escorted by Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters of VF-3, led by Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Thach. In the air combat, Fujita managed to claim four torpedo-bombers (three shared) and three fighters (two shared) shot down. When he approached the carrier for another landing, he was hit by a friendly anti-aircraft fire that ignited his fuel tank. He had to bail out at 200 meters but survived the landing in the water and was picked up by the destroyer Nowaki. However, during the final engagement, Sōryū was attacked and mortally damaged by the dive bombers from Yorktown (VB-3). After the battle of Midway, Lieutenant Fujita was assigned to the carrier Hiyō as a Buntaichō. In October 1942, the carrier was sent to the Solomon Islands, however, it soon experienced a mechanical failure and its air group was transferred to a land base at Buin through Rabaul. The group operated from Buin and made frequent missions against Guadalcanal until mid-December. During this time, Lieutenant Fujita claimed two aircraft shot down. In April 1943, he was sent to Rabaul to take part in the Operation I-Go. Following the operation, he was then transferred to the Tsuiki Air group in June. In November he was appointed as squadron leader (Hikōtaichō) of the newly formed 301st Air group. Between June and July 1944 his unit took part in the air defence of Iwo Jima. In July he was transferred to unit S402, which was equipped with the new Kawanishi N1K fighters. In October, the S402 was consolidated into 341st Air Group and participated in the air battles off Formosa. The unit lost much of its strength in intense air battles over the Philippines and was finally withdrawn to Japan in January 1945. Later career Fujita survived the war. After the war, he became a commercial pilot for Japan Air Lines (1945–1977). He died on 1 December 2006. Notes Sources Combat reports 2006 deaths Japanese naval aviators Japanese World War II flying aces Imperial Japanese Navy officers Imperial Japanese Naval Academy alumni 1917 births Attack on Pearl Harbor