Famous Aircraft of the World #29 Ki-27 Shoki Photo Translations
by John Quinn,  D.Y. Louie and Jim Perry
Original Japanese Text, copyright Burindo
 
F/O    Type 97 Otsu of the 2nd Chutai, 246th Sentai as flown by Sgt. Susumu KAJINAMI (7), Kakogawa AB, Hyogo Japan, January 1943.  This pilot flew for a time with the 68th Sentai in New Guinea and scored about 18 victories in this theatre.
 
p. 2    Top.  The Ki.27 Ko flown by Lt. Col. Toshio KATO in June 1939.  He was CO of the 1st Sentai from July 1938 until his near death on 12 July 1939 while fighting in the Nomanhan campaign.  On this day his machine was shot up by Soviet fighters and he bailed out, badly burned, near a Soviet tank unit.  While the other pilots of his unit strafed the tanks, Sgt. Toshio Matsuura (15/10) landed next to his CO, pulled him into his plane, took off again and flew to safety.  Actions like this occurred frequently during the Nomanhan Incident.  Kato returned to the Army Flight Test Center, with which he had flown prior to Nomanhan, in 1941.
               On the rudder is the  Kana symbol "To" (pronounced "toe"), his first initial.
      
 "       Middle.  The Ki.27 Otsu flown by Capt. Yasuo MAKINO who was the executive officer of the 1st Sentai in July 1939 at Nomanhan.  This machine has 3 blue stripes atop each wing.
 
 "       Bottom, the machine flown by Sgt. Toshio MATSUURA (15/10) from the 2nd Chutai of the 1st Sentai, Nomanhan 1939.  The Hiragana symbol for "ma", the pilot's initial, is on the tail.  His rescue of his CO, Col. Kato, was related earlier.  
      
 p. 3   Top, a machine from the 1st Chutai of the 11th Sentai as flown by M/Sgt. Yutaka AOYAGI (12+/10) in 1940.  This Sentai was by far the most successful fighter unit in the IJAAF to this time, having achieved an incredible record in the Nomanhan campaign and producing a number of aces. (Hata/Izawa)
 
  "      Middle.  The plane flown by Capt. Koji MOTOMURA (14/14), CO of the 2nd Chutai of the 11th Sentai during the Nomanhan campaign in June 1939.  The red fuselage stripe is indicative of his status as a Chutai CO.  The serial number of this machine is #345.
 
"        Bottom, another plane from the 11th Sentai during Nomanhan, this time belonging to Sgt. Zenzaburo OTSUKA (22/22) of the 3rd Chutai.  The date is given as September 1939.  During this month the Nomanhan Incident came to its conclusion.  The serial number of this machine is #370.
 
 p. 4   Top.  The Ki.27 Otsu flown by Capt. Jyozo IWAHASHI (21/20), CO of the 4th Chutai of the 11th Sentai in Nomanhan in June 1939.  The serial number of this machine is #331.
 
  "      Middle.  The Ki.27 Ko of M/Sgt. Sozo KONOGAWA from the 10th Independent Chutai in April 1940.
 
  "      Bottom.  The Ki.27 of Capt. Toshio SAKAGAWA (15) in January 1940.  He was the CO of the 3nd Chutai of the 24th Sentai.  He would later be responsible for introducing the Ki.44 to operations when he led the 47th Independent Chutai in December 1941 and into 1942.  Sakagawa would form and lead the 25th Sentai, one of the more successful IJAAF fighter units in WWII, in 1942.
 
p. 5    The top and middle drawings are of a Ki.27 Otsu flown by Capt. Hyoe YONAGA in December 1941.  Yonaga was the CO of the 2nd Chutai of the 24th Sentai at this time.  This machine was photographed while the unit was based in the Philippines.  (see photo on page 38.)
 
  "      Bottom.  Another Otsu model, this time from the 3rd Chutai of the 50th Sentai in January 1942.  The pilot is unidentified.
 
p. 6    Top.  The machine of M/Sgt. Isamu KASHIIDE (9/7) from the 2nd Chutai of the 59th Sentai in June 1939.  The serial number of this machine is #91.
 
  "      Another Ko model from the 59th Sentai.  This was the machine flown by M/Sgt. Katsutaro TAKAHASHI (9/2) in 1939.  He was with the 2nd Chutai.
 
