Photos and artwork featuring a Kawanishi N1K2-J "Shiden-kai" (George) belonging to the Yokosuka Kokutai with tail marking "ヨ-105" (YO-105).
There is a possibility that it belonged to Ace pilot WO Ohara Ryoji, seen in the photo below.
A set of photos and other material was recently on sale on Japanese eBay. I believe they belonged to Ohara. Among them, there was a photo, again of the Kawanishi N1K2-J "Shiden-kai" (George) with tail marking "ヨ-105" (YO-105). Unfortunately, the face of the pilot standing in front of it is not visible in the low-resolution image. It could be Ohara or a different pilot.
Here's the history of the pilot from the Japanese Wikipedia and extra information from Hata&Izawa:
Ryōji Ōhara (February 25, 1921 – November 2, 2018) was a military officer and fighter pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He held the final rank of Flight Warrant Officer.
**Career**
He was born into a farming family in Miyagi Prefecture on February 25, 1921. In June 1940, he enlisted in the Yokosuka Naval Barracks as a general aviation rating. After serving at the barracks and the Chitose Kokutai, he became a trainee in the 4th Class C Flight Preparatory Course in May 1941 and joined the Tsuchiura Kokutai. He graduated from flight training in July 1942 and was assigned to the Oita Kokutai as a fighter pilot; there, he completed training on the Type 90 Two-Seat Trainer Fighter [Nakajima A2N] and the Type 95 Carrier-Based Fighter [Nakajima A4N]. In October of that year, he arrived at the Buin Airbase as a replacement pilot for the 6th Kokutai.
He experienced his first aerial combat on October 19, 1942, and on October 23, he engaged ten F4F Wildcats of VMF-121 over Guadalcanal, recording his first aerial victory.
According to Hata&Izawa:
After achieving his first victory during the attack on Guadalcanal on 23 October [1942], ...Ohara participated in ferocious air battles in the Solomons, Rabaul, and New Guinea and managed to stay alive. In particular, on 13 May 1943 he sortied as number two (wingman) for LT Miyano during air combat over the Russell Islands and shot down one Corsair fighter. Immediately after, his own aircraft received thirty-eight hits and its horizontal stabilizer was damaged. He managed to extricate himself; on the way back, he valiantly counterattacked two Corsairs that were following him and shot down one of them. He then made an emergency landing on the island of Kolombangara. With respect to this particular air battle, Ohara was later given a good conduct commendation by the commander of Air Group 204.
Wiki continues:
Ōhara fought valiantly with the 204th Kokutai (renamed from the 6th Kokutai) until his assignment to the Yokosuka Kokutai in November 1943, at which point he returned to the Japanese mainland.
Subsequently, he engaged in the defense of the Japanese mainland. However, on April 9, 1945—while flying an interception mission against B-29s despite suffering from an unexplained high fever—his aircraft was hit by fire from a P-51 Mustang approaching from the rear. He managed to make a belly landing at the Army's Sagamihara Airfield; he was subsequently diagnosed with typhoid fever and required hospitalization for approximately 80 days. On August 17, 1945—after being discharged from the hospital—he flew a Zero fighter to intercept B-32s that had arrived to conduct reconnaissance over the Japanese mainland; this marked his final combat sortie of the war.
After the war, he joined the Maritime Safety Force (the predecessor to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force) in 1953 and retired in 1971 with the rank of Commander (equivalent to Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy). Subsequently, he engaged in training pilots for civil aviation.
He was incensed to find himself described as the "Killer of Rabaul" in a book on wartime history written by Henry Sakaida, which had been published without interviewing him; in later editions, the description was changed to "Ace of Rabaul."
He passed away on November 2, 2018, at the age of 97.
Artwork by Thierry Dekker
Hasegawa has released a kit with markings of the aircraft in 1/48, Nr. 09484
