Japanese Army Air Force Camouflage and Markings World War II

208 Pages·1968·0.24 MB·English

by  Donald W. Thorpe

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HAYATE andSALLYoverNewGuinea;astaff-officerofthe29thFighterSENTAIescortsaSALLYfromHead·
quartersFlight,8thAir-Division.PaintingbyJackLeynnwood.
NATEs ofthe84thIndependentChutai,calledthe "NAGANO-GROUP",3rdFlight,inFrenchIndoChina, 1941.
This wasoneoftheearly"espritdecorps"units,andcarriedtheredfuselage striping,aswellastheeaglewings
on the wheel spats. Each Flight was identifiedbyan oblique stripe, colored whitefor the 1stflight, redfor the
2nd, yellowfor the3rd,andblueforthe4th.Also,theentirerearface ofthepropellerwaspaintedred.Thisunit
wasformedfromthe3rdChutaiofthe64thSentai,andalthoughitisnotreadilydiscernibleinthephoto, allair
craft traditionally carried the hawk symbol ofCol. Kato, who hadcommandedthe64th. (Witold Liss)
JAPAN~5~ ARMY A'R FORC~
CAMOUFlAG~ AND MARK'NGS
WORLD WAR "
by
Donald W. Thorpe
WITH TRANSLATIONS BY
Yasuo Oishi
COVER PAlNTING BY
Jack Leynnwood
COLOR AND OTHER DRAWINGS
BY THE AUTHOR
BASED UPON
SIDE VIEW DRAWINGS BY
Lloyd S. Jones
Aero putAjherj, !J.nc.
FALLBROOK, CALIFORNIA
WASHI NO TSUBASA
(THE WINGS OF THE EAGLE)
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGCARDNUMBER 68-54880
COPYRIGHT@1968AEROPUBLISHERS,INC.
ALLRIGHTSRESERVED
PRINTEDINTHEUNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA
FOREWORD
(Translated from the Japanese)
During the war years, as an ordinary pilot, I had little thoughts or
knowledge ofthe painting ofmilitary aircraft. As I remember now, all
of the Army aircraft that I piloted were painted light grey, with the
brilliantred Hinomaru(NationalInsignia)onthe wings, and onewhite
stripe onthe rearfuselage to identifyAllied(Japanese) aircraft.
I still remember the bright yellow-orange color of the main wings
and the contrasting black-painted motor-cowls of the KI-17 (Type 95
Model3PrimaryTrainer)ofmyfirst flying experiences.
As a boy, prior to my flying career, there were vivid impressions of
the "smartness" of the KAMIKAZE (civil version of BABS) painted
with its two-tone silver and blue finish, and the brightred wingsofthe
KOKENKI (an Aviation Research Aircraft, built bythe Tokyo Gas and
Electric Company, and designed by the Imperial University at Tokyo,
in 1937).
During the war, Japanese Army aircraft flew to distant shores ...
from the Southern Seas to the foggy northern regions, sometimes
based in French Indo-China, attacking the British F.ar Eastern Fleet.
Many fine young pilots died high in the air over RABAUL, and
MANILA BAY. Many High Performance Aircraft were secretly made,
tested, and vanished with the end ofthe war, living today only in the
historicaljournals.
After the war, we Japanese lost our wings. This may have been for
tunate, or unfortunate. During my career of twenty years of flying, I
experienced so many sorrows and joys, privileged to pilots only.
Human dreams will be realized ... traveling to the moon, and more
speedy aircraft will be designed and flown; these are the products of
civilization, the crystalization ofthe knowledge ofscientists and tech
nicians, andenvironment.
But on the other hand, historical research is very important. I
appreciate your efforts to publish such valuable literature, and I
thinkthatyourbookwill beverypopularamongmanypeoples.
2ndLtMasuo Suwa,(Ret)
Japanese In:perialArmyAirForces.
ABOUTMR. SUWA
MASUO SUWA entered military service as a Cadet Pilot with the
J.A.A.F. in April, 1939 and after a year's training took part in military
operations in northwestern Manchuria during1940.
On December 4th, 1941, he joined the 60th Sentai, followed by serv
ice inthe 12thand 14thSentais forthe remainderofthe waryears.
During his flying career, he flew such operational aircraft as KI-30
