鈴木清延

War record

Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1914 (Taisho 3) → 1933.5 entered the navy as an engine-room rating → 1935.8 graduated from the 28th Pilot Trainee Course and retrained as a fighter pilot → while serving at the Omura and 甫屋 Naval Air Groups the China Incident broke out, and he moved to Taipei on air defence duty → at the end of October he was attached to the 13th Naval Air Group and moved to the Shanghai base → 12.2 first combat in the air raid on Nanjing, flying as No. 3 of the second section of Type 96 carrier fighters led by Lt 南郷 and shooting down 2 (1 of them unconfirmed); the unit was awarded a commendation → the following year, on 2.25, he shot down 1 in the attack on Nanchang as wingman to Lt 田熊, but was hit and wounded → March attached to the 12th Naval Air Group; he took part in several of the Central China air battles until returning to Japan in September, and received the Order of the Golden Kite, 5th class (his individual score during his time with the 12th Naval Air Group is not known) → instructor at Saeki and Oita → 1941.10 aboard Kaga; in the attack on Pearl Harbor he led a section of the fighter sweep unit of the second wave, but sighted no enemy aircraft and the results were unconfirmed → after the Darwin attack he took part in the Midway operation in 1942.6: on the morning of the 5th, with the fighter sweep unit of the Midway attack force, his squadron shared in 12 victories; he took off twice on combat air patrol over the carriers and his section shared in shooting down 14 torpedo and dive bombers in all; that evening he ditched and was rescued by the destroyer Hagikaze → after returning to Japan he was transferred to Jun'yo, and on 10.26 of Showa 19 (1944, as dated in the source), in the South Pacific sea battle, he flew as escort with the second wave against the US carriers and failed to return with the aircraft of his section; officially declared killed