c/n 3032, Lt. Kiku-ichi Inano, Tainan Kōkūtai, Buna airfield, New Guinea, August 1942

This aircraft, released by Mitsubishi on July 3, 1942 was assigned to Lt. Inano, commander of Buna detachment of Tainan Kōkūtai. It was donated by citizens of Chongpyong County in North Korea. At some point between the mid August 1942 and early September 1943 this Zero sustained damage that tore off part of the right wing, possibly from a landing error. This Zero was captured by Allied units at Buna on December 27, 1942 and selected for further evaluation and a rebuild. Allied personnel at Eagle Farm Field built a flyable A6M3 Zero using parts of three Zeros transported from Buna Airfield, including this aircraft. Inano´s surname was originally Takabayashi, but he changed that before mid 1941. In late November 1941 smaller part of Tainan Kōkūtai under the his command was transferred to French Indochina and temporarily became part of 22. Kōkū Sentai HQ fighter squadron. Lt. Inano returned to Tainan Kōkūtai in July 1942, participated in combat over New Guinea and Guadalcanal. From January 1943 he was involved in evaluation of weapons used for new naval aircraft. From October 1944 served as Hikōtaichō of Tainan Kōkūtai (II) in Taiwan.

PO1c Kyoshi Itō, 3. Kōkūtai, Koepang airfield, Timor Island, September 1942

This aircraft was purchased by Electric Perm Machine co., whose name (Daiichi Fuyo Dengami) is listed on the patriotic donation inscription (Hōkoku) No. 984, usually identified wrongly as 994. It was flown by Kyoshi Itō, who used also Zero X-152 with Hōkoku No. 1000. Itō was born in November 1921 in Murakami, Niigata Prefecture. He served on the torpedo boat Ōtori in 1939, in late 1940 got flight training at Tsuchiura Kōkūtai and in November 1941 was assigned for combat duty to 3rd Kōkūtai. With this unit he fought in the Philippines and Indonesia and took part in raids on Australia. In September and October 1942, with most of the 3rd Kōkūtai, he was involved in the fighting over Guadalcanal. In November his unit was redesignated Kōkūtai 202 and returned to Koepang. From the spring until September 1943, unit conducted combat flights over Australia, also with Zero Type 32 fighters. In November 1943, Itō received a written command commendation stating that he had shot down 23 aircraft and destroyed 9 on the ground. He then served as an instructor in Japan with the Ôita and Tsukuba Kōkūtai and joined the air combat in February 1945. After the war, he married the eldest daughter of the owner of the family construction company Katō in Murakami and adopted the family name Katō. Under his leadership, the company rose to the top position in Murakami, and he received the Medal with Purple Ribbon and the Minister of Construction Award. Kyoshi Katō retired in 1992 and died in July 2012.

Kōkūtai 204, Vunakanau airfield, Rabaul, New Britain, April 1943

This machine wears green camouflage applied in field conditions and has radio equipment removed to reduce weight. Kōkūtai 204 appears to have been the only unit in the area to apply with green field camoluflage also white outline of hinomaru on fuselage and upper wing surface. This unit was formed in April 1942 and was designated the 6th Kōkūtai. It was to be based at Midway Atoll after its capture. During the attack on Midway and the Aleutians, its airmen participated in both combat operations. The unit made its first combat flight on June 4, 1942 under the command of Lieutenant Zenjirō Miyano during the attack on Dutch Harbor. In August, it moved with the Zeros Type 32 to the Solomon Islands area, but its operational deployment was limited by the available bases and the smaller range of this version of the Zero. In early October, the unit moved to a new airfield at Buin and was able to deploy in combat over Guadalcanal. In early November it was renamed Kōkūtai 204. It was the only unit to be deployed continuously in the South Pacific for 16 months from August 1942. During this period unit gained approximately 1,000 air victories.

Tainan Kōkūtai (II), Tainan airbase, Taiwan, summer 1944

The designation of this training unit is the Katakana characters "Ta" and "I". The dark green paint on the upper surfaces indicates that the aircraft has been overhauled. The machine was acquired from a funds raised by the Tokyo Fruit and Vegetable Commercial Association. The second Tainan Kōkūtai was established in April 1943 as an operational training unit. Its home base was again Tainan, as with the previous unit of that name, which became Kōkūtai 251 in late 1942. When Allied air raids on Taiwan began in the second half of the war, the airmen of Tainan Kōkūtai (II) joined in its defense. They fought both four-engine bombers and escort fighters based in China and US Navy aircraft.  Its first commander was Capt. Shigematsu Ichimura, who was commander of the 14th Kōkūtai in China in 1940. The most famous instructor who served with the unit was CPO Takeo Tanimizu, an ace with 18 kills to his credit. In January 1945, a special attack unit was organized from part of the Kōkūtai and participated in Kamikaze missions.

