Yokohama Air Group

Yokohama Air Group
	A Yokohama Kawanishi H6K5 at an unidentified location in the Solomon Islands in 1942
Active	October 1, 1936 – November 1, 1942
Country	Empire of Japan
Allegiance	Axis Powers of World War II
Branch	Imperial Japanese Navy
Type	Naval aviation unit
Role	Bomber, fighter, and reconnaissance using flying boats
Size	Varied
Garrison/HQ	Yokohama, Japan ; Majuro, Marshall Islands ; Rabaul, New Britain ; Buin, Papua New Guinea,; Shortland Islands and Tulagi, Solomon Islands
Engagements	Battle of Wake Island ; New Guinea Campaign,; Solomon Islands Campaign
Insignia
Identification; symbol	ヨハ (Oct 1936-Nov 1940)
Identification; symbol	Y (Nov 1940-Nov 1941)

Last updated February 28, 2019

The Yokohama Air Group(横浜海軍航空隊,Yokohama Kaigun Kōkūtai ) was an aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during the Pacific campaign of World War II.

A Kōkūtai (航空隊) was a term used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) to designate a military aviation unit, similar to the Air Groups in other air arms and services of the time. A Kōkūtai could be based at land or on board aircraft carriers and could contain up to hundreds of men and aircraft. For example, the famous 343 Kōkūtai was a land based fighter group while the 652nd Kōkūtai was a carrier-based bomber group. Kōkūtai were divided into smaller units called Hikōtai, which were the equivalent of a squadron. Kōkūtai were usually divided into three Hikōtai. In general, most pilots and aircrew in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service were non-commissioned officers. The word Kōkūtai is abbreviated with the abbreviation "Ku". 343 Ku, for example, stands for 343 Kōkūtai. In the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) the equivalent unit was the Sentai.

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War.

The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in the Pacific and Asia. It was fought over a vast area that included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, South-East Asia, and in China.

History

The Yokohama Air Group was formed in Yokohama, Japan on October 1, 1936 as a patrol unit equipped with six Navy Type 91 Hiro H4H flying boats. On December 1, 1941 it was re-equipped with 24 Navy Type 97 Kawanishi H6K flying boats and assigned to support Japanese IJN 4th Fleet operations in the central Pacific as part of the 24th Air Flotilla.

Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan by population, and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. It is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area.

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south.

The Hiro H4H was a 1930s Japanese bomber or reconnaissance monoplane flying boat designed and built by the Hiro Naval Arsenal for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Wake Island operations

Immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and start of hostilities against the United States, Japanese forces attempted to seize strategically located Wake Island. The initial Japanese landing attempts were repelled by the island’s United States Marine Corps defenders before the Japanese troops were able to land, with the loss of the Japanese destroyers Kisaragi and Hayate. In response the Japanese sent two Kawanishi H6K’s on a reconnaissance flight from their forward operating base at Majuro, arriving at Wake at 0500 hours on December 12. Each plane dropped four 250-kg and twelve 60-kg bombs, but one was shot down by a USMC Grumman F4F Wildcat.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, led to the United States' formal entry into World War II. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Wake Island is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, 1,501 miles east of Guam, 2,298 miles west of Honolulu, 1,991 miles southeast of Tokyo, and 898 miles north of Majuro. The island is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States that is also claimed by the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Wake Island is one of the most isolated islands in the world and the nearest inhabited island is Utirik Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 592 miles to the southeast.

This mission was followed by a second night sortie of ten Kawanishi H6K’s launched from Wotje, of which half turned back due to various mechanical difficulties before reaching their target. The remaining five aircraft ineffectually bombed Wake, with damage limited by poor visibility.

On December 15, a third sortie was attempted with seven Kawanishi H6K’s launched from Wotje, of which six reached their targets at 1730 hours, each dropping four 250-kg and twelve 60-kg bombs and returning to Wotje without losses. A final mission was undertaken by eight aircraft on December 18, arriving over Wake at 1752 hours and dropping a total of five 250-kg and seventy-eight 60-kg bombs, encountering little opposition. Wake Island surrendered to Japan on December 23.

