Strana 77
Kōkūtai 452, Kiska island, Aleutians, early 1943
This Rufe got dark green paint at the unit level.
The camouflage later showed signs of wear,
especially on the wing and on the rear fuselage
around the horizontal tail surfaces. The aircraft
of this fighter unit successively bore at least
four different markings on the tail surfaces,
depending on how the unit was designated
and subordinated to different commands. Its
most successful fighter was the CPO Gi-ichi
Sasaki. The native from Miyagi Prefecture
joined the Navy in 1937. He 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 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.
BUILT
INFO Eduard
77
June 2026