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Tainan Air Group
Enlisted fighter pilots of the Tainan Air Group pose at Lae in June 1942. Several of these aviators would be among the top Japanese aces, including Saburō Sakai (middle row, second from left), and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (standing, first on left).
Active	October 1, 1941 – November 1, 1942
Country	Empire of Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Navy
Type	Naval aviation unit
Role	Air superiority Fighter aircraft support
Size	45-65 aircraft
Part of	25th Air Flotilla, 11th Air Fleet
Garrison/HQ	Tainan, Taiwan Legaspi, Philippines Balikpapan, Borneo Denpasar, Bali Rabaul, New Britain Lae, Papua New Guinea
Aircraft flown	A6M Zero A5M Claude
Engagements	World War II Battle of the Philippines (1941–42) Dutch East Indies campaign New Guinea Campaign Guadalcanal Campaign

The Tainan Air Group (台南海軍航空隊, Tainan Kaigun Kōkūtai) 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.

History

Philippines and Dutch East Indies

The unit was formed at Tainan, Taiwan (then part of the Empire of Japan) on October 1, 1941 as part of the 23rd Air Flotilla. The unit's first commander was Captain Hiroshi Higuchi, who was relieved by Commander Masahisa Saito on 4 October 1941. Most of the unit's original pilots were veterans of aerial combat in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Just before the outbreak of war with the Allied powers, the unit consisted of 45 A6M Zero and 12 Type 96 fighter aircraft.

On 8 December 1941 forty-four Tainan aircraft escorted IJN bombers in attacks on US aircraft at Iba and Clark airfields on Luzon in the Philippines, a distance of 500 miles each way. The attacks almost completely destroyed General Douglas MacArthur's air forces. On 10 December Tainan Zeros shot down the B-17 bomber piloted by Colin Kelly. Later that month, the unit redeployed to the Philippines and continued to support Japanese forces as they overran and destroyed the territory's American and Filipino defenses.

The Tainan Naval Air Group then moved to Tarakan Island, followed by moves to Balikpapan and Denpasar, Bali to support the successful Japanese offensive into the Dutch East Indies beginning in January 1942. The unit's fighters helped inflict heavy losses on defending Allied aircraft in January and February 1942.

New Guinea

With the end of the campaign in March, the unit was integrated into the 25th Air Flotilla and redeployed to recently captured Rabaul, New Britain and Lae, Papua New Guinea in April. As of 25 April 1942, due to operational and combat losses, the Tainan Air Group, now under the command of Captain Masahisa Saitō, counted 26 Zero and six Type 96 "Claude" fighters.

The unit initially concentrated its aircraft at Lae to support an air campaign against the Australian and American forces stationed at Port Moresby. Between April and July, the Tainan Air Group flew 51 missions, totalling 602 sorties. During this time, the unit claimed to have destroyed 300 enemy aircraft. The Tainan's losses were 20 aircraft. Replacement aircraft gave the unit a total of 24 Zeros by August 1942, flown by 55 pilots. Because of the surplus in aircrew, only the most experienced pilots were allowed to fly combat missions.

Guadalcanal

On August 7, United States Marines landed on Japanese-occupied Guadalcanal, initiating the Guadalcanal Campaign. In response that same day, 18 Tainan fighters escorted bombers from Rabaul for an attack on the Allied invasion fleet, the longest fighter mission of the war (556 miles each way) to that date. The Tainan claimed to have destroyed 43 enemy aircraft over Guadalcanal on that mission while losing two fighters with their pilots themselves. The Americans actually lost 10 aircraft, including nine of 18 fighters present, plus one dive bomber. The two Tainan pilots killed on this mission were Petty Officer First Class Yoshida and Petty Officer Second Class Nishiura

One significant Tainan casualty over Guadalcanal that day was Saburō Sakai, who was seriously injured and forced into a two-year recuperation. The US Marines on August 8 captured an airfield (later called Henderson Field) under construction by the Japanese on Guadalcanal which was soon operational with Allied aircraft.

Over the next several months, Tainan aircraft based at Rabaul engaged in repeated dogfights with Allied aircraft, called the Cactus Air Force, based on Guadalcanal. The extreme distances required for the Tainan pilots to fly from Rabaul to Guadalcanal severely hampered the unit's attempts to establish air superiority over the island. The unit also continued to support bombing missions against Port Moresby. Between August and November 1942, the Tainan lost 32 pilots killed in action. Junichi Sasai was killed on August 26 and Toshio Ōta on October 21.

