MILITARY PERSONNEL

Saburō Sakai

1916 - 2000

Photo of Saburō Sakai

Icon of person Saburō Sakai

Saburō Sakai (坂井 三郎, Sakai Saburō; 25 August 1916 – 22 September 2000) was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace ("Gekitsui-O", 撃墜王) of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Sakai had 28 aerial victories, including shared ones, according to official Japanese records, though he and his ghostwriter Martin Caidin claimed much higher numbers. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Saburō Sakai is the 572nd most popular military personnel (down from 563rd in 2019), the 418th most popular biography from Japan (down from 336th in 2019) and the 29th most popular Japanese Military Personnel.

Saburo Sakai is most famous for being the first Japanese fighter pilot to shoot down an American plane in the Pacific War.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Saburō Sakai by language

Loading...

Among MILITARY PERSONNELS

Among military personnels, Saburō Sakai ranks 572 out of 2,058Before him are Creighton Abrams, Mikhail Alekseyev, Hossein Salami, Sergey Sokolov, Milunka Savić, and Georges Picquart. After him are Filipp Golikov, Bo'orchu, Rüdiger von der Goltz, Seishirō Itagaki, Tamara Bunke, and Ibrahim Traoré.

Most Popular Military Personnels in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1916, Saburō Sakai ranks 62Before him are Kristján Eldjárn, Jacque Fresco, Glenn Ford, Lilian, Princess of Réthy, Rafael Caldera, and Michael Gough. After him are Henri Dutilleux, Georg Henrik von Wright, Hubert Maga, Lars Korvald, Lung Chien, and Hassan Gouled Aptidon. Among people deceased in 2000, Saburō Sakai ranks 52Before him are John Harsanyi, Merton Miller, Richard Farnsworth, Leonid Rogozov, Barbara Cartland, and Lolo Ferrari. After him are Đorđe Martinović incident, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Carlo M. Cipolla, Friedrich Gulda, A. E. van Vogt, and Frederick Herzberg.

Others Born in 1916

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 2000

Go to all Rankings

In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Saburō Sakai ranks 418 out of 6,245Before him are Terauchi Masatake (1852), Nagisa Oshima (1932), Ikkyū (1394), Shigemaru Takenokoshi (1906), Emperor Go-Toba (1180), and Yoshinobu Ishii (1939). After him are Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127), Kido Takayoshi (1833), Emperor Montoku (827), Emperor Chōkei (1343), Emperor Go-Hanazono (1419), and Takashi Mizuno (1931).

Among MILITARY PERSONNELS In Japan

Among military personnels born in Japan, Saburō Sakai ranks 29Before him are Tamon Yamaguchi (1892), Yamagata Aritomo (1838), Mitsuru Ushijima (1887), Hijikata Toshizō (1835), Shoichi Yokoi (1915), and Mitsuo Fuchida (1902). After him are Seishirō Itagaki (1885), Kenji Doihara (1883), Jisaburō Ozawa (1886), Hitoshi Imamura (1886), Yoshijirō Umezu (1882), and Takeichi Nishi (1902).