Zero!

New York: Bantam Books [Bantam Air & Space Series], 1991. First Bantam Printing [Stated]. Mass market paperback. Very good. xix, [3], 374, [4] pages. Wraps. Illustrations. Tabular Information. Slight wear to cover. Masatake Okumiya (July 27, 1909 - February 22, 2007) was a historian and lieutenant general in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Okumiya graduated from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1930. He was commissioned an ensign in April 1932, received his wings in November 1933 as a naval aviator, and was promoted to sub-lieutenant in the same month. In 1937, he participated in the attack on the USS Panay. Promoted to lieutenant-commander in October 1941, Okumiya served throughout World War II, including on the aircraft carrier Ry j and with the 2nd Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. During 1942-1943, he served as chief of staff of the 26th Naval Air Squadron, and was appointed to a staff post in August 1944. He was promoted to his final rank of commander in November 1944. At the end of the war, Okumiya was interrogated by Allied intelligence officers, after which he was demobilized. This is the thrilling saga of war in the air in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II told from the Japanese point of view. It is the story of the men who created, led, and fought in the deadly Zero fighter plane. In their own words, Jiro Horikoshi (who designed the Zero), Masatake Okumiya (leader of many Zero squadrons), and Saburo Sakai (Japan's leading surviving fighter ace) as well as many other men, tell the inside story of developing the Zero and Japan's air force. They tell what it felt like to bomb American ships and to shoot down American airplanes -- and then of their shock when the myth of invincibility was shattered by the new Lightning, Hellcat, and Corsair fighters. They tell of the fight against the growing strength of a remorseless American enemy; and how, in desperation the Japanese High Command ordered the creation of deadly suicide squadrons, the Kamikaze. And finally they reveal their reaction to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.