343rd Ku (Genda's Blade)

[windswords]

I have not read the book "Genda's Blade", but I have seen lots of info on the web about this unit (343rd Kokutai). What I find interesting is that a couple of distinguished pilots were not included. If Genda wanted to put all the Navy aces in one group to fly the Shiden-Kai, why were not aces of the caliber of Sadaaki Akamatsu or Tetsuzo Iwamoto included?

I could understand if Akamatsu's reputation kept him out of Genda's group but what about Iwamoto?

 

[Shinpachi]

As long as I know, Genda's reputation was not necessarily good because he was selfish not thinking about other defences on other areas. It was a miracle for him to arrange so many aces for a local unit.

My private opinion - He could not even stop the atomic bomb in spite of his base being located nearby Hiroshima.
343-Ku was his hobby.