On November 1, 1942 the Japanese naval units in the Southeast Pacific were reorganized. The Tainan was redesignated as the 251 Air Group and reconstituted with replacement aircrews. The 20 surviving pilots of the Tainan were transferred to Japan to help form new fighter units. Bergerud says only 10 pilots were left and that the new unit was not called the "251st Air Group". Each digit in "251" refers to a discrete attribute of the new organization.

Personnel Assigned

Commanding Officers

• Capt. Higuchi Hiroshi (40) - 1 October 1941 - 4 October 1941
• Cdr. / Capt. Saito Masahisa (47) - 4 October 1941 - 1 November 1942 (Promoted Captain on 1 May 1942.)

Executive Officers

• VACANT - 1 October 1941 - 1 November 1942

Maintenance Officers

• VACANT - 1 October 1941 - 15 October 1942
• Lt. (Eng.) Nishimoto Hisashi (Eng. 41) - 15 October 1942 - 1 November 1942

Surgeons

• LtCdr. (Med.) Fujimura Nobuyoshi (1929) - 1 October 1941 - 1 August 1942
• LtCdr. (Med.) Nishino Denkichi (1929) - 1 August 1942 - 1 November 1942

Paymasters

• Lt. (Pay.) Kaneko Seizaburo (Pay. Aux. 2) - 1 October 1941 - 1 November 1942

Communications Officers

• LtCdr. Sonoda Yoshiteru (56) - 1 October 1941 - 1 November 1942

Air Officers

• LtCdr. / Cdr. Kozono Yasuna (51) - 1 October 1941 - 1 November 1942 (Promoted Commander on 15 October 1941.)

References

Notes

1. ^ Hata 1989, p. 132.
2. Lundstrom 2005, p. 44.
3. Hata 1989, pp. 132–133.
4. Lundstrom 2005, p. 45.
5. Burton 2006, pp. 140, 197.
6. Hata 1989, pp. 133–134.
7. Hata 1989, pp. 134–135.
8. Bergerud 2000, pp. 416–417.
9. Lundstrom 2005, p. 43.
10. Bullard 2007, pp. 53–54.
11. Hata 1989, pp. 134–136,
12. Lundstrom 2005, pp. 44–45.
13. Bullard, pp. 54–55.
14. Frank 1990, pp. 67-69.
15. Bergerud 2000, p. 557.
16. Lundstrom 2005, p. 62.
17. ^ Hata 1989, pp. 136–137.
18. Lundstrom 2005, p. 191.
19. Sakaida 1998, p. 102.
20. Hata 1989, p. 137.
21. Bergerud 2000, p. 423.
22. However, the notation on the official document, "Dai (第)" corresponding to "1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc." in English had been attached. Therefore st, nd, rd and th are essential in the text. Source: 1 February 1943, Notice No. 137 by Minister's Secretariat/Ministry of the Navy. URL; http://www.jacar.go.jp/DAS/meta/imageen_C12070201700?IS_STYLE=eng&IS_KIND=SimpleSummary&IS_TAG_S1=InfoSDU&IS_KEY_S1=C12070201700&IS_LGC_S32=&IS_TAG_S32=&, p. 2 in the National Archives of Japan, http://www.jacar.go.jp/english/.
23. Lundstrom 2005, pp. 471–472.

Bibliography

• Bartsch, William H. (2003). December 8, 1941: MacArthur's Pearl Harbor. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press.
• Bergerud, Eric M. (2000). Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3869-7.
• 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. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
• Burton, John (2006). Fortnight of Infamy: The Collapse of Allied Airpower West of Pearl Harbor. Annapolis, MD: US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-096-X.
• Frank, Richard (1990). Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-58875-4.
• Gillison, Douglas (1962). Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942. Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Series 3: Air. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
• Hata, Ikuhiko; Yasuho Izawa (1989). Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II. Translated by Don Cyril Gorham. Annapolis, Maryland: US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-315-6.
• Lundstrom, John B. (2005). The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 (New ed.). Annapolis, MD: US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-472-8.
• McCarthy, Dudley (1959). Volume V – South–West Pacific Area – First Year: Kokoda to Wau. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 2006-11-02.
• Mersky, Peter B. (1993). Time of the Aces: Marine Pilots in the Solomons, 1942-1944. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. Retrieved October 20, 2006. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Miller, Thomas G. (1969). Cactus Air Force. Admiral Nimitz Foundation. ISBN 0-934841-17-9.
• Sakai, Saburō (2008). Samurai! (reprint ed.). IBooks, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59687-086-4.
• Sakaida, Henry (1998). Imperial Japanese Navy Aces, 1937-45. Botley, Oxfordshire, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-85532-727-9.
• Shores, Christopher (2002). Bloody Shambles: Volume One: The Drift to War to the Fall of Singapore. London: Grub Street Publishing. ISBN 0-948817-50-X.
• Shores, Christopher (2009). Bloody Shambles: Volume Two: The Complete Account of the Air War in the Far East, from the Defence of Sumatra to the Fall of Burma, 1942. London: Grub Street Publishing. ISBN 978-0-948817-67-0.
• Womack, Tom (2006). Dutch Naval Air Force Against Japan: The Defense of the Netherlands East Indies, 1941-1942. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-2365-X.
• Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II - Part I. United States Army Center of Military History. 1994 . CMH Pub 13-1. Retrieved 2006-12-08. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

