Raids on Saipan late 1944

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

<note: I posted this to sci.military.naval, and then realized it might
have more to do with rec.aviation.military!>

I hope I will get a chance to complete the translation of part of an
interesting article over the weekend, here is the gist. I wonder if
anyone knows where to get good refs for the US side of the story?
Google turned up nothing useful for me.

In short, on November 3rd, again on November 7th, and for a thrid time
on November 26th, the training squadron (Type 97 bombers) of the IJAAF
(not the IJNAF) heavy bomber wing at Hamamatsu raided Saipan's B-29
airfields at night and at low level. In the first attack the 9
aircraft lost 5 of their number after hitting the target, causes
unknown (navigation error probable, but maybe shot down), the
following raids were carried out by the remaining aircraft without
loss. 1200km to Iwo Jima for stopover, then another 1200km from around
8pm to Saipan, descending to low level (10-15m) for the attack and
dropping 'Ta' type bombs (75 bomblets in a large bombcasing) plus
machine gun fire, back to Iwo Jima, refuel and back to Hamamatsu in
the space of one night/two days.

For the IJAAF of the time this was more than a major feat, it had been
deemed impossible and only became possible because the chief
navigators had trained in the Navy's overwater navigation methods.

I am looking for any useful information from the US side on these
raids. The article I read is written by Mr. Chuu-ichi Jou-no, who was
navigator in one of the bombers and took part in all three raids. To
put it mildly, the training for extreme-low-level long-distance
over-water night-time missions was pretty rough, the missions
themselves scary and they were glad to get home in one piece after
three of these. He writes that one everyone's mind was the issue of
fuel: missing Saipan even by a short margin meant there was no chance
of making it back to Iwo Jima.
--
G Hassenpflug * IJN & JMSDF equipment/history fan

[Chris Mark]

>From: Gernot Hassenpflug

>on November 3rd, again on November 7th, and for a thrid time
>on November 26th, the training squadron (Type 97 bombers) of the IJAAF
>(not the IJNAF) heavy bomber wing at Hamamatsu raided Saipan's B-29
>airfields at night and at low level.
> In the first attack the 9
>aircraft lost 5 of their number after hitting the target, causes
>unknown (navigation error probable, but maybe shot down), the
>following raids were carried out by the remaining aircraft without
>loss. 1200km to Iwo Jima for stopover, then another 1200km from around
>8pm to Saipan, descending to low level (10-15m) for the attack and
>dropping 'Ta' type bombs (75 bomblets in a large bombcasing) plus
>machine gun fire, back to Iwo Jima, refuel and back to Hamamatsu in
>the space of one night/two days.

The first raid hit Isely and Kobler Fields. US source (see below) credits one
downed by P-61 and two by AAA. The second raid lost 3 to AAA.
The third raid also involved daylight Japanese attacks involving fighters from
the 252 Kokutai on Iwo Jima and was in retaliation for the first B-29 raid on
Japan out of Saipan on the 24th.
No B-29s, which had begun arriving on Saipan in Oct., were damaged by the
raids.
Later raids continuing to the beginning of 1945 involved not the old Sallys but
Peggys which dropped chaff to mess up radar intercepts.
Source: Craven and Cate AAF in WW2, v.5. (USIA library in Tokyo may have a
copy)

> The article I read is written by Mr. Chuu-ichi Jou-no, who was
>navigator in one of the bombers and took part in all three raids. To
>put it mildly, the training for extreme-low-level long-distance
>over-water night-time missions was pretty rough, the missions
>themselves scary and they were glad to get home in one piece after
>three of these. He writes that one everyone's mind was the issue of
>fuel: missing Saipan even by a short margin meant there was no chance
>of making it back to Iwo Jima.

I hope you post your translation or excerpts from it. It sounds very
interesting. The daringness of Japanese long-range air operations is always
impressive. They had capabilities (if only in a limited way) that no one else
save the US seems to have had.


