List of Japanese Navy Air Force aces (Mitsubishi A6M)

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This is a list of Imperial Navy Air aces flying the Mitsubishi Zero fighter during the Pacific War.

Contents

Other Navy Aces

Air Aces in A6M-2N Rufe floatplane fighter:

Air Aces in metropolitan defense (over Japan):

Air aces over China (1937-1941)

The unit for operative evaluations was the Yokosuka air corps, but it transferred its responsibility to 12th Rengo Kōkūtai under the command of Captain Kiichiro Hasegawa when this group was sent to China. Commanders and pilots of the unit:

This group suffered the loss of Eichi Kimura and Kichiro Kobayashi from enemy anti-aircraft fire. This unit remained under the command of Admiral Shigetarō Shimada when he led the China Air Area Fleet in the Chinese campaign.

Famous air units

The unit (Kōkūtai—"air group") with most air aces, was the Tainan Kōkūtai (in Formosa), the most famous group. They operated from Rabaul, New Britain and acquired their legendary fame over Taihoku (the Philippines), the Dutch East Indies, Lae and Buna (New Guinea) and, in the last stages of war, in defense of mainland Japan. Saburō Sakai was another member in this unit after Dutch Indies operations, from the Denpasar base on Bali.

Others famous units with air aces were 3rd Air Corps (including Yoshiro Hashiguchi), 253rd Air Corps (with Tetsuzō Iwamoto and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa among its members), Genzan Air Group, and other groups.

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, similar to the German Luftwaffe idea of organizing an "all aces" select unit Jagdverband 44 equipped with Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a jet fighters, decided to create an all-ace unit (the 343 Kōkūtai) with Kawanishi N1K2-J fighters towards the end of the conflict; this was commanded by Minoru Genda.

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Toshio Ōta

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Kenji Yanagiya

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Tainan Air Group Military unit

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Yokohama Air Group Military unit

The Yokohama Air Group was an aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during the Pacific campaign of World War II.

Watari Handa

Watari Handa was an officer and ace fighter pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific theater of World War II. In aerial combat over China and the Pacific, he was officially credited with having destroyed 13 enemy aircraft.

Kaneyoshi Muto Japanese flying ace

Kaneyoshi Muto was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace known for his great skill in fighter aircraft. Fellow ace Saburō Sakai called him "a genius in the air."

343rd Naval Air Group Military unit

The 343rd Naval Air Group was an aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific campaign of World War II. Created in late 1944 due to the desperate situation of Japan in the closing stages of the war, the 343rd was composed of the best surviving ace fighter pilots the Imperial Navy had at the time, with Captain Minoru Genda in command. This unit was equipped with the best airplane Japan had left by then, the Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden-Kai, known as George by the Allies; this aircraft could compete with the best wartime Allied fighters, namely, the F6F Hellcat, the P-51 Mustang and the F4U Corsair.

Events in the year 1976 in Japan. It corresponds to Shōwa 51 (昭和51年) in the Japanese calendar.

12th Air Group Military unit

The 12th Air Group was a unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during the Second Sino-Japanese War that operated mainly in the campaigns in the Central China.

References

  1. Sakaida, Henry "Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-45" Osprey Publishing Ltd 1998 ISBN   1 85532 727 9
  2. Caidin, Martin Stag October 1961, pp. 36, 38-9, 70-3
  3. Inoguchi, Rikihei, and Tadashi Nakajima, with Roger Pineau. 1958. The Divine Wind: Japan's Kamikaze Force in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
  4. Acheson, Denis Axis Fighters (Plymouth Press, London, UK, 1982) pp.57-58

Bibliography