Naoshi Kanno


Naoshi Kanno was a Japanese fighter ace in World War II. He is credited with 25 confirmed kills.
Piloting his Shiden-Kai, which had yellow stripes painted on its fuselage, he invented the "anti-large bomber tactic" of flipping over and diving headfirst vertically into the enemy aircraft from an altitude of more than 1,000 meters ahead of it, attacking it from directly above. So, he was feared by the pilots of large fighter planes of the US military and was nicknamed the "Yellow Fighter."

Life and career

Kanno was born on 23 September 1921, as the second son in Ryukou, Korea under Japanese rule, where his father was posted as the police chief. He grew up in Edano Village, Igu District, Miyagi Prefecture; his parents were from the same area.
Kanno attended Kakuda Junior High School, where he was devoted to Takuboku Ishikawa, liked tanka, and formed a literary circle with his classmates. Some tanka of Kanno were selected for the literary section of the Kahoku Shimpo. In his diary from that time, he wrote, "I wonder if Takuboku was a person like me," and in his diary entry for September 14, 1938, he wrote, "The reason Napoleon does not interest me is because he is a materialist who does not understand the pathos of things." He was thinking about studying literature, and when he was in the fourth year of junior high school, he was studying for university entrance exams, but for financial reasons, decided to join the military.
Kanno enrolled in the Japanese Navy Academy in December 1938, graduating in February 1943 in the 70th class. Upon completion of flight school, he was assigned to the front lines in April 1943, joining the 343rd Naval Air Group, quickly becoming a squadron commander and by July 1944, he was leading the 306th Squadron of the. He gained a reputation as a rebellious but skillful fighter pilot. Initially based in Micronesia, his unit fought many engagements over the Philippines and Yap island. On 27 October 1944, he claimed to have shot down 12 Grumman F6F fighter planes. He made requests to transfer to a kamikaze unit, but the requests were denied, as he was considered too valuable a pilot to sacrifice. In December 1944, he became the squadron commander of the 301st Squadron of the 343rd Air Group. His unit moved back to Kyushu in the Japanese home islands toward the end of the war.

Disappearance and aftermath

Kanno's final mission took place on 1 August 1945, two weeks before the end of the war, when he took off to intercept a group of B-24 bombers escorted by P-51 Mustang fighters off the island of Yakushima, south of Kyushu. He sustained damage when the barrel of his gun exploded, and went missing in action shortly afterwards, presumed dead. His remains were never found, and his favorite wallet was subsequently enshrined at Yūshūkan in Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan. He was posthumously promoted two ranks to Commander.

In fiction

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