Isamu Mochizuki

Isamu Mochizuki (望月 勇, Mochizuki Isamu, 1906 – 6 February 1944) was an officer and ace fighter pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific theater of World War II. He was officially credited with destroying ten enemy aircraft over China and the Pacific. He is famous for inventing the hineri-komi half-loop-and-roll technique that was employed in dogfighting by many Japanese fighter pilots.

In March 1943, Mochizuki was appointed division leader (buntaichō) in the newly-formed 281st Air Group that was stationed in the Kuril Islands. The same year he was transferred to Roi in the Marshall Islands. After USN carrier strikes destroyed most of the IJN aircraft in the Marshalls, he became stranded on Roi. Mochizuki disappeared and was presumed killed during the American invasion on 6 February 1944.

In November 1936, Mochizuki was promoted to Warrant Officer. At the outbreak of Second Sino-Japanese War he was transferred to the 13th Air Group that operated from Shanghai. After six months of combat over China, he was recalled back to Japan. In October 1941 he was promoted to Ensign.

Mochizuki enlisted in IJN in 1925 and completed its pilot training program in November 1926. He first served on carrier Kaga and then on carrier Hōshō, before he was transferred to a fighter squadron based at Ōmura Naval Air Station in Nagasaki Prefecture on Kyushu. In November 1932, he was transferred to Yokosuka Air Group, which was at the time considered an elite unit consisting of the very best fighter pilots in IJN.