The Japanese Army and Navy forces as organizations were progressively demobilized
and disbanded as soon as practical after their surrender in August 1945. This
short three part article outlines the corresponding fate of their aircraft, a
story beginning with the formation of Technical Air Intelligence Units (TAIUs)
1 - PRELUDE
As in Europe, the Allies in the Pacific theatre
were also keen to learn as much as
possible about their opponents' equipment. With Americans having the major
involvement there, it was appropriate that they predominated in all such
evaluation, particularly in respect of captured aircraft. It was agreed in this
regard that the US Navy would lead
a technical air intelligence
joint organization which included USAAF, RAF and RN representatives.
Thereafter, the first TAIU was set up as a
joint USAAF/USN/RAAF organization in Australia in early 1943. This particular
unit absorbed a small team from the Directorate of Intelligence, HQ Allied
Forces, who were developing the Code Name system for Japanese aircraft they had
started in 1942. A second, known as
the Allied TAIU for South East Asia (ATAIU-SEA), followed in Calcutta in late
1943 as a joint RAF/USAAF Allied unit. Then, in mid 1944, the USN personnel from
the TAIU in Australia were withdrawn to NAS Anacosta, near Washington DC, to
become the TAIC (Technical Air Intelligence Centre), whose purpose was to
centralise and co-ordinate work of test centres in the United States with work
of TAIUs in the field.
The operation in Australia was reformed to
function thereafter as TAIU for the South West Pacific Area (TAIU-SWPA) and
eventually moved to the Philippines in early 1945. Two other operations were
also set up, TAIU for the Pacific Ocean Area (TAIU-POA) as a USN unit to trawl
the various Pacific Islands for aircraft and TAIU for China (TAIU-CHINA) under
control of Chiang Kai Shek's
It is outside the scope of this article to
detail the aircraft test flown by the TAIUs, but here is a quick run down of the
numbers before cessation of hostilities in August 1945:
(Australia) - approximately 5.
(Philippines) - over 20.
POA - None, but 14 sent to TAIC.
- at least 11.
When war ended the Allies felt it necessary to
assess the state of technological development still remaining intact in Japan.
Although work of other TAIUs ended speedily, that of ATAIU-SEA and TAIU-SWPA
continued to gather selected material for further evaluation; in order to do
this the former moved to Singapore, with a flying unit at Tebrau in Malaya, and
the latter to Japan itself.
2 - INTERLUDE
GREEN CROSS FLIGHTS
There were two periods of so called green cross flights by Japanese
aircraft after capitulation. The first lasted from about 19th August to 12th
September 1945, covering flights of surrender delegations
and flights of surrendering
aircraft to assembly points.
The second period
lasted from 15th September to 10th October 1945, covering general
communications and taking surrender details to outlying forces. The longest
survivors of these operations were probably those few which found their way into
the Gremlin Task Force (see Part 3 ); the rest were destroyed.
By early 1946 ATAIU-SEA in Singapore had
gathered some 64 Army and Navy aircraft, most in flyable condition, for shipment
to the UK for further evaluation. An unknown number of these aircraft
were actually test flown at Tebrau. Lack of shipping space prevented this
shipment and only four eventually arrived in England for Museum purposes. In any
event, funds for testing captured
war material were by then severely restricted and most such work already
By the end of 1945 TAIU-SWPA teams had scoured
the Japanese mainland and other
territories to gather together in Yokohama Naval Base four examples of every
Japanese aircraft type never previously tested by the Allies;
one of each was to be for the USAAF, USN, RAF and Museum purposes.
In the event, those for the RAF have not been
accounted for and of the remainder some 115 arrived in America during December
1945, 73 to Army bases and 42 to Naval bases. Once again funds and interest for
further testing were drying up rapidly and only six of the aircraft were
actually flown there, four by the Army and two by the Navy. Out of the 115
total, plus 11 TAIC aircraft
already there, 46 are in US Museums, about
two thirds of the remainder were scrapped and the rest are probably still
corroding away somewhere out of sight.
3 - FINALE
USED BY OTHERS
At the time the war ended Japanese forces were still either occupying or
fighting in various areas of South East Asia including China, Korea, Manchuria,
Indonesia, Indo China and Thailand. Many of the latest types of aircraft
had already been withdrawn for the defense of mainland Japan, but there
still remained upwards of a thousand assorted aircraft in these territories,
most of which were acquired by local Nationalist armies.
In CHINA the situation was complicated by the
presence of opposing Communist and Nationalist regimes. The Russians illegally
turned over to the Communists most aircraft remaining in Manchuria which had
been destined for the internationally recognized Nationalist government; this
gave the former a formidable air
force which they manned with several hundred
Japanese aircrew and ground staff working as mercenaries. The Nationalists took
over Japanese aircraft surrendered in their territory, but in far fewer numbers.
Aircraft used by both sides included such types
as OSCAR, FRANK, HICKORY, IDA, Ki-79, LILY, SALLY, SONIA, THORA,
TOJO, TONY and TOPSY. Nearly all were progressively replaced by 1950 with
Russian and American aircraft during the ensuing civil
In KOREA the country was artificially divided
in two at the war end by the infamous 38th parallel,
Russians occupying the North and Americans the South of the country. A
few surrendered WILLOW trainers were later used for a variety of roles in an
embryo South Korean (ROK) air force until invasion by North Korean forces in mid
In INDONESIA Nationalist forces opposed to the Dutch again taking control
formed a makeshift airforce
from a number of surrendered aircraft in varying states of repair, once more with Japanese air and ground crew help.
included DINAH, IDA, Ki-79
(1), LILY (1), MAVIS (1), OSCAR, SALLY (1), SONIA, SPRUCE and
WILLOW. Many of these aircraft were unserviceable by 1947, but some
lasted until independence was obtained in 1949.
In INDO CHINA pending arrival of the French to
reclaim their former territory, a Gremlin Task Force was formed by the RAF utilizing
surrendered Japanese aircraft and crews to fly in supplies as well as disarm and
repatriate surrendering troops.
Types used included DINAH, HICKORY, IDA, Ki-79, LILY, PEGGY, SALLY, TABBY and
TOPSY. The unit was disbanded in early 1946 when the French arrived and they
took over some of the aircraft. They also quickly found the need for combat
aircraft to use against Vietnamese Nationalists. Prior to arrival of Spitfires
purchased from England, a number of other surrendered Japanese aircraft
including JAKE and OSCAR types were restored to flying order and used for a
few more months.
In THAILAND, an ally of Japan after invasion by
them in 1941, there was already an airforce trained and equipped by the Japanese
with such types as ANN, DAVE, IDA,
JAKE, Ki-79, NATE, OSCAR, SALLY and SPRUCE. These remained in Royal Thai service
until their replacement in 1949 with more modern and serviceable American and
As the Allies completed their occupation of mainland Japan, all remaining war service equipment was ordered to be destroyed or scrapped, a task which, as far as aircraft were concerned, took until well into 1947. By that time nearly 13,000 surviving military aircraft had been disposed of there. In addition, several hundred more found during this time on various islands in the Pacific were also destroyed. So set the Rising Sun in skies filled with oily smoke.
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