was a Japanese army aviator known for achieving

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

status against

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

es. Among pilots in his air group, the 70th Sentai, Yoshida downed the second-highest number of B-29s: six confirmed and one probable. He was awarded the ''

Bukosho The ("Badge for Military Merit"), commonly called the Bukōshō, was a military decoration of the Empire of Japan, established on 7 December 1944 by Imperial edict. It was awarded by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) to living soldiers who had pe ...

'', the highest award given by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

to soldiers who demonstrated (and survived) exceptionally valorous action in combat.

Career

In 1921, Yoshida was born in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

, the capital of

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

. In 1939, he enrolled as an officer candidate in the 55th class of the

Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Academy The was the principal officers' training school for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service. The classrooms of the academy were located in the city of Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. An airfield was added in 1937 and used by the IJA ...

northwest of Tokyo. He completed his studies in March 1942 and was directed to the Akeno Fighter School to learn advanced fighter techniques. After this he was assigned to the 70th Sentai, flying the

Nakajima Ki-44 The Nakajima Ki-44 ''Shoki'' (鍾馗, " Devil Queller") was a single-seat fighter-interceptor which was developed by the Nakajima Aircraft Company and operated by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. Its official de ...

''Shōki'', called "Tojo" by the

Allies of World War II The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. ...

. On 29 July 1944, American

XX Bomber Command The XX Bomber Command was a United States Army Air Forces bomber formation. Its last assignment was with Twentieth Air Force, based on Okinawa. It was inactivated on 16 July 1945. History The idea of basing Boeing B-29 Superfortresses in C ...

attacked Japanese military forces in

Anshan Anshan () is an inland prefecture-level city in central-southeast Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, about south of the provincial capital Shenyang. As of the 2020 census, it was Liaoning's third most populous city with a population ...

, Manchuria, with 96 very heavy bombers. In August, Yoshida's air group moved to the Anshan area to provide air defense, flying the uprated Ki-44-II, with four larger 12.7 mm (.5 in) machine guns and a more powerful engine. On 8 September, 108 of the B-29s returned. The 70th Sentai rose to meet them and First Lieutenant Yoshida claimed one probable. American B-29 groups were next directed to bomb Japan itself, so to counter the attacks the 70th Sentai was transferred in November 1944 to

Kashiwa, Chiba is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 433,436 in 194,216 households and a population density of 3800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The name of the city is written with a si ...

, northeast of Tokyo. The fighter pilots were given newer 20 mm

Ho-5 cannon The Ho-5 (Army Type 2) was a Japanese aircraft autocannon used during World War II. Developed from the Ho-103 machine gun, it was a version of the American Model 1921 Browning aircraft machine gun. It replaced the Ho-1 and Ho-3 (Army Type 9 ...

-equipped

Nakajima Ki-84 The is a single-seat fighter flown by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in the last two years of World War II. The Allied reporting name was "Frank"; the Japanese Army designation was . The Ki-84 is generally considered the best Japanese fi ...

machines, called "Frank" by the Allies. In February, Captain Yoshida was made the leader of 3rd Chutai; a position he held until the end of the war in August 1945. He brought to his squadron an aggressive determination to score against the B-29s; on 13 April and again on 15 April he shot down a B-29 in night actions. He scored against four more in the following six weeks—all at night. Yoshida was awarded the ''

'', his citation mentioning the bravery of the September 1944 action in the obsolescent Ki-44. In the summer of 1945, Yoshida underwent testing to see if he was physically fit enough to fly the rocket-powered

Mitsubishi J8M The Mitsubishi J8M ''Shūsui'' (Japanese: 三菱 J8M 秋水, literally "Autumn Water", used as a poetic term meaning "Sharp Sword" deriving from the swishing sound of a sword) was a Japanese World War II rocket-powered interceptor aircraft close ...

''Shūsui'', Japan's copy of the German

Messerschmitt Me 163 The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as th ...

''Komet''. The war ended before he was able to fly one of these aircraft.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshida, Yoshio 1921 births Japanese World War II flying aces Japanese Army officers Military personnel from Hiroshima Prefecture Year of death missing People from Hiroshima