This is the first book that takes a look at Japanese Air Defense during World War II. Initially, there was little real thought given to defending the home islands against the Allies. It was felt that the only attackers who could reach Japan proper would be from the Soviet Union, and the Japanese went through great pains to ensure that they never got into the war against the Japanese. All of their diplomacy paid off until the last days of the war when the Soviets smelled an opportunity to grab land and entered the war on 8 August, 1945. Of course, this was after the dropping of the atomic bomb and six days before the Japanese surrender so they made no impact on Japanese home defense.

What did get the Japanese thinking was the Doolittle Raid of April 1942. Not only did the raiders managed to reach their targets without interception, but they showed that the home country was not invulnerable to attack. Minimal as was the damage caused by the raid, its effect was much greater in terms of the Japanese reaction.

Home defense was considered a mostly Army purvey, and what was available was pretty meager. Basically, Ki-27 fighters with their light armament and rather slow speed. Over the years, various changes were made in who had control of what. In fact, it is bewildering how convoluted it was. Eventually, Navy units were added to home defense, but what was really lacking was a proper fighter. Even once additional units were assigned to home defense and with new planes, they were often whisked away to the front lines to replace decimated units based there.

It wasn't until the Japanese heard about the B-29 that any effort was made to develop a proper high altitude fighter. Most Japanese planes were not only unable to reach Superfortress operating altitudes, but they were also not fast enough to chase them. In fact, those planes that were able to reach B-29s during early raids in mid-1944, had pretty much only one shot at them. If they missed, they couldn't catch the big bombers. In fact, the only plane that was able to do so was not a fighter but the Ki-46 reconnaissance aircraft, outfit with offensive armament.  The other relatively sure way to bring one down was by crashing into the Superfortress and hoping that would be enough to bring it down.

This book covers the build-up and operations of Japanese air defense and also of the missions of the B-29 against Japanese targets. Each one of these missions is covered until the end of 1944. This includes a mission by mission descriptions that includes both Japanese and American claims and action. Each of the various Japanese Army aircraft used up until that point is also covered. There are a goodly number of photos, most of them of B-29s or target images. The truth is that there just are not a ton of photos of Japanese planes out there and what are shown are ones that many of us have seen before. The book also includes several appendices that include the various untis involved, aircraft specs and defense districts. In the back of the book are several pages of Ki-61 and Ki-44 full color profiles, with a Ki-84 and Ki-46 on the back cover.

In all, it makes for a most interesting read on a chapter of WWII that few have covered before. A book that those interested in the subject will certainly want to pick up.

September 2014

Review book courtesy of the fine folks at Casemate Publishing. Get yours from the link.

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