  "      Bottom.  A machine from the 84th Independent Chutai which was flown by Sgt. Shiro SUZUKI in October 1939.  This unit was formed from the 2nd and 3rd Chutais of the 64th Sentai.  It was based in the Canton region of China.
 
p.10   An inflight shot of a Ki.27 Ko of the 84th Independent Chutai in 1939.
 
p.11   An Otsu model from the 1st Chutai of the 64th Sentai in early 1940.  The pilot of this machine is Sgt. Shigeru TAKUWA (6).  The Chutai emblem on the tail is derived from the name of the Chutai commander at this time, Capt. Fumio Maruta.  A plane's position within the chutai was shown by the color and number of the vertical bars within the emblem.  White, red and yellow denoted the 1st. 2nd and 3rd chotais respectively.  In this case Takuwa's would be the 2nd plane of the 2nd chotai.  Note the barely discernible yellow stripes on the fuselage (just behind the canopy) and on the right wing.
 
p.12   Another Ki.27 Otsu of the 1st Chutai, 64th Sentai in 1940.  Note the red band around the rear fuselage.  This machine may be from the same element as Takuwa.
 
p.13   Capt. Kiyoshi Kimura, CO of the 10th Independent Chutai, standing in front of a Ki,27 from his unit in 1939-1940.  Note the red fuselage stripe on the plane to the right.  This is probably the marking for an element leader.
 
p.16   Another shot of Sgt. TAKUWA's plane.
 
p.26   A photograph of the machine of Lt. Col. Toshio KATO in June 1939.  He was the CO of the 1st Sentai.  This machine appears in the color section on the top of page 2.
 
p. 27   Top.  "Similar to Lt. Col. Kato's plane shown on the previous page this plane is a Ki.27 Ko, with the (Hiragana) character 'na', from the 2nd Chutai of the 1st Sentai at Kagamihara.  This plane also has the red stripes on the fuselage as well as on the upper surface of the main wing.  There is a color combination for the radiating stripes on the fuselage, and it seems that they used this combination to identify formation numbers and the plane positions within the formation.  It is said that the 2 diagonal stripes (Looks more like 3?) on the main wing indicate that the plane is the commander's plane of the Sentai or Chutai.  The plane in the photo seems to be the Chutai commander's plane.  Colors of the vertical rudder were yellow for the 1st Chutai, red for the 2 nd Chutai and blue for the Sentai HQ flight, and inside the colored portion and individual plane mark was drawn.  If the mark is a black Katakana character, the plane belonged to the 1st Chutai; while a white Hiragana character indicated the 2nd Chutai."[1]
             On page 68 the pilot is said to be Capt. K. YAMADA who was the first Chutaicho of the 2nd Chutai.  He led this unit until he was KIA on 21 July 1939.
 
  "      Bottom.  Machines from both the 1st and 2nd Chutais of the 1st Sentai in 1939.
 
p. 28  Top 2.  "An ace representing the 1st Sentai, Sgt. Maj. Isamu Hosono (26) who shot down 21 planes during the Nomanhan Incident.  The plane is a Ki.27 Otsu with the (katakana) letter "na" on the tail.  The wedge type mark (white outlined in red) beside the cockpit and the diamond shaped on the outside of the spats of the main legs are both indicative that the plane is the commanders, and this particular plane was used by the commander of the 1st Chutai, Capt. Shigetoshi INOUE.  On the rear portion of the fuselage two red stripes with white outline and one white stripe with red outline are drawn.  The vertical rudder is painted yellow which is the color of the 1st Chutai and a Katakana letter "na" is written on it.  Barely seen is the one diagonal stripe on the main wing.  Sgt. Maj. Hosono flew the 3rd plane of the Sentai HQ flight."
 
p. 28  Bottom.  "Sub-Lieutenant Tanaka.  The plane in the background the same Capt. Shigetoshi Inoue's Ki.27 Otsu 'na'.  The diamond shaped mark (red in white spats) in the main leg is clearly seen.  During the Nomanhan Incident the 1st Sentai lost 16 pilots.  Most of the casualties occurred after July when the Soviet Union air force was reinforced both in quantity and quality, and changed their fighting tactics."
                     Is it possible that this is M/Sgt Tanaka?  He was one of Inoue's 2 wingmen in September 1939.
 
p. 30  Top photo.  M/Sgt. Fujitaro ITO (13) of the 5th Hiko-Sentai stands on the wing of a Ki.27 of this unit sometime in 1940-1941.  The machines in the background are from the 1st Chutai.  Ito was with the 3rd Chutai at this time.  A photo of his machine, #5362, appears on page 70.  Of Ito's 13 victories, 9 were B-29s and the remainder were B-24s.
 
  "      Bottom photo.  M/Sgt ITO standing by the tail of a Ki.27 Otsu in April 1942.  This too is a 5th Sentai machine.  A color drawing of a Ki.45 flown by Ito in 1945 appears in the foldout of FAOW #21.
p. 31  Top photo.  A Ki.27 Otsu from the 2nd Chutai of the 11th Sentai.  The pilot is unknown.  The absence of markings other than the tail flash probably indicate that this was a junior pilot of the unit.  The Chutai colors of this unit were white for the 1st Chutai, red for the 2nd, yellow for the 3rd and green for the 4th.
 
