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Type 1 Fighter Hayabusa Model II (64th Squadron)
No.225 一式戦 隼II型(64戦隊)
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Refittable Class | |
Coastal Defense Ship | Destroyer |
Light Cruiser | Torpedo Cruiser |
Heavy Cruiser | Training Cruiser |
Aviation Cruiser | Fast Battleship |
Battleship | Aviation Battleship |
Light Carrier | Standard Aircraft Carrier |
Armored Carrier | Seaplane Tender |
Submarine | Aircraft Carrying Submarine |
Submarine Tender | Fleet Oiler |
Repair Ship | Amphibious Assault Ship |
Introduction
陸軍主力戦闘機、一式戦「隼」を装備する飛行戦隊です。
加藤隼戦闘隊とも呼ばれました。
加藤名隊長の育てた同戦隊は緒戦の大活躍の後、南方作戦やビルマ方面で苦しい戦局の中奮戦を続け、最後まで隼と共に戦い抜きます。
The Army's main fighter aircraft, the Type 1 "Hayabusa" equipped with a flying squadron.
It was also called "Katou Hayabusa Fighter Squadron".
After the great success of the first engagements, this squadron brought up by Captain Tateo Katou, continued fighting on the difficult fronts in the south and towards Burma with the Hayabusa until the end.
Notes
Unbuildable
- March 2017 Ranking Reward for Top 5.
- Reward for Spring 2017 Event E-5 Hard.
Trivia
Already a skilled ace pilot and veteran of the Second Sino-Japanese War, leader Tateo Katou and his 64th Squadron traded their old biplane fighters for the new Type 1 Hayabusa tactical fighter. At the start of the Pacific War, the Squadron was very active and dominant over Malaya and China against mostly British controlled airspace, including Katou, which was rare for a Major. The squadron's rampage was finally stopped when Katou was killed in action by a Bristol Blenheim on one of his airbase raids over the Bay of Bengal.
- At the end of his life, he was credited with 18 total victories, 268 total within the squadron, even though he disliked his pilots claiming wins themselves as he considered it a team based effort. He was honored in a Shinto ceremony as a "god of war" and posthumously promoted to Major General. The 64th Squadron used the Hayabusa the longest out of all other air groups. His death was seen as a bad omen for the Japanese with the Battle of Midway happening less than 2 weeks after he was killed and the course of the war had changed.
- As an effort to reclaim their prestige stolen by the IJN's Zero fighter, the IJA and Toho Films created a propaganda movie based on Katou's heroism, war victories and death, sponsored by the government. The whole movie is available on YouTube with English subtitles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdD6DezelBs
- The French Air Force confiscated some of the 64th Squadron's last surviving aircraft that was left in the French Indo-China area after the war to counter Vietnam insurgents as they were the only aircraft they had at hand.
- When Katou was not on sortie, his hobby was photography while often bringing his camera to the field.
- The 64th Squadron represented in the equipment card represents the remaining pilots that managed to return to Mainland Japan and convert to the Ki-43-II from 25 December 1942 to 10 February 1943 at Tachikawa, near Tokyo; and fought until the end of the war.
- The aircraft depicted in the card is Major Hideo Miyabe's (宮辺英夫陸軍少佐) personal Ki-43, when he was stationed at Krakor airfield, Indochina.
- Even though the card represents the Ki-43-II, the aircraft he piloted at that time with that design was in reality a Ki-43-IIIa.
- The aircraft's design has a strong resemblance to Katou's Ki-43-I.
See also
- 加藤隼戦闘隊 - Wikipedia (Japanese site)
- Tateo Katō - Wikipedia (English site)
- 加藤建夫 - Wikipedia (Japanese site)
- Japanese biplane fighter aces - Tateo Katou
- WebCite - Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar