Ki43 Archives - Aviation Wings

As the first pilot to purposefully ram a B-17 Flying Fortress, Sergeant Oda Tadao received praise in the Japanese media and received a posthumous promotion. It is unlikely that the incident was deliberate, though

A B-17F dubbed Fightin’ Swede took off from Port Moresby’s Seven-Mile ‘drome in the early morning of May 8, 1943, on its own armed reconnaissance mission of the northern New Guinea coast from Madang to Saidor. The goal of the mission was to track down Japanese merchant ships that were allegedly transporting supplies to the area. Nonetheless, the weather in New Guinea was behaving as expected since an unstable air mass was causing heavy clouds and squalls along the coastal littoral.

The bomber, piloted by Major Robert Keatts, failed to return. It was fifty miles north of Madang when it made its last radio transmission on the hour at 0900, stating that it had found and was circling a Japanese convoy. A few days later, Radio Tokyo reported that a Japanese fighter pilot had deliberately rammed a Flying Fortress over New Guinea on that particular day, bringing it down. Because of this, it was assumed at Port Moresby that the victim had been a Fightin’ Swede.

Japanese and US Army Air Force (USAAF) records on the subject correspond perfectly, as Michael John Claringbould explains in his book Pacific Adversaries Volume One. The Fortress was discovered by nine Ki-43 Hayabusa of the 11th Sentai, headed by Captain Takashi Ninomiyo, commander of No. 1 Chutai, not long after its final transmission. A shotai of three fighters led by Lieutenant Kobayashi Junji broke off from Takashi’s detachment after spotting the Fortress and launched the first attack. Takashi’s detachment was tasked to cover the approaching ships.

The 11th Sentai had suffered through nearly nonstop action in the theater of operations for around five months by this point in the war and had lost the majority of its original Mark I Hayabusa arsenal. Although six Mark IIs had already been added to its inventory as replacements, its worn-out pilot crew was scheduled to return to Japan on June 19, 1943, in five weeks. They would hand over their remaining Hayabusa to other Wewak-based units upon departure. This clarifies why the nine Hayabusa Takashi led were a mishmash of leftover Mark I and new Mark II Hayabusa recruited from various chutai.

Kobayashi’s trio conducted their initial assault on the Fortress from behind and slightly above, then they rotated around and made frontal assaults. An apparently unharmed Fightin’ Swede moved toward the cover of the cloud during these assaults. According to Japanese archives, Sergeant Oda Tadao deliberately collided with the Fortress during a head-on pass because he didn’t want to let the B-17 escape. After colliding, both the B-17 and the fighter immediately fell. Following this, Oda was praised in the Japanese media for reportedly intentionally ramming the Fortress. As a result of the extensive publicity, he was also promoted to Lieutenant posthumously in recognition of his apparent courage.

In a conflict, though, things might not always be as they seem. Since the beginning of the conflict, the Japanese Army Air Force (JAAF) vigorously prohibited suicide tactics. Oda probably simply miscalculated the strike direction and hit the bomber.

Many of the Japanese Navy fighter pilots who saw the Fortress for the first time in 1941 and 1942 had already remarked how difficult it was to judge closing speeds due to its size. A calculation error was likely given the frontal attack’s close speed of more than 350 mph, as evidenced by the countless earlier combat collisions in New Guinea.

If the Japanese narrative is accurate, Oda is said to have rammed the bomber around 0813 JST (0913 local), which indicates that Fightin’ Swede had been in the air for roughly thirteen minutes following its last location report at 0900. The aircraft may reach the New Guinea shore in thirteen minutes while attempting to return to Port Moresby, which is likely. Regardless of the presence of cloud cover, Fightin’ Swede was unlikely to travel farther out to sea in order to enter Japanese territory, making it more plausible that it was returning home. If so, the collision with Oda’s Hayabusa in midair could have happened over the coast or possibly just a little inland.

Early in March 1944, Australian soldiers moving towards Madang discovered the Type II Hayabusa’s wreckage at Bau Plantation. The ship’s tail was still intact, showing the 11th Sentai markings in clear view. The Allies Technical Air Intelligence Unit inspected the wreck on March 19, 1944, including any clear markings. Bau Plantation is situated squarely on the route that Fightin’ Swede would have taken to return to Seven-Mile that morning, presuming that it was close to the New Guinea coast when it was brought down. Moreover, Oda’s is the only 11th Sentai Hayabusa known to have been lost in a battle close to Madang. As a result, it is likely that the Hayabusa under examination belonged to Oda.

Whether because it fell into the ocean or it’s located in an inhospitable place, the wreckage of the Fightin’ Swede has never been located.

Pacific Adversaries Volume One is published by Casemate Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by Jack Fellows illustration and Stumanusa own work via Wikipedia

The Story of the Ki-43 Hayabusa pilot that claimed the shooting down of four USAAF P-38 Lightnings in an air battle that never was

In Japan, Warrant Officer Shiromoto Nauharu Hayabusa’s alleged exploits as a pilot over the Solomon Islands on January 31, 1943, have become legendary.