ANN, and KI-21 SALLY, models 1 and 2, and KI-17, KI-9, and KI-55
Trainers.
The principle enemy aircraft which he encountered during his
career were HURRICANES, BUFFALOES, LIGHTNINGS, MUS
TANGS, andAIRACOBRAS.
Mr. SUWA now resides in OSAKA,JAPAN, where he is in the metal
productsbusiness.
TheAuthor
DEDICATIONS, BOTH PERSONAL, AND PUBLIC
PUBLIC
To the memory of those "Raging Eagles",
who like their counterparts in other places,
lived and died with their heads and hearts
inthe clouds.
PERSONAL
ForEv, longsufferingandpatient,
ForKarl, who ledtheway,
AndforLloyd,who hadfaith.
The"RagingEag~es". (J.Wood)
IN APPRECIATION
We would like to express our extreme appreciation to those
listed below, and indeed manywho, becauseofspace, are not,fortheir
kind and generous contributions to this volume. If, throughout the
years to come, there is an upsurge of interest in the recording ofthe
history of flight, it should be noted that only through the efforts of
those such as arelistedhere couldthis have beenpossible.
DonaldW.Thorpe/Yasuo Oishi
RICHARD BUESCHELL-Japanese aviation historian.
ROBERTMIKESH, Major, USAF,Japanese aviation historian.
C. V. GLINES,Col., USAF,Chief,Magazine and BookBranch,Direc
torate for Information Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary of
Defense.
C. W. BURTYK, Lt.Col., USA, DeputyChief,Magazine and BookBranch
Directorate for Information Services, Office of the Assistant Secre
taryofDefense.
MAYE. FAWCETT, Chief,Audio-Visual, NationalArchives.
NATIONALAIRMUSEUM, SmithsonianInstitution.
AERONAUTICALCHARTAND INFORMATION CENTER,USAF
E. KENT LOOMIS, Captain, USN (Ret), Assistant Director of Naval
History, Department of the Navy, Officer of the Chief of Naval Oper
ations..
D. G. DERRYBERRY, Lt. Col., USMC, Chief, Media Branch, Division
ofInformation,HQ, USMC.
ROYAL D. FREY, Chief, Research Section,TheAirForceMuseum
TheAMERICAN AVIATION HISTORICALSOCIETY
The INTERNATIONALPLASTICMODELER'S SOCIETY
TheIMPERIALWAR MUSEUM,GreatBritain
TheAUSTRALIANWARMEMORIAL, Australia
RAFBIGGENHILL,GreatBritain
RAFCOSFORD, GreatBritain
EAGLEAVIATION ENTERPRISES
JOHNCALER,AERONAUTICA
AUTHEN:TICALS,INC.
Special thanks to the publications Aireview,. and Koku-Fan, whose
pages have been an invaluable aid, and without whose assistance
muchwould neverhave beenuncovered.
ANDTOTHEFOLLOWINGINDIVIDUALS:
C. E. DARBY, NewZealand
WITOLDLISS,Poland
A. L. CRAWFORD,RCAF
HIDEYAANDA,Japan
IAN SIBBALD, RCAF
CHARLESGRAHAM, USA
B. CALVINJONES, USA
ALBERTOANIDO,The Philippines
CADETB. MORTON, USAFAcademy
LLOYDJONES, Revell, Inc
TOMKNOTT, USA
MIKE DARIO,USA
JIMWOOD, USA
JACKPERELLA,USA
DONGARRETT, USA
CALGENPRESCOTT,USA
TADEO SHIBUSAWA,Japan
A. L. SCHMIDT,USA
R. HARRISON, USA
MIKEO'LEARY, USA
KENN C. RUST, USA
JERRYCRANDALL, USA
And manyothers,whose names are legion.
REFERENCE SOURCES
KOKU-FANmagazine,Japan
AIREIVIEWmagazine,Japan
FLYINGREVIEWINTERNATIONALmagazine,GreatBritain
AIRPROGRESS magazine, USA
ENCYCLOPEDIA OFJAPANESEAIRCRAFT, ShorzoeAbe
FAMOUS FIGHTERS series, RichardGreen
PROFILE publications, GreatBritain
THEAAHSJOURNAL, TheAmericanAviation Historical Society
THE IPMSJOURNAL, The InternationalPlastic Modeler's Society
THEJAPANESEMANUSCRIPTS DepartmentofDefense
TAlC publications, 1942-1946
JOINT ARMY-NAVY RECOGNITION JOURNALS, Department of
Defense
The authors apologize for any omissions to the foregoing list. Like
an iceberg, the small amount of rec;ognition given here is similar
to what shows above the water, while the vastbulkofwhatgoes before
lies hiddenfrom all buta knowingfew.
DonaldW.Thorpe
NATEsofthe59thFighterSentai, 1stChutai,Manchuria, 1939.Therearfacesofthepropellerbladeswerepaint
edin the Chutai color, as wasthefuselageflash; red, green, and black,for the 1st2nd, and3rd. Aircraftwere
lightgreygreenoverall,nonehadfuselageHinomarus. (R.Bueschel)