Not sure how well known this is, but two Japanese aces Sakai Saburo and Sugita Sho-ichi actually greatly disliked each other with Sugita outright hating Sakai.
Their feud started in the 343rd Kokutai:
Sakai, who was in charge of training, gave lectures on aerial combat, but they were not well received by the young people who had experienced fierce battles. They were merely old stories, and his frequent use of violence also drew resentment. Sakai would physically discipline his students. Sugita disliked using harsh discipline on his juniors and had a caring and gentle personality, so he disliked Sakai for this. Sakai also called all the pilots younger than him "Jaku" (inexperienced), and Sugita further clashed with Sakai, saying:
"Sakai only knew the time when the enemy was still weak. It was much harder after Sakai was gone."
However there are two more episodes
Sugita criticized Sakai's story about being injured over Guadalcanal saying "If a Zero fighter is properly maintained and adjusted, even if you let go of it, it will repeatedly ascend and descend, and eventually return to level flight. There is no way that a Zero fighter will lose consciousness and go into an inverted position and continue to fly like that. Besides, how can someone who is unconscious talk about the details of the situation?"
He also publicly declared, "I'm going to punch anyone (Sakai) who says something so dishonest."
Flight commander Major Yoshio Shiga was troubled by the explosive situation, so he decided to leave Sugita, who could be used in aerial combat, and to transfer Sakai to the Yokosuka Air Group, whose mission was flight experiments, in exchange for Kaneyoshi Muto , in order to make use of his experience.
Sakai also called Kanno Naoshi weak and a bad pilot because of Kanno's younger age and the fact he graduated from the naval academy. Kanno was the leader of the 301st Hikotai of the 343rd Kokutai and Sakai said that Iwamoto Tetsuzo should be the leader and not Kanno. Sugita was a close friend of Kanno and when he heard what Sakai said, he became so enraged that people feared he would "beat Sakai to death"
What are people's thoughts on this?
Information comes from here:
View: https://youtu.be/DtcicO3wp6g?si=1EmRvANP6T1t28Ic
And the book "My Grandfathers' Zero Fighters"
"My Grandfathers' Zero Fighters" p329-330
"My Grandfathers' Zero Fighters" p330-331
Their feud started in the 343rd Kokutai:
Sakai, who was in charge of training, gave lectures on aerial combat, but they were not well received by the young people who had experienced fierce battles. They were merely old stories, and his frequent use of violence also drew resentment. Sakai would physically discipline his students. Sugita disliked using harsh discipline on his juniors and had a caring and gentle personality, so he disliked Sakai for this. Sakai also called all the pilots younger than him "Jaku" (inexperienced), and Sugita further clashed with Sakai, saying:
"Sakai only knew the time when the enemy was still weak. It was much harder after Sakai was gone."
However there are two more episodes
Sugita criticized Sakai's story about being injured over Guadalcanal saying "If a Zero fighter is properly maintained and adjusted, even if you let go of it, it will repeatedly ascend and descend, and eventually return to level flight. There is no way that a Zero fighter will lose consciousness and go into an inverted position and continue to fly like that. Besides, how can someone who is unconscious talk about the details of the situation?"
He also publicly declared, "I'm going to punch anyone (Sakai) who says something so dishonest."
Flight commander Major Yoshio Shiga was troubled by the explosive situation, so he decided to leave Sugita, who could be used in aerial combat, and to transfer Sakai to the Yokosuka Air Group, whose mission was flight experiments, in exchange for Kaneyoshi Muto , in order to make use of his experience.
Sakai also called Kanno Naoshi weak and a bad pilot because of Kanno's younger age and the fact he graduated from the naval academy. Kanno was the leader of the 301st Hikotai of the 343rd Kokutai and Sakai said that Iwamoto Tetsuzo should be the leader and not Kanno. Sugita was a close friend of Kanno and when he heard what Sakai said, he became so enraged that people feared he would "beat Sakai to death"
What are people's thoughts on this?
Information comes from here:
View: https://youtu.be/DtcicO3wp6g?si=1EmRvANP6T1t28Ic
And the book "My Grandfathers' Zero Fighters"
"My Grandfathers' Zero Fighters" p329-330
"My Grandfathers' Zero Fighters" p330-331