For too long, Japanese WWII aircraft have carried a bad reputation and have been undeservedly criticized of being poorly designed and easy to shoot down. This claim has often been repeated in numerous publications and even on more recent YouTube channels and FB pages. Understandably, language and accessibility limitations hindered historians in the past and depending solely on one-sided narratives, Allied pilots have frequently been depicted akin to the heroes in "Western films," where a single shot from the heroic cowboy resulted in at least ten "Indians" to fall dead from their horses. This inglorious image of Japanese aircraft getting "flamed" in droves, was only partially corroborated during the final months of the war when obsolete Japanese aircraft types flown by virtually untrained pilots were pitted to their detriment against the best Allied fighters and pilots.
Only in recent years, owing to the relentless efforts of aviation historians such as M.J. Claringbould*, who extensively explore original Japanese sources—not merely Allied sources, as was typical previously—that Japanese WWII aircraft gradually receive a much fairer place in the annals of aviation history. And little by little it becomes apparent that this is perhaps a case of "
survivor bias", where only the shot down and badly damaged, often on the ground, Japanese aircraft are taken into account, while those that managed to make it back to base are ignored. Today we present one such case, famous to those well-versed in Japanese aviation history but seemingly completely unknown to many younger researchers and historians.
According to
Håkan :
"On 9 December 1937 fifteen Japanese bombers escorted by eight fighters attacked Nanchang, the capital of the Kiangsi Province. Captain Wang Han-Hsun, commander of the 26th PS of the 5th PG, engaged them leading four Curtiss Hawk IIIs from Wuhan. During the engagement he shot down a Type 96 fighter. Three of his aircraft was however lost, among them Hawk no. 2604, flown by Chou Ke-Yi, who was killed. Kuan Chung-Chieh of 8th PS (Hawk no. 2606) managed to parachute from his burning aircraft but was strafed and killed by Japanese aircraft on the ground. 29th PS’s new commander, Lin Tian-Jiao, also took part in this combat and was shot down.
The Japanese reported that eight A5Ms had battled with 20 Chinese and Soviet fighters. The Japanese claimed that they shot down twelve enemy aircraft while losing one A5M (the one shot down by Han-Hsun). Twelve more Chinese aircraft were claimed destroyed on the ground. It seems that the lost Japanese pilot was PO3c Naoshi Teramatsu of the 13th Kokutai (even if there is some uncertainties regarding the place of his death).
PO3c Kan-ichi Kashimura of the 13th Kokutai was involved in a combat with a large number of Curtiss Hawks and after shooting down one of them, he collided in the air with another Chinese Hawk III, which already had been shot down and was falling out of control."
Hata & Izawa in "Japanese Naval Aces" continue:
"After shooting down one enemy aircraft, Kashimura's aircraft collided with another aircraft that had come in during a head-on attack, and his own aircraft started falling. However, Kashimura was able to right his plane just before it touched ground. He then proceeded to pilot his aircraft in a calm but adroit fashion, taking corrective balancing action to compensate for the almost two-thirds of his plane's left wing that had been sheared off. He was able to return to base."
Kashimura's Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" is seen approaching
Nanjing Airfield, the base of the 13th
Kokutai. He covered a distance of more than 600 kilometres in about 1 hour and 20 minutes flying without a third of the port wing of his "Claude". Luckily his return was covered by a war correspondent stationed at the base.
Kashimura's "Claude" from a different angle. It was a Type 96 Model 1 carrier-based fighter or Mitsubishi A5M2a, with tail number "4-115". Although the top camouflage looks solid, it most probably sported a two tone, green and brown, top camo. In all photos, only the two "15" digits of the tail marking seem to be in white. At that time, the 13 Kokutai had all its tail numbers in white so, this is either a case of censorship or perhaps the first digit "4" was in red(?), since this was not rare when the unit used "T-" for its tail marking.
Hata & Izawa mention:
"Even landing at his base was difficult; he tried four different times before finally making it. Immediately upon touching ground, Kashimura's aircraft somersaulted and the tail of the plane was sheared off. Kashimura himself did not receive even a scratch during the entire ordeal."
