I AM AKIRA!!!!!

[sid guttridge]

Hail Akira, Scourge of the Round-Eyed Terror Bombers!

May I salute your adoption of the SS rhunes on your aircraft.

We ramjaegers are appreciative of this gesture.

Must go. Op upcoming. I'll finish when I get back. Or perhaps not......

Kurt von Kamikowski.

[Andy H]

My one regret is that I haven't encountered a British airplane since 1942! Ah, easy prey those--but better to risk all fighting these silver birds of the USAAF than chasing fleeing British pigeons

Well that's because you haven't been flying over the Burma-India front

Regards

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Well that's because you haven't been flying over the Burma-India front

The Truth is Andy-san, I was never permitted to fight on the lesser fronts. No easy China or Burma for me. But, I did have a friend, Obi Kenobi who puffed up his kills with Hurricanes and P-47s.

The rumor is--although no one has ever seen one over Japan--that the new Spitfire models are very hard to catch when they run all out.

As for Kenobi, the first time he saw a B-29, he broke his sword while hitting the turbocharger to flee. Such comes of always fighting inferior enemies...

Cowardly Dog--I spit on his children--may a thousand Kempeitai descend on his house!!!!

BANZAI!!!!
~~~Akira

[Commissar D, the Evil]

David W. wrote:

'S'pose you'll be claiming you shot down that capitalist 'lone' shark in the last pic as well!

David W., the Mighty Imperial Japanese Empire is capitalist!!! What we are not is Imperialist!! Indeed, we are liberators of the oppressed Asian Race, who have suffered from decades of Western Imperialism. That is why we fight the Americans, English and their puppets in China!!!

When I shoot an American down in flames, I am fulfilling the destiny of my Great Homeland to free all Asia from the scourge of Western Imperialism!!!!

DEATH TO THE YANKEE DOGS!!! BANZAI!!! BANZAI!!!! BANZAI!!!!

[David W]

Sorry, "Imperialist lone shark"!

[Waleed Y. Majeed]

May I introduce "Akira's Dark Side"!

An illustrated look into the mind of Akira... enjoy




waleed

p.s.. more will follow as the story progresses.

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Excellent Waleed-san!!!!

Best,
~Akira

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Akira's Diary, Entry Five:

This one was totally unexpected, almost beneath my notice. I received the order to take off and attack shortly after noon. When I saw it, I only noticed the four engines. It was flying alone, obviously on a reconnaissance mission, scouting new targets for the Yankee dogs. I hadn't encountered such a bold ploy before over the homeland.

I was doing what the Raiden did best, climbing fast and straight to a position in front of the bomber. The glare of the noon sun prevented me from realizing immediately that it wasn't a B-29, but when I turned in front of her (the Raiden has a gentle wheel at altitude, almost a lazy plane in turning), I recognized the silhouette. I hadn't encountered a B-17 since the New Guinea campaign and this one seemed to be an improved variant. Still, it wasn't "Giant" as we JNAF pilots had taken to calling the B-29. And the same tactics were appropriate: attack frontally and hold your fire until the last moment.
But this B-17 mounted a chin turret, that peppered my fighter with .50 caliber rounds on the run-in approach.
I admit, though, that having felled "Giants" and flying a fully fueled and fully loaded mount gave me a peculiar sense of invulnerability. There was no fighter escort to distract me, nothing except a clear blue sky and the sun glittering through my canopy. It was a glorious day, so seemingly innocent and blissful.

Then my Raiden shuddered as a burst of fire stitched its nose. I gave the B-17 a quick burst of 20mm cannon shells--my Raiden carried four of these excellent weapons--and felt the exhilaration (what an odd word for the circumstances!) of seeing the bomber's bow plexi-glass explode. And my shells ripped open the back of the bomber, silencing the upper turret.

I noticed this as I flew over and past the bomber, our closing speeds were such that mere moments passed before I was past it and, luckily, high enough to escape the attention of the rear gunner.
Again the Raiden floated into a wide turn, but once back on course, I pushed the engine and flew high above her and again gained a position in front of her.
The B-17 pilot must have noticed my determination and turned to the left, obviously aborting his mission. As she turned, since I had no taste for a stern chase, I sprung upon her like a black African leopard. My 20mm claws caught her in the left wing root and I blazed away. It was a perfect , perfect, killing position as only the port waist gunner could fire on me.

I hacked away at the bomber's wing and was rewarded by pieces of wing falling off and a fiery explosion. The B-17 quickly went into a final spin.

No parachutes emerged, she spun too fast for anyone to bail out. I watched her fall and she fell with a dark clarity. Whomever the pilot was, it appears that he was amazingly lucky at the end and managed to straighten her out before crashing..

This is a picture of her taken after our disgraceful defeat:




As I said, it was an unexpected victory. But one that might have brought a thin smile to our beloved Imperial Highness.

BANZAI!!! BANZAI!!!! BANZAI!!!!!

~Akira, the Victorious!

[Tom Houlihan]

...I sprung upon her like a black African leopard.

Hmmm....


Might Akira-sama be showing his heritage????

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Uh, okay, so I slipped that in..... Hoped no one would catch it, but my fellow Forum Heroes are more sharp-eyed than the Yankee Devil gunners in their B-17s and B-29s.

Drat!

Anyway, after my encounter with that B-17, I had my ground crew paint a Black Panther on my personal mount. Unfortunately, we in the INJAF often had to switch airplane when one was under repair. Here is a picture of me flying another Raiden, without my preferred insignia:



~Akira, Loyal Servant to the Emperor Hirohito

[Commissar D, the Evil]

And this was my personal mount's markings:




~Akira, the Deadly

[Shadow]

So, Akirasan !!

The above picture is NOT your plane that Capt. Sam H.A. Dow, of the Royal Canadian Air Force, claimed to have shot down while flying from the deck of the British carrier H.M.S Illustrious ??

He did mention, in his report, that this plane did have some sort of picture of a scrawny, bedraggled, black pussycat on its side !!

[Commissar D, the Evil]

ARHHH!

I sincerely doubt, oh Shadowy One, that any Brit ever shot up a Raiden! By the Emperor's Honor, I had heard some shadowy reports of British aircraft carriers in the Pacific in 1945, but, like my brethren, I didn't believe the rumors. We never saw them!

I suspect that this picture is a clever propaganda trick photograph of some unlucky Imperial pilot who "pranged his kite" without British help.....

BANZAI!!!!!!!!

~Akira, Ever Victorious!

[Commissar D, the Evil]

I thought the racist American dogs might pale at a picture of my mother:



That's right Yankee scum, she is African-American!

~Akira, servant of the Emperor Hirohito

[Commissar D, the Evil]

And another picture:



Did you wonder why I painted a Black Panther on my Raiden????

~Akira, Ever Victorious