Japanese Airborne?

Did Japanese airborne troops make any combat drops during WW2?

John Dupre'

On December 6-7, 1944, at Burauen on Leyte Island in the Philippines.

The Japanese high command ordered Suzuki's 35h Army, defending Leyte, to capture or destroy the airfield at Burauen in central Leyte, captured by US forces on November 7.

Suzuki ordered an attack by his ground troops, which had been holding only a few miles west of Burauen, and by paratroopers on the airfield itself.

The paratroops actually landed in some force and were able to hold the airfield for a while before being annihilated.

Ironically, US commanders had already decided not to bother developing the Burauen field for use.

Another note: at the time of the Japanese attack, the Burauen sector had been turned over to the US 11th Airborne Division. This may be the only occasion when an airborne attack went in against other paratroops.

Yep, sure did.

I think the biggest was Palembang in the Dutch East Indies.

The plan was to drop on the oil fields, capture them, then be relieved by Landing Force troops who would execute an amphibious landing.

I've read conflicting reports of the success of the mission.

One story claims the mission was highly successful.

The other claims that the Japanese had the misfortune to pick the day of a Dutch militia practice callout for the drop. According to this story, the paratroopers were slaughtered by the waiting Dutch, and when the Marines arrived, there was mostly flaming wreckage and dead paratroopers to great them.

Don't know which one is more accurate.

Right at the end of the war, there was a plan to crash land bombers full of paratroopers onto Okinawa(?) to destroy US aircraft on their strips. The Japanese plan was discovered through radio intercepts and cryptanalysis. Most of the aircraft were destroyed on the ground in bombing raids. A few managed to launch, with only one or two managing to reach their targets. They created some short term havoc, but were quickly wiped out.

The famous one, celebrated in all Japanese documentaries about the move south, was on a Dutch airfield in the Indies (Indonesia). The Japanese army parachute brigade dropped from Lockheed Electras built on license as used as Type LO. Army Mitsubishi Ki-21 heavy bombers carried and dropped their heavy gear.

The brigade's second drop was to have been at Lashio (Burma) on April 28, 1942, but after the Lockheeds left Toungoo they were scattered by a typhoon, and the drop was aborted.

Since my reading in Japanese military history ended with the late summer of 1942, I can't say that the brigade was never used again, but it probably was merged into a ground unit. The Japanese thereafter were on the defensive and had little use for airborne drops.

There was a raid or two upon American airfields later in the war, but I suspect that the units were drawn together for the attempt. It seems unlikely that they maintained a unit for several years against the time they might be used.

(Though it was called a brigade, the 1st Parachaute Brigade was actually battalion-sized, with 440 men in the Lashio mission. They had 40 Lockheeds and 7 Ki-21s, the latter drawn from the bombing groups.)

all the best

Yes , the Dutch East Indies at three different operations:

1. Jan. 11th 1942 at the airfield of Menado (North Celebes), with about 300 para's, combined with a stronger landing force, succesful.

2. Febr. 15th 1942 at the airfield Palembang 1 and two oilrefineries in Sumatra with about 600 para's, followed the next day by a landing of the 38th Inf. Div.; succesful for the airfield and the biggest refinery.

3. Febr. 19th 1942 at the airfield of Kupang (Dutch West Timor) with about 450 para's, succesful.

Regards, Arie Biemond.

Sumatra, Celebes, and Timor in 1942, Leyte in 1944.

SFAIK, each involved less than 1,000 paratroops.

Cheers and all,

We had a rumor that the Japanese were going to drop troops in our area on Leyte in 1944.People got excited but nothing happened. I never saw or heard of any at least in our area. Had a few bombs drop.

In December we were in the process of getting equipment ready for our landing on Luzon.

'What kind of aircraft did the Japanese use to drop paratroopers?'

The Japanese army 1st Parachute Brigade in 1941-42 used license-built Lockheed Electras.

50 Super-Electras were imported in 1938 and 55more were built. The body was then lengthened and widened, and a further 121 were built by Kawasaki. These were the models used at Palembang.

The designation is Ki-56 or 'Type LO'. The navy also had an Electra transport.

The Japanese also built DC-2s and -3s, the Junkers Ju-86, and the Heinkel He-116, not to mention the J-2 Piper Cub.

all the best

Cheers and all,

<< The Japanese army 1st Parachute Brigade in 1941-42...>>

Later in the war (late 1943), the Japanese organized the 1st Raiding Division, which took in all of the IJA airborne troops as well as 'airlanding' units. Portions of this unit were used on Leyte, without any real success.

They even built a glider (the Gander in Allied code name circles) to airland their light tanks, although I've never seen any evidence that one was used in combat. Photos exist of the glider along with the tank, and of the glider in flight, but no mention as to if the tank happened to be in the glider at the time that it was photographed.

And, the story would not be complete without mention of the winged tank that was in the design stages at the end of the war. A very light two man vehicle (and not in any way related to the 'two man tankettes' that were really known as the Type 94 and Type 97 light armored vehicles), this flying wonder had a huge set of wings, a long boom with a tail, very light armament and armor, and the most flimsy suspension system since the cable based systems of the 1920's. Only a wooden mockup was completed.

About what you'd expect from an army that had gas masks for horses, dogs and pigeons...

Terry L. Stibal

Yes, I should have said: the Japanese military *operated* those aircraft. The Douglas and the Lockheeds were mostly locally built, and there was a knockoff of the J-2 without the bungee cords, built by Nozawa and called the Z-1.

I don't read Japanese so can't tell if my source (Ogawa) gives a number for the German transports.

all the best