Previous to his shoot-down over Bougainville, Yamamoto had certainly received many dire warnings. Admiral Ozawa begged him not to go on the front line inspection, unless it was in "a cloud of carrier planes." General Imamura recounted to him how his own bomber had been bounced by US fighters in the same area a few weeks earlier and had barely escaped in a cloud bank. Rear Admiral Takatsugu noted that the itinerary of his visit had gone out over an unsecure aviation code and confided his fears to Yamamoto.
However, if he harbored a death wish or was simply motivated by bravura we'll never know,
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