BUILT

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Eduard

built by Jan Kotas

# 11171

Kōkūtai 452, Bettobi Lake, Shumshu Islands, Kuriles, July 1943

This aircraft was taken over by Kōkūtai 452 in Japan after

evacuation from Aleutians. The top of the main float did not have

purge system cover. At the unit level, the aircraft received a coat

of dark green paint. The aircraft probably had a late production

stencil on the fuselage. Among the successful pilots of this unit

was Warrant Officer Kiyomi Katsuki. He served on the seaplane

tender Chitose at the start of the Pacific War as a F1M biplane

pilot. In January 1942, he claimed shared destruction of Dutch PBY

flying boat. In the Solomon Islands area, he shot down a Dauntless

on October 3 and during the following day, while defending his

60

INFO Eduard

own ship, he rammed a B-17 of the 72nd BS. The entire crew of

Capt. David C. Everitt was killed, but Katsuki and his observer

survived. Katsuki received a written commendation from the unit

commander. He achieved two more victories during the same day.

After retraining to A6M2-N, he was assigned to Kōkūtai 452 and

claimed B-25 and B-24. With N1K Rex at Kōkūtai 934 he shot down

a B-24 in January 1944. He achieved two more victories as Zero

pilot with Kōkūtai 381 over Balikpapan and Singapore. At the end

of the war, he served with Kōkūtai 352 in Japan.

April 2023