Hiroyoshi Nishizawa

Lieutenant Junior Grade Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (西澤 広義) was a Japanese naval aviator and an ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during World War II.

Nishizawa was known to his colleagues as 'the Devil' for his breathtaking, brilliant, and unpredictable aerobatics and superb control of his aircraft while in combat.

He was a member of the Tainan Kōkūtai's famous "clean up trio" with fellow aces Saburō Sakai and Toshio Ōta and would see action in the New Guinea campaign as well as in the aerial battles over Guadalcanal and over the Solomon Islands.

Hiroyoshi Nishizawa was born 27 January 1920 in a mountain village in the Nagano Prefecture, the fifth son of Mikiji and Miyoshi Nishizawa.

His father was the manager of a sake brewery.

Hiroyoshi graduated from higher elementary school and then began to work in a textile factory.

In June 1936, a poster caught his eye, an appeal for volunteers to join the Yokaren (flight reserve enlistee training program).

Nishizawa applied and qualified as a student pilot in Class Otsu No. 7 of the Japanese Navy Air Force (JNAF).

He completed his flight training course in March 1939, graduating 16th out of a class of 71.

Before the war, he served with the Oita, Omura and Suzuka Kōkūtai (air groups/wings).

In October 1941, he was transferred to the Chitose Kōkūtai, with the rank of petty officer 1st class.

After the outbreak of war with the Allies, Nishizawa's squadron (chutai) from the Chitose Air Group, then flying the obsolete Mitsubishi A5M, moved to Vunakanau airfield on the newly taken island of New Britain.

The squadron received its first Mitsubishi Zeros (A6M2, Model 21) the same week.

On 3 February 1942, Nishizawa, still flying an obsolete A5M, claimed his first aerial kill of the war, a PBY Catalina; historians have established, however, that the plane was only damaged and managed to return to base.

On 1 April 1942, Nishizawa's squadron was transferred to Lae, New Guinea and assigned to the Tainan Air Group.

There he flew with aces Saburō Sakai and Toshio Ōta in a chutai (squadron) led by Junichi Sasai.

Sakai described his friend Nishizawa as about 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) tall, 63 kg (140 lb) in weight, pale and gaunt, suffering constantly from malaria and tropical skin diseases.

He was accomplished at judo, and his squadron mates, who nicknamed him the "Devil," considered him a reserved, taciturn loner.

Of his performance in the air, Sakai, himself one of Japan's leading aerial aces, wrote, "Never have I seen a man with a fighter plane do what Nishizawa would do with his Zero. His aerobatics were all at once breathtaking, brilliant, totally unpredictable, impossible, and heart-stirring to witness."

They often clashed with United States Army Air Forces and Royal Australian Air Force fighters operating from Port Moresby.

Nishizawa's first confirmable solo kill, of a USAAF P-39 Airacobra, was on April 11.

He claimed six more kills in a 72-hour period from 1–3 May, making him a confirmed fighter ace.

Nishizawa was a member of the famed "Cleanup Trio" with Saburō Sakai and Toshio Ōta.

In the night of 16 May, Nishizawa, Sakai and Ōta were listening at the lounge room to a broadcast of an Australian radio program, when Nishizawa recognized the eerie Danse Macabre of the French composer, pianist and organist Camille Saint-Saëns.

Nishizawa, thinking about this mysterious skeleton dance, now suddenly had a crazy idea: "you know the mission tomorrow at Port Moresby? Why don't we perform a little show, a dance of death of our own? We do a few demonstration loops right over the enemy airfield, this should drive them crazy on the ground."

On 17 May 1942, Lieutenant Commander Tadashi "Shosa" Nakajima led the Tainan Ku on a mission to Port Moresby, with Sakai and Nishizawa as his wingmen.

As the Japanese formation re-formed for the return flight, Sakai signaled Nakajima, that he was going after an enemy aircraft and peeled off.

Minutes later, Sakai was over Port Moresby again, to keep his rendezvous with Nishizawa and Ōta.

The trio now performed aerobatics, three tight loops in close formation.

After that, a jubilant Nishizawa indicated that he wanted to repeat the performance.

Diving to 6000 ft, the three Zeros did three more loops, still without any AA fire from the ground.

They headed then back to Lae, arriving 20 minutes after the rest of the Kōkūtai.

At about 21:00, Lieutenant Junichi Sasai wanted them in his office, immediately.

When they arrived, Sasai held up a letter.

"Do you know where I got this thing?"

he shouted.

He was killed in 1944 during the Philippines Campaign while aboard an IJN transport aircraft.

It is possible that he was the most successful Japanese fighter ace of the war, reportedly telling his last CO that he had achieved a tally of 86 or 87 aerial victories - post war he was linked with scores of 147 or 103, but both of these scores have been considered inaccurate.

On February 10, Nishizawa's squadron was transferred to the newly formed 4th Air Group.

As new Zeros became available, Nishizawa was assigned an A6M2 bearing the tail code F-108.