Flight Petty Officer Third Class Hajime Toyoshima (豊嶋 一, Toyoshima Hajime; 29 March 1920 – 5 August 1944) was a…
Flight Petty Officer Third Class Hajime Toyoshima (豊嶋 一, Toyoshima Hajime; 29 March 1920 – 5 August 1944) was a Japanese airman in World War II. His A6M Zero was the first of that type to be recovered relatively intact on Allied territory (after those recovered after the attack on Pearl Harbor) when he crash landed on Melville Island, Northern Territory, Australia. Toyoshima was the first Japanese prisoner of war to be captured in Australia. In August 1944, while a POW in rural New South Wales, Toyoshima was one of the instigators of the Cowra breakout, sounding a bugle to signal the commencement of the escape, and died during the fight.
Famous People from Kagawa Prefecture
Kagawa Prefecture: 2 people
Kanichi Kashimura (樫村 寛一, Kashimura Kan'ichi; July 5, 1913 – March 6, 1943) was an Imperial Japanese Navy Naval Ace of…
Kanichi Kashimura (樫村 寛一, Kashimura Kan'ichi; July 5, 1913 – March 6, 1943) was an Imperial Japanese Navy Naval Ace of the Second Sino-Japanese and Second World War. On December 9, 1937, Kashimura fought Hawk III over Nan- chang, destroying one and then colliding with another aircraft (an unknown type that could have been either Japanese or Chinese), tearing off a third of his left wing. Through superb piloting, the calm aviator brought his crippled Claude' back to base, and after four landing attempts, the aircraft somersaulted on touching the ground on its fourth approach and lost its tail in the subsequent crash. Astoundingly, the pilot walked away from the wreckage unharmed. Local news reporters quickly sent the story back to Japan, where Kashimura gained instant fame. On March 6, 1943 he was shot down and killed by a US aircraft near the Russell Islands.