KITS 04/2023

Yokohama Kōkūtai, Tulagi Island, Solomon Islands, August 1942

This plane is early production Rufe with purge

system cover on the top of the main float and with

folding wingtips. The commander of the fighter

unit, which was part of the Yokohama Kōkūtai,

was Lt. Ri-ichirō Satō. He was born in Sendai,

Miyagi Prefecture and graduated from Etajima

Naval Academy in 1938 in its 66th class. He was

promoted to Lieutenant junior grade in November

1940 and received rank of Lieutenant when he

was assigned to the Yokohama Kōkūtai in May

1942. From early July his unit was based on

Tulagi Island off Guadalcanal. Their adversaries

were American Flying Fortress bombers and

Liberators. His unit claimed five victories. Satō, in

cooperation with other pilots, claimed one certain

and one probable victory over a B-17. After the

Allied invasion of Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942,

most of the Yokohama Kōkūtai pilots were killed in

ground combat, including Satō. USMC technicians

found on Tulagi Island ten Rufe wrecks and took

two, including the Y-161, to the U.S. Naval Air

Station Alameda for research.

5th Kōkūtai, Kiska island, Aleutians, August 1942

This plane is early production Rufe with purge

system cover on the top of the main float and

with folding wingtips. Rudder and probably other

canvas-covered control surfaces had lighter

color shade. The aircraft of this fighter unit

successively bore at least four different markings

on their tail surfaces, depending on how this unit

was designated and subordinated to different

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commands. Its most successful fighter pilot was

the CPO Gi-ichi Sasaki. He came from Miyagi

Prefecture and joined the Navy in 1937. Sasaki

became a pilot of two-seat float planes and

participated in combat in China. He took part in

the conquest of the Philippines and the Dutch East

Indies on board of the Mizuho seaplane tender.

After its sinking, he was assigned to the Tōkō

Kōkūtai in the Aleutians, which was eventually

renamed the 5th Kōkūtai and then to Kōkūtai 452.

He achieved a total of four individual victories

– five shared and one aircraft credited shared as

probably destroyed. He was killed on February

19, 1943, over Amchitka Island in a dogfight with

a Curtiss P-40 pilot.

INFO Eduard

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