IJN pilots and planes

 Translation by Eugen Pinak

Data tables and graph from the volume 95 of the official Japanese war history: “Naval aviation general history” (海軍航空概史).

The data below shows some details on availability of pilots and planes of the IJN Air Force 1941-1945 period.

Appendix 3

1. Number of personnel (Source: IJN Personnel Resources Bureau)

(1) Prepared in February 1944

A. Current number of crew members

Date
	Officer, reserve officer			Special officer and below			Total
	Pilot	Observer	Total	Pilot	Observer	Total	Pilot	Observer	Total
Jan. 1942	407	169	576	3208	3480	6688	3615	3649	7264
Jan. 1943	414	168	582	4047	4551	8598	4461	4719	9180
Jan. 1944	724	288	1012	8947	7687	16634	9671	7975	17646

 

B. TOE capacity of aviation personnel, replenishable personnel (Lieutenant-commander and below)

Classification	End of December 1941			End of December 1942			End of December 1943
	TOE strength	Available personnel	Excess or deficiency	TOE strength	Available personnel	Excess or deficiency	TOE strength	Available personnel	Excess or deficiency
Flying	4591	5440	+ 849	5160	7333	+ 2174	10582	10025	- 557
Weaponry	2216	1698	- 518	3129	2657	- 472	7097	4796	- 3301
Maintenance	10673	8489	-1181	13733	11227	- 2506	27876	16311	- 11565

 

(2) Current number of crew members as of 1 April 1945 and 1 July 1945 (Lieutenant-commander and below)

\Date Class\	1 April 1945					1 July 1945
	Pilot	Observer	Technician	Total	Ratio (%)	Pilot	Observer	Technician	Total
Officer	886	383	0	1269	5.3	727	309	0	1036
Reserve officer	2281	3663	0	5944	25.0	2340	3190	0	5530
Special officer	323	352	0	675	2.8	430	471	0	901
Warrant Officer	388	439	0	827	3.5	351	363	0	714
PO and sailor	6998	6995	1121	15114	63.0	6502	6465	1129	14096
Total	10876	11832	1121	23829	100.	10350	10798	1129	22977

 

 

2. Experience of flying personnel

Years elapsed after graduating from the frying training (Source: IJN Personnel Resources Bureau)

A - 4 years or more, B - 2 to 4 years, C - 2 years or less

(1) Until March 1943

Year	Class	Officer, reserve officer		Special officer and below		Total
		Pilot	Observer	Pilot	Observer	Pilot (%)	Observer (%)
1941	A	134	71	889	793	1023 (29)	864 (24)
	B	103	33	634	821	737 (20.5)	854 (23)
	C	172	63	1638	1866	1810 (50.5)	1929 (53)
	Total	409	167	3161	3480	3570 (100)	3647 (100)
1942	A	148	64	848	827	996 (22.5)	891 (19)
	B	92	39	689	764	781 (17.5)	803 (17)
	C	174	65	2510	2960	2684 (60)	3025 (64)
	Total	414	168	4047	4551	4461 (100)	4719 (100)
1943	A	209	62	1062	1126	1271 (13)	1188 (15)
	B	100	88	819	750	919 (9.5)	838 (10.5)
	C	415	138	7066	5813	7481 (77.5)	5951 (74.5)
	Total	724	288	8947	7689	9671 (100 )	7977 (100)

 

 

3. Air units’ strength as of 1 October 1944 (IJN Personnel Bureau data)

			Outer combat forces		Inner combat forces	Ships	Basic(?) training	Seaplane training	Land plane training	Grand total
officers	TOE strength		1396		437	57	311	78	604	2883
	operational personnel and instructors	A	306		129	24	95	34	159	747
		B	109		66	0	60	10	30	275
		Total	415		195	24	155	44	189	1022
	Training required	C	142		68	0	96	8	2	316
		D	1432		946	83	562	172	1049	4244
	Total		1989		1209	107	813	224	1240	5582
special duty officers	TOE strength			988	418	15	185	41	362	2009
	Actual number			119	58	213		9	45	246
warrant officers	TOE strength			1213	518	38	220	49	419	2457
	Actual number			464	168	34	105	28	201	1000
POs and sailors	TOE strength			6629	2000	232	1459	356	3482	14158
	operational personnel and instructors	A		1775	555	90	413	51	313	3197
		B		2150	575	38	161	68	379	3371
		Total		3925	1130	128		119	692	6568
	Training required	C		2672	872	21	262	64	879	4770
		D		1261	695	0	677	117	765	3551
	Total			7858	2697	149	1513	300	2336	14853
TOE total				10226	3373	342	2175	524	4867	21507
Actual total				10430	4132	292	2444	561	3822	21681
Actual total % of TOE strength				102.0	122.5	85.4	112.4	107.1	78.5	100.8

 

Note:

1) skill level

A - More than 8 months after officer graduation

B - More than 6 months after officer graduation

2) TO&E capacity

1,5 times the number of regular aircraft and the number of squadron commanders

 

3) Breakdown of actual personnel

Pilots 9999

Observers 10170

Technicians (flying) 1512

 

4) Example

Outer Combat Force Type A air groups (flying units)

TO&E capacity 1530

Total number of personnel: 1695, of them

[fully] operational: 676

[additional] training required: 1019

 

4. Number of crew members attrition (Source: IJN Personnel Resources Bureau)

(1) By May 1945 (for reports by 10 July 1945)

Note from May 1945 – [attrition] is expected to increase significantly

Year\ Month	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1941												171
1942	89	249	109	152	156	188	50	460	214	451	237	113
1943	196	210	114	237	178	618	206	157	266	306	738	412
1944	215	459	184	483	287	1528	410	396	343	1802	586	504
1945	559	558	531	1510	737

 

⑵ Number of aircrew deaths in operations: “A” (10-25 June 1944), “Sho” (10-30 October 1944), “Ten” (21 March-30 June 1945)

Operation\ Personnel	Officer	Reserve officer	Special duty officer	Warrant officer	Petty office and Sailor	Total
「あ」号 = A	99	23	38	115	1257	1532
捷 号 = Sho	185	163	30	124	1371	1873
天 号 = Ten	190	963	55	67	1591	2866

Note:

Operation “Ten” will be continued by 10 July 1945, losses expected to increase considerably

 

 

Appendix 4

1. Number of aircraft possessed, produced (each quarter), and consumed (each quarter) (1952 data).

There are 1000 #s in the graph.

Total production: 32377 machines

Total consumption: 26285 machines

Of which, operational consumption was 9265 aircraft.

Non-operational attrition 16950 aircraft

[Remained on 15 August 1945 – 6092 aircraft – E.P.]

Note: There is also a document stating, that on 15 August 1945 there was 6100 aircraft.