4th Air Group

4th Air Group
A Mitsubishi G4M Rikko Navy Type 1 Attack Bomber of the 4th Air Group's 1st section (1st chutai) in ferrying or reconnaissance mode configuration, indicated by fairings installed over the usually open bomb bay, photographed around August 1942.
Active	10 February 1942 – 1 November 1942
Country	Empire of Japan
Allegiance	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
Type	Naval aviation unit
Role	Bomber support
Part of	24th Air Flotilla, 11th Air Fleet IJNAS 25th Air Flotilla, 11th Air Fleet IJNAS
Garrison/HQ	Truk, Micronesia Rabaul, New Britain
Engagements	New Guinea Campaign Guadalcanal Campaign

The 4th Air Group (第四航空隊 Dai Yon Kōkūtai) was a land-based bomber aircraft unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The unit was formed on 10 February 1942 and flew the Mitsubishi G4M Rikko Navy Type 1 Attack Bomber aircraft. That same month, the 4th Naval Air Group (NAG) deployed to Rabaul, New Britain and supported Japanese operations during the early stages of the New Guinea Campaign, first as part of the 24th Air Flotilla and from April as part of the 25th Air Flotilla. The newly arrived unit took heavy losses on 20 February during an action off Bougainville, losing 15 of 17 bombers sent to attack a United States Navy aircraft carrier task force.

Reconstituted with replacement aircraft, the 4th NAG participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea on 7 May 1942, losing five bombers destroyed in an attack on an Australian/US warship task group. In August 1942, the unit conducted bombing raids against Allied forces newly landed on Guadalcanal. Taking heavy losses over Guadalcanal, the unit was withdrawn from the front in September 1942. On 1 November 1942 the unit was redesignated as the 702 Air Group.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Bergerud, Eric M. (2000). Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific. Boulder, CO, USA: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3869-7.
• Bullard, Steven (translator) (2007). Japanese army operations in the South Pacific Area New Britain and Papua campaigns, 1942–43. Senshi Sōshō (translated excerpts). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. ISBN 978-0-9751904-8-7.
• Frank, Richard (1990). Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-58875-4.
• Gillison, Douglas (1962). Volume I – Royal Australian Air Force, 1939–1942. Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Series 3: Ar. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 25 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
• Lundstrom, John B. (2005). First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 (New ed.). Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-472-8.
• Miller, Thomas G. (1969). Cactus Air Force. Admiral Nimitz Foundation. ISBN 0-934841-17-9.
• Tagaya, Osamu (2001). Mitsubishi Type 1 "Rikko" 'Betty' Units of World War 2. New York: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84176-082-7.

External links

• Mersky, Peter B. (1993). "Time of the Aces: Marine Pilots in the Solomons, 1942-1944". Marines in World War II Commemorative Series. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. Retrieved October 20, 2006.
• "Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II - Part I". Reports of General MacArthur. United States Army Center of Military History. Retrieved 2006-12-08.