Tainan Kokutai

For a Short While - A Shooting Star

Tainan Kokutai NCO pilots - top row left, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa Middle row left Toshio Ohta, 2nd from left Saburo Sakai

If ever there was a tip of the Japanese spear, the Tainan Kokutai was it. Operating from Lae New Guinea and Rabaul on New Britain until November 1942, the Tainan Air Group composed some of the finest pilots Japan had to offer. “Once w…