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Masato Tajiri
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Observer Training Aircraft: Mobilization of Plane Not Fit for Battle (Teisatsuin
yōseiki: Sentō ni mukanai kitai dōin)
Researched and written by Shūji Fukano and Fusako Kadota
Pages 177-9 of Tokkō kono chi yori: Kagoshima shutsugeki no kiroku
(Special attacks from this land: Record of Kagoshima sorties)
Minaminippon Shinbunsha, 2016, 438 pages
There was a Navy aircraft with a cute name called Shiragiku (White
Chrysanthemum). It was an "onboard operational training aircraft" used to train
pilots and observer crewmen with two men per plane.
An observer performed varied work other than piloting such as navigation,
communications, and observation. The Shiragiku was constructed so that
trainees could learn these effectively and had fixed landing gear since there
was an emphasis on stable flights, takeoffs, and landings.
On the other hand, its top speed was little more than 200 km/hr, which was
not even half of that of American fighters. Even acrobatic flight was
impossible. The name expressed its body shape, but it can be said that the
aircraft was completely unsuitable for aerial fights.
However, when air battles at Okinawa began in March 1945, considering severe
losses of frontline aircraft, the Navy adopted a policy of using even
Shiragiku trainers, carrying 500 kg of bombs, for special (suicide) attacks.
The four air groups at Kōchi, Tokushima, Suzuka (Mie Prefecture), and Ōi
(Shizuoka Prefecture) that had these aircraft were ordered to form special
attack units.
The Kōchi Air Group Kikusui Unit Shiragiku Squadron and Tokushima Air Group Shiragiku
Squadron,
under command of the 5th Air Fleet, continued to make sorties toward the sea
around Okinawa from Kanoya Air Base and Kushira Air Base respectively for about
one month starting on May 24. Kōchi Air Group lost 52 men in battle, and
Tokushima Air Group lost 56 men in battle.
"From today our air group will be the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Tokushima
Shiragiku Squadron." When we received the order to form a special attack unit from
Tokushima Air Group Commander Tokujirō Kawamoto in the early part of April 1945,
Masato Tajiri (92 years old, Jōrokuchō, Tokushima City) was struck with
astonishment, "Did he say that we will make special attacks at Okinawa with this
type of aircraft?"
Tajiri's hometown is what is now Yuda, Higashiichikichō, Hioki City in Kagoshima Prefecture. When he
was a 3rd-year student at Ōsaka University of Foreign Languages, he entered
the Navy as a volunteer for the 13th Class of Flight Reserve Students (Hikō Yobi
Gakusei) and became an ensign. At the end of March 1945, he had just been
transferred from the 256th Air Group in Shanghai, China, to Tokushima.
Tajiri, who had repeatedly trained on carrier-based Zero fighters at
Shanghai, says, "Even Zero fighters, which had overwhelmingly better
capabilities than Shiragiku trainers, were waging an uphill battle
against American aircraft. All pilots who had flight experience on other
aircraft had to think that reaching Okinawa in a Shiragiku would be
tough."
However, nobody said anything about that concern. "We would do our utmost
with the aircraft that we were given." That was "accepted practice" in the
military.
The military upper ranks also recognized the air group members' concerns.
Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, 5th Air Fleet Commander, wrote his candid thoughts in
his diary Sensōroku (戦藻録) on May 25, the day following the sendoff of the
first Shiragiku squadron from Tokushima into battle, "With such a number
(of Shiragiku aircraft), it is difficult to place any hopes on this."
Furthermore, Ugaki recorded in his diary that the Fifth Fleet Warless Room
had intercepted a joking American military message that destroyers were pursuing
Shiragiku aircraft being used as warplanes flying at a low speed of about
150 km/hr (93 miles/hr). He writes, "Some of the staff laughed."
The ones who forced on their men such a reckless strategy were laughing at
the ones who responded to their concerns. Tajiri is furious, "The top ranks were
lacking in human compassion."
Shiragiku onboard operational training aircraft
made for training observers. Although stable,
it was useless due to its low speed.
(provided by Masato Tajiri)
Translated by Bill Gordon
September 2022
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