Japanese Forces

Aces among them

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Fighter pilots of the Tainan (Southern Taiwan) Air Group pose at the air base in Lae (Papua New Guinea) in June 1942. Among them are some of the most famous Japanese naval aviation aces: Saburō Sakai, (second from left in the second row), Toshio Ōta, (far left in the second row) and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (standing far left in the third row). Tainan Air Group was formed in October 1941 in Formosa (Taiwan) and their fighting in the Pacific has become one of the most famous and successful part of the Japanese naval aviation.