Minoru Genda

An experienced and widely renowned pilot in the late 1930s, Minoru Genda was an early advocate of air power, especially the tactic of concentrating two or more aircraft carriers in a strike force that could deliver hundreds of warplanes on a target. At first, his ideas were ridiculed by naval officers who still cherished old-fashioned ideas about the superior capabilities of battleships and their big guns. But as Japanese leaders came to follow Yamamoto's advice about the need for a surprise attack on Hawaii, they saw the wisdom of calling on Genda to plan a carrier-based air raid. In the following excerpts from Genda's postwar recollections, he tells how he came to be involved in the planning and describes both the elements of the plan and the rigorous training instituted to prepare the pilots.

Early in February 1941, when the Flagship, the...