Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Last Zero Fighter

  • By: Dan King
  • Narrated by: Drew Bott
  • Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (4 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Last Zero Fighter

By: Dan King
Narrated by: Drew Bott
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Firsthand accounts from interviews conducted in Japan with five WWII Japanese Naval aviators. All are veterans of the pivotal battles of the Pacific War including; USS Panay, Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Rabaul, Port Darwin, Indian Ocean Raid, Ceylon, Midway, Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the kamikaze in the Philippines, the home defense and the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Includes an introduction to the Japanese pilot training system for both officers and enlisted men.

Each pilot is followed from the time he joined the navy until war's end. They explain in their own words; why they joined the navy, what they thought about the war, about the aircraft they flew, how they felt about their friends and their former adversaries.

The interviews were conducted firsthand in their own language by King who is a linguist and Pacific War historian who spent 10 years living in Japan.

©2012, 2018 Dan King (P)2020 Dan King
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Fighting Corsairs cover art
Dogfight over Tokyo cover art
Intrepid Aviators cover art
A War of Empires cover art
Unsung Eagles cover art
At War with the Wind cover art
America's Few cover art
Operation Tidal Wave cover art
The Cactus Air Force cover art
Fighter Group cover art
The Silver Waterfall cover art
Project 9: The Birth of the Air Commandos in World War II cover art
Bravo Company cover art
Dead Reckoning cover art
Kangaroo Squadron cover art
Operation Vengeance cover art

What listeners say about The Last Zero Fighter

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A very interesting book from a unique perspective.

I quite like books about the second world war but most of what I've read from the Pacific theatre has been from an American or British perspective, so it was really interesting hearing the stories of Japanese pilots.
There is a broad set of pilots in this book including those present at key battles such as Shanghai, Nanking, Pearl harbour, midway, and Iwo Jima. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in those battles to get a unique perspective on them.
They also seem to avoid glorifying their actions to much with several of them mentioning the over reporting of kills.
Interesting listen all round and I'd happily recommend it to anyone interested in the life of fight pilots.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Could have been much better

I found this a hard listen. In fact I gave up with 3 hours to go. I found the narrators voice being the same as the Japanese fighter pilots testimony confusing and I had to keep remembering the pilots was Japanese. Probably old fashioned of me but if the Narrator read Murder on the Orient Express I wouldn't be able to enjoy if Poirot was spoken with an American accent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!