Burning the Past: Air War Japan 1946

By Mark H Lewis

The emperor of Japan devises a new plan after losing World War II. A colonial marshal is brought in from Mars to investigate a seemingly minor murder.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Feb 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524522520

Mark H Lewis

Mark Lewis has been employed all of his working life in the packaging industry in a laboratory environment. He has interests in military history, aviation, competition photography and martial arts. Mark has studied judo, kendo, aikido and is currently studying Tai Chi. As an avid modeller he has written articles and book reviews on aviation and modelling subjects. His main area of interest is WW2 aircraft, which has led to his first book “Project Z”. By writing the “Air War Japan 1946” series he hopes to stimulate interest in Japanese wartime aviation.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Mark H Lewis.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2017902168

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5245-2254-4

      Softcover      978-1-5245-2253-7

      eBook      978-1-5245-2252-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 02/21/2017

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

756720

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Introduction

Preface

Chapter 1    Wings over coral

Chapter 2    Alice the changeling

Chapter 3    The Inline Falcon

Chapter 4    More treachery

Chapter 5    Leo and the lion

Chapter 6    Jackson’s gambit

Chapter 7    Snark

Chapter 8    Pacific Hawks

Chapter 9    Two tails

Chapter 10    Burning the past

Chapter 11    Set up!

Chapter 12    The Racer’s folly

Chapter 13    Random thoughts

Chapter 14    Interruption from the past

Chapter 15    Hornets and shadows

Chapter 16    Overrun

Chapter 17    Katya’s claws

Chapter 18    Turning point

Chapter 19    Burning the present

Appendices

Glossary of acronyms

Additional notes

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Preface: Sketch of Shiro in his battle armour. Artist: Darcy Jane

1:   RAN Hawker Osprey Harry waits for the English mist to lift

2:   Nakajima Ki-62-1 koh from 64th sentai in Thailand

3:   Focke Wulf Fw190F-9 Ingrid with underwing panzerblitz

4:   PzKw7 ausf A Lowe heavy tank

5:   Mitsubishi Ki-200 Shusui

6:   DH Mosquito HF40 prototype sits in dispersal during a tropical shower

7:   Snark the Troodon by Shila Lewis

8:   Curtiss P-40Q Warhawk at Melton airfield

9:   A Mitsubishi A7M1 Reppu is waved off during carrier qualification trials

10:   Squadron DAP Beaufighter MK21s head out over the sea

11:   Grumman F9F-3 Panther

12:   AMC Hornet at Calder Park raceway 1992

13:   Holden/Opel Calibra 2.0L Jan 2017

14:   DH Hornet PR2

15:   Boeing F8B-1 Marlin

16:   Tupolev Tu-2Rsh-57 Katya

17:   Mansyu Ki-116 of the 104th sentai based in Ikeda

18:   Mansyu Ki-98

For Seth and Samantha,

Chasers of the truth

INTRODUCTION

The Air War Japan 1946 series was written to stimulate interest in late war Japanese WW2 aviation. "Project Z" (the first volume in the series) started off initially in 1999 as a simple idea for a single short story dealing with the Fugaku bombing raids on America.

Path of a Ghost (the second volume) was always intended to be more than just a separate book that could stand alone independent of the first volume. The second volume looks at the bigger picture for the three main characters (Okumiya, Idemitsu & Hori) and in the process it expanded existing themes to cover new ground.

The third volume (The Sun will rise!) was a combination of the first two books with added content intended to round things off.

The fourth volume (Burning the past); is a separate entity and has taken on a life of its own; even though it uses some previously established characters. The content in some parts are unconnected to the main themes; sometimes splitting off into the realms of the mundane.

Many thanks have got to go to my wife (artist, transcriber & PA) Shila, master modeller Brad Gaff, my proof readers Robert Madden, Paul & Debbie Sabin and Michael Pickering.

I am truly grateful for the marvellous artwork contributions from both Shila and Darcy Jane. Special thanks go to my father James Lewis for some political insights of wartime Australia.

Thankyou to my readers for your continued support.

Mark Lewis 2017

PREFACE

Many of his colleagues found long distance space travel pleasant. The chance to switch off from the pressures and troubles of everyday life for even a short while held great appeal. To Shiro the semi-comatose state on the edge of existence was worse than death; his vital signs were suppressed so far he was for the moment literally more dead than alive. Spectres from within the deep recesses of his mind seemed to claw at him keeping him buried in an endless lightless nightmare world whilst in the real world robotic arms stimulated his muscles in hypersleep so he could cope with the heavier gravity of Earth. As a native of Mars; Earth was a planet he not expected to be assigned to. As a Colonial Marshall there were enough issues on Mars to keep him busy. The fight against the Pirates and weapons runners had taken on a new and dark turn recently.

