was a warrant officer and ace fighter pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the

Pacific theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

of World War II. In aerial combat over the Pacific he was officially credited with destroying eight enemy aircraft with 12 or 13 assists. Shimakawa was a member of the

Tainan Air Group was a fighter aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The flying portion of the unit was heavily involved in many of the major campaigns and battles of the first year of ...

at the beginning of the Pacific War. Often assigned as a wingman to legendary ace

Saburō Sakai was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace (''"Gekitsui-O"'', ) of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Sakai had 28–64 aerial victories, including shared ones, according to official Japanese records, but his autobiography, ''Samura ...

, Shimakawa fought in the conquest of the Philippines and the

Dutch East Indies campaign The Dutch East Indies campaign of 1941–1942 was the conquest of the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) by forces from the Empire of Japan in the early days of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Forces from the Allies attempted u ...

. In April 1942, Shimakawa was transferred to the aircraft carrier ''Kaga's'' fighter group, with which he participated in the Battle of Midway. Surviving the loss of his carrier at Midway, Shimakawa was reassigned to the 204th Air Group with which he was assigned to the Solomon Islands campaign in August 1942. Based on Bougainville, Shimakawa and his comrades frequently tangled with the

Cactus Air Force Cactus Air Force refers to the ensemble of Allied air power assigned to the island of Guadalcanal August 1942 until December 1942 during the early stages of the Guadalcanal Campaign, particularly those operating from Henderson Field. The term " ...

over

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

during the battle for that island. Stricken with malaria, Shimakawa was evacuated to Japan in March 1943. After recovering from his illness, Shimakawa served as an instructor pilot with the

Omura Air Group Omura (小村) or Ōmura (大村) are Japanese surnames, but may also refer to: * Ōmura, Nagasaki, a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan * Omura's whale (''Balaenoptera omurai''), a species of rorqual about which very little is known Peop ...

and various other units until the war ended in September 1945. Shimakawa died on 25 September 1997.

References

* 1921 births 1997 deaths Japanese naval aviators Japanese World War II flying aces People from Tokushima Prefecture Imperial Japanese Navy officers {{Japan-mil-bio-stub