was a unit of the

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The was the Naval aviation, air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired their first air ...

(IJNAS) during the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

that was involved in the

Guadalcanal Campaign The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in th ...

and Solomon Islands Campaign. The unit operated seaplanes with a primary mission to protect resupply convoys headed for

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

and to conduct aerial reconnaissance.

History

Japanese seaplane base Rekata Bay under attack 8-1943

The R-Area Air Force was created by the

8th Fleet The United States Eighth Fleet was a numbered fleet of the United States Navy established 15 March 1943 from Northwest African Force. It operated in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II with a main mission of amphibious warfare, and then wa ...

on 28 August 1942 in response to the Allied landing at

a few weeks earlier. It exclusively operated seaplanes in order to compensate for the lack of land bases in the Solomon Islands area. The unit's primary strength was drawn from the 11th Seaplane Tender Division, whose commander

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Takatsugu Jōjima was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Biography Jōjima was from Saga Prefecture. He was a graduate of the 40th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1912, where he placed 111th out of 144 cadets. He ser ...

also became the commander of the R-Area Air Force. The squadrons from the division's four seaplane tenders ( ''Chitose'', ''Kamikawa Maru'', ''Sanyō Maru'' and ''Sanuki Maru'') formed two air groups. Eventually, aircraft from other squadrons also joined the R-Area Air Force, such as from ''Kunikawa Maru''. Their main base was at Shortland Islands, which was also the staging area for resupply convoys to Guadalcanal. The R-Area Air Force's primary mission was to provide air cover for the resupply ships during their runs heading for Guadalcanal through the New Georgia Sound. On 5 September, they built a forward base at

Rekata Bay Rekata Bay, also known as ''Suavanau'', is a bay located on the northeast coast of Santa Isabel Island in the Solomon Islands between Santa Isabel and Papatura Island. History Before the Second World War a copra plantation was built at Suavanau ...

on Santa Isabel Island, which enabled the seaplanes to attack Lunga Point on Guadalcanal. Nevertheless, due to being in the range of

Cactus Air Force Cactus Air Force refers to the ensemble of Allied air power assigned to the island of Guadalcanal August 1942 until December 1942 during the early stages of the Guadalcanal Campaign, particularly those operating from Henderson Field. The term " ...

, it was used only used as a staging point and the unit's seaplanes were not kept there for long at any given time. On 12 September, ''Chitose'' squadron had 16 Mitsubishi F1M and seven Aichi E13A floatplanes under Lieutenant Takeshi Horihashi, while ''Kamikawa'' squadron had two F1M floatplanes and 11 Nakajima A6M2-N float Zeros under Lieutenant Jirō Ono, both forming No. 1 group. ''Sanyō'' squadron had six F1M and two E13A floatplanes under Lieutenant Tadashi Yoneda, while ''Sanuki'' had six F1M floatplanes under Lieutenant (jg) Kaneshige Watanabe, both forming No. 2 group. In the morning of 14 September, three float Zeros of ''Kamikawa'' under Lieutenant (jg) Masashi Kawashima flew from Rekata Bay to conduct a reconnaissance mission over Henderson Field and check whether the Imperial Japanese Army managed to capture the airfield in their assault. They were intercepted by seven US Navy Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters from Henderson Field and all of them were shot down for the loss of one Wildcat. That afternoon, Rear Admiral Jōjima committed most of the R-Area Air Force strength in a dusk attack on Henderson Field. Lieutenant Horihashi (''Chitose'' '' Hikōtaichō'') led 19 F1M floatplanes, each equipped with two 60-kg bombs, while two float Zeros provided the escort. They bombed the airfield after the sunset but were intercepted by a combination of eleven US Navy and Marine Wildcat fighters. The attack cost the R-Area Air Force two F1M floatplanes (including ''Sanyō'' '' Buntaichō'' Lieutenant Yoneda killed in action) and one float Zero. The base at Rekata Bay was discovered by the Allies on 16 September and was subsequently targeted several times by Allied aircraft. In the morning of 5 October, aircraft from the aircraft carrier ''Hornet'' attacked Shortland Islands. No ships were hit but three

