Thread: Aviation Quiz

Originally Posted by Aussiegunner

Interesting. Could you give us a bit of a background history on RAF use of Japanese pilots and aircraft, including this one?

This is taken from 'The Gremlin Task Force' by Air Chf Mshl Sir Walter Cheshire and appears in the Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal # 47 PP60-61

The Royal Air Force in Indo China was also in difficulties but, unlike the Army, it was not short of men but of fuel. The squadrons had in reserve, only one hour's fuel or in other words they could complete only one sortie each. Here again the Japanese were in a position to provide very useful help. Most of their aircraft had been grounded since the surrender but many were still serviceable and could be flown. Backing these aircraft was a useful supply of fuel which, for technical reasons, could not be used in our own aircraft. After some discussion the decision was taken to make limited use of Japanese Air Force. The limitation was imposed for political reasons, based on the curious idea that bullets fired from aircraft were - more reprehensible than bullets, equally lethal, fired from the ground.

The aircraft, flown and kept serviceable by their own crews, were to be employed on transport and unarmed reconnaissance duties only, The decision to use Japanese aircraft once taken, I sent for their Commander to tell him what I had in mind He made no difficulties and seemed pleased to take on the commitment because, possibly, his crews found their prolonged and enforced idleness irksome. The Japanese aircraft suitable for the tasks allotted to them ranged in types from a creditable Japanese copy of a Dakota, to a small passenger carrier capable of lifting four or five passengers. Some bomber types were also available, useless for passenger work but valuable for lifting cargo.
The procedure adopted to control the operations of the Japanese aircraft was straightforward. Their Commander was to notify my staff daily of the number of his aircraft available, and we would allocate individual tasks to them. To facilitate the transmission of information and orders, I installed a squadron leader and an interpreter in a hut alongside the Japanese Commander. This simple and very economical arrangement worked extremely well, confirming previous experience that simple organisations are also frequently the best.
We were interested to discover, among other things, that the Japanese had eminently sensible ideas about the importance of adequate servicing of their aircraft. Influenced by the stories of numerous suicide (Kamikaze) attacks carried out by the Japanese towards the end of the war, I came to believe that they would fly aircraft in any state, provided that they could get them into the air. However, it soon became apparent that they were grounding individual aircraft for much the same reasons as we would. Taking into account the longstanding shortage of spare parts; brought about by the virtual impossibility of moving anything between Japan and the occupied territories, the state of serviceability achieved by them was creditable and bore comparison with our own results. Experience in operations showed that once their aircraft were offered a task, there were few technical failures.

For those amongst you, who maybe interested. Here is a link to most of RAFHS journals up to #42

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/journals.cfm