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渡辺秀夫

Flight Warrant Officer Imperial Japanese Navy

War record

1937 entered the navy → 1941.11 graduated from the 2nd Hei-class flight training course → 1942.3 posted to the Chitose Naval Air Group (air defence of the inner South Seas) → 1943.3 transferred to the 204th Naval Air Group (moved up to Rabaul and Buin; air combat over the Solomons) → after squadron leader 宮野 was killed on 1943.6.16 he took command at the age of 23 as acting company commander and acting battalion commander → 1943.8.26, flying alone, he shot down one B-24 and one F4F and was hit immediately afterwards (his right eyeball pierced and his frontal bone fractured); he regained control just above the sea and landed → presented with a sword by 草鹿, Commander-in-Chief of the Southeast Area Fleet, with the citation 「outstanding distinction in action」 (outstanding military achievement) → sent back to Japan; he did not return to flying before the war ended

Shot in the right eye and only semi-conscious, he righted his aircraft just above the sea's surface and landed

Unit: 千歳空→204空
Victories: victories claimed: 16sources 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.202

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