External links

v t e Imperial Japanese Navy air units
Air Fleet	1 2 3 5 10 11 12 13 14
Air Flotilla	11 12 13 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 32 51 53 61 62 71 72 101
Combined Air Group	1 2 3 4 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Air Group	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 31 32 33 35 36 40
Naval Air Group (Numbered name)	121 131 132 133 141 151 153 171 201 202 203 204 205 210 221 251 252 253 254 256 261 263 265 281 301 302 312 321 322 331 332 341 343 345 352 361 381 452 453 501 502 503 521 522 523 524 531 541 551 552 553 582 601 631 634 652 653 701 702 703 705 706 707 721 722 723 724 725 732 751 752 753 755 761 762 763 765 801 802 851 901 902 903 931 932 933 934 936 938 951 952 953 954 955 956 958 1001 1021 1022 1023 1081
Naval Air Group (Place name)	Expeditionary unit Chitose Genzan (I) Kanoya (I) Kisarazu Mihoro Misawa (I) Takao (I) Tainan (I) Tōkō Yokohama Patrol / Defensive unit Chichijima Chinkai Kure Kushimoto Maizuru Okinawa Ōminato Saeki Sasebo Tateyama Toyohashi (I) Yokosuka Practice unit Atsugi Genzan (II) Hakata Kaikō Kanoya (II) Komatsushima Kōnoike Matsushima Miyazaki Nagoya Ōi Ōita Ōmura San'a Seitō Shanhai Shinchiku Sukumo Suzuka Tainan (II) Takao (II) Tokushima Toyohashi (II) Tsuiki (I) Tsukuba Usa Yatabe Basic training unit Amakusa Fukuyama Himeji Hyakurihara Isahaya Iwakuni (I) Izumi 1st Izumi Jinmachi Kan'onji Kashima Kitaura Kobi Kōchi Kokubu 2nd Kōriyama Kōshū 2nd Kōwa 2nd Miho Mineyama 3rd Okazaki Ōryū Ōtsu Pusan Saijō 2nd Takao Takuma Tōkyō Tsuiki (II) Yamato Mechanic training unit Fujisawa Hitoyoshi 2nd Izumi 2nd Kanoya Katori Kōriyama 1st Kōriyama Kōwa 1st Kōwa Kushira Oihama Okazaki 1st Okazaki 2nd Okazaki Sagamino 1st Sagamino 2nd Sagamino Sunosaki 2nd Tainan Tarumi Taura Preparatory flight training unit Fukuoka Iwakuni (II) Kagoshima Kasumigaura Kofuji Komatsu Kōyasan Kurashiki Matsuyama Mie Miho 1st Miho Misawa (II) Nara Nishinomiya Seto Shiga Shimizu Takarazuka Tsuchiura Urado Uwajima
Naval Air Group (Regional name)	Chōsen Chūhi Chūshi Gōhoku Higashikarorin Hitō Hokuhi Hokutai Hokutō Inshi Kantō Kinki Kyūshū Marai Mariana Naikai Nanpi Nanpōshotō Nanseishotō Nantai Nishikarorin Ōu Saikai San'in Taiwan Tōin Tōkai
Flying squadron	Fighter Squadron 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 315 316 317 318 351 401 402 403 407 601 602 603 701 804 812 851 901 902 Attack Squadron 1 3 5 102 103 105 107 161 251 252 253 254 256 262 263 401 405 406 501 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 711 Reconnaissance Squadron 3 4 11 12 61 101 102 301 302
Special unit	R-Area Air Force
Organization of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (I) First generation (II) Second generation

• Groups of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
• Military units and formations established in 1941
• Military units and formations disestablished in 1942