page_title: Kenji Yanagiya
section_title: Yanagiya’s Reminiscences about April 18, 1943
hierarchical_section_title: Kenji Yanagiya / Yanagiya’s Reminiscences about April 18, 1943
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 山本五十六生前最後の写真。 English: The last picture of Isoroku Yamamoto (1884–1943), taken shortly before his plane was shot down.
context_page_description: Warrant Officer Kenji Yanagiya was a member of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Zero fighter aces who fought the Battle of Solomon Islands in October 1942 – June 1943. He is best known as the only escort fighter pilot of the Yamamoto mission to survive the war.
context_section_description: "Fall in!" "At ease."
  "We had an outline of our escort mission in the briefing from Lieutenant (JG) Morisaki, 24 years old Midway Sōryū veteran, at East airfield (Lakunai airfield), Rabaul. Both G4M1s "Type 1 land-based attack aircraft" of Imperial Japanese Navy Grand Fleet Admiral Yamamoto's and that of Chief of staff's (IJN Grand Fleet Chief of staff Matome Ugaki's) were to take off from West airfield, Rabaul."
  In the wartime Rabaul, there was East airfield (Lakunai airfield) by the seashore on the east side of Simpson Harbor, and West airfield (Vunakanau airfield) on the west side high hilltop of the Simpson Harbor. East airfield was for fighter units, while West airfield was for twin-engine land-based attacker units, single-engine carrier-based dive-bomber units and torpedo-attacker units.
  "0600 hours Japan Standard Time (JST), we six Zero fighters took off East airfield and were waiting at a pre-briefed rendezvous point over Simpson Harbor. Those two Type 1 land-based attackers (Rikko) were taking off West airfield and coming up to us. Two Type 1 land-based attackers flew at altitude 2,500 m (8,200 ft), we six escort fighters flew at altitude 3,000 m (about 10,000 feet), which was plus 500 m higher to cover them, to intercept Allied fighters."
  "These two Type 1 land-based attackers flew in echelon, and six Zero fighters flew on their starboard side aft high in two vics formations. I've heard that the Imperial Japanese Navy official action report of the day reported we Zero fighters escorted in both starboard side and port side aft of those two attackers to escort, but the fact is that we were escorting them on their 4 o'clock high. It was a fine weather day, no squalls nor cumulus clouds, comfortable for flying. We kept looking around the south air over the sea. We could see underneath transport ships with escort destroyers steaming on a blue water several times."
  "After a while, we could see Bougainville Island on ahead of us. We followed to those land-based attackers within certain distance. Before long two Type 1 land-based attackers flew over Bougainville Island and we escort fighters followed. On ahead of us, we could saw IJN Buin air base, which was at the southeast end of Bougainville Island. The base looked like a brown colored small box of matches in a green sea of jungle to me. Buin base was known as a dusty airfield and always looked dry soil colored. I heard later some ground member muttered that base members had sprayed water to the airstrip in the morning and had been waiting for GF Admiral's arrival at Buin base. I thought then that was why it looked dark colored."
  They were flying on schedule to land at IJN Ballale Island airstrip on 0745 hours JST.
  "Some 10 minutes passed and it was time when we would start approaching to the airstrip. Then we found many airborne aircraft in the direction over Shortland Island, south of Buin base. At altitude about 1,500 m (5,000 ft), they were in groups of P-38s. Their fuselages and wings were painted in green, they positioned at lower altitude, which helped them camouflaged. It was obvious that we were late to find them. I saw P-38s dropped their extra fuel tanks and were already zooming up to engage our two land-base attackers."
  "Lieutenant (JG) Morisaki, waggling his wings to signal, dived to cover the GF Admiral's land-based attacker. We wingmen all accelerated and swooped into the first group of P-38s approaching our attackers. We repelled the first group of P-38s, while another P-38s engaging aft the land-based attackers. They P-38s avoided to engage us, focused their targets just on our two land-based attackers. There were only 6 fighters for us to defend that we could not cover our two attackers from them all. They were too many. I've heard that there were sixteen P-38s that day. When I recovered and turned back, I saw one land-based attacker going down in my port side with smoke and another land-based attacker going down in my starboard side to the sea. And the more, I watched the land-based attacker crash landing and disappeared in a jungle, with a little
caption: Yamamoto at the commanding post of East Airfield, Rabaul, at Operation X or Y, April 1943.
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