W/O Satoru Ono
251 Kokutai Night Fighter Pilot

Background
Warrant Officer Satoru Ono was a pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). On November 1, 1942 the Tainan Kokutai was redesignated the 251 Kōkūtai (251 Air Group). During May 1943 the unit received two J1N1 Gekko (Irving) night fighters armed with upward and downward firing 20mm cannons. Flying from Lakunai Airfield near Rabaul, Ono became the second Gekko pilot with Shigetoshi Kudo.

June 10, 1943
On June 10, 1943 at 3:10am Ono took off with observer Lt. (jg) Kisaku Hamano to intercept twenty U.S. bombers including B-17s and B-24s attacking Lakunai Airfield near Rabaul. This was the second time that J1N1 Gekkos were used as night fighters. At 3:42am Ono tracked a B-17, B-17F "I Dood It" 41-24543 but did not open fire. At 4:02am Ono opened fire on another B-17 illuminated in search lights, B-17F "Lulu Belle" 41-24358 flying at 7,000' and attacked from 1,500' below and opening fire at 4:04 and observed hits from his 20mm cannons in the left wing. In fact, the B-17 was hit in the left wing and fuselage with TSgt Clair L. Wrights injured, lost altitude and disappeared into the darkness at 2,000' about eight minutes after the attack. At 4:48 Ono spotted a another bomber, B-17E 41-2408 in searchlights and chased it for 20 minutes before opening fire then rolled away in a steep dive then made another attack from 2 o'clock low position. Ono claimed to hit it with gunfire in the right wing and saw it catch fire, but the flames were extinguished and it disappeared into the night. In fact, his gunfire damaged the no. 3 engine but managed to return safely. Afterwards, Ono landed safely and he claimed one bomber destroyed and one probable.

June 13, 1943
On June 13, 1943 at 2:40am took off piloting J1N1 Irving with observer Hamano, followed three minutes later by J1N1 piloted by Kudo/Sugawara. Ono could find no enemy aircraft and returned to land at 5:40am. Claimed 1 x B-17 and 1 probable B-17 * in fact, none lost.

June 17, 1943
On June 17, 1943 at 2:25am pair of J1N1 Irving night fighters from 251 Kōkūtai took off from Ballale Airfield on a patrol. One piloted by Okado with observer Satoru Ono sighted a B-24 [PB4Y-1 31952] flying in the opposite direction and made three strafing run against the plane at 3:47am and observed it going down in flames. Afterwards, both night fighters returned to base.

June 30, 1943
On June 30, 1943 J1N1 Irving piloted by Satoru Ono with observer Okado claim a B-24 shot down. This claim has not been linked to any specific loss. That same night, J1N1 Irving piloted by Shigetoshi Kudo shot down B-17F "Pluto" 41-24543 who also claimed a probable B-24 with no matching damage or loss.

References
Kodochosho, 251 Kōkūtai, July 10, 1943
Kodochosho, 251 Kōkūtai, July 17, 1943
Moonlight Interceptor (1985) pages 38-39
Naval Night Fighters by Yoji Watanabe pages 28-45
Ken's Men Against The Empire Volume 1 (2015) pages 201-203 (July 9-10, 1943 mision)
Thanks to Henry Sakaida, Osamu Tagaya and Edward Rogers for additional information