WWII Aircraft Recovered from Sea in Southwestern Japan

Izumi, Kagoshima Pref., May 27 (Jiji Press)–A World War II fighter aircraft of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Navy was recovered last month, 81 years after sinking into the ocean off Akune, Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan. A Kagoshima nonprofit organization in charge of the project to salvage the Shiden Kai aircraft wreck is working to establish a facility for a permanent exhibit of the aircraft downed in the late stages of the war. “We hope that (the aircraft) will give those who experienced the war and those who did not an opportunity to think about peace based on their own values,” an official of the NPO said. Developed as a state-of-the-art successor to the AM6 Zero fighter in the later stages of the war, the Shiden Kai boasted high combat power and maneuverability, equipped with four 20mm machine guns. The Shiden Kai is described in the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force website as “the best fighter used in significant numbers” by Japan during the war and “a formidable opponent in the closing months of the war.” On the other hand, the aircraft was known in Japan as an “unfortunate” aircraft as its introduction in combat was near the end of the war, and thus, not enough to change Japan’s fate. While about 400 units were manufactured, most of them were destroyed by Allied forces after the war. Besides the salvaged unit, only one Shiden Kai is known to survive to this day in Japan. The preserved aircraft is displayed at a facility in Ainan, a town in the western prefecture of Ehime. According to the NPO and others, Yoshishige Hayashi, who belonged to a squadron based at an Imperial Navy air base in Matsuyama, the capital of Ehime, piloted the recently recovered aircraft. On April 21, 1945, the aircraft took a hit while fighting a U.S. aircraft over the northern area of Kagoshima. Hayashi died during the combat. Eisuke Himoto, who heads the NPO, heard a few years ago from a local antique dealer that there was an aircraft somewhere off the Wakimoto coast in Akune. Himoto was slightly skeptical, but his group conducted four underwater surveys. It confirmed two machine guns characteristic of the Shiden Kai on a wing of the submerged aircraft. The group gathered about 8 million yen in donations between 2024 and 2025 after asking the public for funds to recover the sunken fighter. It also received messages from bereaved families of squadron members. “I was encouraged, although I had doubts over whether we could (salvage the fighter),” Himoto said. The biggest problem was that the sunken Shiden Kai weighed about 9 tons, due to around 5 tons of sand that flowed into the aircraft while it was submerged. On April 8 this year, the group spent about six hours pulling the Shiden Kai out of the water, with divers giving instructions to maintain the balance of the aircraft. “I was so moved that I couldn’t say anything,” Himoto said. “It was as if the aircraft was flying through air (during the salvage process).” The NPO is working to build a museum at a site where an Imperial Navy air base stood. From the base in the Kagoshima city of Izumi, around 200 people set out on suicide attack missions during the war. The salvaged aircraft will be put on display at the facility by year-end. “I hope visitors will look at the aircraft and think about wars, humans, sacrifice and the love for family,” Himoto said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]