Tetsuzō Iwamoto Lieutenant Junior Grade Tetsuzō Iwamoto ( 岩本 徹三 , Iwamoto Tetsuzō ) ( 15 June 1916 - 20 May 1955 ) was one of the top scoring aces among Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force ( IJNAF ) fighter pilots . He entered the Imperial Navy in 1934 and completed pilot training in December 1936 . His first combat occurred over China in early 1938 . He emerged as the top naval ace of the campaign , credited with 14 aerial victories . Subsequently he flew Zero s from the aircraft carrier " Zuikaku " from December 1941 to May 1942 , including at the Battle of the Coral Sea . In late 1943 , Iwamoto ' s air group was sent to Rabaul , New Britain , resulting in three months of the hardest air combat ever for the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force against air raids of U . S . and Allied air units . Subsequent assignments were Truk Atoll in the Carolines and the Philippines , being commissioned an ensign in October 1944 . Following evacuation of the Philippines , Iwamoto served in home defense and trained kamikaze pilots . Like many Japanese veterans , Iwamoto was reported to have fallen into depression after the war . His diary was found after his death , with claims of 202 Allied aircraft destroyed . As a result of the Japanese use of the British naval system , the IJNAF scoring system was based on the standard the Royal Navy , the Royal Air Force ( RAF ) adopted since World War I till World War II , different from the scoring system defined by U . S . Navy Air Force and U . S . Marine Air Force during World War II . Dr . Izawa and Professor Hata tried to reckon the figure at about 80 or more than 87 in their research work in Jan . 1971 , Dr . Izawa wrote that Iwamoto was " virtually " the top ace of IJNAF , in Dec . 1993 . As of mid - 1944 , there remained only two IJNAF fighter pilots who were credited with over 100 victories . Depending on various totals cited , Tetsuzō Iwamoto or Hiroyoshi Nishizawa was Japan ' s best ace . Iwamoto was known as the Chūtai leader ( Flying Company , Squadron of 8 to 16 fighters ) . Iwamoto was the few survived successors of the IJNAF airman ' s heritage , who flew over the Indian and the Pacific Ocean from north to south , showed his skilled fights against the Allied units and trained his young junior pilots even in the last months of the war . Early life . Tetsuzo was the third son of the Iwamoto family . He was born on a border town , southern part of Karafuto 15 June 1916 , later grew up in Sapporo , Hokkaidō , Japan . He enjoyed skiing in his elementary school days . When he lived in Sapporo , his father was a chief police officer . When he was 13 , his father retired and Tetsuzo moved with his family to his father ' s hometown , Masuda , Shimane prefecture . He studied at the Prefectural Masuda Agricultural and Forestry High School . His favorite school subjects were mathematics and geometry ; in these subjects , he always scored A ' s on his school report . He was an active and nimble boy . He joined a school club brass band as a trumpeter . Another hobby was growing plants and flowers . He helped local fishermen in the fishing season , going out to the sandy beach early in the morning and driving fish into the nets . He talked down to his teachers sometimes in discussions , which was very impolite for a school student in pre - war Japan . He was regarded as the most opinionated student in his school . Starting military career . Iwamoto started his military career in 1934 after he graduated the school at 18 . Following the advice from his parents to study while young , Tetsuzo left for a large city where he was supposed to take a college entrance examination . He , however , secretly applied for and passed the exam of Imperial Japanese naval airman 4th class , soon be promoted to 3rd class 5 months later . His parents were very disappointed reportedly , for they became counting on Tetsuzo rather than his eldest brother , who was already studying at some university in a large city and wouldn ' t come back to Masuda . In 1936 , when he was a naval mechanic 2nd class and a crewman on the light aircraft carrier Ryujo , he studied hard and passed the difficult IJNAF exam , among thousands of applicants , being enrolled in the class 34th Soju - Renshusei ( " Soren " in short , means " flight trainee program " ) for naval petty officers and sailors . He graduated as one of the select 26 young aviators of the class 34th Soju - Renshusei ( flight trainee program ) in December of that year . On April 4 , 1936 , he was sent to Kasumigaura - Ku ( Kasumigaura FR ( AG ) ) as a probation for the class 34th Sojyu - Renshusei ( flight trainee program ) , then on April 28 , formally joined Kasumigaura - Ku . While his training going on November 1 , 1936 , he was promoted to naval mechanic 1st class . Finally on December 26 , he graduated 34th class of Sojyu - Renshusei , was promoted to airman 1st class ( old rank name of pre - war Japan , equivalent to senior airman ) . During flight training school at the Tomobe branch of Kasumigaura - Ku ( Kasumigaura FR ( AG ) ) , his fighter course instructor was the famous Chitoshi Isozaki . Isozaki was promoted to lieutenant until the end of the war and was later respected among all ranks of IJNAF Zero fighter pilots postwar Japan . The six members of the fighter course , the class 34th Soju - Renshusei were as followed : In December 1936 . Iwamoto entered Saeki " Kokutai " ( Air Group ) for 6 months of advanced training ( called as " extended education " ) , finished and next entered Omura " Kaigun Kokutai " ( Naval Air Group ) at July 16 , 1937 . He had hard training there every day from senior pilots including Air Petty Officer 1st class Toshio Kuroiwa ( rank grade was at that time ) , who was the IJNAF legendary dogfight master pilot . Tetsuzo Iwamoto ( called " Tetsu " in short from his senior pilots ) had to wait for his debut until