Biplane fighter aces

Japan

Captain Kiyoshi Nishikawa

Nishikawa graduated with the 45th Class from the Japanese Army Military Academy.

At the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War he served in the 8th Daitai. This unit was at the time equipped with Kawasaki Ki-10s.

On 1 October the 8th Daitai together with other units attacked Tai Yuan, where the airfield was strafed.
During this mission the top cover encountered Chinese aircraft. Captain Hajime Kawada and Lieutenant Nishikawa met a Curtiss Hawk, which they jointly claimed to have shot down, while Warrant Officer Masayoshi Ohtsubo claimed a light bomber.

On 14 March 1938, Lieutenant < Nishikawa and Sergeant Masao Hideshima of the 8th Daitai shot down a SB over Wuhu.
The Russian crew consisted of leytenant Pavel Vasilyevich Muravyev, leytenant Ivan Nikolaevich Kushchenko, and Voentech 2nd rank M. A. Domnin. News arrived of only one of them, M. A. Domnin, who was captured by the Japanese and executed.
Leytenant Muravyev (born 1909) and leytenant Kushchenko (born 1911) are reported as killed on this date and both later received a posthumous Order of the Red Banner.
During the same date the 8th Daitai also claimed one or two other victories.

Captain Nishikawa died of disease in Nanking on 16 July 1938.

Nishikawa ended the war with 2 shared biplane victories.

Claims:

Kill no.	Date	Number	Type	Result	Plane type	Serial no.	Locality	Unit
	1937
	01/10/37	½	Hawk	Shared destroyed	Ki-10		Tai Yuan area	8th Daitai
	1938
	14/03/38	½	SB (a)	Shared destroyed	Ki-10		Wuhu area	8th Daitai

Biplane victories: 2 shared destroyed.
TOTAL: 2 shared destroyed.
(a) SB flown by the Russian volunteers Leytenent P. V. Murav’yov, Leytenent I. N. Kushchenko, and Voentech 2nd rank M. A. Domnin. News arrived of only one of them, M. A. Domnin, who was captured by the Japanese and executed.

Sources:
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 Fighters in the sky of China, Part III - Anatolii Demin, 2000 Aviatsiia Kosmonavtika 11 (translated by George M. Mellinger)