Tainan Air Group
| Tainan Air Group | |
|---|---|
Enlisted fighter pilots of the Tainan Air Group pose at Lae in June 1942. Several of these aviators would be among the top Japanese aces, including Saburō Sakai (middle row, second from left), and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (standing, first on left). | |
| Active | October 1, 1941 – November 1, 1942 |
| Country | Empire of Japan |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Branch | Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Type | Naval aviation unit |
| Role | Air superiority Fighter aircraft support |
| Size | 45-65 aircraft |
| Part of | 25th Air Flotilla, 11th Air Fleet |
| Garrison/HQ | Tainan, Taiwan Legaspi, Philippines Balikpapan, Borneo Denpasar, Bali Rabaul, New Britain Lae, Papua New Guinea |
| Aircraft flown | A6M Zero A5M Claude |
| Engagements | World War II |
The Tainan Air Group (台南海軍航空隊, Tainan Kaigun Kōkūtai) was a fighter aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The flying portion of the unit was heavily involved in many of the major campaigns and battles of the first year of the war. The exploits of the unit were widely publicized in the Japanese media at the time, at least in part because the unit spawned more aces than any other fighter unit in the IJN. Several of the unit's aces were among the IJN's top scorers, and included Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Saburō Sakai, Junichi Sasai, Watari Handa, Masaaki Shimakawa, and Toshio Ōta.