Saburō Sakai
The N1K1-J Shiden entered service in early 1944. The N1K1-J, and the N1K2 Shiden-Kai released later that year, were among the rare Japanese aircraft that offered pilots an even chance against late-war American designs such as the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair, and either could be a formidable weapon in the hands of an ace. In February 1945 Lieutenant Kaneyoshi Muto, flying a N1K2-J as part of a formation of at least 10 expert Japanese pilots, faced seven US Navy Hellcat pilots, from squadron VF-82, in the sky over Japan. The formation shot down four Hellcats with no loss to themselves. After the action, Japanese propagandists fabricated a story in which Muto was the sole airman facing 12 enemy aircraft. (The leading Japanese ace, Saburō Sakai, later mentioned in his autobiography that Muto had actually done this feat at an earlier stage of the war – albeit at the controls of a Zero fighter.)