Southwest Pacific operations

On February 14, 1942, a detachment of seven Kawanishi H6K’s was sent to Rabaul, New Britain and assigned to the 25th Air Flotilla, where they conducted reconnaissance and bombing missions in support of Japanese offensives in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. On April 1, 1942 the unit gained twelve Navy Type 2 Nakajima A6M2-N fighter seaplanes, which were tasked with defending Japanese bases in the same area from Allied bombing raids from June 2, 1942. The Yokohama Air Group also established small detachments at forward bases at Buin and the Shortland Islands, as well as a large detachment at Tulagi in May 1942. All was quiet during the month of June. On July 9, the unit’s fighters intercepted two USAAF B-24 Liberator bombers on a reconnaissance mission, and shot down one of them. This was followed by the successful downing of a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress on July 17, and again on July 23, but with the loss of one A6M2-N fighter.

Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, on the island of New Britain, in the country of Papua New Guinea. It lies about 60 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption in its harbor.

New Britain is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel. The main towns of New Britain are Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe. The island is roughly the size of Taiwan. While the island was part of German New Guinea, it was named Neupommern.

The 25th Air Flotilla was a combat aviation unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The flotilla, mainly consisting of land-based bombers, fighters, and reconnaissance aircraft, reported to the IJN's 11th Air Fleet. As originally organized, the flotilla's core units were the 4th Naval Air Group, Tainan Naval Air Group, and Yokohama Naval Air Group. The 4th flew bombers, the Tainan fighters, and the Yokohama reconnaissance aircraft.

On August 1, in a major engagement, six A6M2-N fighters intercepted a flight of seven B-17s, damaging three but failing to down any aircraft. This was followed by twelve separate engagements the following day, with both sides claiming unconfirmed victories.

During the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo on August 7, aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) dive-bombed Japanese installations on Tulagi, Gavutu, Tanambogo, and Florida Island and strafed and destroyed 15 Yokohama seaplanes floating in the anchorages near the islands. Several of the seaplanes were warming their engines in preparation for takeoff and were lost with their aircrews and many of their support personnel.^[1] The survivors, commanded by Captain Shigetoshi Miyazaki, joined the detachment of the 3rd Kure Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) and fought as infantry until they were annihilated to the last man.

Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo battle

The Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo was a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, between the forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied ground forces. It took place from 7–9 August 1942 on the Solomon Islands, during the initial Allied landings in the Guadalcanal campaign.

An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, it is currently not possible to land them. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third party countries, reduce the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increase the time of availability on the combat zone.

USS Wasp (CV-7) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier commissioned in 1940 and lost in action in 1942. She was the eighth ship named USS Wasp, and the sole ship of a class built to use up the remaining tonnage allowed to the U.S. for aircraft carriers under the treaties of the time. As a reduced-size version of the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier hull, Wasp was more vulnerable than other United States aircraft carriers available at the opening of hostilities. Wasp was initially employed in the Atlantic campaign, where Axis naval forces were perceived as less capable of inflicting decisive damage. After supporting the occupation of Iceland in 1941, Wasp joined the British Home Fleet in April 1942 and twice ferried British fighter aircraft to Malta. Wasp was then transferred to the Pacific in June 1942 to replace losses at the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. After supporting the invasion of Guadalcanal, Wasp was hit by three torpedoes from Japanese submarine I-19 on 15 September 1942. The resulting damage set off several explosions, destroyed her water-mains and knocked out the ship's power. As a result, her damage-control teams were unable to contain the ensuing fires that blazed out of control. She was abandoned and scuttled by USS Lansdowne later that evening.

On October 1, 1942, the remainder of the unit which had not been deployed to Tulagi returned to Japan and were re-equipped with sixteen Navy Type 2 Kawanishi H8K flying boats. On November 1, 1942 the flying unit was redesignated as the 801 Air Group.

Related Research Articles

The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II. It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.

The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia, taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. The battle is historically significant as the first action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other, as well as the first in which neither side's ships sighted nor fired directly upon the other.

The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons, took place on 24–25 August 1942, and was the third carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II and the second major engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign. As at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, the ships of the two adversaries were never within sight of each other. Instead, all attacks were carried out by carrier-based or land-based aircraft.

The Kawanishi H6K was an Imperial Japanese Navy flying boat produced by the Kawanishi Aircraft Company and used during World War II for maritime patrol duties. The Allied reporting name for the type was Mavis; the Navy designation was "Type 97 Large Flying Boat" (九七式大型飛行艇).

