Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden" - "Tatsumaki" Unit

This elite unit was organized around April 25, 1945, was based in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu, and was assigned to the protection of the air bases of south Kyushu against B-29 raids. It was an exclusive "Raiden" unit gathered from the 302 Kokutai, the 352 Kokutai and the 332 Kokutai. It was nicknamed "Tatsumaki Butai" (Tornado Unit) and commander was LCDR Yamada Kushichiro, the leader of the 302Ku air group.

The first "Raiden" from the 302Ku were to arrive on April 23 but three made emergency landings at Naruo airfield, one was forced to land at Matsuyama base and in the end, eight reached Kanoya. During the same day, 12 "Raiden" from the 332Ku arrived as well. Crews and supplies arrived with one Yokosuka L3Y, two Douglas L2D and three Mitsubishi G6M1-L2. 

The next day, ten "Raiden" from the 302Ku landed in Kanoya together with two from the 332Ku.

They were followed on the 25th by one from the 302Ku and three from the 332Ku.

The next day, seven "Raiden" from the 352Ku arrived, but, during landing, one of them suffered serious damage.

All in all, the unit had 19 "Raiden" from the 302Ku, 17 from the 332Ku and six from the 352Ku.  

On April 27, "Tatsumaki Butai" was organized as follows:

There were two main groups, "Ko" with all the 302Ku aircraft and "Otsu" with all the rest.

The "Ko" group was split into 1tai with 1st (four "Raiden") and 2nd Shotai (three "Raiden"), 3tai with 3rd Shotai (four "Raiden") and 4th Shotai (four "Raiden"), and the 5tai with the 5th Shotai (four "Raiden").

The "Otsu" group was split into 2tai, 4tai and 6tai with two shotai each. The shotai of the 2tai and the 4tai (from the 332Ku) had four "Raiden" each and the two shotai of the 6tai (from the 352Ku) had three "Raiden" each.

Below are all the aircraft of the "Tasumaki Butai" with their pilots as of April 27, 1945.

302 Kokutai

ヨD-147 - PO1c Murakami Yoshifumi

ヨD-150 - CPO Kaneda Tadashi

ヨD-151 - LTJG Ueno Norio

ヨD-155 - LTJG Sato Noriyasu

ヨD-156 - LdgSea Kurosu Rinji(?)

ヨD-157 - LT Ito Susumu (commander of the 302Ku group)

ヨD-158 - CPO Yamakawa Mitsuyasu

ヨD-167 - this aircraft was not mentioned in the register of that day

ヨD-185 - LdgSea Kuroda Shoji (actually 32-185, see pt.4)

ヨD-1163 - LTJG Tsukada Hiroshi

ヨD-1164 - PO1c Sasazawa Hitoshi

ヨD-1167 - CPO Suzuki Hironobu

ヨD-1173 - CPO Ito Seikichi

ヨD-1180 - LdgSea Tsukada Shigeo

ヨD-1183 - LTJG Katami Seijo

ヨD-1190 - WO Baba Takehiko

ヨD-1193 - CPO Kobayashi Katsuji

ヨD-1197 - LdgSea Oki Takeshi

ヨD-1199 - CPO Kawai Shigetsugu (Shigeji)

ヨD-185 - PO2c Oomine Minoru

The "battle reports" of the unit, mysteriously, mention two ヨD-185 "Raiden", which is highly unusual. On April 27, Kuroda's plane was part of the 1st Shotai and Oomine's part of the 4th Shotai. On April 29, Kuroda took off at 06:15 and the second "185", this time flown by LTJG Ueno, took off two minutes later at 06:17. In all the "battle reports" the planes are clearly mentioned as "185", so there is little possibility of making a mistake and writing "185" instead of, for example, "1185". Obviously, they were two separate aircraft.  

Update: see pt.4, here.

In general, the 302Ku had "problematic" tail numbers. There are photos of different types of aircraft with the same register. For example, there is a "Ginga"  ヨD-156 and a Zero ヨD-150. Perhaps when these aircraft were reassigned, destroyed or retired, new aircraft received their registrations.

There are photos of 302Ku "Raiden" with the same tail numbers as those of the "Tatsumaki Butai" but taken at a later date or at the end of the war. Perhaps they are the same aircraft but, because of the aforementioned problem, we can't be 100% sure.

ヨD-155 & ヨD-1190 found at Atsugi at the end of the war.

332 Kokutai

32-112 - WO Ishihara Susumu

32-113 - LdgSea Kunimoto Goro

32-160 - LTJG Watanabe ?