              
       The 11th Sentai was by far and away the most successful Sentai in the IJAAF.  This unit wracked up 530 confirmed victories, with 50 more unconfirmed, against the Soviets at Nomanhan.  The 1st Chutai accounted for 180 of these victories.  Among its pilots were W.O. Hiromichi Shinohara (58, KIA 27.8.39), Capt. Kenji Shimada (27, KIA 15.9.39), M/Sgt. Bunji Yoshiyama (20, KIA 15.9.39), Lt. Tomoari Hasegawa (22/19), M/Sgt. Yutaka Aoyagi (12+/10), M/Sgt. Koichi Iwase (12), M/Sgt. Eisaku Suzuki (11, KIA 25.8.39) and Lt. Moritsugu Kanai (26/7).
        The 2nd Chutai scored 124 victories including some that were unconfirmed.  Among its pilots were Capt. Koji Motomura (14) who was killed on 22.8.39 in combat with about 30 Russian fighters, W.O. Mamoru Hanada (17, KIA 12.7.1939), M/Sgt. Taro Kobayashi (10, KIA 5.8.39), W.O. Tokuyasu Iishizuka (14/12), Sgt. Haruo Takagaki (17+/15, KIA 15.7.45), Lt. Yamato Takayama (9), and W.O. Akira Ina (9).  Some of the pilots of the 3rd Chutai were W.O. Goro Furugori (25+/20+, KIA 3.11.44), M/Sgt. Tomio Hanada (25, KIA 7.10.39), Sgt. Saburo Togo (22), M/Sgt. Zenzaburo Otsuka (22, KIA 29.1.43), M/Sgt Saburo Kimura (19, KIA 7.8.39), M/Sgt. Masao Ashida (13, KIA 12.8.39) and Sgt. Daisuke Kanbara (11).
          The 4th Chutai too was credited with more than 100 kills and had its share of aces.  Some of these were Sgt. Rikio Shibata (27/14, KIA 18.12.44 with the 85th Sentai), Sgt. Shoji Kato (23, KIA 6.9.41), the Chutai CO, Capt. Jyozo Iwahashi (21+/20, KIA 21.9.44), Sgt. Naoharu Shiromoto (21/11), Sgt. Riichi Ito (16), Corp. Jiro Okuda (14, KIA 12.8.39), Sgt. Takashi Minami (14) and Sgt. Tokuro Fukuda (11).  Even with the all their success the constant fighting took its toll of these pilots.  [ Note in scores given as (X/X) the second number is the number of victories from Nomanhan]
 
 
  "      Middle photo.  Ki.27 Otsus of the 2nd Chutai, 11th Sentai.  Note the red flash on the wheel spats.  The CO of this unit at this time was Captain Koji Motomura (14).  His machine appears in the color section.
 
 "       Bottom photo.  The machine of M/Sgt. Yutaka AOYAGI (12/10) in 1940.  This machine also appears in the color section.  Aoyagi was another of those pilots who landed to rescue a comrade.  During the Nomanhan conflict on 25 July 1939 he tried to pick-up W.O. Hiromichi Shinohara (58) who had force landed near a Russian armored unit.  Aoyagi's plane was hit by a shell and he was wounded.  Then M/Sgt. Koichi Iwase (12) landed, picked up both Shinohara and Aoyagi, took off again and returned safely to base!  Aoyagi was killed in an accident on 23 June 1942.  At the time he was flying with the 204th Sentai.
 
p. 32  Top.  A Ki.27 Otsu of the 1st Chutai of the 13th Sentai in 1940.  This machine carries a variation of the kana letter "i" on its tail.
 
  "      Bottom.  Two 13th Sentai Ki.27s in flight.
 
p. 33  Both.  The 3rd Chutai of the 13th Sentai someplace in China in 1942.  The CO of this chutai at this time was Captain Rokuro Asahi.  Another shot of these planes appears on page 15.  The 13th Sentai later flew the Ki.44.
 
p.34-5 The 84th Independent Chutai was formed from elements of the 64th Sentai in July 1939.  They were formed to provide air defense in central China when the 64th Sentai was sent to Nomanhan.
 
p. 36  Top.  Machines of the 1st Chutai of the 24th Sentai during the Nomanhan war in 1939.  The first fighter combat against the USSR at Nomanhan occurred when 3 Ki.27s of the 1st Chutai led by Captain Shoichi Suzuki (17), the CO, attacked an LZ recon aircraft near the Khalkin-Gol river on 20 May 1939.  The 3 fighters needed to make 6 attacks on the LZ before it went down.  This was a reflection of the inexperience and lack of combat training for the pilots.  Captain Suzuki received credit for the victory.
            The aircraft tucked in under the wing of the machine in the foreground is of particular interest.  Note the dark band on the rear fuselage.  Presumably this is red and in this unit this type of stripe is used to denote a Chutai CO (see photo below).  Could this be Suzuki's machine?
 
