Career
In aerial combat over China and the Pacific, he was officially credited with destroying 27 enemy aircraft. Sadaaki Akamatsu was well known, with a reputation as a trouble-maker and also a trickster. Henry Sakaida confirmed that Akamatsu flew more than 8,000 flight hours.
At the end of the war time in Pacific, Akamatsu flew the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden fighter.
Akamatsu was credited with shooting down 11 enemy aircraft over China in the Second Sino-Japanese War, including four in a single engagement near Nanchang on 25 February 1938. In the opening months of the Pacific War, he served in the Philippines and Dutch East Indies campaigns.
After the war, Akamatsu worked as a fish search pilot for the Kōchi Fishery Association and later ran a small cafe in Kōchi. After struggling for years with alcoholism, Akamatsu died of pneumonia on 22 February 1980.