February 10 , 1938 . China front . Tetsuzo ' s ability as a fighter pilot was recognized by all on his first air mission with the 13th Flying Group on February 25 , 1938 over Nanchang , China . After combat training , on February 10 , 1938 , Tetsuzo Iwamoto was led by his leader APO 1 / C Toshio Kuroiwa , flying for two and a quarter hours over the China Sea from Omura Airbase at Kyūshū Japan to the airfield outside of Nanjing China . His squadron on the Chinese frontline was the 13th Flying Group Fighter Squadron . This Flying Group was the considered the best and was famed as the " Nango Fighter Squadron " , named after its former squadron leader , Mochifumi Nango , who showed extreme courage and conspicuous leadership . Nango had a famous samurai sword named " Kotetsu " with him , which became the metaphor for old IJNAF pilots ' yearned for " Commander Nango " . Iwamoto ' s first combat came on February 25 , 1938 over Nanchang . The squadron fighters escorted bombers Type 96 land - based attack aircraft . Then the Chinese ' s tenacious air force attacked , and his squadron leader Lieutenant Takuma was lost on this mission . Iwamoto described his first combat in his notes . During the escort mission , his squadron was intercepted by sixteen I - 15s and I - 16s at an altitude of 5000 meters . Iwamoto claimed 4 victories ( 1 probable ) in the combat . He got his first victory by firing when within 50m of the enemy fighter . He first saw white smoke , then the enemy burned up and crashed . He was then at an altitude of 4000 m . When he looked back , there was an enemy fighter just behind him . He instantly made a Split S maneuver and narrowly escaped . He got his second victory against an I - 15 . He saw it below him , turned and attacked from its 6 o ' clock high . When it was hit , it climbed sharply and went spinning downward out of control and crashed into the ground . He kept his altitude of 4 , 000 m . He got an I - 16 at the top of its roll in his gunsight and fired a burst , its engine burning and out of control ; Tetsuzo lost sight of it before it crashed , and he reported this as probable . Another I - 15 came down to him from 12 o ' clock ahead . Both made a climb and were soon in a dogfight . The I - 15 tried to break free of him and made a straight dive . That action made it easier for Tetsuzo to aim . He downed this I - 15 on farmland near the airfield . He was down to an altitude of 2000 m . Above him , many enemy fighters kept maneuvering . He found one of them coming down with landing gears down . He chased it to an altitude of 200 m and fired a burst . The I - 16 was surprised and made a split S maneuver , but crashed at a corner of the airfield . This was his 4th victory . Anti - aircraft guns started firing heavily , and he found himself in a terrible barrage of flak . Rushing to escape at full throttle with a number of enemy fighters behind him , he succeeded in returning safely from the battlefield . His leader Kuroiwa had already returned to the Wuhu airfield , Anhui China , waiting for his return . Kuroiwa scolded Tetsu severely for his rash attacks of the day . The 13th Flying Group Fighter Squadron was merged with the 12th Fighter Squadron on March 22 , 1938 , where Type 96 carrier fighters for 1st Chutai had gears painted in red called " Red legs squadron " , for 2nd Chutai in blue called " Blue legs squadron " . Iwamoto was awarded the citation of flying group Cmdr Tsukahara for his extreme courage and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as a fighter pilot against intense Chinese air force on April 29 , 1938 . He made 82 sorties and 14 victories credited in the China front . Tetsuzo Iwamoto became the top IJNAF ace . His activities subsequently earned him " Order of the Golden Kite - 5th class " recommendation in 1940 . In September 1938 , 22 years old Iwamoto was ordered back to Japan , where he became a member of the Saiki Air Group and appointed to a training staff . His tactics . Single to single dogfight tactic - from losing to winning Formation tactics - No . 3 Areal Bomb attack tactic - Promotions . " from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia " Awards . " from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia " Postwar . Postwar tales of friendships between Allied pilots and IJNAF aces were not the case for Iwamoto . Allied Occupation Forces searched for war criminals in the Japanese Officer Corps . He was summoned twice to Douglas MacArthur ' s Allied GHQ office in Tokyo . Though he avoided being declared a war criminal , he was blacklisted for public sector employment . Managers of nongovernmental businesses and local factories in his hometown also didn ' t dare to employ him to comply with the wishes of the new Allied GHQ . Those who had been officers in the IJA or IJN were disliked by the Allied Occupation Forces . Japanese journalists who had promoted and heavily exaggerated the militarism campaign during WW2 started a radio program of anti - militarism postwar called " " " Shin - Jitsu wa Kou da ( The Truth Is This ) " " " . People like Iwamoto were considered the cat ' s - paws of militarism there . Iwamoto had a hard time until the San Francisco Peace Conference was held and the Allied Occupation Forces left Japan in the spring of 1952 . In 1952 , he finally got employment at the spinning mill , Masuda factory of " Daiwa Bouseki ( now renamed as " Daiwabo " Co . , Ltd , 大和紡績 ) " . However , in the summer 1953 , he got a stomachache . A surgeon examined him and diagnosed " enteritis " . It was found later to be " appendicitis " . After a series of operations , he complained of a backache . They decided to operate on him again . With cause unknown , they removed three or four ribs without anesthesia . This led to " sepsis " ( septicemia , blood poisoning ) . His wife recalled his words , " When I get well , I want to fly again . " The Zero Fighter ace died on 20 May 1955 .