Ordered to investigate the killing of a junior official on Earth, a nobody apparently by the High Ups of the Corporation. High Ups was a collective term used by the Marshalls for the management class in the Corporation. These faceless men and presumably women made Corporatia policy; controlling life and death for billions.

Here he was hurtling through space being tortured by apathetic machines and his own darkness. The last mind wipe had been ineffective and Shiro remembered clearly the carnage on Theta Two. In a losing humans vs. pirates confrontation they had lost too many troopers. Management had complained of the costs involved with replacing so many elite troopers. Another batch was being grown. Rape another planet; create a new enemy. Conflict was ongoing; he had little care for profits and dividends. He was a born fighting machine. So different to normal humans the Marshalls were almost another species.

Theoretically Shiro was not supposed to remember such details but in a world of mass produced clones and replicants he was an oddity. Somebody had deliberately messed up programming his genetic makeup from the genetic master matrix so he was able to think clearly without the over riding control of his medi dispenser (abbreviated to spenser). It had never occurred to him he was different. After all to Shiro they all looked alike in their armour and without an identity chip imbedded in their heads they would never be able to determine who was who.

Reprogramming was not an option he considered seriously. Even though he was only fourteen he had seen others come out from reprogramming who were never quite the same again. There was no mirth or joy with them just solidarity within the unit. Obey orders; kill the resistant ones.

An unknown oriental Terran woman taunted him in his dreams; asking him to break the shackles of duty. Find the truth. He felt the medi spenser try to medicate him. What nature of sedative did they feed him? All became dull, comfortably numb as Shiro faded deeper again into oblivion.

pic%20preface.jpg

Sketch of Shiro in his battle armour. Artist: Darcy Jane

It is right because we say so.

Corporatia Indoctrinata Prima

CHAPTER 1

Wings over coral

During the summer of 1916 whilst the First World War raged on in Europe with no discernible end in sight the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) battlecruiser HMAS Australia sat forlornly in the dry dock at Devonport; in southern England. HMAS Australia; the most powerful warship ever to serve Australia sat immobile as the skilled shipwrights from the dockyard toiled swiftly to repair the extensive damage to her torn side and screws. The damage to Australia had occurred from a collision with her sister ship; New Zealand while on patrol in foggy conditions. The damage inflicted on her hull was so serious by the time Australia was considered seaworthy again she had missed the Battle of Jutland; the biggest naval engagement of the First World War. Her Captain cursed the idiocy of the orders that stated the battle squadron should zig zag in fog. If they couldn’t see each other then the deadly German U boats would be rendered ineffectual also. As a consequence the fleet was down one capital ship as they sailed into battle.

After the armistice Australia had returned home; visiting most of the ports in Australia on a whirlwind sightseeing tour to boost civilian morale. To reduce the expenditure of running her in peace time the Australia was used as a training ship. With the possibility of future naval conflicts looming within their sphere of influence; the British Admiralty began an overdue review of the dominion navies. Admiral Jellicoe’s lengthy post war report on the state of Australian naval forces highlighted the need for the Australian government to build up the RAN into a credible force to stave off any future threat in the Pacific. With the exception of developing closer ties with the Royal Navy Jellicoe’s report recommendations were largely ignored by the Australian government. The government was more interested in reducing spending.

However as it transpired the Washington naval treaty of 1922 would radically change the future of HMAS Australia. The terms of the treaty demanded that the Australia be scrapped but this was rejected by the government because by 1928 the Australia was a training ship. Although still a young ship the shortage of 12" shells for her main guns essentially meant she was a toothless bulldog. Rather than scrap or scuttle the ship the RAN board argued that the ship could be stripped of her main armaments and some of her armour (thus complying with the treaty) and later converted to an aircraft carrier. It was accepted that the ship could be converted to comply with the requirements of the treaty.

So with the Australia returned to England the task began slowly of converting the battlecruiser to an aircraft carrier. As funds were limited; the initial demilitarization consisted of simply cutting off the main guns and elaborate bridge superstructure; then laying a partial wooden carrier deck. A small control room was placed underneath the front of the new landing deck. This was the first of many teething problems in obtaining the nations first aircraft carrier; at a bargain price.

