Yamamoto's last moments
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 4:16 am
In an attempt to bump the "USN-bias" thread down the page, and hopefully out of our lives forever, I thought I would post this stirring first-person account of Admiral Yamamoto's last moments in April 1943 which I just read in FIRE IN THE SKY: THE AIR WAR IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC (Bergerud). It comes from the diary of his Chief of Staff, Admiral Matome Ugaki who was flying in the second Betty next to Yamamoto's plane:
"The weather was fine, visibility good. From time to time three fighters each were seen escorting to the right and left in the rear above. I remember our altitude was about 1,500 meters...The second plane was flying in tandem with the first aircraft at its side rear in perfect formation, so I feared our wingtips might touch. I could clearly see the profile of the commander in chief in the skipper's seat and the other people moving in the first plane. I enjoyed a pleasant flight as I followed the explanation of the topography down below with an aviation map. When we reached the west side of Bougainville and were passing straight over the jungle with altitude lowered to 700 or 800 meters, the skipper handed me a piece of paper on which was written, 'Expect to arrive at 0745." I looked at my wrist watch and it was just 0730 and I thought it would be fifteen minutes more before we landed.
At this point the plane suddenly started to dive, following the first plane, and went down to fifty meters. We all wondered what happened! I asked the skipper, an air warrant officer, who was in the passage, 'What's the matter?' 'May be some mistake,' he answered. But it was a great mistake to say so and he was most careless...By the time we lowered altitude to treetop level, air combat had already been in progress between our escorting fighters and the enemy. Four times as many as our fighters [Ugaki understandably exaggerates: Only four P-38s attacked the bombers; the others flew high cover at 12,000 feet--Bergerud], the enemy planes bore down mercilessly upon the bigger game of the two bombers. We made a quick turn of over 90 degrees to evade them. Watching the sky above and noticing an enemy plane charging in, the skipper tapped the chief pilot's shoulder and directed him to turn left or right.
The first plane turned to the right and the second to the left. The distance between them increased. After we evaded about twice, I turned to the right to see how the first plane was evading. What I saw then was astounding. Lo! The first plane was staggering southward, just brushing the jungle top with reduced speed, emitting black smoke and flame. It was about four thousand meters away from us. I just said to myself: 'My God!' I could think of nothing else. I grabbed the shoulder of Air Staff Officer Muroi, pointed to the first aircraft and said, 'Look at the Commander in Chief's plane!' This became my parting with him forever. All this happened in only about twenty seconds.
In the meantime, my plane turned again sharply to evade another enemy attack, and we lost sight of the Commander in Chief's aircraft...Next glance revealed that the plane was no more to be seen, only a pall of black smoke rising to the sky from the jungle. Oh! Everything was over now!...At that moment our plane was at full speed and soon came out over the sea. Enemy attacks were at first concentrated on the first plane. Looking back, I could see dogfights still going on.
Making a rising half turn then a quick turn, a P-38 came upon us at last. Here he comes! Our machine gun opened fire upon him desperately. Although it worked well, it didn't seem to hit him. The enemy P-38 rapidly closed in, taking advantage of his superior speed. His gunfire caught us splendidly, and oncoming bullets were seen on both sides of our plane. I felt them hitting our aircraft from time to time. Now we were hopeless, and I thought my end was very near at hand.
The sound of our machine-gun fire was reduced by this time, and the skipper could not be heard anymore. I thought quite a number must have been killed in the plane. Staff Officer Muroi was leaning on a table with his face down and arms outstretched. He must have already been killed. The chief pilot sitting in front of me felt bullets hitting the right wing and tried to get down to sea level with a down rudder in preparation for a crash landing...When the bomber was near the sea surface, the pilot lost control. He pulled back all the throttles at once, but it was no use. The ship ditched into the sea at full speed and rolled over to the left by more than 90 degrees....Everything went black and I felt the sea water rushing all over my body with fair pressure. I could do absolutely nothing. I told myself, 'This is the end of Ugaki.'
Right after I gave it all up, all of a sudden it lightened. When I opened my eyes, incredibly, I found myself floating on the sea surface. What a miracle! The fuselage had already disappeared and the right wing was standing upside down in the sea right behind me and was still burning fiercely. I couldn't see any men aruound."
POWERFUL STUFF.
