The tail codes of A6M-5s

[henkypenky]

A good morning to you all, I hope somebody can give some information on tail codes of A6M-5s captured at Saipan. On Pacific Wrecks is a photograph of an aircraft with the tail code 8-34 captured at Asilito airfield. Also at Pacific Wrecks is stated that 261 and 265 Kokutai where on the Island. My info says that 261 had tailcode 61 as of Februari '44 and 265 tailcode 65 in 1944. Was the code 8 only for a campaign or a special squadron? Also captured at Asilito where wo zero's with the 'normal' 261 tailcode: 61-120 and 61-133. Complete list is at Pacific Wrecks
Thanks for reading.

 

[Shinpachi]

The 8-34 is said an airframe which belonged to the 308th squadron of 265-ku air corps of IJN.

 

[henkypenky]

The 8-34 is said an airframe which belonged to the 308th squadron of 265-ku air corps of IJN.

Thank you Shinpachi; this sounds logical, was this a permanent attachement or just for the Saipan defence?

 

[Shinpachi]

Not permanent.
The 265-ku was disbanded to join the 201-ku in Philippine later.

 

[henkypenky]

Not permanent.
The 265-ku was disbanded to join the 201-ku in Philippine later.

Thank you again Sinpachi, info on Japanese units is sometimes hard to find.

 

[Shinpachi]

There were hundreds of air corps in IJN.
Not easy to check for the Japanese researchers either.

List of air corps.
大日本帝国海軍航空隊一覧 - Wikipedia

 

[mjfur]

In addition to 8-34, tail codes 8-03, 8-07, 8-13, 8-17 and 8-36 were also found at the airfield as well. Any idea on this Kanji?