IJN/IJAA and Luftwaffe Exchange Pilots
 

I am unaware of IJN/IJAA pilots flying or training with the Luftwaffe--ever. Even mid-1930s, I've never read an account of this happening.

Conversely, I've never read an account of Luftwaffe pilots flying or training in Japan--ever.

Am I missing something? (Obviously.) So would someone please tell me what I am missing?

It seems to me that both the IJN/IJAA and Luftwaffe missed an incredibly important training/professional development opportunity.

Bronc

Re: IJN/IJAA and Luftwaffe Exchange Pilots
 

Not that long ago, I found one or two photos of Japanese officers wearing German (?) parachutes in the presence of Luftwaffe officers.
I have also seen photos of high-ranking Japanese military men either in Germany or German controlled territory. The full situation regarding
visits by Japanese military personnel is unknown to me.


Best,
Ed

Re: IJN/IJAA and Luftwaffe Exchange Pilots
 

Thank you for your reply. If YOU don't know, perhaps there is hope for me yet!

Bronc

Re: IJN/IJAA and Luftwaffe Exchange Pilots
 

Language skills was an obvious challenge if there were to be a training exchange between Germany and Japan. Fritz Losigkeit was Air attache in Japan for a period prior to returning to Germany where he becane Geschwader kommodore for JG 5 and JG 77. During his tenure in Japan he visited Japanese units for study and also flew Japanese aircraft like the Ki-27 Nate.

Re: IJN/IJAA and Luftwaffe Exchange Pilots
 

pretty sure I saw photos on eBay around a year ago of Japanese guys sitting in Luftwaffe aircraft cockpits supervised by Luftwaffe officers

Re: IJN/IJAA and Luftwaffe Exchange Pilots
 

This excellent work says there were extensive numbers of Japanese military, diplomatic and civilian personnel transported back and forth between Japan and Germany aboard the Trans-Siberian railway from August 1939 to March 1943. Surprisingly, a treaty between Japan and the USSR permitted this. But no German passengers, however. There was also some travel by ship (mainly prior to the war) and by submarine. Aside from Japanese military attache personnel, the remaining Japanese military were all technical personnel sent to study aeronautical and other developments that Japan hoped it could use against the Allies in the Pacific. There was no exchange of trainees or aircrew, according to the source.

L.

Krug, Hans-Joachim, Yōichi Hirama, Berthold J. Sander-Nagashima and Axel Niestlé. Reluctant Allies: German-Japanese Naval Relations in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2001. ISBN: 1-55750-465-2. Hb. Dj. 414p. Illus. Appendices. Glossary. Source notes. Bibliography. Index. See pages 199-201.

Re: IJN/IJAA and Luftwaffe Exchange Pilots
 

An awesome post about a mostly unknown history.

I've always wondered if, how and why not.

Thank you.

Bronc

Re: IJN/IJAA and Luftwaffe Exchange Pilots
 

Back in October 1996, I visited Herr Martin Drewes (former CO of III/NJG 1) here in Brazil twice. He showed me images of a delegation from Japan that visited Germany. If memory doest not fail me, they visited the NJG 3 airfield then at Stade. He told me that there was an Officer (probably from the Army) that had never flown before and so he took him to the air. The other guys from his Squadron wanted him to shake the "jap" with spins, loopings, etc...to make the guy sick....But Drewes told me he wanted to make the guy feel the same things he loved when flying....so he told me he did one of the smoothiest flights of his life....flying over rivers, at the end of the day (sunset) and showing the "jap" the beauty of Flying! I can never forget this statement, having done similar flights with youngsters that had never flown before or who wanted to become civilian pilots themselves...Probably with the same Japanese Delegation there were IJN or other japanese pilots...but am not sure. I have seen Drewes' privates photos and images of this Delegation and a couple others on a book about the NJG before...But surely they may have exchanged or managed one flight here or there....but probably not a FULL training Syllabus. I do not have documents to prove that...so it is only on the "theory" or "guess".

A.