was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

. In early 1942, at the age of 22, he flew a

Mitsubishi A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-capable fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 1940 to 1945. The ...

with the

Lae Lae (, , later ) is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River on the northern coast of Huon Gulf. It is at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is ...

-based

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 ...

. There the young petty officer, 1st class became one of the so-called "Clean-up Trio" of Japanese aces, along with his squadron mates Saburo Sakai and

Hiroyoshi Nishizawa was a Japanese naval aviator and an ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during World War II. Nishizawa was known to his colleagues as 'the Devil' for his breathtaking, brilliant, and unpredictable aerobatics and superb control of his ...

. Ōta's first confirmed kill, of a U.S. Army Air Force P-40E Warhawk, was over New Guinea on April 11, 1942. Transferred to

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province ...

in August, Ōta was killed in a dogfight with U.S. Marine Corps

Grumman F4F Wildcat The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based A carrier-based aircraft (also known as carrier-capable aircraft, carrier-borne aircraft, carrier aircraft or aeronaval aircraft) is a naval aircraft designed for operations from aircra ...

s over

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

on October 21, shortly after shooting down a Wildcat himself. His victorious opponent is believed to be 1st Lt. Frank C. Drury of VMF-212. Ōta is credited with 34 victories, making him the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

's fourth-ranking ace. In his autobiography, Sakai described Ōta as outgoing and amiable, in contrast to the more reserved Nishizawa, and said he would have been "more at home in a nightclub" than in Lae.

References

*'
Winged Samurai
- Saburo Sakai and the Zero Fighter Pilots"'' by Henry Sakaida, Champlin Fighter Museum, 1985, {{DEFAULTSORT:Ota, Toshio 1919 births 1942 deaths Japanese naval aviators Japanese World War II flying aces Imperial Japanese Navy personnel killed in World War II