Rise and Fall of the Japanese Imperial Naval Air Service

by Peter J. Edwards

A detailed history of the events that led to Japan’s audacious attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and the bloody conflict in the Pacific that followed.

The book is published by Pen and Sword Aviation Books and is available now in hardback.

ISBN: 9781848843073

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Reviews:

Front Cover Design

"New material previously unpublished is included, within an extremely well-written narrative history."  
Aviation News - July 2011

"The book is a definite must for anyone interested in Japanese aircraft development and I definitely recommended it."  
Warships International Fleet Review - July 2011

Peter Edwards goes beyond the normal historical accounts and explores the aircraft, ships that personnel that shaped the Japanese Imperial Naval Air Service from its origins in the late 19th century to its demise in 1945.

Through vivid accounts of the air and sea battles that raged across the Pacific the book illustrates how the United States re-established its military dominance and finally dropped the world's first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The book begins his account with a brief look at Japanese pre-history when Japan was a closed country. By the nineteenth century the country had begun to be more open to foreign visitors and a British Naval Mission was established in Japan as early as 1867. The book goes on to provide a thorough and compelling account of the political and military events that shaped history in the Pacific in the first half of the twentieth century.

Back Cover Design

Following a number successful flights of fixed-wing aircraft in the USA and Europe at the turn of the century the Japanese navy sent several officers to train as pilots in Europe.During the First World War Japan became allied with the UK and played a significant part in keeping German ships and submarines at bay in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. However, as a result of the international naval treaties that followed the war and the limitations that were put on the development of the Japanese Navy the country felt betrayed.

During the 1930s Japan began the development of a number of new aircraft carriers and torpedo bombers.

Military expansion saw an increase in imperialistic expansion too and led to the occupation of Pacific islands and the invasion of eastern China. Whilst in 1937 the famous American aviator Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan disappeared mysteriously amongst the Japanese occupied islands in the Pacific, during their highly publicised world flight.

Japan developed a great deal of military experience during their invasion and occupation of parts of China. The breakdown in political relations with USA in 1941 resulted in Japan becoming allied with Germany, Italy and Vichy France during the Second World War. There then followed devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, the Southern Islands, Port Darwin and New Guinea. British forces were decimated in the attacks and the United States recoiled at the Japanese onslaught.

Throughout the bloody conflict in the Pacific many great sea battles were fought and the name Zero became legendary, as did the suicide missions flown by the Kamikaze pilots in a desperate attempt to stop the approaching American forces.

Japan eventually capitulated after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Following these attacks Japan surrendered and the Japanese Imperial Air Service was disbanded.