Henry Sakaida made a request for any info on rammings on the mailing list associated with the B-29 Superfortress Then and Now web site . I replied to Mr. Saikada and this information is what has come of it. Henry and Koji also sent me a map, showing where the planes crashed . This, mostly in Japanese, with English notes.

The Army 56th Sentai, one of the two rnain intercept groups in the Osaka-Kobe area bitterly regretted when they lost Capt. Junichi Ogata in its intercept fight during a big incendiary raid on Kobe on 16/17 March 1945. 0gata had been fighting always at the head of the squadron since its first combat against B-29s from Chengtu, China, over the Yellow Sea on 26 October 1944.

At dawn on 17 March, Capt. Noboru Nagasue's division of four Tony fighters was launched at first. Capt. Ogata's division of four planes took off after an interval of 80 minutes to avoid flying in an overlapped air area in the darkness. Maj. Haruyoshi Furukawa, commander, at Itami Airfield received a report on the radio from Capt Ogata orbiting over Kobe (located 15 miles southwest of Itami). "Enemy bombers are clearly lit up by an inferno on the ground of the urban area." In succession, another report came in, "One plane destroyed! I'll keep on attacking." This was the last message. No word was received from him after that.

Then, W.0, Kuniyoshi Hasegawa and some of the groundcrew men at the base saw a spot of light streaming like a shooting star into a B-29 that was irradiated by two crossing lights of the searchlights. At the next moment a fireball flamed up.

Maj. Furukawa depicts an extremely gruesome sight like a purgatory on that night,. "The roaring flames from Kobe City shot skywards inviting boiling clouds and strong winds. With the wind blowing from the west there was a menacing atmosphere prevailing all over the area."

On the morning, a flight boot with the name painted OGATA in white was discovered in the wreckage of a B-29 that fell at the ridge of Mt. Futatabi in the Maya Mountains of Kobe. His Tony fighter's propeller, landing gear and radiator were also found dropped in a nearby area. It was a scene that freshly reminded those who were there of his bloody body-crash.

Capt. Ogata, who had an early score of 8 bombers destroyed when he was in the 77th Sentai stationed in Burma, had already destroyed 4 B-29s and damaged 5 in the home defense air combat. Ogata, born in Kumamoto, Kyushu, 26 at age, a graduate from the 58th term of Arrny Air Academy and a brave warrior in the sky, was a superior pilot and leader outstanding both in the mind and skills, had been familiarly resepected by all of the members of the squadron. At his home near Itami Airfield there was a baby girl who had just been born (I suppose that he was a leader of somewhat Oshibuchi type.)

Ogata was the second pilot in the squadron, who rammed down a B-29 after 1/Lt Toshiro Wakui (AA 54) was killed in a ramming at a B-29 over Nagoya on 8 January 1945. On the date the 21st BC had just stepped up from precision bombing on the military targets at a high altitude to a first trial of indiscriminate fire-bombing on the urban areas by napalm incendiary bombs which would fall like a downpour of rain.

Maj. Furukawa recollected, "It was endurable for us in the air only to see the burning cities and frightened people with no means to cope. This led the flyers to silently determine to risk their lives by using ramming tactics."

As for Capt. Ogata, some pilots who were under him say, "We don't think that Capt. Ogata rammed intentionally even if was determined to risk his life for a near-ramming attack. As it was dark, even a skilled and experienced leader-pilot could collide his target plane by a margin of a split second for his instant manipulation."

Note: No suicide attack team was organized in the 56th Sentai, whereas such teams were formed in the intercept fighter units in and around Tokyo. The 56th Sentai was a rare single-engined fighter unit together with the 246th Sentai with KI- Tojos based at Taisho Airfield, Osaka, that made night intercept sorties during the air raids on Osaka on 13/14 and Kobe on 16/17 March 1945. Three well-trained pilots with the 56th were killed or heavily wounded in accidents at take-off on the nocturnal sorties. M. Sgt. (later W.0.) Tadao Sumi with over 2,000 flying hours, the only ace in the 56th, claimed 4 B-29's destroyed and 3 damaged during his repeated sorties, over Osaka on 13/14 March, but he mistook an upper cloud cover for a lower one. He tried to descend toward the upper cloud layer and his plane stalled. He bailed out but was hit by the rudder on his shoulder and heavily wounded.

On the March 13/14 mission the 21st BC lost 2 B-29s. NO STRATEGIC TARGETS LEFT says, "one lost on take off and one missing." Then, it is a riddle which pilot, Sumi or Fujimoto, 246th, downed it. On 16/17 March it is recorded that 3 B-29's were lost. (No mention is rnade in the above book but Y. Watanabe's data says so.) It may be judged that they were all lost to the ramming by Capt. Ogata, M Sgt Fujimoto and Sgt. Yukio Ikuta of the 246th, though 56 other pilots claimed some planes destroyed.

A NICK (Toryu) twin engine fighter (number 63) in close to A Square 22 experiencing heavy fire power from lower front gun turret of A Square 22. Apparently this is a ramming attempt by the Nick. The artist is Hideichi Kaiho, a friend of Hap Halloran's and who was a WW II flyer and now professional aviation artist. (This painting is NOT the actual ramming of Copelan's plane, but I thought it appropriate illustraion for the page - Sallyann)

Letter from Mr. Takaki

Dear Henry:

I have received your fax of April 13 along with Mr. Bill Copeland's email to you and a letter from Fr. Marcian Pellet to Mrs. Copeland on a downed B-29, Z Square 8, piloted by Major Bob Fitzgerald , AC. It is quite certain that the B-29 was rammed by Capt. Junichi Ogata, Army Air Academy 53rd Squardon Leader of the Army 56th Sentai (Ki-61 Hein) based at Itami and commanded by Maj Haruyoshi Furukawa before dawn on 11 March 1945. A B-29 that is believed to be Z Square 8 crashed in the mouhtain called Mt. Futatabi, located 2 miles north of the center of Kobe. The crash site was located in 1996 by a former office of the groundcrew of the 56th Sentai named Masayuki Tani living in Kobe. A photocopy of a sketch drawn by him is going to be airmailed together with a Kobe map. According to Tani's research, the B-29 dropped near a POW camp. This reconciles with what Fr. Pellet tells Maj. Furukawa and 2/Lt. Tani did not know that there were two American survivors, Lt. Robert W. Nelson and S/Sgt S. Augunas, from the B-29 Ogata

According to the BC data, on the day the 330 B-29's sortied, 306 fire-bombed targets (Kobe City area) and 3 were lost. As you say, Sgt Kenji Fujimoto and Sgt Yukio Ikuta of the 246th Sentai (Ki-44 Shoki) based at Taisho Airfield, Osaka, rammed down one B-29 each over Kobe and both survived. Fujimoto's ramming was his second one in succession to his first ramming over Osaka 16/17 March and he received a BUKOSHO medal for his distinguished services (Hata/Izawa). I have no information on the crash points of the other 2 B-29's shot down by the 246th pilots, but it can definitely be said that Z Square 8 was rammed by Junichi Ogata's Tony fighter of the 56th Sentai because it fell near the POW camp as Fr. Pellet says. At present the place of the POW camp is a house for the youth owned by Kobe City. It is in the mountainous area called Maya Mountains, largely belonging to Kokko Mountains. As for Capt. Ogata, 26 at age, posthumously promotoed to lietenant colonel.

Mr. Takaki

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