  "      Bottom.  A line-up of some of the machines of the 3rd Chutai of the 24th Sentai in January 1940.  The machine at the right was that of the Chutai CO, Captain Toshio SAKAGAWA (15).  Note the red fuselage stripe which marks him as Chutai CO.
 
p. 37  Top.  Photographed while undergoing maintenance on 4 August 1939, this plane is plane is said to have been flown by Lt. Hyoe YONAGA (16).  This machine is from the 2nd Chutai and has a Kana "na" over the red stripes on the tail.
 
   "     Middle.  "Flying over the vast grassland of Nomanhan is a Ki.27 Otsu fighter plane with the (katakana) letter "su" belonging to the 2nd Chutai of the 24th Sentai.  the pilot is Sgt. Major Goro NISHIHARA (67th year graduate of non-commissioned officers school).  He participated in many sorties with Lt. Yonaga and shot down 12 Soviet planes before the cease-fire agreement became effective.  At the air battle on 4 August 1939 the Sentai commander Matsumura got shot and made an emergency landing.  Sgt. Maj. Nishihara bravely landed beside Matsumura's plane, rescued the commander from his burning plane and took off through the enemy fire from the tanks encircling them.  This acrobatic action made him leap suddenly into fame.
                   [This machine also carries 2 thin fuselage stripes.  The first appears to be black (compare to the letter on the rudder) while the second stripe is white.]
 
  "      Bottom.  Another photo showing machines of the 3rd Chutai of the 24th Sentai.
 
p. 38  A very colorful machine of the 2nd Chutai, 24th Sentai.  This photo was taken in December 1941 in the Philippines.  The pilot was Capt. Hyoe YONAGA (16) now the Chutai CO (note the red fuselage stripe).  A color drawing of this machine appears in the color section.
 
p. 39  Two photos of some of the machines of the 10th Independent Chutai.  The top photo is from 1938 when the unit was converting to the Ki.27 from the Ki.10, a couple of which can be seen to the left.  The bottom photo is of Captain Kiyoshi Kimura, CO of the unit.  The photo was taken after July 1938 when he was appointed CO.  He led this unit until May 1940.
 
p. 40  Several photos of varying quality again showing machines of the 10th Chutai.  In the top photo the 4th machine in line can be seen to have a dark colored cowling.  This is undoubtedly Kimura's machine.  The 3rd photo is of a machine that has been said in the past to have been his machine.  The bottom photo is from 1940.
 
p. 41  The top photo shows an unknown pilot standing by the tail of a machine from the 3rd Chutai of the 50th Sentai in January 1942.  The CO of this Chutai was Lt. Takehisa Yakuyama.
                   The bottom photo shows a machine from the 2nd Chutai in February 1942.
 
p. 42 Top. A Ki.27 Ko from the 59th Sentai. As was characteristic of this unit, this plane carries a kana letter, O (oh), on its tail. Much like the 11th and 50th Sentais this unit used a lightning bolt as a unit badge. Initially the colors for these were red for the 1st Chutai and green for the 2nd Chutai.
 
  "      Bottom. The Ki.27Ko flown by M/Sgt. Isamu KASHIIDE (9/2) of the 1st Chutai in October 1939 (this conflicts with the caption on the color drawing on page 6). Kashiide was credited with shooting down 2 Russian fighters on 15 September 1939. He would later become famous by destroying at least 7 B-29s while flying with the 4th Sentai in 1944-1945. Note the kana "ka", the pilot's initial on the tail.
 
p.43   Top. Another Ki.27 Ko, this time the machine flown by M/Sgt. Katsutaro TAKAHASHI (9/2) from the 2nd Chutai of the 59th Sentai (see color drawing on page 6).  His plane has a katakana "ta" on its tail.  He graduated with the 2nd class of the Juvenile Flying Corps(?) in July 1936. Two years later he joined the 59th Sentai and fought with this unit at Nomanhan a year later.  He was KIA on 24 December 1942.
 
