A B-29 rammed by a Ki-45 Nick over Funabashi

A B-29 rammed by a Ki-45 Nick Over Funabashi
By Taizo Nakamura
Translated by Koji Takaki, 15 January 2006

76 of the B-29s that took off from Saipan reached the homeland of Japan with Nakajima Musashi Factory, aircraft engine plant, as their target on 27 January 1945. However, they changed the target to Ginza, Yurakucho, and Marunouchi (KT: the center area of Metropolitan Tokyo) as previously arranged because bombing on the primary target was impossible due to thick clouds, taking a course to Funabashi City, Chiba Pref. One of the B-29s, Haley’s Comet with an 11-man crew commanded by McDonnell, received several attacks by fighters and was finally rammed down by a Japanese plane over Funabashi, east of Tokyo. The rammer was a Ki-45 Toryu (Nick) fighter.

Some of the wreck of the fighter aircraft and belongings of its crew are exhibited in the Yokohama WW?Japanese Military Radio Museum. The Nick crew who rammed the B-29 were (then) Sgt Yuichi Kobayashi, pilot, 20 at age, Boy Flyers 10th term, and (then) Lance Cpl Natsuo Koibuchi, observer, 19, were from the Hitachi Training Wing (Kyodo Hikodan) based at Mito Airfield, Ibaragi Pref. Their attack was seen by many people and their ramming was observed to be made at altitude of about 6,000 meters. It is also said that anti-aircraft corps stationed between Funabashi and Kamagaya observed the engagement from start to finish and the rammed B-29 retreating toward Imba Numa (KT: northeast-east from Funabashi. Numa means a “marsh”) and going down. Later, it was confirmed that the B-29 crashed at Ishino, Shisui Town. Two of the B-29 crewmen successfully bailed out and taken to the Headquarters of the Military Police (Kempei Tai). They were liberated after the war’s end.

The ramming Nick was seen to continue flying, smoking, but fell at Kamikubo, Yachiyo City (KT: near Imba Numa), a marshy place then, at last after making a circle to avoid going down over private houses as it became impossible for the plane to keep altitude.

According to Mr (KT: Masatoshi) Suzuki who was a servicing crew member of the Nick and sent it off on the day, the Hitachi Wing’s ramming operation had ceased just a little before 27 January 1945, though the tactics was used by then. Therefore, an ordinary attack method was to be taken on the day’s sortie. The twin-engine fighter was the newest type equipped with a 37mm cannon, the largest gun for aircraft, at the nose. Suzuki himself supplied 15 shells for the cannon and sent the two-man crew off.

The day before the sortie, Suzuki talked with Kobayashi and Koibuchi, sitting in a circle, when Kobayashi told Koibuchi of his determination, “Koibuchi, I will make a ramming next time!” Suzuki saw Koibuchi’s face turn to pale and stiff.

I (Nakamura) have cooperated for the Funabashi Local Historical Museum to display the wreck of the Nick. In the course of the preparation for the display, I investigated every piece of the wreck and belongings of the crew and found a part of the flying suit, an oxygen mask and a harmonica. I asked Mr Suzuki about the harmonica. Suzuki said that it was probably of Koibuchi’s as he used to blow it in the barracks.

The author’s note:

Nine of the 76 B-29s did not return.

The B-29 was #42-24616, A Square 22, from 497 SQ, 73 BW.

One of the Japanese fighter pilots who had attacked the B-29 before the ramming is said to have been Maj Teruhiko Kobayashi, commander of the 244th Sentai, Tony, Chofu.

An exhibited photo of a B-29 smoking and going down over Imba Numa shows presumably Haley’s Comet.

The Toryu (Nick) was Ki-45 Kai, Hei, aircraft #4067, equipped with 37mm cannon x 1, 20mm obliquely installed cannon x 2, and 7.7mm gun x 1.

Koji Takaki notes:
1. Aircraft #4067: the Toryu’s aircraft # may have been 4065. According to an article by Masatoshi Suzuki, the servicing crewmen of the Nick, appearing in the publication of the Shohi Kai (Boy Flyers’ Association), “4065” was painted on the flap of its left wing. It was found when the aircraft was dug out on 19 September 1996. The aircraft No. was not known from a record, but was first known from the wreck.

2. Capt (then) Teruhiko Kobayashi tells in his memoir that he rammed a B-29 on the day. However, it cannot be definitely said that Capt Kobayashi attacked Haley’s Comet because many other Japanese fighters including Navy Irvings attacked B-29s. (As mentioned in the book “B-29 Hunters of the JAAF,” I thought that Capt Kobayashi probably rammed Irish Lassie.)

3. When writing the book B-29 Hunters I did not know the above Shohi Kai publication. A photocopy of it has recently been sent to me from Mr Kazuyasu Hinata, my friend/aircraft researcher in Yachiyo City and a friend of Mr Taizo Nakamura who, I hear, serves in the JSDLF. The publication was published after the Ki-45 was excavated in 1996. The publication contains articles by military witnesses of the ramming and falling of the two aircraft. As a result, I have come to think it is most probable that the Haley’s Comet was rammed down by Sgt Kobayashi’s Nick.

4. As stated in the book, B-29 Hunters, based on the US reports, Haley’s Comet was one of the first B-29s that were heavily damaged and dropped out of the formation on the course to Kofu from Hamamatsu. (Kofu was the Initial Point of B-29s’ bomb-run.) Only According to the US Army research after the war, 3 of the 9 missing B-29s on the day were confirmed to have been downed on the land: 42-63423, WERE WOLF, in Shizuoka Pref., 42-24616, Haley’s Comet, in Chiba Pref., and 42-24769, Rover Boys Express, in Ibaragi Pref. It is naturally thought that the other 6 were downed in the sea. If the B-29 rammed by Sgt Kobayashi’s Nick fell at Imba Numa as witnessed by Japanese military men and quoted by Mr Nakamura in his write-up, there was no other B-29 than Haley’s Comet. Then, it is probable that Haley’s Comet was finally rammed by Sgt Kobayashi’s Nick over Funabashi after it had been hit and damaged near Kofu and further received several other attacks on the retreat course. I first thought that Haley’s Comet finally fell at Imba Numa after she had been so much damaged near Kofu and that Sgt Kobayashi’s Nick rammed another B-29 because I had no reliable information like the witnesses’ appearing in the Shohi Kai publication. Masatoshi Suzuki, the servicing crewman, himself did not see the ramming and the Nick’s crash because he was at Mito Airfield, Ibaragi Pref., far away from the Funabashi-Imba-Yachiyo area. He heard of it from some witnesses of other army units after the war and when the Nick was excavated in 1996.

Hap Halloran came to know two parachuting POWs from Haley’s Comet at Omori Camp but he said he did not hear in detail from them about the circumstances of their B-29’s crash.

By the way, there is a photo of a B-29 smoking over a lake, taken by another B-29
flying above the damaged victim as mentioned in Note 4 by Nakamura. My friend, Kazuyasu Hinata (whom Hap knows well) made a research on the topography of the lake area and found that it was Tega Numa located northwest of Imba Numa and reached a conclusion that the B-29 was Haley’s Comet. Hap’s B-29 flew on a further southern course. Hap knows this conclusion. However, it has not been clarified yet who hit Hap’s B-29. Some says that Sgt Kobayashi’s Nick rammed Rover Boy Express but it is wrong because Hap’s B-29 was not rammed and Hap says that his plane flew over Tokyo Bay, not over Funabashi.