News article on WW2 Chinese airman

[Larry deZeng]

Should anyone be curious, even mildly curious, about which JNAF unit was most impacted by this raid, here is a small sliver of information - the raid wiped out an entire Kōkūtai:

Shinchiku Kōkūtai


Formed 1 April 1942 at Shinchiku NAS/2.4 mi NW of Shinchiku city (today: Hsin-chu)/NW Formosa. Provided 3-month and 4-month combat air crew training courses on land-based attack planes. Assigned to 14th Combined Air Group (14 Rengō Kōkūtai) and administratively under Sasebo Naval District.[1]

23 Sep 43: a Takao Detachment was in formation at Takao NAS/2 mi SE of Takao city (today: Kao-hsiung)/SW Formosa.[2]
25 Nov 43: Shinchiku NAS struck by 14 B-25s, 8 P-38s and 8 P-51As belonging to 14th AAF units based in China. Coming in at low-level and unobserved, the raiders devastated the Kōkūtai destroying 42 planes on the ground and claiming 14 more over the base, all without loss. As a consequence, training at Shinchiku was virtually brought to a halt.[3]
1 Jan 44: group disbanded; its Takao Detachment also disbanded and its assets incorporated into the Takao Kōkūtai.[4]


Commander:
Capt. Tomigi MAEHARA (Apr 42 - Nov 42)
Capt. Yoshiyotsu MORITAMA (Dec 42 - Dec 43)


[1] IJN Gazette entries in JICPOA Bulletins 35-45:113, 16-45 and 71-45; JICPOA JNAF OB (Microfiche F-2076):106.

[2] JICPOA Bulletin 44-45.

[3] Tagaya-Betty Units:101; Hammel-Air War:253.

[4] JICPOA Bulletin 102-45.