32-168 - PO1c Yamura Koichi

32-173 - PO2c Onaka Masayuki

32-175 - LTJG Aizawa Zenzaburo

32-178 - LdgSea Yahara Masayoshi

32-181 -  LTJG Sato Kanji

32-182 - PO2c Azuma Fukuo

32-186 - CPO Matsumoto Saichi

32-187 - PO2c Dehara Kanichi

32-188 - LdgSea Hara Shigezo

32-189 - CPO Ochi Akeshi

32-190 - LT Nakajima Kohei (commander of the 332Ku group)

32-192 - CPO Saito Eigoro

32-195 - LdgSea Fukuda Toshikazu (?)

As mentioned in the previous post, the "Raiden" of the 332Ku should have their fuselage hinomaru with a darker surround.

352 Kokutai

352-32 - LdgSea Iwaki Hideo

352-37 - LTJG Aoki Yoshihiro (commander of the 352Ku group)

352-52 - ENS Kaneko Kiyotoshi

352-61 - LTJG Okamoto Toshiaki

352-62 - LTJG Yamamoto Sadao

352-67 - ENS Kikuchi Nobuo

Note that commander Aoki did not bring with him his "352-20" "Raiden". As we previously saw, the lack of photographic material in combination with the "Tatsumaki Butai" "battle reports" led Arii and Tamiya to conclude that the "Raiden" with the two bolts of lightning had the tail number "352-37".

Unfortunately the photograph of "352-20" proves that these depictions were inaccurate. Please, if you care about accuracy, don't apply the old Tamiya decals with the wrong tail number on your kit. 

Arii nevertheless included one more "Tatsumaki Butai" "Raiden" in its old kit.

The Aeromaster decals include five "Tatsumaki Butai" "Raiden" in two sets in 1/48. 

As before, this post will be updated. Stay tuned!

Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden (Jack) - 332 Kokutai

In order to protect the Japanese home islands from the expected B-29 raids from the newly captured island of Saipan, the IJNAF organized a number of air defence units. In the beginning, these fighter units were to be placed under the control of Naval bases, but in reality, it became difficult to organize them since the Naval bases had only seaplane units to protect them mainly from submarines. Therefore, the newly organized fighter units had to become independent. 

On August 1, 1944, the Kure Naval Air Group Fighter Squadron became independent, was renamed 332 Kokutai and was stationed at Iwakuni Air Base, the closest land base to Kure. Initially, it was equipped with 45 Zeros, twelve "Gekko" night fighters and two "Raiden". Actually, only 28 of the Zeros, two "Gekkos" and none of the "Raiden" were combat-ready but gradually this was rectified and the unit came to be able to throw into combat no less than 27 Zeros, 15 "Raiden" and six "Gekkos". The Zero and "Raiden" groups were not separated as with the 352Ku but the pilots often flew both types.

The first combat mission of the unit was on October 25, 1944, when 16 Zeros took off to intercept 78 B-29s from the 20th Bomber Command targeting the Omura Aviation Arsenal, but the Zeros of the 332 were not able to make contact with the enemy. 

At the beginning of December, 20 Zeros were ordered to the Philippines where they were based in Cebu Island and came under the 303 Fighter Squadron of the 201 Kokutai. They were wiped out in just one week after fierce battles. Only one pilot, PO Kurachi returned.

In November the unit received a number of "Suisei" night fighters, and the night fighter group was split into two.

The unit used throughout its history the tail marking "32-". 

There are only a handful of Zero and "Raiden" photos. 

The 332Ku "Raiden" featured in the Rising Decal set is "32-101" flown by CPO Ochi (family name) Akeshi (first name), April 1945. 

According to the decal set: "CPO Akeshi Ochi belly landed with this aircraft after he shoot down one of three B-29 lost during air raid on 22 December 1944. Ochi achieved the unit's first aerial victory."

There is only one photo of the aircraft I know of. It is featured in Hata&Izawa's "Japanese Naval Aces..."

The very first depiction of the aircraft I could spot was by none other than Hasegawa Ichiro in the ancient FAOW (white) #7, July 1973. A very funky illustration indeed. Note the white surround on the fuselage hinomaru.

Around that time, illustrator Hashimoto Kikuo depicted the aircraft in a more prudent manner; fuselage hinomaru without any surround.

Nohara Shigeru followed suit and depicted the aircraft similarly in Model #470, 1996.

And finally, in the latest Model Art #831, Profile #11, 2011, illustrator Akutsu Osamu also followed the example of Hashimoto and Nohara and depicted the aircraft likewise. 

Nevertheless, the Rising Decal set has depicted the aircraft with a fuselage hinomaru with a dark green surround, applied at the unit to make the hinomaru less prominent. Is this correct?

The Hata&Izawa photo clearly shows that the fuselage hinomaru does not have a white surround. I know of only a handful of photos of "Raiden" with a fuselage hinomaru without a white surround and all these aircraft have the white surround overpainted. This is a very clear indication that the "Raiden" were delivered from the factory with top surface hinomarus with white surround and whenever these were eliminated it was done at the unit level.

