Aces of the Rising Sun: 1937 - 1945

This book combines Aircraft of the Aces 13: 'Japanese Army Air Force Aces 1937-45' and Aircraft of the Aces 22: 'Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45'. Very little has been published in English on the air arms of the Japanese Army and Navy, and the pilots who flew for them. Yet between 1937 and 1945, 150 JAAF and 21 Imperial Japanese Navy pilots achieved 'ace' status in eight years of near-constant warfare. This book relates the experiences of both air forces, revealing how the JAAF aces achieved their scores flying over terrain ranging from the Mongolian plains to the jungles of New Guinea, and how the IJN pilots drew on their experience of fighting over Manchuria, China and Mongolia to take on Allied forces in the Pacific

A third generation Japanese American (Sansei), Henry Sakaida has spent much of his life researching the shadowy history of the Japanese fighter pilot. His eye for detail, and exhaustive research, has led to his being given access to much archive material by former aces who have remained silent since the end of the war. Grant Race is a talented profile artist. He lives and works in Middlesex. Tom has illustrated a number of books in the Aircraft of the Aces and Combat Aircraft series, and was the first artist to produce material for Osprey Aviation electronically.