KITS 01/2023

Lt. Kunio Kanzaki, CO of Hikōtai 311 of Kōkūtai 381, Kendari airfield, Celebes island, May 1944

Kōkūtai 381 was established in October 1943 at Kendari Base on the island of Celebes. It was a mixed

Kōkūtai with 48 fighter-bombers (Hikōtai 602), 24

night fighters (Hikōtai 902) and 48 fighter aircraft

in Hikōtai 311, the latter commanded by Lt. Kanzaki.

During the 1944 he operated from bases on islands

in Indonesia and the Philippines. Their most frequent opponents were U.S. Army aircraft. Kanzaki's

unit used special phosphorus anti-aircraft bombs

to attack enemy bombers. Kanzaki's aircraft, manu-

factured by the Nakajima company, has been reconstructed in the past with various color markings. It is

assumed that the vertical tail surfaces and part of

the upper wing surfaces were painted the same color

like lower surfaces. The front part of the engine may

also have been painted grey or yellow. It is not entirely clear from the photograph of the aircraft whether

the white stripes on the lower fuselage are joined. It

may have been designed to improve the mutual identification of Army and Navy aircraft when fighting

Allied fighters. Another reason for this camouflage

may have been for easier identification during night

fighter flights. For example, Lt. Kanzaki and his wingman shot down a B-24 of the 380th BG over Balikpapan on the night of January 12-13, 1944. Some aircraft

of Kōkūtai 331 were also painted in the same upper

and tailplane camouflage. Both units operated in one

tactical group during part of 1944.

Lt. Nobuo Miyatake, Kamikaze Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, 1. Shichisei-tai, Kanoya airbase, Japan, April 1944

From the April 3, 1945 a total of eight special attack

units with the battle name “Shichisei” were organized from the airmen serving in Genzan Kōkūtai (II)

and Hikōtai 306 (part of Kōkūtai 721). Lt. Miyatake,

who was 24 years old at the time, led the 1st Shichisei-tai in an attack on a convoy off Okinawa on

April 6, 1945. During that day, eleven other airmen

from Genzan Kōkūtai (II) sacrificed their lives along

with him. They took off successively in four forma-

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INFO Eduard

tions. Their formation was part of the 524 aircraft of

special attack units and escort fighters from IJN and

IJA sent against Allied vessels off Okinawa as part of

Operation Kikusui I. The U.S. Navy lost destroyers USS

Bush and Colhoun and other ships were severely damaged. “Shichisei” units were sent against ships off

Okinawa, Yoronjima, Kikai, and Tanegashima islands

in several missions till May 14. Only one of them returned to base due to bad weather. Lt. Miyatake was

born in Kagawa Prefecture and graduated from the

Etajima Naval Academy in 1942. Before the mission,

he wrote farewell letters to his mother and three sisters. His father was interned in Siberia at the time.

Nobuo Miyatake was posthumously promoted to the

rank of Commander. His aircraft from Nakajima production is designated “Ke-113”.

January 2023