Ki-61 or Ki-100 "Tony" Fighters 1945 Formosa to Okinawa

[Devildog73]

NEVER MIND: I found Uncle Tgt's skins for the Ki-61 Tony for that period and location.


Anyone know:

1) The skins for the 19th, 37th, 59th, and 105th Sentais which were posted from Formosa to Okinawa spring and summer 1945?

2) Whether the Japanese used Ki-61 or Ki-100 Tonys in that area during that period?

I am having difficulty finding any information on these.

ALSO, which of our Tony aircraft in the library would function best as AI aircraft?
Is anyone willing to paint up some skins for them?

Thanks,

[bearcat241]

2) Whether the Japanese used Ki-61 or Ki-100 Tonys in that area during that period?...

Can't say much about which units, but according to the story of Kamikaze Destroyer -- based on actual accounts from survivors of this 1945 battle -- many Tony's were even used as kamikazes. Here's a great review ---> CHECK IT...

P.S. Use the search box for finding the "tony" instances in the story.

[UncleTgt]

Lee,

FDE Bressy did some Formosa/Okinawa skins for Akemis ki61 Tony too.

IIRC The few ki100s available were used even in the Home Islands as escorts for ki61s trying to get to the B29s, so I would imagine the same role for any that managed to deploy to Formosa.

One thing that comes across from researching this period is that combat records & reports are especially confusing when it comes to identifying Japanese aircraft. For instance, an FAA combat during Iceberg Oolong talks of a mixed section of A6Ms (an IJNAF aircraft) with a single ki61 (an IJAAF aircraft). Given the inter-service rivalry & general separation of commands throughout the War, it's hard to believe a mixed formation such as this. Perhaps the A6Ms were other Army types, such as late model ki43 Oscars, or even ki84 Frank (which was being used as kamikaze FBs by this stage), with an Instructor/ Escort/"NKVD" policeman riding shotgun? Lots of room for interpretation when creating missions...

[Devildog73]

Can't say much about which units, but according to the story of Kamikaze Destroyer -- based on actual accounts from survivors of this 1945 battle -- many Tony's were even used as kamikazes. Here's a great review ---> CHECK IT...

P.S. Use the search box for finding the "tony" instances in the story.

Thanks, bearcat!!

Researching...

[Devildog73]

Lee,

FDE Bressy did some Formosa/Okinawa skins for Akemis ki61 Tony too.

IIRC The few ki100s available were used even in the Home Islands as escorts for ki61s trying to get to the B29s, so I would imagine the same role for any that managed to deploy to Formosa.

One thing that comes across from researching this period is that combat records & reports are especially confusing when it comes to identifying Japanese aircraft. For instance, an FAA combat during Iceberg Oolong talks of a mixed section of A6Ms (an IJNAF aircraft) with a single ki61 (an IJAAF aircraft). Given the inter-service rivalry & general separation of commands throughout the War, it's hard to believe a mixed formation such as this. Perhaps the A6Ms were other Army types, such as late model ki43 Oscars, or even ki84 Frank (which was being used as kamikaze FBs by this stage), with an Instructor/ Escort/"NKVD" policeman riding shotgun? Lots of room for interpretation when creating missions...

thanks UT,
Yeah, I have been running into the same confusion. BPF talks about shooting down Zekes and Oscars in the same dogfights.
Perhaps the Japanese were so "strung-out" at this point in the war, they were throwing up whatever was flyable regardless of service; IJAAF/IJNAF.

[bearcat241]

thanks UT,
Yeah, I have been running into the same confusion. BPF talks about shooting down Zekes and Oscars in the same dogfights.
Perhaps the Japanese were so "strung-out" at this point in the war, they were throwing up whatever was flyable regardless of service; IJAAF/IJNAF.

A'ha...now you're getting it. Personally, i think the whole IJAAF/IJNAF rivalry thing was a bit over-worked by western historians reading too much into accounts of former Japanese military personnel and passing that POV on to readers and researchers. With the death of the Japanese navy in '44 and its subsequent funeral procession in the weak showings of '45, it appears that the joint forces could clearly see the handwriting on the wall and any inter-service rivalry & command separation that may have existed was easily brushed aside for the greater effort of saving face for the empire and the emperor. The army recognized all along that it lived and died by the general health of the navy-- supply lines and logistics governed by control of the seas -- and the navy was rudely forced to face with the fact that it no longer controlled the seas or the Pacific skies after Guadalcanal. Near the end, these two were finally forced to share the same land bases and skies over the home islands in the last stand defense of 1945. Even the book i recommended has accounts of mixed waves of attacking Tony's, Oscars, Jills, Betty's, clearly indicating joint tasking by regional and local command.

[UncleTgt]

Bearcat, you were right on the money.

In Osprey's "American Aces Against the Kamikaze" an easily missed phrase during the scene setting for Okinawa ops is actually quite significant -

"On 21st March 1945 the JAAF's Sixth Air Army, also in the process of moving to Kyushu, was placed under the command of the IJN..."

So it's seems the employment of combined IJAAF/IJN air forces for Iceberg may have been more formally arranged than I had realised.