R-Area Air Force

R-Area Air Force
Active	from 28 August 1942
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Navy
Type	Naval aviation unit
Role	Seaplane
Part of	8th Fleet
Garrison/HQ	Shortland Islands Rekata Bay
Aircraft flown	Mitsubishi F1M Nakajima A6M2-N Aichi E13A
Engagements	World War II Guadalcanal Campaign Solomon Islands Campaign Naval Battle of Guadalcanal Operation KE
Commanders
Notable commanders	Takatsugu Jōjima Takeshi Horihashi Kaneshige Watanabe

The R-Area Air Force (R方面航空部隊, R-Hōmen Kōkū Butai) was a unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) during the Pacific War that was involved in the Guadalcanal Campaign and Solomon Islands Campaign. The unit operated seaplanes with a primary mission to protect resupply convoys headed for Guadalcanal and to conduct aerial reconnaissance.