 Tsukuba Kōkūtai, Tsukuba airbase, Japan, 1944

The marking of this training unit is the Katakana character "Tsu". The dark green paint on the upper surfaces indicates that the aircraft has been overhauled. The horizontal white markings on the fuselage were probably to facilitate formation flight training. Originally a purely training Tsukuba Kōkūtai, which was established in 1938, became part of the Japanese air defence system from 1944. It engaged in combat against B-29 bombers, US Navy aircraft and long-range P-51 escorts. At the end of the war, unit was involved in the Kamikaze missions during the fighting for Okinawa as part of Operation Kikusui. Pilots who served as instructors with the unit included Ensign Kazu-o Sugino, who had 32 victories to his credit and had previously served on the aircraft carrier Zuikaku and with Kōkūtai 253. Among the airmen who joined the unit at the very end of the war was Lt.(jg) Shigeo Sugi-o. He had more than 20 victories to his credit and had also fought over Australia with the 3rd Kōkūtai.

Kōkūtai 204, Rabaul, New Britain, April 1943

This machine wears green camouflage applied in field conditions and has radio equipment removed to reduce weight. It is also equipped with long-barrelled guns and a newer rudder trim that could be operated from the cockpit. Known aircraft of this unit that have yellow fuselage markings have identification numbers below 148. In March 1943, Lieutenant Zenjirō Miyano took over position of Hikōtaichō of this unit. He sought to modernize combat tactics and therefore introduced four-man formations to the unit instead of three-plane formations, He also considered deploying Zeros in the role of fighter-bomber with 30kg bombs under the wing. The unit was in heavy combat during the first half of 1943. In the last raid on Guadalcanal, on 16 June 1943, thirteen Val bombers were shot down and the fighter escort from Kōkūtai 204 lost four pilots and three others were wounded. Among the dead were Lieutenant Miyano and his deputy. This left the unit without flying officers. Miyano had a total of 16 victories to his credit, was posthumously promoted to Commander, and his name was cited in the All Units Bulletin. Miyano's position was taken over the following month by Lt. Cdr. Saburō Shindō of Kōkūtai 582.

Iwakuni Kōkūtai, Iwakuni airbase, Japan, 1944

The markings of this training unit are the Katakana characters "I" and "Ha". The Iwakuni Kōkūtai was established in July 1940 and was used to train pilots for naval units operating from land bases until August 1944. It was then disbanded and re-established in March 1945. Fighter aces Akio Matsuba (18 victories), Momoto Matsumura (13 v.) or veteran of the aircraft carrier veteran Sōryū Ki-ichi Oda (9 v.) passed through its ranks as instructors. Hiroshi Shibagaki came through the unit as a student pilot, achieving thirteen victories in Rabaul with Kōkūtai 201 and 204. Another successful graduate became a Lt.(jg) Kagemitsu Matsu-o. In August 1943, he was assigned to Rabaul to Kōkūtai 253 and, with more than ten kills to his credit, became the only Naval Reserve officer to achieve ace status.

Lt.(jg) Takeyoshi Ôno, Kōkūtai 251, Rabaul airbase, New Britain, May 1943

Originally manufactured with grey paint on all surfaces, the machine carries a specific design of green camouflage applied in field conditions. The green paint was probably applied with a mop or broom. Kōkūtai 251 was renamed in November 1942 from the legendary Tainan Kōkūtai fighter unit. However, due to heavy losses, it had to be withdrawn to Japan at the end of the year. When it prepared for another combat deployment to Rabaul in the spring of 1943, only 11 of its original pilots remained. However, the Allied airmen were an even tougher opponent than in 1942, and Kōkūtai 251 lost 17 aircraft during its first three combat sorties in May and June. The commander of the 1st Chūtai was Lt.(jg) Ôno. He was born in 1921 in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. He graduated from the 68th Naval Academy Class in 1940 and after pilot training was assigned to Tainan Kōkūtai. He achieved his first victory on 27 August 1942 at Buna in combat with a P-39 and added four more victories by the end of 1942. By the time he returned to Rabaul in May 1943, he had already been appointed as Buntaichō and often led the entire unit in combat. He achieved a total of eight victories, but was killed in aerial combat at Rendova on June 30, 1943.