How about other aircraft of the 332Ku?

The clearest photo can be found in Model Art #510, featuring a Zero of the unit at the end of the war.

The fuselage hinomaru has the white surround overpainted and it seems that it was a common practice with that kokutai.

Let's see other "Raiden" of the unit.

A photo of "32-160" can be found in FAOW #61. Note the Zero on its starboard side and the "Gekko" night fighters in the background.

Note again the lack of white surround and a very close inspection reveals a barely visible darker line around the hinomaru.

I have not found any illustration of this particular aircraft.

Another "Raiden" is "32-163". Again, a photo can be found in FAOW #61.

No white surround, a darker line is barely visible.

Nohara has depicted the aircraft with a fuselage hinomaru without any surround.

Another aircraft illustrated by Nohara and Akutsu in the Model Art publications is "32-168".

Note the white surround this time. I have not seen a photo of this particular aircraft and I cannot confirm the tail markings. Leave a comment if you know of a photo of the particular aircraft.

It is my conclusion that the "32-101" "Raiden" is accurately depicted by Rising Decals.

On December 16-17 a group of eleven "Raiden" and nine Zeros was dispatched to Naruo airfield, in Hyogo Prefecture, to participate in the defence of the Kansai area (Kobe-Osaka) while the "Gekko" group was redeployed to Itami airfield, Osaka. 

The whole 332Ku relocated to Naruo in February 5, leaving only a training detachment back in Iwakuni. It was in Naruo that the war's end found the unit.

In Watanabe Yoji's "Air War over Japan", a photo of the mission board of the unit is included, taken a little after February 5, 1945.

On the left side are the tail numbers of the "Raiden" that were to be flown that day, on the right side the tail numbers of Zeros. The first kanji of the names of the pilots with their rank is placed next to each number and from various Japanese sources, we were able to figure out that on that day:

"32-163" was flown by buntai commander Lt Nakajima Kohei

"32-106" by CPO Matsumoto Saichi

"32-160" by LTJG Watanabe Kiyomi

"32-199" by PO2c Azuma (Higashi?) Fukuo

"32-119" by ?

"32-105" by WO Ishihara Susumu

"32-168" by CPO Ochi Akeshi

"32-175" by LTJG Aizawa Zenzaburo

"32-173" by ?

and "32-180" by LTJG Mukai Jusaburo

We cannot know if these "Raiden" were the personal aircraft of the pilots or if they just happened to fly them on that day.

Update! The photo below of a 332Ku "Raiden" proves that it was common practice in the unit to overpaint the white surround of the fuselage hinomaru.

Update!

Our good friend Devlin Chouinard created excellent artwork of "32-101" and "32-160". Note that the latter was also flown by the "Tatsumaki Butai".

More about the operational history unit, to follow in updates of this post.

Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden (Jack) - 352 Kokutai

The 352 Kokutai was organized on August 10, 1944. Although the defense of Kyushu fell under the jurisdiction of the IJAAF, arrangements were made and the unit, based in Omura, was assigned to the defense of Sasebo, Nagasaki and Omura. Originally equipped with 30 Zero fighters and three Nakajima J1N "Gekko" night fighters, the first "Raiden" started arriving around October. The "Raiden" received tail numbers from 01-99, Zeros from 101-199 and "Gekko" from 201-299. The unit also operated Yokosuka D4Y "Suisei" night fighters.

The ancient (blue) FAOW #7 of 1968 on the "Raiden", included two photos of the most famous "Raiden", flown by Lt.JG Aoki Yoshihiro but no tail marking was visible and only one illustration depicting the tail marking of the unit was included. 

Hata&Izawa in their "Japanese Naval Aces..." book featured, no photos and the following illustration following the footsteps of the FAOW.

In the '80s more photos emerged, and the tail marking of Lt.JG Aoki's "Raiden" as well as the unit's actual marking was finally confirmed.

There are not that many photos of 352Ku "Raiden" fighters. Only a few of the surviving "sentoshoho" (combat reports) of the unit include tail numbers and the names of the pilots that flew them on a certain day, so it's quite difficult to pinpoint exactly who flew which aircraft. These reports show that different pilots flew different aircraft depending on whichever was available. While 352-20 has been confirmed as Aoki's aircraft beyond any doubt, Aoki flew different "Raiden" as well. 

He first arrived at the unit on December 25 and was immediately assigned as commander of the 3rd Buntai. The first time he is mentioned as taking off with a "Raiden" was on December 30, flying aircraft number "39".

Most sources agree that "20" became his aircraft and received the two thunderbolt fuselage markings around March 1945. Sources disagree as to the exact significance of the two thunderbolts.

Lt Aoki's was not the only 352Ku "Raiden" with this flashy marking. There are at least three photos of another "Raiden" with one thunderbolt on the fuselage.