This is an order of battle for the Battle of the Coral Sea. The battle, fought during 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States (U.S.) and Australia.

The Nggela Islands, also known as the Florida Islands, are a small island group in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, a sovereign state in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

Cactus Air Force refers to the ensemble of Allied air power assigned to the island of Guadalcanal from August 1942 until December 1942 during the early stages of the Guadalcanal Campaign, particularly those operating from Henderson Field. The term "Cactus" comes from the Allied code name for the island. In 1943 the Cactus Air Force was subsumed into (AirSols), a joint command of Allied air units in the Solomon Islands.

Gavutu is a small islet in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands, some 500 metres in length. It is one of the Nggela Islands.

Operation K was a Japanese naval operation in World War II, intended as a reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor and disruption of repair and salvage operations following the surprise attack on 7 December 1941. It culminated on 4 March 1942, with an unsuccessful attack carried out by two Kawanishi H8K "Emily" flying boats. This was the longest distance ever undertaken by a two-plane bombing mission, and one of the longest bombing sorties ever planned without fighter escort..

Operation Mo or the Port Moresby Operation was a Japanese plan to take control of the Australian Territory of New Guinea during World War II as well as other locations in the South Pacific with the goal of isolating Australia and New Zealand from their ally the United States. The plan was developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy and supported by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet. The operation was ultimately abandoned.

The invasion of Tulagi, on 3–4 May 1942, was part of Operation Mo, the Empire of Japan's strategy in the South Pacific and South West Pacific Area in 1942. The plan called for Imperial Japanese Navy troops to capture Tulagi and nearby islands in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. The occupation of Tulagi by the Japanese was intended to cover the flank of and provide reconnaissance support for Japanese forces that were advancing on Port Moresby in New Guinea, provide greater defensive depth for the major Japanese base at Rabaul, and serve as a base for Japanese forces to threaten and interdict the supply and communication routes between the United States and Australia and New Zealand.

Nishizō Tsukahara, was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

Sadayoshi Yamada was a Vice Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

Tanambogo Place in Central Province, Solomon Islands

Tanambogo is an islet in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands. It is one of the Florida Islands.

The Marshalls–Gilberts raids were tactical airstrikes and naval artillery attacks by United States Navy aircraft carrier and other warship forces against Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) garrisons in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands on 1 February 1942. The Japanese garrisons were under the overall command of Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue, commander of the 4th Fleet. Japanese aircraft in the islands belonged to the IJN's 24th Air Flotilla under Rear Admiral Eiji Gotō. The U.S. warship forces were under the overall command of Vice Admiral William Halsey, Jr.

The Tainan Air Group was a fighter aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The flying portion of the unit was heavily involved in many of the major campaigns and battles of the first year of the war. The exploits of the unit were widely publicized in the Japanese media at the time, at least in part because the unit spawned more aces than any other fighter unit in the IJN. Several of the unit's aces were among the IJN's top scorers, and included Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Saburō Sakai, Junichi Sasai, Watari Handa, Masaaki Shimakawa, and Toshio Ōta.

The Kisarazu Naval Air Group was an aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific campaign of World War II.

RAAF Tanambogo was a Royal Australian Air Force seaplane advanced operating base on the islands of Tanambogo, Gaomi and Gavutu constructed in 1939. Tanambogo and Gavutu were connected by causeway.

References

Bullard, Steven (translator) (2007). Japanese army operations in the South Pacific Area New Britain and Papua campaigns, 1942–43. Senshi Sōshō (translated excerpts). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. ISBN 978-0-9751904-8-7.
Cea, Edwardo (2008). Aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Valaldolid, Spain: AF Editions. ISBN 978-84-96935-12-9.
Jersey, Stanley Coleman (2008). Hell's Islands: The Untold Story of Guadalcanal. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 1-58544-616-5.
Lundstrom, John B. (2005). First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 (New ed.). Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-472-8.
Lundstrom, John B. (2005). The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway (New ed.). Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.A.: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-471-X.
Peattie, Mark R. (1999). Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-664-X.

Notes

↑ Hammel, Carrier Clash, p. 46–47, Jersey, Hell's Islands, p. 78, and Lundstrom, Guadalcanal Campaign, p. 38.

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[1] Hammel, Carrier Clash, p. 46–47, Jersey, Hell's Islands, p. 78, and Lundstrom, Guadalcanal Campaign, p. 38.