Japanese aircraft lost in combat over China 1937 - 1940

[GuerraCivil]

Hi,

Does anyone have some statistics of IJNAF/IJAAF combat losses over China during the years of 1937-1940? With these I mean losses in air combats against Chinese air forces and those caused by Chinese AA / ground fire.

[Leo Etgen]

Hi GuerraCivil

According to Sunburst: The Rise of the Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941 by Peattie the IJNAF lost 1,169 aircraft (554 destroyed and 665 badly damaged) and 828 men (680 aircrew and 148 ground crew) from 1937 to 1941. The heaviest losses were suffered in 1937 when 229 aircraft were destroyed or badly damaged and 285 men were killed. The lowest losses were recorded in 1941 when 166 aircraft were destroyed or damaged and 27 men were killed. Bomber crews suffered the highest losses with 379 men killed out of the total of 680 aircrew causalities. The book mentions that the IJAAF participated in the raids against cities in central China beginning in 1938, eventually including the use of the Sally but that the limited numbers of available IJAAF bombers, their smaller bomb loads and the absence of an adequate strategic bombardment doctrine meant that the the IJAAF could only play a supporting role in the offensives against cities in central china and none at all in in the offensives against cities in southern China. It appears that the IJAAF at the time mainly stressed ground support and that its most important campaign prior to the Pacific War came during the Khalkhyn Gol Incident against the Russians. I hope this helps.

Horrido!

Leo

[GuerraCivil]

Thanks, the Japanese losses seem to have been much heavier than I have thought! I wonder if there is breakdown on those numbers about the cause - are the numbers reflecting total losses including accidents or only combat losses?

Anatoli Demin´s article series Soviet Fighters in the Sky of China (Part I) mention that officially Japanese admitted the total losses of only 39 aircraft during the period of 14.8.-10.10.1937 in operations over China.

By the late of 1937 most of China´s original air force with Hawk III´s and other American/European planes had been eliminated. From that point Chinese re-equipped their air forces mainly with Soviet aircraft. Most of the Chinese air victories during 1938 - 1940 were achieved with Soviet-built Polikarpov fighters. According to Demin the success was rather limited - the combined efforts of Soviet volunteer pilots and Chinese pilots with I-15bis/I-16 are mentioned to be only 81 destroyed Japanese planes during the period of January 1938 to the May 1940 - although this is "incomplete tally". Considerable number of Japanes planes were also destroyed on the ground by couple of succesfull Chinese (Soviet) surprise air raids against Japanese airfields during the same period (most succesfull attack was against IJNAF airbase in Hankou on 3.10.1939 - "according to Japanese records" about 50 IJNAF machines destroyed - this attack is mentioned also in Saburo Sakai book Samurai).

According to same source (Demin) the aircraft losses of Japanese would have been quite minimal on 1941 - small contingent of Zero´s terrorizing the skies of China and making Chinese Air Force to avoid combat. During this most difficult period the Chinese Air Force would have been able to shoot down only 1 Japanese bomber during the first half of 1941 (the sole Chinese air victory scored over Lazhou on 21.5.1941). The start of Pacific War in Dec. 1941 saved Chinese Air Force and probably Nationalist China from the complete annihilation.

The above is based on these sources - see the title China Air War: www.j-aircraft.com/research/otherres.htm.

[Leo Etgen]

Hi GuerraCivil

I have no idea if the losses given are combat losses or total losses but I agree with you in that they are quite higher than one would imagine considering the qualitative superiority that the Japanese consistently enjoyed versus the Chinese. On the other hand, these losses were suffered over a four-year period so perhaps they were not as excessive as appears at first glance. I agree that it was quite notable that the heaviest losses were suffered when the mainstay of the ROCAF was the Hawk III and this would appear to indicate that the early Chinese pilots were not of such indifferent quality as is often thought although perhaps the Japanese were simply experiencing difficulties due to their not having mounted such ambitious operations before and were still learning their craft. The ROCAF was badly damaged by the end of 1937 yet the infusion of Russian aircraft such as the I-15 and I-16 as well as Russian aircrews allowed it to continue to put up resistance as was described in the book during the air battle over Hankow on 29 April 1938, when the Japanese raided the city with 18 Nell twin-engined bombers and some 30 Claude fighters and were engaged by some 60 to 80 Chinese and Russian flown Russian-built aircraft. Both sides claimed victory with various claim totals given but the official losses on either side was 12 aircraft according to the Chinese and two bombers and two fighters according to the Japanese. The supply of Russian-built aircraft kept the ROCAF alive and able to put up serious resistance against the Chungking raids in summer 1940. This was broken, though, in the autumn by the arrival of the Zeke allowing the Japanese to claim the destruction of 50 aircraft in aerial combat and 63 on the ground by the end of autumn 1940.

Horrido!

