After the end of the war, the US forces found a large number of Japanese aircraft at Omura Airfield, Nagasaki Prefecture. It was the base of the 343rd and the 352nd Kokutai, along with other units. There were 74 Kawanishi N1K-J "Shiden" and N1K2-J "Shiden-kai" (George), 14 Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden" (Jack), 24 Zero-sen fighters, 77 Yokosuka/Kawanishi K5Y1 "Akatonbo" (Willow) trainers, and more; 206 aircraft in total.
Among them was a lone Showa L2D with Green Crosses, but unfortunately, we cannot determine if it flew any surrender or other special missions.
In this video, we can see the US Forces, under the command of Major General Roscoe Barnett Woodruff , setting the Japanese aircraft on fire.
Here are some more photos from NARA of the event.
From the dozens of Japanese aircraft that were found in Omura Base, the six Kawanishi N1K2-J "Shiden-Kai" deemed to be in the best condition were selected by the occupying US forces for evaluation. They were maintained by Japanese ground crews and were flown from Omura to Yokohama, taking off on October 16, 1945.
The collection of images from different Japanese publications, plus one sourced from the web, showcases these six planes just prior to their departure from Omura Base.
Once in Yokosuka the six aircraft were to be shipped to the USA for testing and evaluation.
Note that the aircraft on the left side of the photo still has its 20mm wing cannons.
The six aircraft originally belonged to the 343 Kokutai and some members of the unit's maintenance and flight crew who had been demobilised were called back to work on them. Japanese sources mention that the ground crews were moved to tears by the aircraft's final flight.
As we can clearly see in this photo, in preparation for the long-distance flight, the aircraft were equipped with a 400L drop tank.
During the flight, the "Shiden-kai" were escorted by Grumman F6Fs. The Japanese pilots were warned that they would be shot down immediately if they flew suspiciously.
The Japanese fighters used high octane fuel provided by the US forces for this flight and it is said the engines performed excelently with the F6F barely able to catch up.
After arriving in Yokosuka, two "Shiden-kai" were removed from the shipping list and scrapped. The aircraft that were transported to the United States has serial numbers #71, #533, #5218 and #5341. There are currently no more than three "Shiden" planes left in museums across the United States.
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