The 1st Air Squadron (第一飛行戦隊　''Dai-ichi-hikō sentai'') was a flying unit of the

Imperial Japanese Army Air Service The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ja, 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊, Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai, lit=Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps) was the aviation force of the Im ...

. The unit was established on 5 July 1938 at Kagamigahara, Japan. The unit saw service in Manchuria during the Manchuria Incident, China during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

and Burma, Netherlands East Indies, Indochina, Rabaul, Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Philippines, Formosa and Japan during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The unit was disbanded at Takahagi, Japan in late 1945.

History

The 1st Air Squadron can trace its roots back to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, where the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

used early aircraft in their conquest of German held islands. The "Temporary Air Force" as it was known was primarily used at the

Siege of Tsingtao The siege of Tsingtao (or Tsingtau) was the attack on the German port of Tsingtao (now Qingdao) in China during World War I by Japan and the United Kingdom. The siege was waged against Imperial Germany between 27 August and 7 November 1914. Th ...

and would ultimately be disbanded in January 1915. Soon after, its successor the 1st Aviation Battalion was established in October of the same year. The original unit was then upgraded in size to the 1st Air Regiment on June 1, 1925, in conjunction with the inauguration of the Army Air Forces Headquarters, which controlled the air force. In 1915, the "Provisional Air Force," which had been formed during World War I, was scheduled to increase its air power. This includes the independence of the air force and a creation of ten squadrons composing of six fighter squadrons, two light bomber squadrons, and two heavy bomber squadrons. As a result, the 1st Flying Regiment, initially a battalion in size, was assigned two reconnaissance aircraft squadrons bring its total to two reconnaissance aircraft squadrons and two fighter squadrons. Later, the regiment was renamed to the 1st Air Squadron due to the separation of ground and air units within the Japanese army.

Aircraft

* Ki-27 (1939 - May 1942) * Ki-43 I (July 1942 - August 1943) *Ki-43 II (September 1943 - April 1944) * Ki-84 (April 1944 - August 1945)

Bases

*Kanchuerhmiao

Nomonhan Nomonhan is a small village in Inner Mongolia, China, south of the city of Manzhouli and near the China–Mongolia border. In the summer of 1939, it was the location of the Nomonhan Incident, as it is known in Japan, or the Battle of Khalkhin G ...

Jun 1939 *Saienjo Nomonhan Jun 1939 Sep 1939 *Sunjia near

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

Oct 1939 Nov 1941 * Kompong Trach,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Dec 1941 *

Singora Songkhla ( th, สงขลา, ), also known as Singgora or Singora (Pattani Malay: ซิงกอรอ), is a city (''thesaban nakhon'') in Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. Songkhla lies south of Ba ...

Malaya Dec 1941 Jan 1942 *

Kuantan Kuantan ( Jawi: ) is a city and the state capital of Pahang, Malaysia. It is located near the mouth of the Kuantan River. Kuantan is the 18th largest city in Malaysia based on 2010 population, and the largest city in the East Coast of Penin ...

Malaya Jan 1942 Feb 1942 * Tandjungkarang south

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Feb 1942 Mar 1942 *

Toungoo Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ; also spelled Toungoo) is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east and west. The main industr ...

, Burma Mar 1942 May 1942 *

Mingaladon Mingaladon Township ( my, မင်္ဂလာဒုံ မြို့နယ် ) is located in the northernmost part of Yangon, Myanmar. The township comprises 31 wards, and shares borders with Hmawbi Township in the north, North Okkalapa Tow ...

, Burma May 1942 * Akeno Jul 1942 Aug 1942 *

Palembang Palembang () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River on the eastern lowland of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census. Palembang ...

, Sumatra, August 1942 - October 1942 *

Tourane Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is o ...

, Indochina Oct 1942 *

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

, Indochina Oct 1942 *

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Nov 1942 Dec 1942 *

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

Jan 1943 Aug 1943 * Ballale, Solomon Islands, January 1943 *

Wewak Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city (seat) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak. Hi ...

, New Guinea, February 1943 (detached) *

Lae Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...

, New Guinea, March 1943 *Wewak, New Guinea, April 1943 - August 1943 *

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, Japan, September 1943 - November 1943 *Mengguli Nov 1943 *

Kashiwa is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 433,436 in 194,216 households and a population density of 3800 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The name of the city is written with a si ...

near Tokyo Nov 1943 Oct 1944 *Gan-no-su northern Kyushu Aug 1944 Sep 1944 (detached) *

Clark Field Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

Oct 1944 * Manapla Negros Oct 1944 Nov 1944 *

Shimodate was a Cities of Japan, city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the city had an estimated population of 64,467 and the population density, density of 747.44 persons per km2. The total area was 86.25 km2. On March 28, 2005, Sh ...

Kanto district Nov 1944 Dec 1944 *

Porac Porac, officially the Municipality of Porac ( pam, Balen ning Porac; fil, Bayan ng Porac), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 140,751 people. The Subic–Cl ...

, Luzon Dec 1944 Jan 1945 * Chaochou, Formosa Jan 1945 Feb 1945 *Shimodate, Kanto district Mar 1945 Apr 1945 * Takahagi, Kanto district Apr 1945 Aug 1945

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:1st Hiko Sentai Units and formations of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service Military units and formations established in 1938 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945