The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Tainan (120.21E
22.95N) was the site of a major airfield
on Formosa. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, aircraft based at Tainan supported the Japanese campaign against the Philippines
to the south. Fighters based here also provided air cover to the
nearby port of Takao,
at which
invasion forces were assembled. The city was the headquarters of a regimental district.
21 Air
Flotilla was headquartered here at the time war broke out,
and units based here were 1 Air Group
with 48 G3M Nell and Tainan Air Group with 54 A6M Zero, 6 A5M Claude, and 8 C5M Babs. A crash course for kamikazes was set up in November 1944.
On 2 March 1945, after the Americans returned to the Philippines, Tainan was bombed by aircraft from 22 Bombardment Group and the city continued to be raided throughout the month. The most massive raid, on 22 March, was by 77 B-24 Liberators diverted from other targets by poor weather. By the end of the month, the airfield was so damaged that it was the target only of occasional harrassment raids until the end of the war.
References
Craven and Cate (1952; accessed 2011-7-9)
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