HISTORY

towards the end of May, 1942. Also rejoining

the Tainan Kōkūtai at Rabaul towards the

end of May, 1942, was the Inano Chūtai after

ending their detachment to the 22nd Kōkū

Sentai.

The main objective of the Tainan Kōkūtai

following the move to Rabaul was to support the planned invasion of Port Moresby,

New Guinea. About 2/3 of the strength of

the unit operated from the airfield at Lae,

New Guinea. Then on August 7, 1942, word

came that the US forces had taken over

the nearly completed airfield the Japanese

had been building on Guadalcanal, forcing

a change of objective.

It was on this first Tainan Kōkūtai mission to Guadalcanal that day that FPO1c

Sakai Saburō fought his epic dogfight with

Lt “Pug” Southerland before finally shooting down his heavily damaged F4F Wildcat. And also on this mission that Sakai

was shot by the rear gunner of an SBD

Dauntless and lost the sight in his right

eye. He struggled with his wounds to continue flying, but finally returned to Rabaul.

His wounds were too severe for treatment

there, so he was evacuated to Japan. Before leaving, LtJG Sasai Jun’ichi gave Sakai

his silver tiger belt buckle, and pleaded for

his recovery and safe return to Rabaul.

The photo Nr. 3 show Sakai on arrival at

Lakunai Airfield, Rabaul with his head

wound. To his right with clipboard and look

of horror on his face is FPO1c Ōta Toshio.

On his left in the white shirt is LtJG Sasai

Jun’ichi. The Reisen in the background is

V-138, the aircraft of Hikōtaichō, LtCdr Nakajima Tadashi. The photo Nr. 4 shows the

bullet damaged leather helmet and flight

goggles worn by Sakai that day, along with

the silver tiger belt buckle.

The battles fought at extreme range trying

to regain control of Guadalcanal rapidly increased attrition. On November 1, 1942 the

Tainan Kōkūtai was renamed 251 Kōkūtai.

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INFO Eduard

both the 3rd Kōkūtai and Tainan Kōkūtai.

I suspect this may be because both units

followed the pattern of the 12th Kōkūtai.

However, I have not done enough research

on this unit to be certain of this, and there

is some evidence to suggest that only red

and blue fuselage bands were used by 12th

Kōkūtai.

The severe attrition had ended the unit’s

effectiveness as a fighting force. In mid-November, less than 20 surviving ground

crew and pilots boarded a transport ship

and returned to Japan to regroup.

Markings Origins

The marking system that evolved with the

12th Kōkūtai in China was the basis of the

marking systems used by 3rd Kōkūtai and

Tainan Kōkūtai. In its final form, these markings were as follows:

Buntaichō = 2 fuselage bands plus 2 tail

stripes

Shōtaichō = 1 fuselage band plus 2 tail stripes

Wingman = 1 fuselage band plus 1 tail stripe

The 3rd Kōkūtai followed the same pattern

for quantity of bands/stripes as used by

the 12th Kōkūtai. The Tainan Kōkūtai simplified these markings as described in the

following sections.

In addition to the quantity of bands/stripes,

their color also had meaning. Each Buntaichō had a color that all the fuselage bands

of the aircraft in his Chūtai were marked

with. Similarly, there was a color for each

Shōtaichō and the tail stripes of each aircraft within the Shōtai.

The pattern of colors used for the Chūtai

and Shōtai markings were the same for

Fuselage Bands

The fuselage band used by the Tainan Kōkūtai was one of the most distinctive unit

markings of all the Japanese Naval Fighter Groups. The fuselage band was slanted

forward toward the top of the fuselage, so

that it appeared as a diagonal line when

viewed from the side. I actually prefer to

refer to the band as a sash stripe, since this

is a better description of the appearance.

A longstanding error in some illustrations

and decals is the shape of the fuselage

band at the top of the fuselage. The top is

rounded, not a sharp point. Also, the fuselage band does not completely encircle the

bottom of the fuselage, usually stopping

at the panel line just below the wing fillet.

There may be some bands that did completely encircle the fuselage, but this may be

just an interpretation based on a shadow

on the underside.

On Reisen with Hōkoku markings on the

rear fuselage, the band might be painted

with or without a break, depending on the

fuselage band color. If there was sufficient

contrast in the fuselage band color with the

Black Hōkoku inscription, then the band

would be painted right up to the inscription

characters. Red and obviously, Black fuselage bands always had a break.

Also, for Reisen from the time period from

unit formation until April 1, 1942, and based

probably on the low contrast with the gray

factory finish, some photos show aircraft

with blue and white fuselage bands had

the bands edged in a darker color, possibly

black edging on blue bands, and red edging

on white bands. The fuselage bands were

hand painted using a brush. Each was as

October 2022