Leo

[Edward]

Aces of the Republic of China Air Force - Aircraft of the Aces 126
Raymond Cheung
Illustrator: Chris Davey
Osprey Publishing
Publication Date: 20 May 2015
Number of Pages: 96
Paperback
$22.95

The ace pilots of the Republic of China Air Force have long been shrouded in mystery and obscurity, as their retreat to Taiwan in 1949 and blanket martial law made records of the RoCAF all but impossible to access. Now, for the first time, the colourful story of these aces can finally be told. Using the latest research based on released archival information and full-colour illustrations, this book charts the history of the top scoring pilots of the RoCAF from the beginning of the gruelling, eight-year Sino-Japanese War to the conclusion of the Civil War against the Chinese Communists. Beginning as a ragged and very disparate group of planes and pilots drawn from various provincial air forces, the RoCAF gradually became standardised and was brought under American tutelage. Altogether it produced 17 aces who scored kills whilst flying a startling variety of aircraft, from biplanes to F-86 Sabres.

Biographical Note
Raymond Cheung served as a correspondent for a number of well-known defence journals in the United Kingdom, writing mainly on naval matters. However, his ‘first love’ is research in the history of the Chinese Air Force during the Sino-Japanese War 1937-45. In pursuit of this research, he has visited the archives of the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF) and the Japanese Defence Department on numerous occasions. Some of this research has been published in Chinese publications. This is his first work on the subject in English.

Contents
Background to the RoCAF
Early phases of the Sino-Japanese War
Retreat inland
Retreat further inland
Outbreak of World War 2
Latter part of World War 2 & epilogue
Appendices

[GuerraCivil]

While waiting for the Osprey book on ROCAF aces, I just make a rough guess that at least half of IJNAF aircraft and personnal losses were caused by enemy activity (= in combat). If 554 IJNAF planes were destroyed by all causes during operations of China 1937 - 1941, then about 270 - 280 aircraft may have been direct combat losses (air combat, enemy AA) and of the aircrew casualties of 680 the combat losses perhaps more than 50 %.

I just make this guess on comparison with Soviet aircraft losses during Winter War which in total may have been as high as 980 (in the period of three and half months of 30.11.1939 - 13.3.1940). It has been estimated that approximately half were combat losses. But at least half were caused by accidents: engine and mechanical failures, bad winter weather causing orientering mistakes and insufficient training of some pilots.

To my knowledge Japanese pilots were well-trained and their planes had good stability and were relatively easy for an average level pilot to handle. For example A5M and Ki-27 fighters were less demanding and more forgiving for a average pilot than the Soviet I-16. Relatively easy-to-fly planes with good pilot training may have diminished also the number of accidents. But of course the period 1937 - 1940 is rather long, and airfield conditions in China were not always ideal.

I´m not aware of the "average accident rate" of IJNAF/IJAAF, but I guess it was less than that of Soviet air forces during Winter War. And thus accidents and other "not-enemy related" caused perhaps less than 50 % of total losses.

But this is of course speculation as long as more detailed info is available.

And although IJNAF seems to have been the more important air force in China in 1937 - 1940, the IJAAF took also part scoring both air victories and suffering some losses. I do not know much about IJAAF´s combat losses in China because the available info in internet is quite fragmented, focuses mostly in few combats and tells actually little. For example the info presented in Håkans Aviation Page has these faults - it has lots of details taken from various sources, but...

...it is not the whole picture and there is no easy-to-read summary of Chinese-Japanese airwar with clear numbers of combat losses and confirmed air victories of both combatants during different years.

[RCheung]

Unfortunately, the "Aces of the ROCAF" would not have the information you are looking for. Records of JNAF losses can be found at the archives at Ebisu in Tokyo (soon to be moved to the Defence Department at Ichigaya, also in Tokyo). I will dig in my notes at home to see what I have.

[Skyraider3D]

If you search for Tactical Operation Records on http://www.jacar.go.jp/ you should find all the information you need. Mind you... it's very hard work unless you're fluent in Japanese!

[edwest]

I recommend the research and forums on this site:


http://www.j-aircraft.com/




Ed

[mars]

Originally Posted by Leo Etgen

Hi GuerraCivil

According to Sunburst: The Rise of the Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941 by Peattie the IJNAF lost 1,169 aircraft (554 destroyed and 665 badly damaged) and 828 men (680 aircrew and 148 ground crew) from 1937 to 1941. The heaviest losses were suffered in 1937 when 229 aircraft were destroyed or badly damaged and 285 men were killed. The lowest losses were recorded in 1941 when 166 aircraft were destroyed or damaged and 27 men were killed. Bomber crews suffered the highest losses with 379 men killed out of the total of 680 aircrew causalities. The book mentions that the IJAAF participated in the raids against cities in central China beginning in 1938, eventually including the use of the Sally but that the limited numbers of available IJAAF bombers, their smaller bomb loads and the absence of an adequate strategic bombardment doctrine meant that the the IJAAF could only play a supporting role in the offensives against cities in central china and none at all in in the offensives against cities in southern China. It appears that the IJAAF at the time mainly stressed ground support and that its most important campaign prior to the Pacific War came during the Khalkhyn Gol Incident against the Russians. I hope this helps.

Horrido!

Leo

According to archives of Republic of China government (compiled on 04/01/1941), between 08/1937 and 09/1940, 856 Japanese aircrafts were destroyed, which included 276 were shot down in air combat, 264 were destroyed on the ground by bombing, 122 wee shot down by AAA, 132 were shot down by ground troops, 11 were destroyed on the gound by artillery fire, 51 crashed in the Chinese controled territory, 51 Japanese aircrews were taken prisoners.