  "      Bottom. Sgt. Shigeo Sugiura poses in front of a line of reveted Ki.27s from the 59th Sentai (2nd Chutai?). This pilot was KIA on 13 September 1943 while flying with the 13th Sentai.
 
p.44   Both. Two views of the of a Ki.27 Ko #184 flown by Lt. Iori SAKAI (9+/9+) from the 2nd Chutai of the 64th Sentai in November 1938. At this time Sakai was a shotai leader (red stripe - 2nd shotai?) with his Chutai. All of the markings are red, including the number 6 which in the past has been drawn as blue (compare tones in top photo).  At this time each of the Chutais in the 64th used different styles of markings. The bottom photo shows Sakai's machine again, but this time there appears to be a red diagonal stripe on the wing. Also note that the machine off of the tail of Sakai's appears to have a light colored diagonal stripe on its rear fuselage which would tend to support the belief that the these stripes marked sections. (Older sources have credited Sakai with being the Chutaicho in these markings, however he didn't lead this unit until the fall of 1939.)
 
p.45   Top.  "The Ki.27 Otsu, marked with a (katakana) "ro" on its tail, belonging to the commander of the 3rd Chutai of the 64th Sentai, Capt. Goro SUZUKI.   The method of putting a black stripe on the vertical rudder and a katakana character on the vertical stabilizer was the tradition transcendent from the predecessor 9th Independent Chutai, and was used well after the Nomanhan Incident.  The yellow (red?) stripe immediately behind the canopy indicates that the plane is the commander's.  The antenna post has been removed."
 
  "      Middle. Another inflight shot, this time of a machine from the 1st Chutai of the 64th Sentai in 1939.  This machine is a Ko model and belongs to a wingman of the 1st Shotai of the 1st Chutai indicated by the 2 white stripes behind the cockpit.  There should also be a yellow number on the tail (see below).
 
  "      Bottom. Four machines from the 1st Chutai, 64th Sentai parked at a station, probably in Northern China or Manchuria in mid-1939.  The machines at the far sides of the photo are Ko models while the 2 in the middle are Otsus.  The 3 machines to the right show the 3 machines of the 1st Shotai.  The plane with the wide white band behind the cockpit is undoubtedly that of the Chutaicho while the machines to its right (with the thin white stripes) would belong to the 2 wingmen.  The machine in the middle is the much photographed #33 (the number is in yellow and contrasts poorly with the overall light gray color).  Earlier publications have credited many of these photos to Rinpei Tanaka, a pilot who flew for a long time with the 64th Sentai and the 2nd Daitai, the predecessor to the 64th.  One might wonder if #33 was Tanaka's plane.  It is thought that M/Sgt. Tanaka scored 5 or more victories.  The Ki.27 to the right wears #32 on its tail.
 
p. 46 Top.  Two views of the Ki.27 Otsu #13 flown by M/Sgt. Hiroshi SEKIGUCHI (7).  Another veteran of the 2nd Daitai, Sekiguchi had been one of the wingmen of Lt. Kousuke Kawahara (9), one of the early aces in China (KIA 25 March 1938).  He scored 4 victories during the Nomanhan Incident.  Sekiguchi would later fly with the 68th and 105th Sentais.
 
  "      Bottom.  "This photo shows the Ki.27s of the 64th Sentai deployed on the vast grass land of Nomanhan in August 1939.  The plane "#33" belongs to the 1st Chutai, while the next plane, "ri", and the planes lined up after that (with the black bands on the rudder) belong to the 3rd Chutai.  The first air battle for the 64th Sentai in the Nomanhan Incident was on 20 August above the Haruha River.  In that battle they shot down 2 SB bombers and one small plane in the morning.  While they were preparing for the next mission in the afternoon, the Hoshuu AB was attacked by Soviet planes.  Three planes were severely damaged, another 3 planes received medium damage and 11 planes were slightly damaged.  That was a serious blow to the Sentai at the outset."
 
p. 47 Top 2.  "Ki.27 Otsus of the 1st Chutai (of the 64th Sentai) which, after the Nomanhan Incident, from January 1940 to March 1941, operated over South China as an Independent Chutai detached from the 64th Sentai.  The commander was Capt. Fumio Maruta. Taken from his name Maruta, the Chutai had a nickname, the Maruta Chutai.  On the vertical rudder a combination mark of a circle (Maruta means circular rice field) taken from the "Maru" (circle), and vertical lines are drawn which indicate the formation number and position.  Top and bottom of the circle and the vertical lines were colored according to the formation number.  Right and left sides of the circle were yellow.  The right-most plane in the above photo is Capt. Maruta's which is the No. 1 plane  of the 1st formation."
 
