The Last Zero Fighter

By: Dan King

Narrated by: Drew Bott

Firsthand accounts from interviews conducted in Japan with five WWII Japanese Naval aviators. All are veterans of the pivotal battles of the Pacific War including; USS Panay, Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Rabaul, Port Darwin, Indian Ocean Raid, Ceylon, Midway, Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the kamikaze in the Philippines, the home defense and the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Includes an introduction to the Japanese pilot training system for both officers and enlisted men.

Each pilot is followed from the time he joined the navy until war's end. They explain in their own words; why they joined the navy, what they thought about the war, about the aircraft they flew, how they felt about their friends and their former adversaries.

The interviews were conducted firsthand in their own language by King who is a linguist and Pacific War historian who spent 10 years living in Japan.

©2012, 2018 Dan King (P)2020 Dan King

Unique perspective.

Nothing I found to dislike here. The fact that the narrator/author was able to pronounce the names and various Japanese terms correctly was refreshing! I recently listened to the preview of “Samurai” about Saburo Sakai, and the narrator kept pronouncing his name like the rice wine. But this book was a very interesting look into the Japanese side of the Pacific air war, illustrating the human side of the pilots & aircrew.

A really good book.

a great book on the war from the Japanese perspective. Culturally there are differences, but it seems the pilots of both countries were more alike than not.

Raising the benchmark from reading to audible.

I have read "The Last Zero Fighter" written by Dan King several times and found it an excellent read of which I obtain a bit more information every time I reread. Going audible has been a real joy. You get the voice recognition that, in my view, certainly helps to interpret the events and characters. Drew Bott was a great choice as narrator. Some people have voice which are easy to listen to and Mr. Bott is one of them. All of Mr. King's writings are serious deeply researched books which give those small accounts that help to "plug the holes" with valuable information not covered by other writings in the same field of historical events. I consider Mr. King a "scout" of history research. He gains possession of significant fresh evidence to help revise the appreciation of those relevant events.

Brilliant

Please, please, please write more of this. The interviews are brilliant. It's incredible that someone was able to do this. my grandfather fought in Tarawa and died before I was born. I would give anything to be able to talk to him about his time in the Pacific. This book is an absolute treasure and there should be more like this in regards to every war. Especially on topics as surreal as air combat.

The Other Side of thr Story

This book is an excellent view into Japanese Naval aviation. Well worth the read. As an aviator I have developed a more acute appreciation for how the Japanese saw the operational side of the war.