Prologue: October 26, 1942
The familiar sputtering sound of his Mitsubishi A6M Zero reassured PO-1 Ōmori Shigetaka once he ignited its engine. The young fighter pilot was always a bit nervous before a sortie, but as soon as he was surrounded by this familiar cockpit, all his anxiousness seemed to melt away. There was only one thing on his mind now, to protect his squadron from enemy fighters, and to intercept the enemy's bombers.
He was a proud member of the fighter attachment to the Imperial Japanese Navy's (IJN) standard carrier, nameship Shoukaku. The fleet's objective, under the command of Kondo Nobutake and Nagumo Chuichi, was to drive the Allied Fleet away from Guadalcanal to weaken the support of their ground forces fighting on the islands.
Unbeknownst to him, this major naval engagement, christened the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, would end with the loss of over half of the experienced pilots in the IJN. They were replaced by hastily and poorly trained pilots. This would eventually lead to a total loss of air superiority to the Allies, and contribute to the fall of Imperial Japan in the Pacific.
The engine's sputtering turned to a low rumble as Ōmori raised the throttle and took off, followed by his squad of fighters. It was a large-scale mission, but every pilot under his command was confident in their success. Why wouldn't they be? Their flight leader was one of Japan's ace fliers, credited with over 9 kills. He himself didn't think he was anything special, especially when comparing himself to the renowned Tainan Air Group, but he was secretly glad that his reputation helped to boost morale.
Ōmori glanced back at the receding carrier, his home ever since the aircraft carrier Akagi was lost at Midway. Still resentful at the destruction of one of Japan's most prized and decorated carriers, he was determined not to let the same thing happen again. Not that he didn't make sure to bring down some American planes during that battle. So that they were fully prepared for any danger, he put everything he had into being an exemplary NCO for his squadron. In order to protect the Shoukaku from her enemies.
It was this thought process that prevailed as they spotted an Allied strike force consisting mainly of SBD-1 Dauntless dive bombers from the American aircraft carrier Hornet.
There was only one thing to do, intercept and destroy this strike force. And the squadron leader leads the charge. Ōmori smiled wickedly as he realized that they hadn't yet finished their climb to attack elevation. The height advantage the Japanese squadron had made him confident in their ability to shatter this strike force.
"Attack!" With that cry, his squad dove to attack the ascending dive bombers.
However, the Americans were using a defensive formation they hadn't seen before, and try as they might, Ōmori's squad couldn't break it. The defensive fire coming from the front and rear guns of every Dauntless were driving the Zeros back every time, while inflicting some damage.
By this point, Ōmori had been joined by another two Zeros from the light aircraft carrier, Zuihou, and they were determined to stop these tenacious bombers. The Zuihou and the Shoukaku were in close proximity to one another, and would both suffer if these bombers made it past the fighters.
Ōmori took a quick stock of his forces as he climbed back up to attack elevation. They had already lost one, maybe two Zeros to the well-aimed curtain of fire coming from the dive bombers. The others were diving in and out, trying to get a shot on the less maneuverable dive bombers. With a start, he realized that the strike force's escort, consisting of the dangerous F6F Hellcat fighters, had joined the battle. They had been following at an odd distance, and could not respond to the initial attack on their charges, but they were now engaging several Zeros in deadly dogfights. His radio buzzed with the shouts of his fellow pilots.
"These damn Americans! One's on my tail!"
"I got him! Ah- Aggghh!" A burning Zero caught Ōmori's eye as it plummeted below the clouds, towards the deep blue ocean below.
"We have to act now…" Ōmori grit his teeth and thought for a moment, then patted his instrument panel with a smile, "That's right, no hesitation, just act now!"
Ōmori finished his climb, targeted the lead Dauntless, and dove in a straight on attack. The Dauntless leader noticed him, and immediately brought his nose up to fire his frontal guns at the incoming Zero. To Ōmori's surprise (and horror), the Dauntless leader's aim was true. It was actually quite difficult to get accurate fire on a head on attack, especially with the angle advantage Ōmori held, so he was caught off guard.
"Shit!" The front of his Zero burst into flames. He had a fleeting thought about the irony of being brought down by a dive bomber, his prey, rather than one of the high tension duels he commonly fought with enemy fighters, but he shook it off. Since the beginning, their "prey's" defensive fire had always been deadly.
He knew immediately his plane was doomed, as the machine gun fire had chewed through the wings and body, to the point that his plane was quite literally disintegrating. Steeling himself, he pointed the remainder of his plane towards the Dauntless leader as best he could.
The flames grew hotter, and his vision began to darken from the force of his dive. Before he could even see if he succeeded in ramming his adversary, Ōmori blacked out.
The last thing he heard as his consciousness faded was the reassuring sputtering of his Zero's dying engine...
Hello! This is my first submission to the site, a very short prologue for what is to come. Some of you might be wondering, but Shigetaka Ōmori is indeed a real fighter ace! He was also killed in action at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. According to the sources I've read, he did die fighting several Dauntless dive bombers, but he's very scarcely mentioned, so I took a little liberty for this short excerpt.
I hope you enjoyed it, and please keep some tabs on the story. The prologue was short, but chapters will be reasonably long. Thank you!