Bergerud then goes on to describe how Ugaki and two others were rescued, only to see Ugaki kill himself as a Kamikaze late in the war. They later found Yamamoto's charred corpse in the jungle, still clutching his sword....a samurai to the end.
"The weather was fine, visibility good. From time to time three fighters each were seen escorting to the right and left in the rear above. I remember our altitude was about 1,500 meters...The second plane was flying in tandem with the first aircraft at its side rear in perfect formation, so I feared our wingtips might touch. I could clearly see the profile of the commander in chief in the skipper's seat and the other people moving in the first plane. I enjoyed a pleasant flight as I followed the explanation of the topography down below with an aviation map. When we reached the west side of Bougainville and were passing straight over the jungle with altitude lowered to 700 or 800 meters, the skipper handed me a piece of paper on which was written, 'Expect to arrive at 0745." I looked at my wrist watch and it was just 0730 and I thought it would be fifteen minutes more before we landed.
At this point the plane suddenly started to dive, following the first plane, and went down to fifty meters. We all wondered what happened! I asked the skipper, an air warrant officer, who was in the passage, 'What's the matter?' 'May be some mistake,' he answered. But it was a great mistake to say so and he was most careless...By the time we lowered altitude to treetop level, air combat had already been in progress between our escorting fighters and the enemy. Four times as many as our fighters [Ugaki understandably exaggerates: Only four P-38s attacked the bombers; the others flew high cover at 12,000 feet--Bergerud], the enemy planes bore down mercilessly upon the bigger game of the two bombers. We made a quick turn of over 90 degrees to evade them. Watching the sky above and noticing an enemy plane charging in, the skipper tapped the chief pilot's shoulder and directed him to turn left or right.
The first plane turned to the right and the second to the left. The distance between them increased. After we evaded about twice, I turned to the right to see how the first plane was evading. What I saw then was astounding. Lo! The first plane was staggering southward, just brushing the jungle top with reduced speed, emitting black smoke and flame. It was about four thousand meters away from us. I just said to myself: 'My God!' I could think of nothing else. I grabbed the shoulder of Air Staff Officer Muroi, pointed to the first aircraft and said, 'Look at the Commander in Chief's plane!' This became my parting with him forever. All this happened in only about twenty seconds.
In the meantime, my plane turned again sharply to evade another enemy attack, and we lost sight of the Commander in Chief's aircraft...Next glance revealed that the plane was no more to be seen, only a pall of black smoke rising to the sky from the jungle. Oh! Everything was over now!...At that moment our plane was at full speed and soon came out over the sea. Enemy attacks were at first concentrated on the first plane. Looking back, I could see dogfights still going on.
Making a rising half turn then a quick turn, a P-38 came upon us at last. Here he comes! Our machine gun opened fire upon him desperately. Although it worked well, it didn't seem to hit him. The enemy P-38 rapidly closed in, taking advantage of his superior speed. His gunfire caught us splendidly, and oncoming bullets were seen on both sides of our plane. I felt them hitting our aircraft from time to time. Now we were hopeless, and I thought my end was very near at hand.
The sound of our machine-gun fire was reduced by this time, and the skipper could not be heard anymore. I thought quite a number must have been killed in the plane. Staff Officer Muroi was leaning on a table with his face down and arms outstretched. He must have already been killed. The chief pilot sitting in front of me felt bullets hitting the right wing and tried to get down to sea level with a down rudder in preparation for a crash landing...When the bomber was near the sea surface, the pilot lost control. He pulled back all the throttles at once, but it was no use. The ship ditched into the sea at full speed and rolled over to the left by more than 90 degrees....Everything went black and I felt the sea water rushing all over my body with fair pressure. I could do absolutely nothing. I told myself, 'This is the end of Ugaki.'
Right after I gave it all up, all of a sudden it lightened. When I opened my eyes, incredibly, I found myself floating on the sea surface. What a miracle! The fuselage had already disappeared and the right wing was standing upside down in the sea right behind me and was still burning fiercely. I couldn't see any men aruound."
POWERFUL STUFF.
Bergerud then goes on to describe how Ugaki and two others were rescued, only to see Ugaki kill himself as a Kamikaze late in the war. They later found Yamamoto's charred corpse in the jungle, still clutching his sword....a samurai to the end.