At this time the RAN had no suitable carrier aircraft or pilots; only a few WW1 vintage spotter seaplanes. Ignoring protests from the RAAF the RAN began advertising for new blood. A short while later the RAN had assembled enough trainee aircrew to equip one squadron of scouts and another of bombers. As the major works of re-engining the ship would be long and expensive the trainees were sent to England to train with the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA). Progress was good and by 1930 the RAN had their pilots; landing trials on the anchored Australia with leased FAA Blackburn Darts and Fairey Flycatchers showed no problems.

Back home in Australia; the RAAF were using Bristol Bulldogs as their standard day fighter but the RAN with an eye on the purse strings wanted a carrier borne multi-role aircraft that had a longer service life. The RAN Technical Board on a visit to England to report on the transformation of Australia had seen a new light bomber aircraft undergoing flight trials for the RAF. The Hawker Hart was a revolutionary aircraft; being considerably faster than the single seat fighters of the day.

With a few discrete queries Hawker confirmed to the Australian admiralty delegation that a shipboard version of the Hart (the Osprey) was under development for the FAA. Rather than order the then current (and soon to be very obsolete) Fairey Flycatcher single seat carrier fighter the RAN board proposed a small order for a squadron of Hawker Osprey scout/reconnaissance aircraft and another of Blackburn Dart torpedo bombers be raised. The RAAF on hearing that the RAN had one upped them had placed orders for another proposed version of the Hart called the Demon.

Using the British political example of appeasement the Australian Parliament decided as there were no immediate threats to the nation’s security the orders for the new aircraft could be delayed. The RAN aircrews were sent back to England for training on their new mounts. By the time the RAN pilots had completed their training a small number of Darts and Ospreys had been procured. Conversion of the Australia to a proper carrier (with a full landing deck rather than partial deck) had been slow but with diplomatic ties with Japan becoming increasingly fraught the works on the Australia were hurried up.

pic1.jpg

RAN Hawker Osprey Harry waits for the English mist to lift.

The RAN pilots; now known as Fleet Air Arm pilots; returned to Australia with their new carrier. By the late 1930s it was obvious to all in the region the Empire of Japan was not going to be content with fighting just a war in China. Australian intelligence speculated in a future Pacific confrontation the Japanese might take over parts of South East Asia but would be stopped dead in their tracks by the British garrison at Singapore. Britain was equally confident that Singapore would stand. With the naval forces in the Pacific region governed by the Washington Naval Treaty the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) was really the dominant force as long as the USN Pacific fleet remained based in San Diego.

Concern was such that Australian Prime Minister William Lyons sent a RAN team to meet with the USN Board despite the protests of Robert Menzies. Lyons was a realist; not a devoted monarchist like Menzies. The truth was the US fleet was much closer to Australia than any Royal Navy squadron. Amongst the USN members destined to meet with the Australians was an intelligence officer named McCollum. McCollum* listened intently; but no guarantees were given; and the RAN personnel reported back to Lyons it was unlikely anything would change in the near future.        *See Chapter 6 A war on two fronts; Path of a Ghost

The carrier HMAS Australia with her pilots had been recommissioned and visited many foreign Pacific ports as a flag waving exercise. The Japanese were contemptuous of the home grown carrier with its small number of aircraft. Japanese observers however; had reported the aircrews were well trained but confirmed the carrier borne aircraft onboard were all obsolescent types. Perusing these observations IJN Admiral Yamamoto (an ardent advocate of air power) decided the carrier Australia would be sunk at the earliest opportunity; when war broke out.

The declaration of war against Germany by Britain and France in 1939 caught the Australian Government and military forces on the hop. The years of appeasement and isolationism had meant that Australia was ill prepared for the war in Europe that their politicians had readily involved the country in. Australia found herself with a navy that was poorer in quality than the one they possessed during the First World War. The RAN soon realized that the British government would demand Australian troops and warships. The RAN recognized the Dart and Osprey aircraft were in dire need of replacement.

The Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber was the logical successor to the Dart. However the choice of a dedicated fighter to replace the Osprey was not so straight forward. The RAN viewed the new Fairey Fulmar as too big and cumbersome for the makeshift carrier; the Gloster Sea Gladiator and Blackburn Roc were outdated even before they were introduced. Again Minister Menzies stated the aircraft for the carrier should be sourced from Britain; despite their obvious inability to perform the tasks required. The RAN board ignoring mounting political pressure considered other countries as sources of military hardware; eventually approaching the American aircraft companies Brewster and Grumman regarding the possible purchase of a new monoplane shipboard fighter.

