KITS 04/2023

Ensign Jin´ichirō Ozawa, Sasebo Kōkūtai, Sasebo Air Base, Japan, September 1944

This late production aircraft was finished

in a factory applied dark green paint. After

participating in the defense of Chichijima in

July 1944, Sasebo Kōkūtai continued seaplane

pilot training in Japan. The Sa-106 was flown by

Ensign Ozawa. He joined the Navy in 1943 after

graduating from high school and received his

flight training at Tsuchiura Kōkūtai. On October

30, 1944, while practicing a fighter dogfight

between two Rufe seaplanes, Ozawa had to bail

out from his aircraft when the elevator control

cable broke. He almost did not survive the bailing

out. At the end of the year, the Sasebo Kōkūtai’s

fighter Buntai was transferred to land-based

fighter unit. During the fighting over Okinawa on

June 22, 1945, Ozawa achieved one victory against

a formation of more than thirty American aircraft.

He was then reassigned to Kōkūtai 723 with C6N

Myrt reconnaissance planes and was to conduct

a Kamikaze mission on that type of aircraft.

After the war he pursued electrical engineering

and took part on the first microwave intercity

transmission in Japan.

Kōkūtai 934, Ambon island, Moluku Islands, March 1944

This late production aircraft was finished in

a factory applied dark green paint. At the unit

level the white outline of Hinomaru was repainted

to reduce the visibility of the machine. In early

1944 the Kōkūtai 934 was equipped with E13A

Jake and F1M Pete observation aircraft and also

with Rufe and N1K Rex fighter seaplanes. Their

frequent opponents were the Beaufighter crews of

No. 31 Sqn. RAAF. One of the Kōkūtai 934 pilots,

54

INFO Eduard

PO2c Hidenori Matsunaga, scored approximately

ten Beaufighters as shared victories. In March

1944 he was transferred to Kōkūtai 381 flying

Zeros. In some publications, the Rufe with

a lightning bolt was considered to be Matsunaga’s

mount. He was photographed with Rufe (unknown

tail code) with similar marking together with

another pilot. Design of the lightning bolt varied,

and its color was most likely white. The identity

of the pilots to whom belonged the seaplanes

with lightning is unknown. It could have been

a formation leader’s machine, or possibly the

aircraft of a fighter squadron unit commander

Lt.(jg) Toshiharu Ikeda, who scored a victory

over a Spitfire with a Rufe. Ikeda later became

commander of Hikōtai 603 and was killed on June

23, 1944, at Saipan.

April 2023