Seeking Information on the 4th Air Division

[Classic_Bill]

I am having a difficulty finding any information on the organization of the 4th Air Division during the Philippines '44-45 campaign. If anyone has information on how the division was organized down to the type of plane in each Sentai I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

The information could be from October 1944. By the time of the invasion of Luzon the division had lost a lot of planes.

I believe that it was based at Clark Field, Luzon. I am guessing that it had anywhere from 5-8 Sentai in the division. Just a calculated guess at this point.

[ijnfleetadmiral]

What I have for this unit:

4th Air Division
Activated on 02 February 1942

Commanding Officers
LTG TAKUMA Gezan (??) - 02 February 1942 - 19 May 1943
LTG SAKAGUCHI Yoshitaro (??) - 19 May 1943 - 22 March 1944
LTG KINOSHITA Isamu (??) - 22 March 1944 - 21 October 1944
LTG MIKAMI Yoshizo (??) - 21 October 1944 - 30 September 1945

Chiefs-of-Staff
??? - 02 February 1942 - 15 April 1942
COL MATSUZAWA Kyuhei (??) - 15 April 1942 - 01 April 1944
??? - 01 April 1944 - 30 September 1945

Assignments
Air Group - 02 February 1942 - 01 June 1942
2nd Air Army - 01 June 1942 - 14 March 1944
4th Air Army, 2nd Area Army, Kwantung Army - 14 March 1944 - August 1944
4th Air Army, Southern Army - August 1944 - 13 February 1945
14th Area Army, Southern Army - 13 February 1945 - 30 September 1945

[fontessa]

Hello Bill,

I am having a difficulty finding any information on the organization of the 4th Air Division during the Philippines '44-45 campaign

The answer why you couldn’t find Sentai in 4th Air Division is 4th Air Division didn’t have Sentai during the Philippines '44-45 campaign.

Let me explain about the situation.
IJAAF decided in early 1944 to launch the 2nd and 4th Air Divisions stationed Manchuria into the Philippines. At the same time, it was decided to carry out "Air-ground Separation". Specifically, on May 10, the composition of both divisions, which concentrates flight units 2nd Air Division and ground support units 4th Air Division, was changed. The figure below shows the composition of both flight divisions on February 29 and June 30. The red flight units were concentrated in 2nd Air Division, and blue airfield battalions / companies were concentrated in 4th Air Division, which was the basis for this Division. 4th Air Division consisted of purple Independent Maintenance Units, orange Field Airfield Construction Units, and green Training Air Brigades which were detached from 4th Air Division later. In addition, 2nd Air Division was separated from the command system of the upper4th Air Army to prevent unnecessary loss.
The above seemed like a good idea. However, in reality, it has demoralized the upper level officers of 4th Air Division, who was "imposed" on the command of "low level" ground support units.

4th Air Army.jpg

fontessa

[Classic_Bill]

Thanks for the explanation and image charts. I had found this website (in Chinese):

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%AC ... %E8%BB%8D)

Taki supplied the Japanese version:

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%AC ... %E8%BB%8D)

The Google Translator did its usual confusing job of the translation but it was good enough to show this:


36th Aviation District Command: Colonel Wakatsuki Kanamaru
8th Airfield Battalion : Major Hiroshi Ishiguro
12th Airfield Battalion: Major Ide
14th Airfield Battalion: Major Yoshitaro Shimamura
26th Airfield Battalion: Major Tadao Nakazawa
31st Airfield Battalion: Major Jisaburo Higuchi
32nd Airfield Battalion: Major Kei Watanabe
33rd Airfield Battalion: Major Hikosuke Hirayama
37th Flying Field Group: Mu Tian and Sososa
98th Airfield Group: Takasasa Araki
99th Airfield Battalion: Captain Hideo Iida
102nd Airfield Battalion: Major Enji Nakagawa
103rd Airfield Battalion: Major Shunzo Suzuki
114th Airfield Battalion: Major Tajiro Minamida
123rd Airfield Battalion: Major Bunzo Omiyama
124th Airfield Battalion: Major Kaoru Takeuchi
The 125th Airfield Battalion: Shunji Sasa Amano
126th Field Group
127th Airfield Battalion: Major Takeji Kusuda
136th Airfield Battalion: Captain Ryoichi Kase
The 137th Flight Field Group: Hoshino Kisatsu Saosa
150th Airfield Battalion: Captain Shoichi Kasei
151st Airfield Battalion: Major Takeo Saito
152nd Airfield Battalion: Major Reiji Nakata
153rd Airfield Battalion: Major Yoshizo Watanabe
154th Airfield Battalion: Major Takeo Yamashita
3rd Field Battlefield Setting Headquarters (Davao): Colonel Shuichi Abe
5th Field Battlefield Setting Headquarters: Colonel Kizo Kawamoto
24th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Major Sakutaro Koi


