Killing Yamamoto

One of the most heroic World War II air raids by US forces was the one that killed Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander of the Combined Japanese Fleet and the man who planned the Pearl Harbor and Midway attacks in 1941 and 1942. The raid occurred on April 18, 1943, exactly one year after the famous Doolittle raid on Japan, but it accomplished more by eliminating Japan's most important admiral and leading strategist. This account stresses the crucial teamwork and planning, by codebreakers, strategic leaders, and pilots of the US Marine Corps, the US Navy, and the Army Air Corps, which achieved an almost miraculous interception. Those issues outweigh in significance the great controversy that emerged over the question of which of the pilots actually shot down the Yamamoto aircraft.

Dr. Daniel L. Haulman is Chief, Organizational History Division, at the Air Force Historical Research Agency, where he has worked since 1982. He has authored three books, including Air Force Aerial Victory Credits: World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam; The United States Air Force and Humanitarian Airlift Operations, 1947-1994; and One Hundred Years of Flight: USAF Chronology of Significant Air and Space Events, 1903-2002.