New Guinea 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 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. 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." To the Lae Commander: "We were much impressed with those three pilots who visited us today, and we all liked the loops they flew over our field. It was quite an exhibition. We would appreciate it if the same pilots returned here once again, each wearing a green muffler around his neck. We're sorry we could not give them better attention on their last trip, but we will see to it that the next time they will receive an all-out welcome from us." Nishizawa, Sakai and Ōta stood at stiff attention and tried to suppress laughing out loud, while Lieutenant Sasai dressed them down over their "idiotic behavior" and prohibited them from staging any more aerobatic shows over enemy airfields. The Tainan Kōkūtai's three leading aces secretly agreed that the aerial choreography had been worth it.
Guadalcanal In early August 1942, the air group moved to
Rabaul, immediately operating against the US forces on
Guadalcanal. In the first clash on 7 August, Nishizawa claimed six
F4F Wildcats (historians have confirmed two kills). On 8 August 1942,
Saburō Sakai, Nishizawa's closest friend, was severely wounded in combat with U.S. Navy carrier-based bombers. Nishizawa noticed that Sakai was missing and went into a mad rage. He searched the area, both for signs of Sakai and for Americans to fight. Eventually, he cooled off and returned to Lakunai. Later, to everyone's amazement, the seriously wounded Sakai arrived. Struck in the head by a bullet, covered with blood and blind in one eye, he returned to base in his damaged Zero after a four-hour, 47-minute flight over . Nishizawa, Lieutenant Sasai and Toshio Ōta transported the obstinate but barely-conscious Sakai to the hospital. In frustrated concern, Nishizawa physically removed the waiting driver and personally drove Sakai, as quickly but as gently as possible, to the surgeon. Sakai was evacuated to Japan on August 12. The extended conflict over Guadalcanal was costly for Nishizawa's air group (renamed the 251st in November) as American aircraft and tactics improved: Sasai (with 27 victories) was shot down and killed by Captain
Marion E. Carl on 26 August 1942, and Ōta (34 kills) was killed on 21 October 1942.
Return to Japan In mid-November, the 251st was recalled to Toyohashi air base in Japan to replace its losses, with the ten surviving pilots all being made instructors, including Nishizawa. Nishizawa is believed to have had around 40 full or partial aerial victories by this time (some sources claim 54). over the Solomon Islands in May 1943. The unit's aircraft have been hastily sprayed with dark green camouflage paint on the upper surfaces.Nishizawa, while staying in Japan, visited
Saburō Sakai, who was still recuperating in the Yokosuka hospital. Nishizawa complained to Sakai of his new duty as an instructor: "Saburō, can you picture me running around in a rickety old biplane, teaching some fool youngster how to bank and turn, and how to keep his pants dry?" Nishizawa also ascribed the loss of most of their comrade pilots to the ever increasing material advantage of the Allied forces, the improved U.S. aircraft and tactics. "It's not as you remember, Saburō," he said. "There was nothing I could do. There were just too many enemy planes, just too many." Even so, Nishizawa could not wait to return to combat. "I want a fighter under my hands again," he said. "I simply have to get back into action. Staying home in Japan is killing me." Nishizawa publicly chafed at the months of inaction in Japan. He and the 251st returned to Rabaul in May 1943. In June 1943, Nishizawa's achievements were honored by a gift from the commander of the 11th Air Fleet, Vice Admiral Jin'ichi Kusaka. Nishizawa received a
military sword inscribed "
Buko Batsugun" ("For Conspicuous Military Valor"). He was then transferred to the 253rd Air Group on New Britain in September. In November, he was promoted to warrant officer and reassigned to training duties in Japan with the Oita Air Group. In February 1944, he joined the 203rd Air Group, operating from the
Kurile Islands, away from heavy action.
Philippines campaign In October, however, the 203rd was transferred to
Luzon. Nishizawa and four others were detached to a smaller airfield on Cebu. On 25 October 1944, Nishizawa led the fighter escort consisting of four A6M5s, flown by Nishizawa, Misao Sugawa, Shingo Honda and Ryoji Baba for the first major
kamikaze attack of the war, targeting Vice Admiral
Clifton Sprague's "Taffy 3" task force, which was protecting the landings in the
Battle of Leyte Gulf. on 25 October 1944 , 25 October 1944.The plane missed the ship '', causing an enormous fireball 25 October 1944 attacked 26 Oct 1944 While flying fighter escort to this
kamikaze mission, Nishizawa recorded at minimum, his 86th and 87th victories (both
Grumman F6F Hellcats), the final aerial victories of his career. Nishizawa had a
premonition during the flight; he saw in a
vision his own death. Nishizawa reported the sortie's success to Commander Nakajima after returning to base. He then volunteered to take part in the next day's
Tokkōtai kamikaze mission. His request was refused. Instead, Nishizawa's A6M5 Zero was armed with a bomb and flown by Naval Air Pilot 1st Class Tomisaku Katsumata. A less experienced pilot, he nevertheless dove into the escort carrier off Surigao. Katsumata crashed on
Suwanees flight deck and careened into a torpedo bomber which had just been recovered. The two planes erupted upon contact as did nine other planes on her flight deck. Although the ship was not sunk, she burned for several hours, and 85 of her crewmen were killed, 58 were missing and 102 wounded.
Death The following day, his own Zero having been destroyed, Nishizawa and other pilots of the 201st Kōkūtai boarded a
Nakajima Ki-49 Donryu ("Helen") transport aircraft in the morning and left for
Clark Field in
Mabalacat, Pampanga to ferry replacement Zeros from
Luzon back to their airfield in Cebu. Over
Calapan on
Mindoro Island, the Ki-49 transport was attacked by two F6F Hellcats of
VF-14 squadron from the fleet carrier and was shot down in flames. Nishizawa died as a passenger, probably the victim of
Lt. (j.g.) Harold P. Newell, who was credited with a "Helen" northeast of Mindoro that morning. Upon learning of Nishizawa's death, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral
Soemu Toyoda, honored Nishizawa with a mention in an all-units bulletin and posthumously promoted him to the rank of
lieutenant junior-grade. Nishizawa was also given the posthumous name
Bukai-in Kohan Giko Kyoshi, a Zen Buddhist phrase that translates:
"In the ocean of the military, reflective of all distinguished pilots, an honored Buddhist person." Because of the confusion towards the end of the Pacific war, the bulletin's publication was delayed and funeral services were not held until December 2, 1947. Nishizawa's remains were never recovered. ==References==