Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 13 : Japanese Army Air Force Aces 1937-1945

When Japan went to war with the United States on December 7, 1941, the JAAF was at the pinnacle of its existence. The veterans of the China War and Nomonhan were confident in their ability to take on their American, British and Dutch counterparts. They believed at the beginning of World War 2 that the key to victory was to engage in close-quarters dogfighting, as well as to always retain sufficient speed in combat in order to chase down a fleeing opponent - the lessons from Nomonhan were fresh in their minds. Little has been published in English on the Japanese Army Air Force (JAAF), let alone its most successful fighter pilots - no less than 150 of them achieved ace status during eight years of near-constant war, and they are all listed in this book. From the arid plains of the Mongolian border region to the lush jungles of New Guinea, the JAAF was more than a match for the many opponents it fought against for control of the skies. Indeed, even when the mighty Allied war machine proved almost overwhelming from early 1944 onwards, the elite fighter pilots of the various sentais within the JAAF fought on with near-fanatical loyalty in defence of the Home Islands. Pilots of the calibre of Hiromichi Shinohara, Yasuhiko Kuroe and Satoshi Anabuki (all of whom scored over 50 kills apiece) are little known outside Japan, but this book details their exploits in full. Text by Henry Sakaida with iIllustrations by Grant Rose.

Contents

• The China and Nomonhan Incidents
• China-Burma-India Theatre
• New Guinea
• Home Defence
• Appendices