Did Japanese pilots wear parachutes?

[Coins4Cheese]

Not counting Kamikaze pilots, did Japanese pilots wear parachutes?

[Peter H]

Harness shown here.Trained aircrew were a valuable asset.

[Peter H]

Pilot(in white) with chute

[Peter H]

Gunner with chute

[Peter H]

Another harness pic

[Peter H]

From ebay,seller dixie_auctions a while back.

Japanese aircraft going down at Shanghai 1937.No sign of chutes!

[Sewer King]

See this excellent study, one of the few concentrating on the subject:

• Nila, Gary. Japanese Naval Aviation Uniforms and Equipment 1937-45, Osprey Elite Series volume 60 (Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2002)

It has several pages devoted to IJN parachutes, with several detail photos and general production history for them.

Although not explicitly stated there, Japan was able to continue using silk parachutes unlike the Germans and the Allies, who turned to Perlon and Nylon respectively. I haven't found whether or not the Soviet Union and Italy also kept using silk, since they too had their own silk industries. Nila states that silk was also blended with cotton in Japanese parachute harness webbing.

-- Alan

[hisashi]

I cannot find reliable source, in invasion duty, many fighter pilot left their harness to parachute thinking that they had little chance to be rescued alive. They used unharnessed parachute for seat cushion. In CAP mission or training they usually wore harness. Some intercepter fighters tried to crash their aircraft to B-29 and made effort to escape by parachute.

[Coins4Cheese]

Thanks for the great answers guys. One question though. Since the Japanese believed in a 'no surrender' policy, why did they risk parachuting into enemy territory and getting captured? Did they carry a pistol to commit suicide if captured? Also, is there any documented case of a Japanese pilot being taken prisoner alive?

[Peter H]

The Australians captured two downed Japanese aircrew at Mersing Malaya in December 1941.The first Japanese prisoners of the Malaya Campaign.Refer Alan Warren's Singapore 1942.


Hajimi Toyoshima crash landed near Darwin, "the first Japanese Prisoner of War to be captured in Australia"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajime_Toyoshima

[Coins4Cheese]

Thanks Peter, I really appreciate the info.

[gianpaolo]

The Australians captured two downed Japanese aircrew at Mersing Malaya in December 1941.The first Japanese prisoners of the Malaya Campaign.Refer Alan Warren's Singapore 1942.


Hajimi Toyoshima crash landed near Darwin, "the first Japanese Prisoner of War to be captured in Australia"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajime_Toyoshima

Also PO1c Nagatomo - PO1c MAEDA both at Port Moresby

PO3c FUJITA PO3c ISHIKAWA both Guadalcanal

all above fighter pilots but the list is far from complete

gianpaolo

[Sewer King]

I cannot find reliable source, in invasion duty, many fighter pilot left their harness to parachute thinking that they had little chance to be rescued alive. They used unharnessed parachute for seat cushion. In CAP mission or training they usually wore harness ...

It seems to be from famous ace Sakai Saburo's handy account about IJN parachute use, at least for single-seat fighters.

• from his well-known Samurai! with Martin Caidin and Fred Saito, “Classics of Naval Literature” reprint series with new introduction (original, 1957; Naval Institute Press, 2001), pages 162-163:

In 1942, none of our fighter planes carried pilot armor, nor did the Zeros have self-sealing fuel tanks, as did the American planes. As the enemy pilots soon discovered, a burst of their 50-caliber bullets into the fuel tanks of a Zero caused it to explode violently in flames. Despite this, in those days not one of our pilots flew with parachutes. This has been misinterpreted in the West as proof that our leaders were disdainful of our lives, that all Japanese pilots were expendable and regarded as pawns rather than human beings. This was far from the truth. Every man was assigned a parachute; the decision to fly without them was our own and not the result of orders from higher headquarters. Actually, we were urged, although not ordered, to wear the parachutes in combat. At some fields the base commander insisted that chutes be worn, and those men had no choice but to place the bulky packs in their planes. Often, however, they never fastened the straps, and used the chutes only as seat cushions.

We had little use for these parachutes, for the only purpose they served for us was to hamstring our cockpit movements in a battle. It was difficult to move our arms and legs when encumbered by chute straps. There was another, and equally compelling, reason for not carrying the chutes into combat. The majority of our battles were fought with enemy fighters over their own fields. It was out of the question to bail out over enemy territory, for such a move meant a willingness to be captured, and nowhere in the Japanese military code or in the traditional Bushido (Samurai code) could one find the distasteful words “Prisoner of War.” There were no prisoners. A man who did not return from combat was dead. No fighter pilot of any courage would ever permit himself to be captured by the enemy. It was completely unthinkable ...

Before now, I had wondered similarly how an aviator might carry a sword in his cockpit, maybe a prized ancestral blade, and yet be able to bail out. Even if a chute was worn, the sword would not be fastened and he would need both hands to get out as quickly as possible.

• Surely there still would have been some possibilities to bail out over friendly territory? Sakai mentioned a long-range strike against the Americans at Guadalcanal, where IJA ground troops on the flight path were alerted to watch for IJN pilots forced down in their area on return from the attack.

Although it was done and has maybe become a popular picture, not all Japanese fliers carried their swords aloft, did they? It would seem to be the same matter of choice, where he would return or fall with his sword the same as he would without a parachute.

-– Alan

[Halsey]

Interesting account of the American sailor James J. Fahey (light cruiser USS Montpelier during Japanese air raid near Bougainville, November 3,1943):

A few Japs parachuted when they were hit but a few sailors and Marines on the 20 mm. opened up on the ones in the chutes and when they hit the water they were nothing but a piece of meat cut to ribbons.
(...)
This was the first time I saw Jap pilots use parachutes. Someone said that the Japs don't use parachutes.

(from: James Fahey, Pacific War Diary, 1942-1945)

Regards - Halsey

[Graham B]

In response to the query on the capture of Japanese pilots. Warrant Officer Toyashima crashed his aircraft on Melville Island, just north of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 after it was damaged on the first bombing raid of Darwin. After failing to befriend some Aboriginal women, he was captured by an Aboriginal man (Mathias Ngapiattilawi) who crept up behind him and, pointing the handle of a small axe into his back, said 'stick em up'.
Mathias (and his friends on Melville Island) were big fans of Hollywood western movies. The story is told in Brian McKinlay's 1942 (Australia End of Innocence).
Mathias and friends escorted Toyashima some miles to the Army, who questioned him and imprisoned him in the Cowra prison. He was troubled by his capture and was later a leader in the breakout from Cowra prison.