Kawanishi H8K The Kawanishi H8K was a flying boat used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during World War II for maritime patrol duties. The Allied reporting name for the type was "Emily". The Kawanishi H8K was a large, four-engine aircraft designed ...

flying boats of Tōkō Air Group moored at Faisi were heavily damaged in strafing. Several F1M floatplanes under Lieutenant (jg) Watanabe (''Sanuki'' ''Buntaichō'') and two float Zeros of ''Kamikawa'' under Petty Officer Jirō Kawai intercepted the USN air strike and lost one F1M floatplane. Simultaneously, Cactus Air Force targeted Rekata Bay with several Douglas SBD Dauntless and Grumman TBF Avenger bombers, where they were intercepted by three float Zeros of ''Kunikawa'' under Warrant Officer Haruzō Ōta. In the engagement, Ōta managed to shoot down one SBD dive bomber. Since regular resupply runs by destroyers only could not deliver heavy equipment on Guadalcanal, such as artillery, seaplane tenders ''Chitose'' and ''Nisshin'' were used as high-speed transports along the destroyers during October. Frequent missions to provide air cover over resupply convoys, combined with occasional base defences, took a heavy toll on the R-Area Air Force. By 8 October, the remaining strength was five A6M2-N float Zeros of ''Kamikawa'', 12 F1M floatplanes of ''Chitose'', ''Sanuki'', ''Sanyō'' and ''Kunikawa'', and nine E13A floatplanes of ''Chitose'' and ''Sanyō''. On the evening of 8 October, Lieutenant (jg) Watanabe led eight F1M floatplanes to cover high-speed transport ''Nisshin'' and five destroyers headed for Guadalcanal. They intercepted a strike of SBD and TBF bombers escorted by 11 Wildcat fighters. While the ensuing air combat accounted for two F1M floatplanes and one Wildcat fighter shot down, the US bombers failed to score any hits on the ships. On 12 October, the 14th Air Group with nine float Zeros joined the R-Area Air Force (delivered by ''Kiyokawa Maru'') and the force continued to provide air cover for the regular resupply runs by destroyers. On 7 November, Lieutenant Hiderō Gotō led five float Zero of 802nd Air Group (redesignated 14th Air Group) to cover 11 destroyers on their resupply run to Guadalcanal, when they intercepted a large strike from Cactus Air Force. The resulting combat accounted for the loss of all floatplanes, however, in return, they shot down US Marine ace Joe Foss. Japanese made the final attempt to resupply Guadalcanal with 11 large transports and 11 destroyers under Rear Admiral Raizō Tanaka on 14 November. The R-Area Air Force provided eight F1M floatplanes under Lieutenant (jg) Shōichi Koyanagi of ''Kunikawa'' to cover the convoy. The air combat over the ships resulted in the loss of three F1M floatplanes. The next day they provided ten more F1M floatplanes under Lieutenant Horihashi and Lieutenant (jg) Watanabe and, lost two more, one of which carried Watanabe, who was killed in action. In addition, the resupply effort failed since only four transports eventually reached Guadalcanal but were all destroyed before they could unload their cargo. The

Imperial General Headquarters The was part of the Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equivalent to the United States ...

decided to abandon the effort to recapture Guadalcanal and they planned a withdrawal of land units for January and February 1943. The R-Area Air Force provided air cover for the evacuation during the

Operation KE was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of . The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial ...

. They continued to operate throughout 1943, as the Allies moved up the Solomon Islands. Pending the loss of New Georgia, in late August the forward base at Rekata Bay was evacuated.

Notes

References

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Combat reports

* * {{Imperial Japanese Navy air units Units of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service Military units and formations established in 1942

History

See also

Notes

References

Combat reports