125th Field Battlefield Construction Corps: Major Yoemon Toda
126th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Major Yoshio Takano
127th Field Battlefield Construction Corps: Major Akira Yasumoto
134th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Major Kunizo Okumura
135th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Major Midori Iwasa
138th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Captain Takeo Ueda
140th Field Battlefield Construction Corps: Major Hidesaku Murakami

I believe that all or some of these units were the ground troops that fought to defend the Clark Field area of Luzon in January 1945. Checking with Taki now on this.

[fontessa]

Hello Bill,

I believe that it was based at Clark Field, Luzon. I am guessing that it had anywhere from 5-8 Sentai in the division. Just a calculated guess at this point.

The billow is the air units in the battle in the Philippines.

2nd Air Division
Hwadquarters: LtG Kinoshita Isamu (26)
2nd Air Division Air - ground Signal Unit
6th Air Brigade HQ: Col Ono Monnosuke (29) KIA
- 65th Air Regiment (Sentai) [Assault / Sonia]: Maj Ishihara Masao (37)
- 66th Air Regiment [Assault / Sonia]: Maj Tamura Shigeo (42) KIA
7th Air Brigade HQ: Col Akita Hiroshi (36)
- 12th Air Regiment [Heavy Bombing / Lily?]: Maj Nomoto Shigeo (42)
- 62nd Air Regiment [Heavy Bombing / Lily?]: Maj Ishibashi Terushi (43)
13th Air Brigade HQ: LCol Eyama Mutsuo (37)
- 30th Air Regiment [Fighter / Oscar]: Maj Sato Shin’ichi (49)
- 31st Air Regiment [Fighter / Oscar]: Cpt Nishi Susumu (50)
22nd Air Brigade HQ: LCol Sato Takeo (38) KIA
- 17th Air Regiment [Fighter / Tony]: Cpt Takada Yoshio (53)
- 19th Air Regiment [Fighter / Tony]: Maj Seto Rokuro (48) KIA / Maj Honda Tatsuzo (50)
45th Air Regiment [Assault / Nick]: LCol Takahashi Ken’ichi (43)

The bellow fighter units were added as reinforcement from Japan homeland.
30th Figter Group: LtG Aoki Takezo (27)
- 12th Air Brigade HQ: LCol Kawahara Hachiro (34)
---- 1st Air Regiment [Fighter / Frank]: Cpt Kasugai Toshio (53) KIA / Cpt Hashimoto Juji (53) KIA
---- 11th Air Regiment [Fighter / Frank]: Maj Mizoguchi Yuji (52)
---- 22nd Air Regiment [Fighter / Frank]: Maj Sakagawa Toshio (43) KIA
- 16th Air Brigade HQ: LCol Shindo Joemon (36)
---- 51st Air Regiment [Fighter / Frank]: Maj Nakajima Tsuneo (50) KIA
---- 52nd Air Regiment [Fighter / Frank]: Cpt Sawayama Yoshitaka (52) KIA / Cpt Mukaiya Katsumi (51)
- 200th Air Regiment [Fighter / Frank] (The main force has not arrived.): LCol Takahashi Takeshi (38) KIA

fontessa

[fontessa]

Hello Bill,

Some corrections and additions.

