Early Life
Mitsuo Fuchida was born in what is now part of Katsuragi, Nara Prefecture, Japan. He entered the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Etajima, Hiroshima in 1921 where he met and befriended classmate Minoru Genda and discovered the interest of flying airplanes. Specializing in horizontal bombing, Fuchida gained such prowess that he was made an instructor. Assigned to the aircraft carrier Kaga in 1929, followed by the Sasebo Air Group, Fuchida gained combat experience during air operations in the Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s and was considered one of Japan’s most skillful aviators. He was promoted to lieutenant commander and was accepted into the Naval Staff College. Fuchida joined the aircraft carrier Akagi in 1939 as the commander of the air group. By that time he was an experienced aviator with over 3,000 flying hours.
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