In the weeks and months which followed the Pearl Harbor attack, the disdainful pre-war stereotype of the Japanese airman widely held in the West gave way to a myth of this foe as some sort of invincible oriental superman. Later, as the tide turned, and the skill and experience of the average Japanese airman declined, the West saw him once more as an object of contempt and ridicule. Yet what was the truth behind the stereotype and the myth? This book explores the world of the Imperial Japanese Navy airman in all its aspects; his background, the cultural and social forces which moulded him, his recruitment and training, daily life and his experience in service. In the airmen of the Imperial Japanese Navy a modern aerial incarnation of an ancient warrior race blossomed.