  "      Bottom.  A Ki. Otsu flown by Ltjg. Yohei HINOKI (12) who at this time, 1941, was a shotaicho in the 2nd Chutai of the 64th Sentai.  As can be seen the unit has finally adopted their famous arrow tail emblem.  This machine is portrayed in a drawing later in the book (on p.76).  One element appears to be missing.  There would seem to be a yellow stripe forward of the white combat stripe.  This is difficult to discern because of a blemish in the photo and, again, the poor contrast between the grey and the yellow.  A very similar, if not the same, machine has been, via a another photo, attributed to Capt. Iori Sakai.  However, at this time he was the CO of 2nd Chutai and it has already been established that the 64th had adopted the practice of using white, red and yellow to differentiate between sections.
 
 p. 48 A Ki.27 Otsu from 1st Chutai of the 68th Sentai in 1942.  The pilot, Lt. Shinosuke NAKAGAWA (53rd year class of the Army Military Academy), relaxes in the foreground.  This plane appears as a drawing at the top of page 77.  Barely discernible over Nakagawa's right shoulder is a white diagonal stripe on the rear fuselage of his plane.
 
p. 49  Two photos showing the Ki.27 Otsu flown by Capt. Yoshiro KUWABARA (13).  The photos are from December 1941 at which time Kuwabara was the CO of the 3rd Chutai of the 77th Sentai.  The Sentai markings on the tail and the first fuselage stripe (directly in front of the white combat stripe) are yellow, the chutai color.  The yellow fuselage band shows this to be a Chutaicho's plane (see drawing on page 77).  Twelve of Kuwabara's kills were while flying the Ki.27, the first being over Thailand on 8 December 1941.  He was KIA over New Guinea on 14.March 1944, still with the 77th Sentai.
 
p. 50  A pranged Ki.27 Otsu from the 2nd Chutai of the 244th Sentai in 1943.  This unit was formed in the later half of 1941 as a Home Defense unit.
 
p. 51 Top. Sgt. Tadao SUMI (6) of the 2nd Chutai, 244th Sentai stands in front of his Ki.27 Otsu in 1943 (probably New Years Day).  This machine looks very similar to that on the previous page.  In the air battles over Japan in late-1944 and 1945 Sumi would be credited with destroying 5 B-29s and 1 Mustang.  He also damaged 4 other B-29s.
 
  "      Middle.  Another shot of SUMI and his Ki.27.
 
p. 52  Top.  A Ki.27 otsu from the 2nd Chutai of the 246th Sentai in January 1943.  The 246th was another home defense unit.  The Sentais tail flash was designed by the CO of the 2nd Chutai, Capt. Okuda.
 
  "      Bottom.  Several parked machines of the 2nd Chutai, 246th Sentai.  The machine on the right with the 2 white fuselage stripes was flown by Sgt. Susumu KAJINAMI (8).
 
p. 53  Middle.  Sgt. KAJINAMI in his Ki.27.  This machine has 2 blue stripes on the rear fuselage.  This is probably the same machine illustrated in the foldout.
 
p. 58  Top.  Sgt. Shigetoshi Ando poses in front of the tail of a Ki.27 from a training unit.  (111 Training Air Division?)
 
p. 61  Top left.  "Capt. Tatsuo Takanashi  (39th Year graduate of the Army Military Academy) of the 1st Chutai of the 1st Sentai and his plane.  Under the canopy markings indicating the number of planes he shot down (I-15 X 3, I-16 x 2) are visible.  This photo was taken during the Nomanhan Incident when fatigue caused by the continuous sorties he had to make prevented him from taking any meals.  He fought while taking in only Kalpis (a yogurt-like drink)."
            [Takanashi was the first Chutaicho of the 1st Chutai.  He led this unit from its formation in July 1938 until July 1939.]
 
p. 61 Top right.  "One of the high-scoring pilots Sgt. Maj. Takeo IISHI (60th year graduate of the non-commissioned officers school) and his plane, a Ki.27 Otsu with the (katakana) "wo".  He participated in the daily air battles and altogether shot down 16 planes.  On 2 August 1939 his plane received 60 bullet holes and he was severely wounded, yet he returned to base.  The yellow rudder indicates the 1st Chutai and the letter "wo" indicates the identity of his plane.  In the front of the horizontal empennage there is marked "AIKOKU* 307 (Kita Nihon Steam Lines)" indicating that the plane was presented by this company."
       {* Translators note: AIKOKU [for Army] and HOKOKU [for Navy] both mean Patriots.)
 
