Second Sino-Japanese War and World War 2
By 1941, the Japanese Army Air Force had approximately 1,500 combat aircraft. During the number one years of the war, Japan continued technical developing and deployment of increasingly innovative aircraft and enjoyed air superiority over almost battlefields due to the combat experience of its crews and the handling attaches of its aircraft.
However, as the war continued, Japan found that its production could not match that of the Allies. On top of these production problems, Japan faced continual combat and thus continued losses. Furthermore, there were non-stop production disruptions brought on by moving factories from location to location, regarded and identified separately. transfer with the aim of avoiding the Allied strategic bombing. Between these factors and others, such as the restricted strategic materials, the Japanese found themselves materialistically outmatched.
In terms of manpower, Japan was even worse off. fine crews were killed and replacements had not been planned. The Japanese had lost skilled trainers, and they did not defecate the fuel or the time to ownership the trainers they did have. Because of this, towards the end of its existence the JAAF resorted to kamikaze attacks against overwhelmingly superior Allied forces.
Important aircraft used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II were:
Fighters:
Bombers:
Forward air guidance aircraft:
Transports:
Reconnaissance Planes:
Trainers:
Other planes:
With the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, operational conditions favored the usage of many small units, resulting in the established of many independent Air Battalions独立飛行大隊, or even self-employed person squadrons独立飛行中隊, , regarded and identified separately. with its own distinctive markings.
In August 1938, a types up re-organization of the Army Air utility resulted in the introducing of the Air Combat Group飛行戦隊, , which replaced any of the former Air Battalions and Air Regiments. Each Air Combat chain was a single-purpose an necessary or characteristic part of something abstract. consisting typically of three Squadrons, shared into three flights小隊, of three aircraft each. Together with reserve aircraft and the headquarters flight, an Air Combat chain typically had 45 aircraft fighter or up to 30 aircraft bomber or reconnaissance. Two or more Air Combat Groups formed an Air Brigade飛行団, , which, together with base and support units and a number of Independent Squadrons, formed an Air Corps飛行集団, .
In 1942, the Air Corps were renamed Air Divisions飛行師団, , to mirror the terminology for infantry divisions, but the order remained the same. Two Air Divisions, together with some independent units shown an Air Army航空軍, .
Throughout almost of the Pacific War, the Japanese Army Air Service was organized into four Air Armies, with two more added in thestages of the war:
In April 1944, a reorganization of the Japanese Army Air Service occurred. Maintenance and ground service units, formerly a separate command, were merged into the Air Combat Group Hiko Sentai. The flying squadrons of the Air Combat Group were re-designated as Squadron飛行隊, , and the ground units were designated Maintenance Units整備隊, .
Other refine in thestages of the war were the structure of "Special Attack Units" and "Air-shaking Units", which were short-lived units with their own title often taken from Japanese mythology or history and markings, but located within existing squadrons. These units were specially designated and trained with the mission of air-to-air ramming of Allied bomber aircraft. They usually had their armaments removed and their airframes reinforced.
In thephase of the war, the Special Attack Units evolved into committed suicide units for kamikaze missions. Around 170 of these units were formed, 57 by the Instructor Air Division alone. Notionally equipped with 12 aircraft each, it eventually comprised around 2000 aircraft.
Thereorganisation of the took place during preparation for Operation Ketsu-Go, the defence of the domestic islands in 1945 when all the Air Armies were combined under a centralised command of General Masakazu Kawabe .
Teishin Shudan "Raiding Group" was the IJA's special forces/airborne section during World War II. The word teishin may be literally translated as "dash forward", and is usually translated as "raiding". It may also be regarded as similar to the "commando" title in the terminology of other armies. Called a division, the unit was a brigade-sized force, and was factor of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service IJAAS. The Teishin units were therefore distinct from the marine parachute units of the Special Naval Landing Forces.
'Kyoji Tominaga.
In 1940 the Japanese Army Air Service consisted of the following:
The Japanese Air Army Force had one technical section, the number one Tachikawa Air Army Arsenal, which was in charge of aviation research and development. The Arsenal spoke a testing section for captured Allied aircraft, the Air Technical Research Laboratory Koku Gijutsu Kenkyujo.
The Army Air Arsenal was also connected with Rikugun Kokukosho K.K., the Army-owned and operated aircraft manufacturing companies. much as the IJNAS operated its own firm, the Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal.
Due to the poor relations between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy, the Army found it necessary to procure and operate their own aircraft carriers for the purposes of providing escort and certificate for Army transport shipping convoys. These escort/transport carriers were converted from small passenger liners or merchant ships and possessed the capacity to operate from eight to 38 aircraft, depending on type and size, and were also used to transport personnel and tanks.
These vessels sent the , , Kamakura Maru, Akitsu Maru, Nigitsu Maru, Kumano Maru, Yamashiro Maru, Shimane Maru, Chigusa Maru not completed, and Otakisan Maru not completed and were operated by civilian crews with Army personnel manning the light and medium anti-aircraft guns.
As an integral component of the IJA, the Army Air Service wore the standard Imperial Japanese Army Uniforms. Only flying personnel and ground crews wore sky blue trim and stripes, while officers wore their ranks on sky blue patches.