Chris Mark

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

(Chris Mark) writes:

>>From: Gernot Hassenpflug
>
>>on November 3rd, again on November 7th, and for a third time
>>on November 26th, the training squadron (Type 97 bombers) of the IJAAF
>>(not the IJNAF) heavy bomber wing at Hamamatsu raided Saipan's B-29
>>airfields at night and at low level.

Dear Chris, how did I guess that you might have some info on this :-)
I am really impressed, you are a mine of information. I had no idea of
the reference you mention, I will look it up in the inter-library
loans here at Kyoto University (as you say, Tokyo might have it.

> The first raid hit Isely and Kobler Fields. US source (see below)
> credits one downed by P-61 and two by AAA. The second raid lost 3
> to AAA. The third raid also involved daylight Japanese attacks
> involving fighters from the 252 Kokutai on Iwo Jima and was in
> retaliation for the first B-29 raid on Japan out of Saipan on the
> 24th. No B-29s, which had begun arriving on Saipan in Oct., were
> damaged by the raids. Later raids continuing to the beginning of
> 1945 involved not the old Sallys but Peggys which dropped chaff to
> mess up radar intercepts.

Interesting. The Japanese article is a personal account, so it does
not deal with other raids or other units, something the crews would
have been unaware of in any case. I shall have to check again, but as
far as the article goes it seems no aircraft were lost on raids 2 and
3 (you do not state dates in your reply, so I assume you have the same
dates in mind that I wrote). I wonder if there were possibly other
units involved on the same night, or recce aircraft. On the third raid
the author mentions dropping his bombs directly on the B-29s lined up
on the runway, and seeing at least 3 columns of flame as they left on
the deck.

I have not read (time...time...) reports of the Ki-67 squadrons, but I
think those might have been IJNAF aircraft. The IJAAF Peggy's I think
were all based in Formosa or had been destroyed in the Philippines at
that time.

> I hope you post your translation or excerpts from it. It sounds
> very interesting. The daringness of Japanese long-range air
> operations is always impressive. They had capabilities (if only in
> a limited way) that no one else save the US seems to have had.

The article is interesting because it is the only (to me) known
instance of the IJAAF doing a long-distance overwater attack: the fact
that they then combined this with a night and low-level mission all in
one is not only startling, but as you say, very daring indeed. Not
sure about how the Germans and the British did with long-range
missions, but both had respectively anti- and pro-shipping patrols
into the Atlantic and of course the Germans attacked the Arctic
convoys.

Best regards,
--
G Hassenpflug * IJN & JMSDF equipment/history fan

[El Bastardo]

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 01:33:14 +0900, Gernot Hassenpflug
> wrote:

><note: I posted this to sci.military.naval, and then realized it might
>have more to do with rec.aviation.military!>
>
>I hope I will get a chance to complete the translation of part of an
>interesting article over the weekend, here is the gist. I wonder if
>anyone knows where to get good refs for the US side of the story?
>Google turned up nothing useful for me.
>
>In short, on November 3rd, again on November 7th, and for a thrid time
>on November 26th, the training squadron (Type 97 bombers) of the IJAAF
>(not the IJNAF) heavy bomber wing at Hamamatsu raided Saipan's B-29
>airfields at night and at low level. In the first attack the 9
>aircraft lost 5 of their number after hitting the target, causes
>unknown (navigation error probable, but maybe shot down), the
>following raids were carried out by the remaining aircraft without
>loss. 1200km to Iwo Jima for stopover, then another 1200km from around
>8pm to Saipan, descending to low level (10-15m) for the attack and
>dropping 'Ta' type bombs (75 bomblets in a large bombcasing) plus
>machine gun fire, back to Iwo Jima, refuel and back to Hamamatsu in
>the space of one night/two days.
>
>For the IJAAF of the time this was more than a major feat, it had been
>deemed impossible and only became possible because the chief
>navigators had trained in the Navy's overwater navigation methods.
>
>I am looking for any useful information from the US side on these
>raids. The article I read is written by Mr. Chuu-ichi Jou-no, who was
>navigator in one of the bombers and took part in all three raids. To
>put it mildly, the training for extreme-low-level long-distance
>over-water night-time missions was pretty rough, the missions
>themselves scary and they were glad to get home in one piece after
>three of these. He writes that one everyone's mind was the issue of
>fuel: missing Saipan even by a short margin meant there was no chance
>of making it back to Iwo Jima.