The Japanese started constructing an airfield at Munda, nearly midway between Guadalcanal and Rabaul, in late 1942, nearing the end of the Guadalcanal campaign. On Kolombangara Island, which is only fifteen miles from Munda and is immediately recognizable by its unusual 5,000-foot conical volcanic mountain, a smaller emergency strip at Vila was built. About 10,000 Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) personnel would eventually occupy these two locations, which they were told to defend to the death, as detailed by Michael John Claringbould in his book Pacific Adversaries Volume One.

On January 31, 1943, a coordinated fighter sweep over the region was started from Guadalcanal at midday by the US Army Air Forces (USAAF), US Navy (USN), and US Marine Corps (USMC). Such coordinated efforts were not uncommon, and on this particular day, they included eight 67th FS P-39s, four 44th FS Warhawks, two 339th FS P-38 Lightnings, and Grumman F4F Wildcats from VMF-112 and VMO-251 in addition to these other aircraft: a truly unusual combination of airpower even for this theater!

At a height of around 20,000 feet and with excellent sight, the American formation descended toward the conspicuous Kolombangara feature. Their objective was to shoot down any hostile aircraft they came across near Munda or Vila. The fighters flew over Vila and were met by AAA, but there was no aerial opposition. They moved toward Munda since the small grassy airfield appeared to be deserted.

A lone “Nagoya-type Zero” was spotted at 13,000 feet approximately east of Munda at 14:15 hours. On this lone foe, a pair of Airacobras made an overhead pass before it banked and hid between cumulus clouds to avoid battle. It turned out to be a 1st Sentai Mark I Hayabusa (Nakajima Ki-43, Allied reporting name: Oscar), piloted by Warrant Officer Shiromoto Nauharu, assigned to Captain Kanaya Yoshihiro’s No. 3 chutai, which had just recently moved into a temporary residence at Munda from its new base at Ballale Island.

A whole chutai of Hayabusas led by Captain Fujita Juro, chutaicho of the No. 3 chutai of the 11th Sentai, had joined Kanaya’s fliers on January 29, 1943. To familiarize the unit’s less experienced pilots with the Solomons area, Fujita had brought a dispersed group of eleven Buka Hayabusa. Also, they would relieve Kanaya’s chutai, who would soon return to Ballale.

The runway at the Munda airfield was rather short and had little room for dispersal. The two Hayabusa units and a dozen Ki-48 Sokei light bombers of the 45th Sentai were housed in the same little area. The Ki-48s hurried to evacuate Munda after alerting them to the approaching Americans. Only one Hayabusa was able to take off in the chaos on the little, dusty runway: Shiromoto.

Shiromoto was one of the youngest pilots to take part in the Nomonhan Incident against the Soviets in 1939 at the age of 25. Together with the remainder of the 1st Sentai, he had also battled for Malaya and Singapore before arriving in Rabaul on January 9, 1943. Shiromoto subsequently reported that he pursued a large enemy formation of twenty aircraft, attacked it, shot down two Lightings, and brought to the collision of another pair.

Only two Lightnings, though, flew over Munda that day, and neither of them even saw a Japanese fighter, much less engaged one. Shiromoto’s distant aerial behavior briefly diverted other US pilots before they passed overhead of Munda. Unfortunately, a low cloud blocked their view, making it impossible for them to see the about twenty Hayabusa scattered throughout the airfield. The Americans left for Guadalcanal in order to avoid being subjected to AAA fire from an ostensibly empty field and the lack of any aviation threats.

Once the Americans had departed, a gloating Shiromoto returned to Munda and wowed his friends with how his aerial prowess had thwarted a significant American fighter assault. Even today, Japanese tradition honors Shiromoto for his alleged bravery and inventiveness despite the absence of any Japanese witnesses.

In the meantime, the retreating Sokei bombers left Munda and arrived at Kahili airfield on the southern edge of Bougainville. They arrived back in Munda a little while later, and Australian Coastwatcher John Keenan witnessed them travel across the Vella Gulf around 1730 hours with binoculars. The twin-engine bombers were described by him as “transport planes bound for Vila.” In one respect, Keenan was right; the Sokei had made use of their time in Kahili to collect supplies.

Shiromoto finished a tough war in New Guinea with the 11th Sentai after his imagined exploits on January 31, 1943, and he arrived back in Japan in September of that same year. He was arrested by Russians in Korea in 1945, and they punished him for his involvement in Nomonhan by imprisoning him in Siberia until 1947.

Pacific Adversaries Volume One is published by Casemate Publishing and is available to order here.

Aviation stories, Aviation glories

Ki43

The Ki-43 pilot who rammed a B-17 likely underestimated the attack approach and hit the bomber

As the first pilot to purposefully ram a B-17 Flying Fortress, Sergeant Oda Tadao received praise in the Japanese media and received a posthumous promotion. It is unlikely that the incident was deliberate, though

The Ki-43 Hayabusa pilot who claimed the downing of four USAAF P-38 Lightning in a fight never happened

In Japan, Warrant Officer Shiromoto Nauharu Hayabusa’s alleged exploits as a pilot over the Solomon Islands on January 31, 1943, have become legendary.