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A ''kōkūtai'' () was a
military aviation Military aviation is the design, development and use of military aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling aerial warfare, including national airlift (air cargo) capacity to provide military logistics, logist ...
unit in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS), similar to the air groups in other air arms and services of the time. Some comparable units included ''wing'' in the British
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
, ''gruppe'' in the German
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
, and ''groupe'' in the French Armée de l'Air. A kōkūtai could be based at land or on board
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
s and could contain hundreds of men and aircraft. For example, the famous 343 Kōkūtai was a land-based fighter group while the 652nd Kōkūtai was a carrier-based bomber group. Kōkūtai were divided into smaller units called '' hikōtai'', which were the equivalent of a squadron. Kōkūtai were usually divided into three hikōtai. In general, most pilots and aircrew in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service were
non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...
s. The word kōkūtai is abbreviated with the suffix "-ku" (空). The term "343 Ku", for example, stands for 343 Kōkūtai. In the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) the equivalent unit was the '' sentai''.


Organisation

''Kōkūtai'' (air group) was equivalent to a US group or a RAF wing. A ''kōkūtai'' in the broadest terms could comprise a flight and base element of either a carrier or land based air group. In terms of the flight element, it was generally composed of 18 to 27 aircraft and took the name of the carrier or air station where it was originally formed. It could also be either homogeneous or composed of different types of aircraft. The land-based units had larger numbers of aircraft, and could number from approximately 24 to a 100 or more aircraft. They were more homogeneous and came under the command of the naval district where their home naval air station was located in, and later were designated either by a number or by the name of that particular station. The air groups and stations outside those ports were placed under the command of the nearest naval base (''chinjufu''). From the establishment of the IJN's first land based air unit at Yokosuka Air Group, Yokosuka until the end of the Pacific war, the term ''kōkūtai'' meant both a naval air station and the flying unit that was stationed there. The flying unit (''hikōtai'') operated the aircraft, and the rest of the personnel of any ''kōkūtai'' operated and maintained the ground facilities of the station at which the unit was stationed. Just as the aircraft and flight crew on board a Japanese carrier or a seaplane tender were made an integral part of a ships complement, when land-based or shore based (seaplane) air units were formed, the bases at which they were stationed were seen as equivalent to the ship of assignment for the carrier-based ''hikōtai''. There were over 90 naval air groups at the start of the Pacific War.


History

The land-based ''kōkūtai'' system was set up in 1916, determined that naval air stations and air groups would be organized as needed, at either naval ports (''gunkō'') or strategic ports (''yōkō''). Their designations were taken from the names of those places and functioning under the authority of those stations. In 1919, the IJN set out new regulations that in a time of war, emergency or maneuvers provided for the organization of "special air groups" (''tōkusetsu kōkūtai''), which could be designated either by a place or by a numerical designation. They could be either land- or carrier-based, but in general they were largely land-based and would be given numerical designations. In most cases the basis of these formations were created from elements drawn from existing air groups. The first such unit was the 11th Air Group, established briefly in 1936. While regulations establishing land-based air groups were set forth in 1916 and 1919, it was not until the early 1930s that a series of regulations and instructions, set forth the specific internal organizations of air groups, their locations, functions, and their training, though these changed from time to time right up to the end of the Pacific War. In November 1936, the IJN arranged for the organization of special combined air groups (''tōkusetsu rengō kōkūtai''), which were composed of two or more air groups. They were created in order to provide greater air strength under a single command. The 1st and 2nd combined air groups were formed in July 1937, at the beginning of the China War, and were the backbone of the navy's air operations in the first several years of that conflict. Standing combined air groups (''jōsetsu rengō kōkutai'') intended to be more permanent, were established in December 1938. Two of these were established before the Pacific War: the 11th was organized in December 1938, and the 12th which was formed in 1939. Until the very end of the 1930s most ''kōkutai'' were composed of a mix of aircraft types, with seaplanes predominating initially, but with carrier-type fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers increasing in numbers, along with land-based twin engined medium bombers. However, by 1941 the IJN's land-based air groups were almost always composed of one type of aircraft, the exception was the
Chitose air group The Chitose Air Group (Chitose Kōkūtai) was an air group of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during World War II. The group was formed on 1 October 1939 at Chitose Air Base, Chitose Airfield, Hokkaidō equipped with Mitsubishi G3M, Mitsub ...
which was based in
Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...
and was composed of both medium bombers and fighters. On November 1, 1942, all land-based identified with base names were given numerical designations. As the war in the Pacific progressed, this structure lacked flexibility and hampered front-line operations, consequently, in March 1944 the IJN's land-based air forces were restructured, and certain ''hikōtai'' were given independent numerical designations and an identity of their own outside the parent ''Kōkūtai''.


Notable Kōkūtai

* The 201st Kōkūtai * The Tainan Kōkūtai * The 343 Kōkūtai (also called ''Tsurugi Butai'') * The 601st Kōkūtai * The 652nd Kōkūtai * The 721st Kōkūtai * The Yokosuka Kōkūtai


See also

* Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service *
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...


Notes


References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kokutai Units of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service Military history of Japan ja:大日本帝国海軍航空隊