343rd Naval Air Group
343rd Naval Air Group
🟡 索引- Code name
- 不明
- Higher formation
- 番号名海軍航空隊・300番台（局地戦闘機部隊）
- Raised at
- 不明
- Colours received
- 1944
- Main theatres
- Not known
War record
25 Dec 1944, formed at Matsuyama on the idea of Captain Minoru Genda of the Naval General Staff — to win back the air with the newest fighter, the Shiden-kai — and Genda himself took command→its flying leaders and pilots were picked veterans, the best-trained fighter force the Navy then had→a reconnaissance squadron of high-speed Saiun was attached, for Genda prized early warning→19 Mar 1945, warned by the Saiun patrol line, 54 Shiden-kai met the carrier raid on Kure: 48 fighters and 4 dive bombers destroyed, for 16 lost — a startling victory for that late hour of the war→8 Apr 1945, Genda led the group to Kanoya: six sorties cutting open the way for the Kikusui special-attack waves (165 aircraft out, 106 claimed, 29 lost), and 120 more against the B-29s→war's end
Genda gave each squadron a banner bearing a name from the Bakumatsu wars: Shinsengumi, Ishin-tai, Tenchu-gumi, Kiheitai. The nineteen American pilots taken prisoner after the 19 March battle are said to have spoken with respect of the unit that had fought them.
Known for flying the Shiden-kai fighter in the defense of the home islands late in the war
What is still not known
- Commanding officer: this field could not be read in our copy (the top of the page is cut off).
- Men of this unit: apart from the commander, no names have been gathered yet.
This card is made only of facts copied from one book. Only what can be confirmed against a primary source will one day become 🟢. An empty field means the book does not say. Nothing has been filled in by guesswork.
Source: 戦闘機隊の本（海軍） 誌面145–147
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