In these two photos featured in various publications, the tail marking is not visible and some sources mention that the single thunderbolt indicates that the aircraft was flown by a "shotai" commander.

In Watanabe Yoji's "Hondo Boku-sen" (Air War Over Japan) the pilot standing next to a thunderbolt "Raiden" is identified as Ens Kaneko Kiyotoshi, mentioned as "shotai" commander. Again, frustratingly, the tail marking is not visible.

He first joined the unit on October 12, and flew "Raiden" number "16" on December 18 and number "50" on January 6. 

There is a photo, also featured in various publications, showing "Raiden" "352-50".

Could "352-50" be Kaneko's aircraft with the thunderbolt? The "Rising Decal" set we introduced in the previous posting suggests that it was. Nevertheless, most sources agree that the thunderbolt was applied on Kaneko's aircraft around the same time Aoki got his; March 1945. Unfortunately, there is little proof that Kaneko kept flying "50" until that time and that definitely became "his" aircraft.

It's possible but not confirmed.

Model Art illustrators chose a more prudent approach.

The "Rising Decal" set includes the tail marking of "Raiden" number "18" "photographed after the war on scrapyard in very bad condition". I have not seen a photo of this aircraft but it was flown on December 11 by LtJG Sawada Koichi, on December 14 by Kosugi Kozo (Kimizo) on December 18 by CPO Yoshioka ?, on December 30 by Iwaki Hideo and on January 6 again by Iwaki.

As we saw above, Hata&Izawa suggest that "17" was flown by Ens Kikuchi Nobuo in March 1945.

Model Art though, mentions that "67" was flown by Kikuchi on April 27, 1945. A quite specific date and indeed Kikuchi is mentioned in the "sentoshoho" as flying on that day but the number of his aircraft is not mentioned, as of the moment of this post, we have not confirmed the aircraft number.

We will keep digging in the history of the 352 Kokutai and if we unearth more information about the unit's "Raiden", we will update this post accordingly. Meanwhile, feel free to contribute if we have missed something.

Heads Up! - Mitsubishi Ki-21 Model 1 Otsu from ICM

Great news from Ukrainian ICM! They have made good progress with their "Sally" in 1/72 which is scheduled to be released around October 20. 

The box artwork is much better than the older atrocity and the renders look absolutely spot-on. I can see no inaccuracies at all (only the bombardier's seat is wrong but it will probably not be seen once the fuselage halves are closed). I hope they provide it with an open greenhouse, combat-ready option, not just closed. Unfortunately, it's been months since they last got in touch, so I have no idea what the "4 marking options" of the decals are.

The 1/48 version will follow. I guess either by the end of this or the beginning of next year. 
No, they are not crazy to release a 1/24 version, as some requested.

They will also release a Model 2 in both scales. Remains to be seen if they will release Model 2 Ko (greenhouse) and Otsu (turret) versions. Both saw extensive action during the Pacific War. 

I have not heard if they plan to do a full civilian M-21 or M-22 version. Hopefully, they will as there are many very interesting options.  

https://www.facebook.com/ICM.Models/

Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden" (Jack) by Rising Decals

Last December Rising Decals released a quite nice set dedicated to the Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden" (Jack) in 1/72.

The set includes markings for eight aircraft:

J2M3 model 21 "352-50", 352nd Kokutai named "Kusanagi", Omura airbase, Nagasaki prefecture, March 1945

J2M6 model 31 (or J2M5 model 33) "352-18", 352nd Kokutai, Japan 1945

J2M3 model 21 "02-615", s/n 3026, 381st Kokutai, 602nd Hikotai, Sepinggan airbase, Balikpapan, Borneo, autumn 1944

J2M3 model 21 "BI-01", 381st Kokutai, Singapore, Malaya, 1945

J2M2 model 11 "32-101", 332nd Kokutai, Naruo airbase, Hyogo prefecture, Japan, 1944

J2M2 model 11 "81-101", s/n 2024, Mitsubishi Aircraft and Engine Works, Nagoya, Japan, September 1945 

J2M2 14-Shi interceptor Kai (trial a/c) "YoC-104", 301st Kokutai, Oppama airbase, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, December 1943

J2M3 model 21 "81-124", s/n 3013, 381st Kokutai, Dewey Bouleward airbase, Philippines, late 1944

Here are the instructions and the decal set.

We will discuss in detail the various aircraft in forthcoming posts, so stay tuned!

Thanks a lot, Mirek for the sample.

Heads Up! - New "Betty" by Sword in 1/72

Harold K. (thanks!), sent over a heads-up for a new release by Sword. It's a Mitsubishi G4M1 "Betty" in 1/72!
I must admit this is a very pleasantly surprising release and I like what I see on their site!