Kōkūtai 251, Rabaul airbase, New Britain, May 1943

For most naval fighter units that applied green paint in field conditions, the method of painting was similar within the unit. The exception is Kōkūtai 251, which used very varied patterns of green paint. The unit designation code was U1, but this was repainted on the machines at the time of deployment to Rabaul. U1-109 was photographed on May 23, 1943 flying in a formation of six Zeros during a patrol over New Britain. The photographs were taken by war correspondent Hajime Yoshida. The U1-109 flew as the wingman of the first Shōtai leader, who was the controls of U1-105, which is incorrectly attributed to Nishizawa. Kōkūtai 251 lost a total of 34 pilots during its deployment to the Rabaul and Solomon Islands area from May to the end of August 1943. In September 1943, its status was therefore changed to a night fighter with twin-engine Irving aircraft, and its remaining Zer pilots were assigned to other units in Rabaul.

Rabauru Kōkūbuntai, Lakunai airfield, Rabaul, New Britain, second half 1943

This aircraft was finalized with grey paint on all surfaces. On the combat unit level, it was supplemented with dark green paint, which had peeled off in many places during operational service. When green paint was applied in field conditions, it may not have been the only paint used for Japanese aircraft. At Rabaul it may have been paint from captured RAAF stocks, or paint intended for Japanese warships. In the second half of 1943, the markings of fighter units at Rabaul changed, and numerals ranging from 1 to 9 began to be used, the assignment of which to individual units has not yet been reliably determined. Aircraft with these markings are unofficially assigned to a combat group called Rabauru Kōkūbuntai (Rabaul Air Force). There are several theories to explain the meaning of these numerical designations. One is the assignment of numerical codes to the parts of the fighter units operating in Rabaul at the time. These were Kōkūtai 201 (code designations 1 to 3), Kōkūtai 204 (4 to 6) and Kōkūtai 253 (7 to 9). According to this theory, machine 6-171 would therefore belong to the third Buntai within Kōkūtai 204. But other explanations are also possible. There is an indication that the Zeroes filmed in January 1944 at Rabaul with code 9 on the tail surfaces belonged to Kōkūtai 204.

Ensign Tetsuzō Iwamoto, probably Kōkūtai 253, Rabaul, New Britain, late 1943/early 1944

This aircraft has repainted white trim of hinomaru on the fuselage and upper surfaces. Tetsuzō Iwamoto was the most successful naval fighter ace with 14 victories from combats over China with 12th Kōkūtai. As a member of fighter unit of HIJMS Zuikaku during the Pearl Harbor attack he took part patrol the vicinity of the carriers during first wave. In 1942, he took part in battles in the Indian Ocean and Coral Sea with his plane EII-102. From the summer of 1942 he served as an instructor in Japan. From March 1943, he participated in patrolling in the Kuril Islands with Kōkūtai 281. In November he was transferred to Rabaul to Kōkūtai 204 and later to Kōkūtai 253. At that time he used machines number 102 and 104. It is possible that machine number 7-104 is his personal mount. In February 1944 he participated from Truk Atoll in the interceptions of B-24 bombers. In June 1944 he was transferred to Japan and from the autumn of that year as member of Kōkūtai 252 he he took part in battles from bases in Taiwan and the Philippines. By the end of the war, he was serving with Kōkūtai 203 and participated in the battle for Okinawa. He achieved rank Lieutenant (junior grade) and passed away in 1955. Iwamoto is credited with 80 victories, but in his war diary, there were 202 successful attacks on enemy aircraft recorded by him.

Lt. Cdr. Saburō Shindō, Kōkūtai 582, Buin airfield, Bougainville Island, June 1943

This plane with factory applied green camouflage and long cannon barrels was personal mount of Lt. Cdr. Shindō. He was born in 1911 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1929. He was assigned to the Ômura Kōkūtai in 1935 and a year later went to the aircraft carrier Kaga. In 1940, he served in China with the 12th Kōkūtai during combat trials of the A6M2 fighter. Under his command, the first combat engagement occurred on September 13, resulting in 27 victories without loss. In November 1940, Shindō was transferred to the 14th Kōkūtai in Hanoi. From April to December 1941 he was the Buntaichō of the Akagi fighters, but had to be hospitalized after the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the Pearl Harbor attack Shindō led fighter escort of thirty-six Zeros in the second wave. After recovering, he was appointed commander of Tokushima Kōkūtai in April 1942. From November 1942, as Hikōtaichō at Kōkūtai 582, he was involved in the fighting over Guadalcanal. From July 1943, he was Hikōtaichō with the Kōkūtai 204 in the same area. In late 1943 and early 1944, he led fighters of the aircraft carrier Ryūhō and later served with Kōkūtai 653 and 203 in the defense of Taiwan, the Philippines, and Japan. At the end of the war, he was Hikōtaichō at Tsukuba Kōkūtai. Shindó-san passed away in 2000.