In the meantime CAC had supplied a number of CA-16 Wirraway armed trainers to the RAN. As early as 1938 CAC had wanted to develop a fighter variant of the Wirraway advanced trainer; but no interest was shown. Instead the RAN requested a few CA-16 Wirraways be modified with an A frame arrestor hook and minimal navalization for training or scouting purposes. The resulting CA-16N Sea Wirraways (Wirraway is an indigenous word meaning challenge) were the fastest aircraft on board the Australia; until her complement of F2A Buffaloes arrived.

The Brewster F2A Buffalo was the first monoplane fighter operating on USN carriers. In trials the type was shown to be robust; and considerably faster than the Osprey or Sea Wirraway. On the other hand the handling of the aircraft was clearly inferior to the Osprey. CAC had already proposed a slightly modified version of the USN model Buffalo for the RAAF/FAA. The aircraft could be significantly lightened without sacrificing any fighting efficiency. The RAAF had rejected the CAC proposal outright and found themselves without any modern single seat fighters based in Australia; when war was declared on Germany. The RAN decided the CAC modified version of the Buffalo would be adequate for FAA use.

Until their replacement by more modern aircraft the Osprey and Sea Wirraway aircraft could be used for training and border patrols. Britain had not requested the carrier be sent to Europe as she was considered outdated and inefficient. A number of merchant ships in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans had disappeared without trace of prior trouble. Thus in 1940 HMAS Australia had begun patrols in the Indian Ocean looking for German commerce raiders and U boats. The patrols of the Australia’s aircraft over the Indian Ocean were largely non events until 1941. Then everything happened in a hurry. In Fremantle; Australia’s Blackburn Darts were replaced by twelve Fairey Swordfish bombers. Australia could pick up her complement of F2A Buffaloes from Melbourne when she docked for maintenance. She would then be at full strength.

The Kriegsmarine (German navy) auxiliary cruiser Kormoran after sinking seven Allied merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean had sailed to the Indian Ocean in April 1941 to escape detection. In the following six months operations she sank three more ships. Commander Detmers had sailed the Indian Ocean toward Fremantle with the intention of laying sea mines in the shipping lanes to disrupt shipping; but was forced to abort that mission when they detected radio signals from an enemy warship in the area.

Fleeing north on 19th November 1941 the Kormoran was 280 miles off Carnarvon (West Australia) when she was spotted by a RAN Osprey from the Australia performing routine patrols. The Osprey observed her Dutch flag, reported her position to Australia and carried on. The Kormoran after being spotted; sailed north at higher speed until trouble with one of her diesels forced her to slow. Shortly afterward the masts of a warship were sighted. Detmers gave orders for the Kormoran to go to battle stations; then change course immediately and sail into the sun; in order to blind the approaching warship. The warship was HMAS Sydney; a modern six inch light cruiser returned to home waters after a tour of duty in Europe.

The Sydney began signalling the Kormoran at once in order to confirm her identity but had come in too close in an attempt to identify the mystery freighter. When the Sydney demanded the secret code for the Straat Malakka (the Dutch ship the Kormoran was disguised as) Detmers realized they were in trouble; and sent a distress signal back to Germany as well as ordering all guns to open fire on the Sydney. Both ships opened fire simultaneously. According to reports from the German survivors the initial gunfire from the Kormoran was more accurate than Sydney’s.

After withstanding six salvoes from the Kormoran Sydney opened fire with her rear turrets. At one point in the battle a torpedo fired from the Kormoran struck Sydney heavily damaging her bow. Sydney now nose down edged slowly away from the Kormoran. Battle damage caused the failure of the Kormoran’s engines whilst Sydney continued to limp away. With both ships heavily damaged and on fire Detmers ordered the scuttling of the Kormoran; as her crew could no longer contain the raging fires below deck. With the bulk of the crew in lifeboats the seacocks were opened and Kormoran started to sink slowly. As the fires onboard reached the Kormoran’s store of seamines she exploded.

There are rumours a Japanese submarine finished the crippled Sydney off in the night but this remains unproven. It is feasible given the IJN conducted scouting missions before the war and could explain why there were no survivors from the Sydney ever found. When Sydney did not return on schedule there was no immediate concern as it was thought she was further north than she actually was. When the ship failed to appear on 23rd November the West Australian shore radio stations began actively signalling her. On the morning of the 24th RAAF and RAN aircraft