ANDERSON, RICHARDHERON
duct—a distinction rarely accorded to live in-
dividuals. He thus became the first IJA pilot
to receive a certificate of merit. They also
reasoned that a pilot of such prowess would
be better utilized as an instructor. Anabuki
protested his rotation back to Japan, but in
1944 he joined the Akeno Fighter School with
a rank of master sergeant. There he was cred-
ited with imparting a personal tactic known
as the “Anabuki run,” whereby a Japanese
pilot would climb, roll into a inverted posi-
tion, and suddenly dive upon enemy aircraft,
firing at a range of 300 feet. He also fre-
quently served as a ferry pilot, bringing badly
needed Nakajima Ki 84 Hayates to army
units stationed in the Philippines. The Ameri-
cans were then approaching those islands
with their carrier forces, and in the course of
several skirmishes Anabuki bagged six of the
formidable Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters.
After the fall of the Philippines, he com-
menced home-defense duties flying the su-
perb Kawasaki Ki 100, one of Japan’s best in-
terceptors. He was closely engaged in
combat until the end of the war, including
among his final kills a giant Boeing B-29 Su-
perfortressfor a total of 51 kills in 173 mis-
sions. This established him as the leading IJA
air ace, although Anabuki’s score has since
been pared down to 39.
After the war, Japan was stripped of mili-
tary forces and forbidden to possess military
aircraft. This policy was amended in the wake
of the Korean War (1950–1953), and the Japan
Self-Defense Force was created in the mid-
1950s. Like many former army personnel,
Anabuki was allowed to join, and he flew heli-
copters for many years. Retired from service,
he lives in Japan.Bibliography
Bueschel, Richard M. Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa I-III.
Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military/Aviation History, 1995;
Coox, Alvin D. “The Rise and Fall of the Imperial
Japanese Air Forces.” Air Power History27 (June,
1980): 74–94; Harvey, A. D. “Army Air Force and
Navy Air Force: Japanese Aviation and the Opening
Phase of the War in the Far East.” War in History 6
(1999): 147–173; Sakaida, Henry. Imperial Japanese
Navy Aces, 1937–45.Oxford: Osprey, 1999; Scott,
Peter. Emblems of the Rising Sun: Imperial Japa-
nese Army Air Force Unit Markings.Aldershot,
Hants, UK: Hinoki, 1999; Stanaway, John. Nakajima
Ki-43 “Hayabusa”: Allied Code Name Oscar.Ben-
nington, VT: Merriam Press, 2000.Anderson, Richard Heron
(October 7, 1821–June 26, 1879)
Confederate General
“F
ighting Dick” Anderson was one of
Robert E. Lee’s favorite and most
trusted commanders, almost never
defeated in battle. His skilled night march to
Spotsylvania Court House saved Richmond
for the Confederacy and baffled superior
Union forces.
Richard Heron Anderson was born in
Statesburg, Sumter District, South Carolina,
the grandson of an American Revolutionary
War officer. He was admitted to the U.S. Mili-
tary Academy in 1838 and graduated fortieth
in a class of 56 four years later. Anderson was
then commissioned a second lieutenant in the
First U.S. Dragoon Regiment and, after train-
ing at the Cavalry School in Carlisle, Pennsyl-
vania, was posted to Little Rock, Arkansas, in- After three years of active service on the
frontier, Anderson joined Gen. Winfield
Scott’s army during the final phases of the