Kato Hayabusa Sento-Tai 1944
This is a wartime flag waver made by the Japanese about the wartime exploits of Japanese Army Air Force officer, Tateo Kato. The film follows Kato (Susmua Fujita) as he joins the elite 64th Sentai (Fighter Group) of the Japanese Army Air Force. The film is set just before the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th 1941.
The film shows Sino-Japanese War veteran Kato leading the group on the first raids against the British in Malaya. The 64th mows down the opposing Brewster Buffalo fighters and out of date Wildebeest torpedo bombers flown by the British RAF. After a few weeks of this, the group is then assigned to escort paratroop transport aircraft in the capture of the oilfields on Borneo.
Again the group is successful with minimum losses. After helping with the conquering of the Dutch East Indies, the 64th is then transferred to Burma. Here, the group clashes with Hawker Hurricanes of the RAF as well as P-40s of the Flying Tigers unit.
The film shows how the unit led by Kato deals with the mounting losses. The unit battles on overcoming the opposing Allied forces as well as a lack of replacements, and a host of jungle diseases etc. It is now well into 1942 and the Allied Air Forces are becoming a tougher opponent. The RAF is becoming quite good at hit and run bombing raids on the Japanese airfields. This forces Kato to keep standing patrols of fighters at the ready.
It is after one of these raids that the unit commander, Kato, is shot down over the sea while pursuing several Blenheim bombers. Kato was credited with at least 18 victories at the time of his death on May 22 1942. The 64th was credited as a whole with 260 plus kills with only 40 losses during Kato's tenure as commander.
This Toho production is quite well made with plenty of well mounted combat scenes and superb model work. The use of real KI-43 Hayabusa fighters is a must see for ww2 aircraft buffs. The production also has several captured P-40s being used in the various dogfight actions.
The KI-43 (Peregrine Falcon) (Allied code name: Oscar) was probably the most manoeuvrable fighter flown by either side in the war. It could even out turn the better known ZERO fighter of the Japanese Navy. It was however lightly built and under gunned compared to Allied aircraft. The Allies soon learned to use their better speed and armament to advantage and avoid engaging in dogfights with the "Oscar".
This is a wartime flag waver made by the Japanese about the wartime exploits of Japanese Army Air Force officer, Tateo Kato. The film follows Kato (Susmua Fujita) as he joins the elite 64th Sentai (Fighter Group) of the Japanese Army Air Force. The film is set just before the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th 1941.
The film shows Sino-Japanese War veteran Kato leading the group on the first raids against the British in Malaya. The 64th mows down the opposing Brewster Buffalo fighters and out of date Wildebeest torpedo bombers flown by the British RAF. After a few weeks of this, the group is then assigned to escort paratroop transport aircraft in the capture of the oilfields on Borneo.
Again the group is successful with minimum losses. After helping with the conquering of the Dutch East Indies, the 64th is then transferred to Burma. Here, the group clashes with Hawker Hurricanes of the RAF as well as P-40s of the Flying Tigers unit.
The film shows how the unit led by Kato deals with the mounting losses. The unit battles on overcoming the opposing Allied forces as well as a lack of replacements, and a host of jungle diseases etc. It is now well into 1942 and the Allied Air Forces are becoming a tougher opponent. The RAF is becoming quite good at hit and run bombing raids on the Japanese airfields. This forces Kato to keep standing patrols of fighters at the ready.
It is after one of these raids that the unit commander, Kato, is shot down over the sea while pursuing several Blenheim bombers. Kato was credited with at least 18 victories at the time of his death on May 22 1942. The 64th was credited as a whole with 260 plus kills with only 40 losses during Kato's tenure as commander.
This Toho production is quite well made with plenty of well mounted combat scenes and superb model work. The use of real KI-43 Hayabusa fighters is a must see for ww2 aircraft buffs. The production also has several captured P-40s being used in the various dogfight actions.
The KI-43 (Peregrine Falcon) (Allied code name: Oscar) was probably the most manoeuvrable fighter flown by either side in the war. It could even out turn the better known ZERO fighter of the Japanese Navy. It was however lightly built and under gunned compared to Allied aircraft. The Allies soon learned to use their better speed and armament to advantage and avoid engaging in dogfights with the "Oscar".