36th Aviation District Command: Colonel Wakatsuki Kanamaru (27)

Tere were other Aviation District Commands;
6th Aviation District Command: LCol Yuge Iichiro (30) / Negros Island
10th Aviation District Command: Col Eguchi Seisuke (29) / Clark Field
11th Aviation District Command: LCol Fushimi Shizume (30) / Manila
13th Aviation District Command: LCol Hosono Mitsutak (31) / Mindanao Island
31st Aviation District Command: LCol Shimizu Shigeru (32) / Mindanao Island
33rd Aviation District Command: Col Nemoto Kamenosuke (30) / Lipa, Ssouth of Manila
34th Aviation District Command: LCol Nitta Masayoshi (32) KIA / Leyte
35th Aviation District Command: LCol Onoda Zenzaburo (32) / Naaga, Southern Luzon

8th Airfield Battalion : Major Hiroshi Ishiguro
12th Airfield Battalion: Major Ide
14th Airfield Battalion: Major Yoshitaro Shimamura
26th Airfield Battalion: Major Tadao Nakazawa
31st Airfield Battalion: Major Jisaburo Higuchi
32nd Airfield Battalion: Major Kei Watanabe
33rd Airfield Battalion: Major Hikosuke Hirayama
37th Flying Field Group: Mu Tian and Sososa
98th Airfield Group: Takasasa Araki
99th Airfield Battalion: Captain Hideo Iida
102nd Airfield Battalion: Major Enji Nakagawa
103rd Airfield Battalion: Major Shunzo Suzuki
114th Airfield Battalion: Major Tajiro Minamida
123rd Airfield Battalion: Major Bunzo Omiyama
124th Airfield Battalion: Major Kaoru Takeuchi
The 125th Airfield Battalion: Shunji Sasa Amano
126th Field Group
127th Airfield Battalion: Major Takeji Kusuda
136th Airfield Battalion: Captain Ryoichi Kase
The 137th Flight Field Group: Hoshino Kisatsu Saosa
150th Airfield Battalion: Captain Shoichi Kasei
151st Airfield Battalion: Major Takeo Saito
152nd Airfield Battalion: Major Reiji Nakata
153rd Airfield Battalion: Major Yoshizo Watanabe
154th Airfield Battalion: Major Takeo Yamashita

Tere were other Airfield Battalions;
86th Airfield Battalion
126th Airfield Battalion
134th Airfield Battalion
137th Airfield Battalion
147th Airfield Battalion
148th Airfield Battalion
149th Airfield Battalion
155th Airfield Battalion
The pelations between Airfield Battalions and Aviation District Commands - which Airfield Battalion belonged to which Aviation District Command are not clear for me.

3rd Field Battlefield Setting Headquarters (Davao): Colonel Shuichi Abe
5th Field Battlefield Setting Headquarters: Colonel Kizo Kawamoto

5th Field Airfield Construction Headquarters / Mindanao Island

24th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Major Sakutaro Koi
125th Field Battlefield Construction Corps: Major Yoemon Toda
126th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Major Yoshio Takano
127th Field Battlefield Construction Corps: Major Akira Yasumoto
134th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Major Kunizo Okumura
135th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Major Midori Iwasa
138th Field Battle Airfield Construction Corps: Captain Takeo Ueda
140th Field Battlefield Construction Corps: Major Hidesaku Murakami

Tere were other Field Airfield Costruction Unit;
24th Field Airfield Costruction Unit
137th Field Airfield Costruction Unit
139th Field Airfield Costruction Unit
135th Field Airfield Costruction Unit was added to 4th Air Division on 16 February 1945.
The pelations between Field Airfield Costruction Units and Field Airfield Construction Commands - which Field Airfield Costruction Unit belonged to which Field Airfield Construction Command are not clear for me.

There were some other small units.

fontessa

[Classic_Bill]

I am just now seeing this information. Thanks much! Invaluable information. I appreciate your time in compiling all of this.