Japanese Rescue Efforts

[MIflyer]

We know that the Japanese did not initially equip their aircraft with features such as armor plate or self-sealing fuel tanks, but did this reflect a basic attitude relative to the expendable nature of their aircrew?

In the book "Savage Skies Emerald Hell" the author quotes a Japanese fighter pilot. He said that he admired the courage of the Allied rescue crews, and this contrasted sharply with the attitude of the Japanese leadership, "They could not tolerate the possible loss of a large flying boat merely to effect the certain rescue of one aircrew."

The Japanese pilot also said that his comrades accepted that attitude. Any man who was shot down and survived knew that his survival was entirely up to him and they accepted that expected abandonment stoically. "The entire IJN failed to evince any great interest in rescue operations of this nature."

There was at least one case in the Solomans campaign in which the IJN did got to some length to rescue pilots. Some Zeros got lost due to weather and deliberately ditched in one bay where the formation's leader thought there would be a better chance of rescue. The IJN sent out a flying boat escorted by Zeros and they encountered a PBY looking for Allied aircrew in the same area. The Zeros left the PBY alone on that occasion. The picture below shows one of the lost Zeros from that operation

 

[ThomasP]

FWIW

My understanding is that the overriding reason was the lack of resources. Any external after-the-fact proposed 'attitude' of the higher-ups, or individual aircrew acceptance of the circumstances, followed as a result of this factor.

There were many instances of other nations following the same course, although to a lesser degree in most cases due to having greater resources. I am not sure of this (partly due to lack of accessible records), but I think the Italians perhaps took the same view re their aircrews downed at sea in heavily contested areas. The Japanese in the PTO, with its vast tracts of open ocean, and the Italians in the MTO in the open sea, did not have the luxury of risking their aircraft to rescue a few downed aircrew.

 

[MIflyer]

My understanding is that the overriding reason was the lack of resources.

That is entirely possible, although the IJN in the Pacific was equipped with quite a few flying boats and seaplanes, ranging from the Emily and Mavis to the Rufe and Pete. I suspect one reason is that given their communications situation the IJN had no idea where their aircraft went down. The Zero had a pretty good comm radio (the one in Koga's captured Zero worked well enough that the US continued to use it), one designed by the Germans, but maintaining the set proved to be difficult under field conditions. Aside from that, some reports say the Zero did not have RF shielded ignition, which must have been a big problem, as well as very annoying. Saburo Saki and some other IJN pilots reported that they eventually yanked the radios out to save weight when later US fighters were encountered.

I suspect that the rescue attempt at Coughlin Harbor was due to the Zero pilots being told that if they had to ditch, to head there. One Zero on 7 Dec 1941 crash landed on one of the smaller HI islands because they IJN aircrew were told to go there and await rescue. The IJN knew where to look for those Zero pilots, in Coughlin Harbor, and they had an excellent chance of still being alive. Besides that, on that occasion they lost the whole flight due to fuel starvation, not battle damage.

An office on board an IJN destroyer sank at the time the IJN Yamato was lost in the Sea Of Japan said that as he floated on some debris he observed F6F's strafing IJN powered lifeboats, followed by a PBY landing to pick up downed US aircrew. Strafing the lifboats was a neccessity if you were going to land a PBY for rescues deep inside hostile territory.

The air force best equipped for rescues at the start of WW2 was certainly the Luftwaffe. They not only had dedicated seaplanes for rescues deployed to the combat area, but also the larger aircraft were equipped with emergency radio transmitters so the downed crews could call for help from their rubber dingys, a practice copied by the USAAF and RAF.

It is interesting to me to find that the Grumman SA-16 Albatross was intended for air sea rescue and the primary operator was the USAF, not the USN.

 

[andrewgeorge]

That is entirely possible, although the IJN in the Pacific was equipped with quite a few flying boats and seaplanes, ranging from the Emily and Mavis to the Rufe and Pete. I suspect one reason is that given their communications situation the IJN had no idea where their aircraft went down. The Zero had a pretty good comm radio (the one in Koga's captured Zero worked well enough that the US continued to use it), one designed by the Germans, but maintaining the set proved to be difficult under field conditions. Aside from that, some reports say the Zero did not have RF shielded ignition, which must have been a big problem, as well as very annoying. Saburo Saki and some other IJN pilots reported that they eventually yanked the radios out to save weight when later US fighters were encountered.

I suspect that the rescue attempt at Coughlin Harbor was due to the Zero pilots being told that if they had to ditch, to head there. One Zero on 7 Dec 1941 crash landed on one of the smaller HI islands because they IJN aircrew were told to go there and await rescue. The IJN knew where to look for those Zero pilots, in Coughlin Harbor, and they had an excellent chance of still being alive. Besides that, on that occasion they lost the whole flight due to fuel starvation, not battle damage.

An office on board an IJN destroyer sank at the time the IJN Yamato was lost in the Sea Of Japan said that as he floated on some debris he observed F6F's strafing IJN powered lifeboats, followed by a PBY landing to pick up downed US aircrew. Strafing the lifboats was a neccessity if you were going to land a PBY for rescues deep inside hostile territory.

The air force best equipped for rescues at the start of WW2 was certainly the Luftwaffe. They not only had dedicated seaplanes for rescues deployed to the combat area, but also the larger aircraft were equipped with emergency radio transmitters so the downed crews could call for help from their rubber dingys, a practice copied by the USAAF and RAF.

It is interesting to me to find that the Grumman SA-16 Albatross was intended for air sea rescue and the primary operator was the USAF, not the USN.

Good point regarding radio inconsistency and the planned ditching spots.

The Japanese navy didn't exactly have a lot of those flying boats and seaplanes though. The big high performance flying boats, the Mavis and Emily, were built in small numbers. A few hundred total. And they were vitally important for a number of different roles. So I suspect Thomas P is probably on to something regarding resources.

I suppose were a lot more of the Petes and Jakes, but compared to the numbers of Catalinas, Mariners, Kingfishers, and Ducks the U.S. Navy could deploy to the Solomons that's still a much smaller number of aircraft available to deploy for search and rescue.