High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Lieutenant junior grade Sabur? Sakai was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Sakai was the Imperial Navy's fourth-ranking ace and Japan's second leading fighter pilot to survive the war. Sabur? Sakai was born on August 25, 1916, in Saga, Japan, into a family of samurai ancestry, but who made a living as farmers. Sakai, the third born of four sons (his given name literally means "third son"), had three sisters. Saburo was 11 when his father died, leaving Saburo's mother alone to raise seven children. Sakai apparently didn't excel in his academic studies.