A Clean Sweep: The destruction of the Japanese Army Air Force fighter arm, New Guinea 1943-44

A Clean Sweep: The destruction of the Japanese Army Air Force fighter arm, New Guinea 1943-44

The Japanese Army Air Force in New Guinea was destroyed completely by the US 5th Air Force three times over - first in August 1943, then in March 1944 and again in April 1944. The JAAF fighter arms continuously was ground down in air combats over the entire New Guinea theater, and flying units arrived, were decimated and withdrew to Japan. Those left when the Allied invasion of Hollandia came in April were told to walk west; few men survived and entire units disappeared. This has been described in numerous books, particularly USAAF unit histories.This presentation is from the Japanese side, based on captured documents, signals intelligence reports and post-war Japanese writings. The JAAF pilots killed or shot down are named, with unit identification and date, and from US sources the relevant US pilot or unit is identified if possible.There are no images of aircraft or people - all that has been done in other books.This is just a presentation of the dates, locations and JAAF losses, compared to USAAF claims. It will be seen how accurate were US fighter claims when on some dates the claims and admitted losses match exactly.One US claim for a 'probably destroyed' is confirmed as 'destroyed', so qualifying a US pilot for aces status.Elsewhere, similarly 'probably destroyed' claims are confirmed by JAAF admitted losses, so increasing US scores.There is a brief background to the events, with weaknesses in the Japanese side, then there are four appendices, which present information on JAAF losses by date and place, with pilots identified and unit given, JAAF fighter unit strengths as reported by them from August 1943 to April 1944, JAAF 4 Air Army reports of fighter strengths during this time, and JAAF reports on aircraft available by date, and those types of aircraft requested.This presents a real picture of the situation in which JAAF pilots found themselves flying against the lethal P-38 and P-47 with no hope of improvement. This is a presentation of facts on claims and losses, not an account of fighter combats or bomber strikes, and is intended to complement those histories of the units involved and the air operations in which they were involved 1943-44.