branch death_place death_date birth_place allegiance battles birth_date rank image article_title name
22x20px yachimata , chiba 24 november 1944 shizuoka prefecture , japan empire of japan second sino-japanese war pacific war 1913 lieutenant junior grade akira yamamoto.jpg akira yamamoto
 akira yamamoto
akira yamamoto

flying from the aircraft carrier `` kaga '' during the attack on pearl harbor in december 1941 , yamamoto claimed to have destroyed a civilian sight-seeing aircraft over oahu which had happened into the path of the japanese first strike wave .
in june 1942 , during the battle of midway , `` kaga '' was fatally damaged by enemy action while yamamoto was participating in the fleet 's combat air patrol .
yamamoto landed his fighter on `` hiryū '' and subsequently joined that carrier 's successful retaliatory strike on the united states navy carrier .
yamamoto claimed to have destroyed four of `` yorktown 's '' fighter aircraft in the attack .
in october 1942 , yamamoto participated in the battle of the santa cruz islands as a member of `` zuihōs fighter group .
he was subsequently transferred to the home islands and participated in aerial battles over iwo jima , during which he was wounded in june 1944 .
after recovering from his injuries , yamamoto took part in the interception of a b-29 bombing mission over japan on 24 november 1944 .
defensive fire from the b-29s crippled yamamoto 's aircraft and he bailed out over yachimata , chiba .
his parachute failed to open and yamamoto plunged to his death .
