Japan
Sergeant Major Akira Ishikawa
Japan
Sergeant Major Akira Ishikawa
Ishikawa graduated from the first Army Juvenile Flying School (Sho-1).
In September 1938 Ishikawa belonged to the newly-formed 33rd Sentai.
During the Nomonhan Incident the Sentai was dispatched from its base at Xingshu to the Manchurian/Mongolian border as reinforcement on 27 August 1939, although still equipped with the old Kawasaki Ki-10 (Type 95).
On 4 September, fighters clashed south-east of Shirin-Obo and overhead the Numurgin-Gol River in the morning when the Soviets flew 68 fighter sorties and the Japanese 40.
Initially, eleven I-153s and 39 I-16s from 22 IAP fought with and pursued 20 Ki-27s, and then eleven I-16s and seven I-153s from 70 IAP did the same with seven Ki-10s from 33rd Sentai led by Captain Takeo Kawada. The Japanese encountered a reported 20-30 Soviet aircraft at a height of 5,000 metres. Kawada had been personally forbidden to engage, but 2nd Lieutenant Tadashi Harada (NCO54) and Sergeant Major Ishikawa (Sho-1) charged in, followed by the rest of the formation. In this combat the Japanese claimed nine and three probables, including three by Ishikawa personally, although he force-landed after suffering severe wounds, from which he died next day. Harada and Sergeant Major Seizo Hiraki (NCO66) were also killed.
The 33rd Sentai’s 3rd chutai was also engaged in combat claiming 13 victories and 13 probables.
Soviet reports were filed with claims of nine enemy fighters (one Ki-27 and the remaining Ki-10s) in the morning while losing two I-16 tip 10s and one I-153.
Seven of the claims can be identified when starshiy leitenant Pavel Ankudinov (I-16 from 22 IAP) claimed a single Ki-10 (reported as a ”I-95”) and two more as shared together with 14 other I-16 pilots (including kapitan Andrey Dekhtyarenko (22 IAP), starshiy leitenant E. E. Evkudinov (22 IAP), starshiy leitenant Vasiliy Vuss (22 IAP), starshiy leitenant Fedor Golub (22 IAP), leitenant Aleksandr Mel’nikov (56 IAP), starshiy leitenant Mark Shpan (22 IAP) and leitenant Pavel Solov’yev (22 IAP)) at “Square 787” while kapitan Grigoriy Boychenko (I-153 from 70 IAP) claimed a Ki-10 over the mouth of the Numurgin-Gol River. Mikhail Abzianidze (I-16 from 22 IAP) claimed a Ki-27 while Vasiliy Smirnov (I-153 from 22 IAP) claimed a Ki-10, both over “Square 787”. Two I-16s from 22 IAP piloted by starshiy leitenant Fedor N. Cheremukhin and an unknown pilot (possibly Georgiy Marchenko) shared a Ki-10 in the Khalkhin Gol area in the morning. Leitenant Ivan Rybkin (I-16 from 22 IAP) claimed two shared Ki-27 ”in group”.
Leitenant Aleksandr Piskunov from 22 IAP (I-153) was wounded in air combat and killed when his fighter overturned on landing back at his airfield.
At the time of his death, Ishikawa was credited with 3 biplane victories.
Claims:
| Kill no. | Date | Time | Number | Type | Result | Plane type | Serial no. | Locality | Unit |
| 1939 | |||||||||
| 1 | 04/09/39 | morning | 1 | Enemy fighter | Destroyed | Ki-10 | Nomonhan | 33rd Sentai | |
| 2 | 04/09/39 | morning | 1 | Enemy fighter | Destroyed | Ki-10 | Nomonhan | 33rd Sentai | |
| 3 | 04/09/39 | morning | 1 | Enemy fighter | Destroyed | Ki-10 | Nomonhan | 33rd Sentai |
Biplane victories: 3 destroyed.
TOTAL: 3 destroyed.
Sources:
Air War Over Khalkhin Gol: The Nomonhan Incident - Vladimir R. Kotelnikov, 2010 SAM Publications, ISBN 978-1-906959-23-4
All aces of Stalin 1936–1953 – Mikhail Bykov, 2014
Japan Against Russia In The Sky Of Nomonhan - Dimitar Nedialkov, 2005 Propeller Publishing, Sofia, ISBN 954-9367-33-9
Japanese Army Air Force fighter units and their aces 1931-1945 - Ikuhiko Hata, Yasuho Izawa and Christopher Shores, 2002 Grub Street, London, ISBN 1-902304-89-6
Soviet Aces 1936-1953
Soviet Fighter Pilots 1936-1953 - Mikhail Bykov
