Tainan Air Group
| Tainan Air Group | |
|---|---|
Enlisted fighter pilots of the Tainan Air Group pose at Lae in June 1942. Several of these aviators would be among the top Japanese aces, including Saburō Sakai (middle row, second from left), and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (standing, first on left).
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| Active | October 1, 1941 – November 1, 1942 |
| Country |
 Empire of Japan
|
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Branch |
 Imperial Japanese Navy
|
| Type | Naval aviation unit |
| Role | Air superiority Fighter aircraft support |
| Size | 45-65 aircraft |
| Part of | 25th Air Flotilla, 11th Air Fleet |
| Garrison/HQ |
Tainan, Taiwan Legaspi, Philippines Balikpapan, Borneo Denpasar, Bali Rabaul, New Britain Lae, Papua New Guinea |
| Aircraft flown |
A6M Zero A5M Claude |
| Engagements | |
The Tainan Air Group (台南海軍航空隊 Tainan Kaigun Kōkūtai?) was a fighter aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The flying portion of the unit was heavily involved in many of the major campaigns and battles of the first year of the war. The exploits of the unit were widely publicized in the Japanese media at the time, at least in part because the unit spawned more aces than any other fighter unit in the IJN. The ace members of the unit included several of the IJN's top scorers and other aces such as Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Saburō Sakai, Junichi Sasai, Watari Handa, Masaaki Shimakawa, and Toshio Ōta.
The unit was formed at Tainan, Taiwan (then part of the Empire of Japan) on October 1, 1941 as part of the 23rd Air Flotilla. The unit's first commander was Lieutenant Hideki Shingō. Most of the unit's original pilots were veterans of aerial combat in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Just before the outbreak of war with the Allied powers, the unit consisted of 45 A6M Zero and 12 Type 96 fighter aircraft.
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