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西沢広義

Lieutenant Junior Grade Imperial Japanese Navy

War record

Born in Nagano Prefecture → Otsu 7th Yokaren class → completed the flight trainee course in March 1939 (16th of 71) → service at the Ōita, 〔Omura〕 and Suzuka Naval Air Groups → October 1941 Chitose Naval Air Group (air defence of the inner South Seas) → February 1942 moved up to Rabaul with the 〔4th Naval Air Group〕; first victory on 2/3 → April Tainan Naval Air Group (the eastern New Guinea front) → from August the Solomons front → November pulled back to Toyohashi → May 1943 moved up to Rabaul again with the 〔251st Naval Air Group〕 → September the 〔253rd Naval Air Group〕; October returned home → October 1944, with Operation Shō, moved from the 〔203rd Naval Air Group〕 (northern Kuriles) to Mabalacat on Luzon on the 24th → on the 25th he sortied as leader of the direct escort for the first Kamikaze attack (two F6Fs shot down; landed on Cebu) → on the 26th, returning aboard a transport aircraft, he was attacked by two F6Fs over Calapan on Mindoro and was killed.

It is said that when his return was delayed, the commanding officer waited at the airfield for a long time

Unit: 千歳空→4空→台南空→251空→253空→203空
Victories: 家族への報告147機／新聞記事150機以上／102機等の説あり、部隊長談86機が最有力、公認ベース推定60〜70機程度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.172-173

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