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_us/b029-10.html

Says something about a Nov 2 attack which damaged some B-29s. Not
much.

[Cub Driver]

The Spaatz Papers at the Library of Congress manuscript division in
Washington might go back that far. He didn't reach Saipan until March
1945, but he appears to have vacuumed up everything in sight for his
records.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

[Cub Driver]

>The article is interesting because it is the only (to me) known
>instance of the IJAAF doing a long-distance overwater attack

They bombed the Philippines from Taiwan, a pretty impressive feat for
the time.

Later, the same sentai flew from Taiwan to Hanoi, en route to the
Burma campaign, and took time out to attempt an attack on Kunming.
That was the late Erik Shilling's day in the sun.

It's true of course that the JAAF tradition was short-range combat
over land, generally in northern climates. But they were nothing if
not versatile. The 64th Sentai transitioned from short-legged Ki-27
"Nates" to long-legged Ki-43 "Oscars" in the late summer of 1941, and
on December 7-8 was flying cover over the invasion fleet in the Gulf
of Siam, in a typhoon, with radios that essentially didn't work and no
navigation equipment that I know of.


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

Cub Driver > writes:

>>The article is interesting because it is the only (to me) known
>>instance of the IJAAF doing a long-distance overwater attack
>
> They bombed the Philippines from Taiwan, a pretty impressive feat for
> the time.
>
> Later, the same sentai flew from Taiwan to Hanoi, en route to the
> Burma campaign, and took time out to attempt an attack on Kunming.
> That was the late Erik Shilling's day in the sun.
>
> It's true of course that the JAAF tradition was short-range combat
> over land, generally in northern climates. But they were nothing if
> not versatile. The 64th Sentai transitioned from short-legged Ki-27
> "Nates" to long-legged Ki-43 "Oscars" in the late summer of 1941, and
> on December 7-8 was flying cover over the invasion fleet in the Gulf
> of Siam, in a typhoon, with radios that essentially didn't work and no
> navigation equipment that I know of.

Fascinating stuff. Sorry, I have virtually no references here in
Kyoto, except magazine articles. I assumed it was the Navy bombing
from the Philippines. Thanks for putting that straight.

--
G Hassenpflug * IJN & JMSDF equipment/history fan

[Chris Mark]

>From: Gernot Hassenpflug

> I had no idea of
>the reference you mention,

To help with your search for it, I'll give the full title and authors: W.F.
Craven and J.L. Crate, "The Army Air Forces in World War II," Chicago, The
University of Chicago Press, 1953. Volume 5 covers the events you are
interested in.

>The Japanese article is a personal account, so it does
>not deal with other raids or other units,

Apparently fighters from the 252nd Kokutai on Iwo Jima flew night escort for
the bombers from the beginning of raids on the US position in Saipan, even
before the island was fully secure. P-61 night fighters had to deal with them
from th time they arrived towards the end of June, 1944. For example, on June
30, a P-61 shot down a Betty but was immediately attacked by a Japanese fighter
and was forced to take vigorous evasive action.
The November raids you mention were carried out, as you know, by the 2nd
Hikotai, which was apparently later assimilated into the 110th Sentai. There
were Japanese fighters in the air over Saipan the nights the Sallys raided. A
P-61 scrambling without benefit of runway lights reported nearly colliding with
a "Zero" as it climbed out. I wonder if this was one of the low-flying
Sallys.

>I have not read (time...time...) reports of the Ki-67 squadrons, but I
>think those might have been IJNAF aircraft. The IJAAF Peggy's I think
>were all based in Formosa

Their biggest effort came on Dec. 25, 1944, the so-called Battle of Christmas
Night, with dozens of sorties against the airfields on Saipan. P-61s were
credited with six kills. Mixed in with the Peggys were Irving night fighters,
making things interesting for the P-61s. Last significant raids were on Jan. 1
and 2 after which the raids rapidly declined to nothing.
There is one report of a Japanese bomber being shot down, but the single P-61
in the air, which saw the fireball, did not attack anything and there was no
AAA because the P-61 was hunting. The conclusion seems to be that a Japanese
night fighter bagged a Japanese bomber.