In a most typical Japanese fashion, officers from his own air group (Naval Academy graduates) even criticised Kashimura saying things like, "Had he crashed en route, the aircraft's secrets would have fallen into Chinese hands. He should have crashed into an enemy runway and blown himself up."
A vintage depiction of the air battle over Nanchang detailing Kashimura's colision with Chinese Curtis Hawks III.
Reports stated he shot down one of two enemy aircraft before ramming the remaining one and in this depiction he is shooting down two enemy planes before coliding with a third.
However, ace ENS Tanaka Kuniyoshi, who was flying behind Kashimura at the time, later recalled: "Newspaper reports made it seem like he shot down one aircraft before ramming the other, but in truth, we collided early in the dogfight because he couldn't evade the enemy aircraft in time. Given the circumstances, they probably embellished the story to boost morale."
Kashimura was widely reported in Japanese newspapers and newsreels as "Kashimura, the One-Winged Returnee" and became a hero of the Sino-Japanese War. His damaged "Claude" was transported to Tokyo and remained on public display until the war's end. Considering that the tail of the plane was "sheared off" during landing, it seems that the aircraft seen in the photo on display was repaired to some extend.
Kashimura Kan-ichi was born in 1913 in Zentsūji Town, Kagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Marugame High School, he joined the Sasebo Naval Corps in May 1933. He entered the 24th Pilot Training Class in February 1934, graduating in July and joined the Kasumigaura Kokutai.
Kashimura then served at kokutai in Ōmura, Yokosuka, and Kagoshima.
The outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 saw him assigned in October to the 13th Kokutai. He deployed to the Central China Front and advanced to bases in Shanghai. His first combat mission was the attack on Nanking on November 22, where he shot down two enemy aircraft (type unknown).
According to Håkan:
"Japanese aircraft attacked Nanking escorted by A5Ms from the 13th Kokutai. In this, his first combat PO3c Kan-ichi Kashimura of the 13th Kokutai claimed two aircraft. These two claims seem to have been the only ones made by the IJNAF in the area during the day.
It seems that the Japanese aircraft had been involved in combat with Soviet volunteers since during the day G. M. Prokof’ev’s group scored its first victory when six I-16s fought six A5Ms and shot down the Japanese pilot PO3c Koji Miyazaki (Pilot 29) of the 13th Kokutai. The Kurdyumov group also reported combat when 11 bombers attacked Nanking, but two or three I-16s of the Kurdyumov group chased them away from the airfield and shot down one aircraft.
One of Kashimura’s claims might have been Leitenant Nikolay Nikiforovich Nezhdanov, who according to data in the Russian Ministry of Defense archives was killed in an air battle on 22 November 1937. Leitenant Nezhdanov (born 1913) received a posthumous Order of the Red Banner in 1938."
For his December "half wing flight", Kashimura received the
Order of the Golden Kite, Fifth Class, an unusual honour for a non-commissioned officer. The particular medal can be seen on the far left side of the medals he is wearing in the photo. Next to it is the Order of the Rising Sun, 7th class, next the China Incident War Medal and the last medal is the 2600th National Anniversary Medal of 1940. (Thank you Eduard Badescu)
Also, Navy minister Yonai sent to Kashimura the following words inscribed with a brush on a photo of the Kashimura aircraft as it was being flown with only one wing: "Shidai Shigen, Shigen Shimyo" (Enormous responsibilities, enormous strength; enormous masterly techniques, masterful adroitness) (Hata & Izawa).
At the outbreak of the Pacific War, he was assigned to the Yokosuka Kokutai.
During the Doolittle Raid, he took off to intercept and visually identified a B-25, but mistook it for an ally based on prior intelligence and let it pass.
In December 1942, he was assigned to the 582nd Kokutai and deployed to Rabaul. At Rabaul, Kashimura trained fighter squadron members with a harsh approach, including physical discipline, and was disliked by his subordinates.
On March 6, 1943, he was killed in action while engaging an F4F over
Russell Island. His rank at the time of death was Chief Petty Officer; he was posthumously promoted to Ensign. His total aerial victories since the Sino-Japanese War stood at 10 aircraft.
*and Arawasi, of course