  "      Bottom.  "One of the ground crew of a Ki.27 Otsu of the 1st Chutai of the 1st Sentai.  This plane is the commander's plane and has under the windscreen a red wedge mark outlined in white while on the rear portion of the fuselage are 3 red stripes. The individual plane mark is the (katakana) letter "fu" in black."
               [There is strong reason to believe that this was the machine flown by, then Sgt., Mitsuyoshi TARUI (38/28) at the end of the Nomanhan Incident.  According to a roster published in Hata/Izawa, this pilot was the leader of the 2nd Shotai of the 1st Chutai, 1st Sentai.  Given that Capt. Shigetoshi Inoue, the CO, was flying a machine with white flashes under the cockpit and that the machine pictured here has red flashes would it not be a reasonable premise that these are again examples of section markings (As well as the 3rd rear fuselage stripe, white on Inoue and red here.)?  Wingmen appear to have flown aircraft marked only with the yellow rudder with a black katakana letter (Iishi above,  and Shimomura on page 24 of Hata/Izawa).  This pilot from the photo on the right strongly resembles the photo of Tarui in the Hata/Izawa bios. ]
 
p. 62  Top left.  M/Sgt. Totaro ITO (13) in the cockpit of Ki.27.
 
  "      Top right.  Sgt. Miyoshi SHIMOMURA (10/8) of the 1st Chutai of the 1st Sentai in the late seated in his Ki.27 Otsu in the late summer of 1939.  The Kana letter  "tsu" on the tail.  This machine also appears in a photo on page 24 of Hata/Izawa.  Other than a yellow rudder with the black kana letter and (probably) a white combat stripe around the rear fuselage this machine is unmarked.  Iishi's machine from the previous page is much the same.  Of course like Iishi's this machine may have an Aikoku inscription.
 
  "      Middle.  M/Sgt. Naosuke ITO (8) from the 64th Sentai.
 
p. 63 Top.  Sgt. HARADA of the 3rd Chutai, 64th Sentai in January 1939.
 
  "      Middle.  Sgt. Nobuji NEGISHI (6-7) while with the 244th Sentai in 1942.  He would later join the 53rd Sentai and shoot down 6 B-29s flying Ki.45s over Japan.
 
  "      Another photo of Sgt. KAJINAMI in his KI.27 seen previously.
 
p. 68 A drawing of the plane of Capt. K. YAMADA, CO of the 2nd Chutai, 1st Sentai in June 1939.  This machine has the hiragana letter "na" on its red rudder.  (see photo at top of page 27.)
 
p. 69  The Ki.27 of Capt. Shigetoshi INOUE, CO of the 1st Chutai, 1st Sentai in August 1939.  This machine has a katakana "na" on its yellow rudder.  The overhead view is also of this machine.
 
p. 70  Top.  the Ki.27 Otsu flown by the CO of the 4th Sentai, Lt. Col. Saburo HAYASHI in September 1940.  All of the markings are blue.  (Maru Mechanic)
 
  "      3rd photo.  M/Sgt Totaro ITO (13) behind the tail of his plane (left) #5362.  The serial number is visible in the lower right of the photo.
 
  "      Bottom drawing.  The Ki.27 Otsu of Capt. Kenji SHIMADA (27), CO of the 1st Chutai, 11th Sentai in June 1939.  The Nomanhan conflict started on 20 May 1939 over the border area of Manchuria and Mongolia. This unit saw its first combat against the Russians on the 27th.  Shimada led 6 fighters against a Russian force of I-16s.  They shot down 9 of the I-16s with no loss to themselves (At least one source credits Shimada with 8 of these!)   On May 29 the fighting stopped for about a month.  In two days of combat the 1st Chutai had knocked down 30 Russians including 8 by Shimada and 10 by W.O. Hiromichi Shinohara (57).  The machines of both of these pilots were photographed during this lull in the fighting.
               On 10 July, after the fighting had started again, Shimada was involved in a dogfight with a Russian.  Finally he hit the enemy plane and it exploded in midair.  The pilot managed to escape, but his parachute caught fire and he was killed in the fall.  Shimada landed his plane near the dead pilot and proceeded to cover his fallen foe's body with flowers which were growing nearby.  Shimada was KIA over Tamsuk on 15 September 1939.  The Armistice ending the conflict was signed the next day.
 
p. 71  Top.  A photo of a KI.27 from the 2nd  (or 4th) Chutai of the 11th Sentai during the summer of 1939 in Nomanhan.  In the background is a machine from the 1st Chutai.  There is a photo in  Hata/Izawa of this same machine with Sgt. Jiro Okuda (14) of the 4th Chutai standing in front.  
 
p. 72 A drawing of a Ki.27 flown by Sgt. Goro NISHIHARA (12) of the 2nd Chutai, 24th Sentai.  This machine has a kana "su" on its rudder.  (see photo on page 37)
 
p. 73  Top 2 photos.  "Beloved country 318 fought very well and holds a record for having shot down the most Russian aircraft in the Nomanhan Incident.  It had the letter 'mi' on the tail.  it was flown by M/Sgt. Chiyoji SAITO (24/21), Lt. Hyoe YONAGA (16) and M/Sgt Goro NISHIHARA (12).  "Mi" had a red tail marking, the letter was in black and the stripes were white and blue."
 