Chris Mark

[Chris Mark]

>From: Gernot Hassenpflug

> I assumed it was the Navy bombing
>from the Philippines.

Oh, the Navy did. The devastating Dec. 8 attack on Clark Field, for example,
was carried out by Nells of the 1st Kokutai and Bettys of the Takao Kokutai.
The attack on Iba was carried out by Bettys of the Kanoya and Takao Kokutais.

As an aside, the 27th Bombardment Group, equipped with the A-24, which was
wiped out by the Japanese in the Philippine fighting, most of its aircraft
destroyed on the ground by the Japanese naval air force, was reconstituted and
served in the Med flying the A-36, mentioned in another recent thread.
Re-equipped with P-47s, I believe it was the first US unit to fly missions out
of bases on German soil.


Chris Mark

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

(Chris Mark) writes:

>>From: Gernot Hassenpflug
>
>> I had no idea of
>>the reference you mention,
>
> To help with your search for it, I'll give the full title and authors: W.F.
> Craven and J.L. Crate, "The Army Air Forces in World War II," Chicago, The
> University of Chicago Press, 1953. Volume 5 covers the events you are
> interested in.

Thank you Chris, much appreciated. Now to finish research work so I
can get on with the translations...

From what you and others have written about the fighting over Saipan,
it seems that there are quite a lot sources available after all, in
english, detailing the Japanese side. I assume these come mostly from
captured documents, interrogations and such like carried out by the
Intelligence branch of Occupation Forces after the war?

--
G Hassenpflug * IJN & JMSDF equipment/history fan

[Cub Driver]

>I assumed it was the Navy bombing
>from the Philippines.

They both did. It's one of the few cases where the army took part in a
distant over-water attack. (The navy meanwhile had some Zeros assigned
to the camaign in Malaya.)

There's a new book about the air war in Burma, titled (duh!) Burma Air
War in English. http://tinyurl.com/kxla

I'm struggling through it and posting my painful translation at
www.danford.net/rangoon3.htm

I've emailed the author without success.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

[Cub Driver]

> I assume these come mostly from
>captured documents, interrogations and such like carried out by the
>Intelligence branch of Occupation Forces after the war?

The Japanese Self-Defense Agency has published a very good series of
campaign books, not translated nor likely to be, with useful maps.
(The organization is variously translated.) There are two Japanese
writers, Ikuhiko Hata a historian and Yasuho Izawa an aviation buff,
who have written extensively about air operations. Their books about
fighter units, both army and navy, are available in translation.

Dr Izawa especially has been generous with American and English
historians, and he has made some rough English translations of his own
work. He helped me with the Flying Tigers research and collaborated
with Christopher Shores in Bloody Shambles. You really ought to look
him up.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

[Cub Driver]

On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 23:06:10 +0900, Gernot Hassenpflug
> wrote:

>Are these different from the books written by the authors you mention
>below? If you give me one name (of a book) I can find the others,

Right; Izawa & Hata had nothing to do with the semi-official
histories. These are the two I worked with (sorry about the HTML):

<p>Japan. Defense Agency. <i>Nanpo shinko rikugun koku sakusen</i>
(Army Air

Operations in Southeast Asia). Tokyo: Asagumo Shimbunsha, 1970.
The JDA
campaign histories are the best thing available on the Pacific War
from the
Japanese point of view, though uneven in quality. This one is
excellent.

<p>---. ---. <i>Chugoku homen rikugun koku sakusen</i> (Army Air
Operations in China). Tokyo: Asagumo Shimbunsha, 1974. And
this one is so-so.

As I say, the name of the author is variously translated. I think it's
something like Veteran's Bureau of the Self-Defense Agency.


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com