Born in 1920 in Oita Prefecture, he joined the Navy in 1937, first serving as a mechanic, then a reconnaissance pilot before being assigned to the Tainan Kokutai in October 1941, seeing combat in the Philippines and Dutch East Indies.
August 29, 1942 - Piloting a C5M Babs, Shigetoshi Kudo attacked a formation of 8 x B-17s, climbing above them to 7,500m where he dropped an aerial burst bomb (Sango aerial burst bomb). He aimed for the B-17s on the left of the formation and claimed to have hit both the #2 plane, which caught on fire and went down while the #1 bomber went into the clouds. He was awarded a definite and a probable though U.S. records do not show any losses of B-17s on this date.
The Tainan Kokutai was redesignated the 251st Kokutai on November 1, 1942. During May 1943 the unit received two J1N1 Gekko (Irving). These aircraft were field modified as night fighters armed with upward and downward firing 20mm cannons. Flying from Lakunai Airfield near Rabaul, Kudo was the first to test the aircraft in combat, flying with Lt(jg) Akira Sugawara as observer. He would become the first Pacific night fighter ace. Another night fighter pilot who also flew from Rabaul was Satoru Ono.
June 26, 1943
Flying from below and using the Gekko's upward firing 20mm cannons, using 164 rounds ammunition, he shoot down two B-17s: B-17E "Naughty But Nice" 41-2430 and B-17F "Taxpayers Pride" 41-24448.
During July, he flew to Ballale Airfield and operated from the island.
July 7, 1943
Took off for an evening patrol from Ballale flying with Akira Sugawara as observer. Their Gekko used its two downward pointing 20mm cannons (on other occasion he had used the guns that pointed upwards). This would have required Kudo to approach Hudson NZ2033 unseen from above and behind and then firing when in position 30 degrees above the Hudson's fore-aft axis (allowing for deflection).
Later in July he was presented with a ceremonial sword by Admiral Jinichi Kusaka (11th Air Fleet), for his air service. In total, he earned 9 credited victories and was known as 'King of the Night'.
In February 1944, he was transferred back to Japan with the Yokosuka Kokutai, and severely wounded in a landing accident in May 1945. He died in 1960.
Claims in C5M Babs
1. B-17 by aerial burst bomb (August 29, 1942)
P. B-17 by aerial burst bomb (August 29, 1942)
Claims in J1N1 Gekko
P. B-24 (June 30, 1943) possibly B-24D 42-40254 307th BG, MACR 30
Confirmed Night Fighter Victories
1
. B-17E "Honi Kuu Okole" 41-9244 (May 21, 1943)
2
. B-17E 41-9011 (May 21, 1943)
3
. B-17E "Georgia Peach" 41-24454 (June 13, 1943 firing from below
4
. B-17E "Naughty But Nice" 41-2430 (June 26, 1943)
5. B-17F "Taxpayers Pride" 41-24448 (June 26, 1943)
6. B-17F "Pluto" 41-24543 (June 30, 1943)
7. RNZAF Hudson NZ2033 (July 7, 1943) with observer Sugiwara
References
Moonlight Interceptor covers Kudo's victories.
Naval Night Fighters by Yoji Watanabe 28 - 45
Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45 by Henry Sakaida page 49 - 50
The Siege of Rabaul by Henry Sakaida page 38 - 41
70,000 to One by Quentin James Reynolds page 8
Thanks to Henry Sakaida, Edward Rogers for additional information
