Biplane fighter aces

Japan

Lieutenant Takashi Atsumi

With the outbreak of the first phase of the Shanghai Incident on 29 January 1932, the 1st Koku-sentai (Carrier Division) (of which Kaga was the flagship and including Hosho) was posted to the 3rd Fleet and operated off Shanghai.
On 7 February, a Hikokitai (a detachment of a carrier group) under the command of division officer Lieutenant Yoshitane Yanagimura established its base in Shanghai at Kunda airfield and was used primarily in support of land operations.

On 26 February, six fighters from Hosho were led by Lieutenant Mohachiro Tokoro to escort nine Kaga bombers to Kangzhou airfiled. Following the bombing, the Japanese formation was attacked by five Chinese fighters as it headed for its base, the A1N pilots claiming three of the interceptors shot down - one each by Tokoro, PO3c Saito and by the second element of three, led by Lieutenant Atsumi.

A cease-fire on 3 March ended the Shanghai Incident.

Atsumi ended the war with 1 biplane victory.

Claims:
Kill no. Date Time Number Type Result Plane type Serial no. Locality Unit
  1932                
  26/02/32   1/3 Enemy fighter Shared destroyed Nakajima A1N   Shanghai area Hosho FS

Biplane victories: 1 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 1 shared destroyed.

Sources:
Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II - Ikuhiko Hata and Yasuho Izawa, translated by Don Cyril Gorham, 1989 United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, ISBN 0-87021-315-6
Japanese Naval Air Force fighter units and their aces 1932-1948 - Ikuhiko Hata, Yasuho Izawa and Christopher Shores, 2011 Grub Street, London, ISBN 978-1-906502-84-3
Additional information kindly provided by Michael Zeh




Last modified 4 December 2021