Yellow 15, flown by Dai-i Naoshi Kanno, Commander of the 301st Hikotai, 343rd Kokutai, Kanoya/Japan, 14 April 1945
Yellow 15, flown by Dai-i Naoshi Kanno, Commander of the 301st Hikotai, 343rd Kokutai, Kanoya/Japan, 14 April 1945
Naoshi Kanno was a man of short stature with a bulldog-like spirit who had graduated from the Naval Academy in November 1942. He was thereafter posted to the Battleship Fuso in charge of an anti-aircraft battery. After six months however, he switched to aviation and graduated from the fighter course at Oita in September of 1943. He was then posted to the 343rd Kokutai, seeing heavy action around Micronesia. After the unit was disbanded due to heavy losses, he was transferred to the 201st Ku. After fighting serous battles over Yap and the Philippines, the war situation became critical for the Japanese. As a consequence of this, Kanno, who held seniority rank, would be picked as the leader for the first kamikaze mission on 25 October 1944. He was absent however ferrying fighters to the unit, so his classmate from the Academy, Lt. Yukie Seki, was picked instead. Then, when Capt. Genda was selecting his squadron leaders for the 343rd Kokutai, Lt. Kanno was the first man he thought of. Arriving at his new unit, Kanno had a personal score of over 30 victories, completely unique for a pilot who started his combat career in 1944, so Kanno was put in charge of the 301st Hikotai. During the battles fought by the 343rd, the Executive Officer, Lt. Cdr. Yoshio Shiga, commented that Lt. Kanno: "was much like an aggressive Admiral". On this day, 34 Shiden-Kai´s led by Lt. Kanno, were tasked with a fighter sweep over the Amami Shoto Islands. Fighting a running battle with about 180 enemy fighters the unit lost a large number of machines for just a handful of claims. The USN pilots had on the other hand experienced another "Turkey Shoot", claiming 50 fighters and another six damaged for a loss of two fighters. Lt. Naoshi Kanno was lost on 1 August, when attacking 19 B-24s from 494th BG near Yaku Shima. Apparently, the center section of a wing suddenly exploded tearing a one-meter hole by his outer gun. Kanno radioed: "This is Kanno, number one! My shell exploded in the barrel, pulling up". Lt. Naoshi Kanno was never seen again, the last of the three Hikotai leaders to be killed in action. He was credited with four victories while in the 343rd and his total is quoted from 25 to 34 kills with another 13 probables. Note the two yellow fuselage bands, denoting that this aircraft was flown by the 301st Hikotai leader.