6th Air Group
The 6th Air Group (Dai-roku Kōkūtai) was a fighter unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in the Pacific War. It operated from 1 April 1942 to 1 November 1942 and was formed at Kisarazu, Japan, with six Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters under Lt Hideki Shingō. It was part of the 26th Air Flotilla and the 11th Air Fleet.
The group took part in intercepting the Doolittle Raid on 18 April but failed to stop it. By 30 May it had grown to 33 Zeros, and Lt Tadashi Kaneko became its leader. It was planned to defend Midway after Operation MI, with fighters split among carriers Akagi, Kaga, Hiryū, Sōryū, and Jun'yō. Some fought at Midway under Kaneko; others at Dutch Harbor under Zenjirō Miyano. The Midway defeat made the original plan infeasible.
In late August 1942 the group was sent to Rabaul to operate in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Lt Mitsugi Kofukuda led a remarkable 5,000-kilometer over‑water ferry of 18 Zeros from Kisarazu to Rabaul via Iwo Jima, Saipan, Truk, and Kavieng—the longest such flight for a single‑seat fighter at the time. They initially defended Rabaul and escorted convoys.
Their first Guadalcanal operation was on 11 September 1942. On 28 September, Kofukuda led 27 Zeros to escort 27 G4M bombers; U.S. Wildcats intercepted, and eight Zeros were lost. The Japanese revised tactics to a fighter sweep ahead of bombers, which helped them shoot down Wildcats and destroy two Dauntless dive bombers.
On 8 October the group moved to Buin, Bougainville, and began using the longer-range Model 32 Zeros to cover convoys to Guadalcanal. They flew various missions through October, including anti-shipping strikes and fighter sweeps. On 1 November 1942 the unit was redesignated as the 204th Air Group. It continued fighting in the Guadalcanal campaign, including helping shoot down Wildcats during a clash over Guadalcanal and protecting the battleship Hiei during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November. The group supported the Guadalcanal evacuation in February 1943 and the Lae reinforcement convoy in March 1943.
In March 1943 Miyano was replaced by Miyano’s successor as Hikōtaichō, and Miyano’s low-altitude tactic for protecting dive bombers was tested in Operation SE in June, during which Miyano was killed. The unit later took part in Operation RO and defended Rabaul into early 1944, before disbanding on 4 March 1944. Notable aces who served with it included Tetsuzō Iwamoto and Sadamu Komachi.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:24 (CET).