Pilot History
Born in January 24, 1920 in Miyazaki-ken on Kyushu.

Aircraft History
One of the six Zeros to first arrive in Rabaul, February 16, 1942. Nagatoma and this Zero participated in the interception of B-17s over Rabaul, including B-17E 41-2446 on February 23, 1942 America's first bombing mission against Rabaul.

Mission History
This aircraft participated in a six Zero escort mission to Port Moresby, and then the fighters dove down to attack.  They tested their guns on the wreck of the SS Pruth, then strafed Australian PBY Catalinas moored at Napa Napa, sinking two: A24-3 and A24-6.  Nagatoma's Zero was hit by fire from a 7.7mm lewis machine gun emplaced above Napa Napa, causing it to crash into Bootless Bay.

Prisoner Of War
Nagatomo was able to bail out and was captured but was badly burned on his legs. He became Australia's first POW taken in Australian territory during the war. He was taken to a hospital, the to Australia. He was interned at Corwa POW Camp beginning on May 3, 1943. Nagatomo was killed in the Corwa POW riot on the night of August 4-5, 1944. Killed by a gun shot wound to the left side of the chest He was buried at Corwa, grave 21125.

Wreckage
After the crash, Australian Army 39th Battalion 'C' Company Captain Robinson located the crash site, and were able to bring some wreckage to the surface with help from natives from the Tubusereia area. On March 1, 1942 a 'fishing expedition' including RAAF Lt. Collet, RAN Captain Benjamin and four natives from Rabaul from the auxiliary ship Leander went to the crash site in Bootless Bay, and recovered additional pieces, including one 20mm cannon serial number 1339 (or 1389). Afterwards, returned to Port Moresby. Likely these pieces were later sent to Australia for technical evaluation (details unknown).

Today, SCUBA divers in Bootless Bay report the presence of a wreck in murky water. Photographic evidence or confirmation is yet to be produced by a diver.

Display
A small gear recovered from the wreck by the Australian Army is displayed at the Australian War Memorial. Also, several smaller pieces of wreckage are also in their collection: piping from Zero (REL/16104.001), electrical cable (REL/16104.002), direction indicator plate (REL/16104.003) and shattered stud mount (REL/16104.004)

References
Thanks to Harumi Sakaguchi for additional information
War Diary HQ Inf Bde March 1, 1942
Intel Summary No. 15 and Appexdix 1

Contribute Information
Do you have photos or additional information to add?

Last Updated
October 1, 2009

Zero

Photo Archive

News