10 of the following year were his first actions) → 1940.1 transferred to Akagi, then Ōita, Tokushima and Tsuiki naval air groups; in 1942.11, on promotion to Senior Flight Petty Officer (Senior Flight Petty Officer), he joined Zuikaku, and at the end of 1943.1 moved up to Rabaul for the Guadalcanal withdrawal operation → on 2.1 Zuikaku's fighter unit, together with the land-based fighters, escorted the dive-bombers attacking enemy shipping off Tulagi (an F4F shot down jointly) → on 2.4 and 2.7 he again flew escort for the withdrawal convoys, shooting down two each time → April, Operation I-Gō (the attacks off Guadalcanal, on Oro Bay, Port Moresby and Milne Bay) → after a spell back in Japan, Zuikaku moved forward to Truk in July, and on 11.1 sent its air unit to Rabaul for Operation Ro-Gō; WO 斎藤 flew as a section leader in the interceptions of the 2nd, 5th, 8th and 11th and in the attacks off Cape Torokina on the 2nd and 3rd (eight aircraft including P-38s, F4Us and B-25s, one of them shared) → in this period Zuikaku's fighter unit lost more than 70% of its aircrew and returned to Truk on the 13th; on the 26th it moved with seven aircraft to Roi, and on 12.3 to Taroa for air defense; returning to Roi on the 5th it fought the US carrier aircraft that came in, shooting down four, but lost four aircraft including that of the leader, Ensign 大山 → the next day he withdrew to Truk by land-based bomber and was posted to Tokushima Naval Air Group → in July he was transferred to Fighter Squadron 317 and incorporated into the 〔252nd Naval Air Group〕 at Mobara → on 10.13, for the Shō operation, he moved to the Philippines via Kasanohara, Okinawa and Taiwan; sortieing in the general attack on the 24th, he fought US fighters over the sea east of Luzon, shot one down, was hit and force-landed wounded on the shore of Lamon Bay → rescued by an army garrison unit and sent home, he never returned to action before the war ended.