I sensed beforehand that I would be dispatched to a base somewhere in the south, either Taiwan or Saipan. In mid-August 1944, we were transferred from Kasanohara to Hsinchu Air Base on the northwest side of Taiwan. New intelligence reported that 11 American carriers were preparing to mount an assault on Taiwan. The IJN’s 2nd Fleet was directed to Taiwan to defend. As our carriers had already been destroyed, naval aircraft were only deployable from ground bases.
The 221st Naval Air Group had little more than 60 airmen. We headed to Taiwan separately in four or five squadrons, of which I was in second or third group to leave. We carried personal effects in our blue zippered parachute bags. My possessions fitted in but there was no room left for the parachute.
I dropped the bag behind the seat and secured it with a cord to stop it falling on me in case of some sudden maneuver. A spanner left in the cockpit by mechanics once smacked me fair in the head.
I was impressed by the majestic mountains of Yakushima and the beautiful coral reefs of Okinawa as we flew overhead. Taiwan came into view before long. I was happy to arrive but there was little indication that we were within spitting distance of the combat zone. I was taken aback when I flew into Hsinchu Airbase with its four long runways forming a tetragon, and one more runway set on an angle. All of them were paved with asphalt or concrete with the zones between the landing strips covered in lush green grass. It was an impressive base of the likes I had never seen before, designed to facilitate landing from all directions in any wind condition. Moreover, several planes could land simultaneously. As it was our first landing, however, we took our aircraft down with extreme caution.
Hopping out of my cockpit, I was once again awestruck by the quality and size of the base. It was so big that I had trouble identifying any of the other crews. All I could see were a few big aircraft parked in the distance. There were several other air bases in Taiwan besides Hsinchu including Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Yilan, and Hualien. The oldest were Kaohsiung and Tainan, the latter being particularly spacious allowing us to land in any grassy zone we liked. The runways in Kaohsiung and Tainan were paved, but Hsinchu was the best.
Our orders were to intercept B-24 bomber raids, fly patrol, and provide air cover for an Army convoy sailing to Xiamen. When not out on sorties we continued training. Our first taste of action, however, didn’t happen until the middle of October.
Gearing Up
New improved fighters like the Grumman F6F Hellcat were making life difficult for Japanese airmen. Faced with such formidable opposition, fewer of our planes were making it back, and our fleets were frequently rearranged to compensate for losses. The airplanes of the 1st Air Fleet were originally tasked with patrolling the southwest Pacific. We were supposed to provide back up when necessary, but with the 1st having been routed in the Battle of Mariana, there were hardly any operational fighters left in the area. It seemed inevitable that we’d be in the thick of it a lot sooner than we had envisaged.
The island of Taiwan.
For the first few months, however, all we did was train in the same format as Kasanohara except for tactical training which involved eight vs. eight Zeros instead of four vs. four. It was as close to real combat as possible so there was no room for mistakes. If information came in that Americans were approaching the east coast of Taiwan, we would fly to Hualien Airbase. If there was intelligence of the enemy somewhere in the south, we would fly to Tainan or Kaosiung. All the air bases in Taiwan became home as we pogoed around the island.
Although we were still officially in training, there was always a high degree of tension. We were never that far from the action and were ready to scramble without delay. We heard about losses being sustained here and there, and flight drills were conducted with the understanding that it would become the real thing at a moment’s notice. We were ready. Our senses had been honed and some of our men had already seen combat, even boasting of shots that had found their mark. We were all brimming with confidence, at the beginning.…
The completion of a training mission was signaled by the lead plane rocking its wings. One of our planes once veered away to fly under a suspended bridge in a river valley. I mischievously followed suit, and so did the rest of the fighters in our section. Another time we flew close to the river surface causing fishing boats to capsize. We were all aged only 17 to 19 after all. Just teenage lads wanting to have a bit of fun. Rowdy behavior took the edge off our volatile situation.
Taiwan was a bountiful place, and there was always a big basket full of bananas and citrus fruits located at the front of the barracks. Our three daily meals were excellent, just as they were in Kasanohara. The mess staff cooked our meals and took care of menial tasks such as washing the dishes. We often slept outside on the grass protected by a smoldering pyrethrum coil which kept the mosquitos in check. In August and September, the soft breeze at night made it more comfortable than sleeping inside the stifling barracks.
Escorting Convoys
With training concluded, my debut sortie was to the Xiamen channel between mainland China and Taiwan. We were to escort supply ships in what was going to be our first real opportunity to test the fruits of our hard training. We were fired up and determined to deal to any enemy planes unlucky enough to cross us.
We didn’t know why the fleet was headed to Xiamen but assumed that the Army was preparing to transfer military units from northeast Manchuria to the south. The fleet headed from the Yellow Sea (located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula) to the north of Taiwan. The Yellow Sea was relatively stable at the time, but the area surrounding Taiwan was becoming increasingly perilous. Japan had already defeated the Chinese Nationalist Air Force by this stage, so the odds of being intercepted by Chinese fighters were low. Moreover, no U.S. or British fighters had been spotted west of the line between Okinawa and Taiwan. Still, we didn’t want to take the Chinese factor for granted. Should they appear, we had no idea what they would be flying. It could be American or Soviet Union-built aircraft, and we had no clue whatsoever about the latter. This element of the unknown kept us edgy and vigilant.
The weather was fine, and visibility was good. We could see scores of ships in convoy heading to the East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait. We flew over them in two formations comprised of eight Zeros each. We circled at around 5,000 meters altitude as the ships cut through the blue sea below. Each escort mission lasted about two hours. When one team finished they would “rock” their wings for the other to take over. Once, I took my aircraft down to about 200 meters to make a pass over some of the ships. The sailors on deck waved up at me. I felt a strong responsibility to keep them from harm’s way. As it turns out we didn’t encounter any enemy planes on our debut mission.
The B-24s
Taiwan remained calm for a while after we arrived, but we kept an eye on what was happening in the east. The first enemy airplane that we saw, however, flew in from the west. It was a giant B-24 Liberator (see photos). I heard later that they raided Taiwan a few times before we arrived there. The B-24s flew at approximately 6,000 or 7,000 meters as they dropped their payloads on our facilities and then headed westward to their bases. We assumed that they came from Chongqing deep in the west of China. They were certainly capable of traveling great distances.
When news came through from our Army stationed in China that four B-24s were en route to Taiwan we scrambled to intercept. I chased one B-24 at high attitude on its return journey. No matter how much I accelerated I could not close the distance. A little more, a little more.… I kept the pursuit going until noticing that I had almost flown as far as mainland China. I had to give up the pursuit as my fuel was running out.
The B-24s were much bigger than we imagined. We knew that they had four propellers and a wingspan of 34 meters, but they took our breath away when we saw them for real. The airframe was sturdy and covered in duralumin plate. They were completely different to the “Mitsubishi G4M Type-1 Attack Bomber” (Allied reporting name “Betty”) which was the biggest