  "      Middle.  A drawing of the Ki.27 Ko flown by the commander of the 10th Independent Chutai, Capt. Kiyoshi KIMURA.  The nose of this machine is red (instead of the more usual red fuselage band marking command in other units).  The tail is black.
 
p. 74  Bottom.  Two more views of the Ki.27(s) of M/Sgt. Isamu KASHIIDE (9/2), 2nd Chutai, 59th Sentai.  Note the serial number #91 by the wingroot of the tail plane as well as a more stylistic "ka" on the rudder (see page 42) in the photo on the right.
 
p. 75 Photo.  A line up of a number of machines of the 64th Sentai in 1939.  The 2 machines on the left are from the 1st Chutai while #17 is from the 2nd Chutai.  This plane is virtually identical to Lt. Sakai's #6 (see below).
 
  "      2nd drawing.  The machine of Lt. Iori SAKAI (9), 2nd Chutai, 64th Sentai in November 1938.  (see page 44)
 
  "      Middle left.  A drawing showing the tail of the machine of Capt. Goro SUZUKI, CO of the 3rd Chutai, 64th Sentai in 1939.  The kana "ro" and the rudder stripe are black.  (see page 45)
 
  "      Middle right.  The Ki. 27 of M/Sgt. Hiroshi SEKIGUCHI (7) of the 1st Chutai, 64th Sentai in 1939.  This machine is shown with a red and a yellow stripe behind the cockpit.  Other examples from this unit might suggest that this should be a single red stripe.  (see page 46)
 
  "      Bottom.  The machine of Sgt. Shigeru TAKUWA (5+) from the 1st Chutai, 64th Sentai at later date than the previous drawing.  This unit was known as the "Maruta" Chutai and examples of the style of markings adopted to show section and position within the section are shown below.  (see page 11)
 
p. 76  Top.  Another machine from the "Maruta" Chutai.  This machine is the 2nd plane of the 1st Shotai.
 
  "      The drawing is of Lt. Yohei HINOKI (12) from the 2nd Chutai, 64th Sentai in January 1941.  This drawing would seem to be missing a yellow fuselage stripe which was forward of the white combat stripe.  The photo below is probably of this machine also.  (see page 47)
 
p. 77  Top.  The machine of Lt. Shinosuke NAKAGAWA from the 1st Chutai, 68th Sentai in 1942.  (see page 48)
 
  "      The second drawing is of the machine of Capt. Yoshiro KUWABARA (13+), CO of the 3rd Chutai, 77th Sentai in December 1941.  The top view drawing is also of this plane.  (see page 49)
 
p. 79  Top.  A machine from the 2nd Chutai, 244th Sentai in 1943.  this very similar to a machine flown by Sgt. Tadao SUMI (6) from this unit.  (see page 51)
 
p. 80  Middle.  Sgt. Goro Komuro of the 1st Chutai, 246th Sentai in 1943.  A drawing of this plane appears above (his?).  This pilot was later killed in New Guinea with the 68th Sentai.
 
  "      Bottom.  Sgt. Susumu KAJINAMI (8) beside the tail of another 2nd Chutai machine from the 246th Sentai.   To the right is an inflight shot of another of Kajinami's machines.  This one appears similar to the foldout in the front.
 
p. 84  Photo.  "Staff Sgt. Susumu KAJINAMI   (the 10th year graduate of Juvenile Flying Corps{?)) at the Tenryu branch of the Akeno Army Flying Academy and a Ki.27 Otsu belonging to the Academy.  After completion of technical education using active service planes of the 246th Sentai, he was ordered to return to his original Sentai (the 68th).  Due to the conversion of the 68th Sentai to the Type 3 fighter (Ki.61), he was sent back to Akeno and spent approximately 5 months there.  During this period he received the highest level of instruction such as special training for the Type 1 fighter, the Type 3 fighter and test flying a captured a P-40. After this he was dispatched to the front lines at Eastern New Guinea.  He survived the daily air battles, shooting down 18 planes (official score was 8).  He was a hard working, active pilot, and is still operating control levers himself as a pilot of active service.  The lateral stripe on the vertical stabilizer (blue with white trim) indicates that the plane was from the old 1st Sentai.  Akeno Flying School received the plane to use as a trainer.  On the fuselage "AIKOKU 897" is visible indicating that the plane was built with a contribution from a private company or group of people."
   

 

[1] Italicized text entries are direct translations - with parenthesized comments - Ed.