Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, From the Red Baron to the F-16 (50 page)

Drastically outgunned at the start of World War II, the Soviets eventually closed the gap on the German Bf 109. Shown here is a Yak-9, brought into service in late 1942.

Japanese Zero pilots await the attack on Pearl Harbor aboard the aircraft carrier
Akagi.

(U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

December 7, 1941: an aerial photograph taken by a Japanese pilot during the Pearl Harbor attack.

Mariana Islands, June 1944: “Japanese plane shot down as it attempted to attack USS
Kitkun Bay
.”

(U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

“Japanese torpedo bomber explodes in air after direct hit by 5-inch shell from U.S. aircraft carrier attack on carrier.”

(U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

Saburo Sakai: “With 62 victories, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s second highest scoring pilot to survive World War II.”

(National Museum of the U.S. Air Force)

A Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52: the “Zero.”

A land-based Kawanishi N1K2-Ja Shiden Kai: the “Violet Lightning.”

U.S. Navy warplanes en route to avenge Pearl Harbor.

(U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

American F6F Hellcat pilots aboard the USS
Lexington
.

A battle-damaged F4F aboard the USS
Enterprise
.

“The crew of the USS
South Dakota
stands with bowed heads . . . in honor of fellow shipmates killed in the air action off Guam on June 19, 1944.”

(U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)