Toshio Ōta, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Toshio Ōta

Japanese flying ace

Date of Birth: 20-Mar-1919

Place of Birth: Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

Date of Death: 21-Nov-1942

Profession: flying ace

Nationality: Japan

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Toshio Ota (?? ??, Ota Toshio, 20 March 1919 – 21 October 1942) was a World War II Japanese fighter ace.
In early 1942, at the age of 22, he flew a Mitsubishi A6M Zero with the Lae based Tainan Air Group.
There the young petty officer, 1st class became one of the so-called "Clean-up Trio" of Japanese aces, along with his squadron mates Saburo Sakai and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa.
Ota's first confirmed kill, of a U.S.
Army Air Force P-40E Warhawk, was over New Guinea on April 11, 1942.
Transferred to Rabaul in August, Ota was killed in a dogfight with U.S.
Marine Corps Grumman F4F Wildcats over Guadalcanal on October 21, shortly after shooting down a Wildcat himself.
His victorious opponent is believed to be 1st Lt.
Frank C.
Drury of the VMF-212 squadron.
Ota is credited with 34 victories, making him the Imperial Japanese Navy's fourth-ranking ace. In his autobiography, Sakai described Ota as outgoing and amiable, in contrast to the more reserved Nishizawa, and said he would have been "more at home in a nightclub" than in Lae.