Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
大日本帝國海軍航空隊 Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun Koku Tai
Rising Sun Flag
Active	1912–1945
Country	Empire of Japan
Branch	Imperial Japanese Navy
Type	Naval aviation
Engagements	World War I Second Sino-Japanese War World War II
Commanders
Ceremonial chief	Emperor of Japan
Notable commanders	Chuichi Nagumo Minoru Genda Mitsuo Fuchida
Insignia
Roundel

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (大日本帝國海軍航空隊, Dai-Nippon Teikoku Kaigun Kōkū-tai) (IJNAS) was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War.

The Japanese military acquired its first aircraft in 1910 and followed the development of air combat during World War I with great interest. Japan initially built European aircraft under license, but by the early 1930s Japanese factories were producing domestic designs. The Japanese also embarked on an ambitious aircraft carrier building program, launching the world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, Hōshō, in 1922. Several excess battlecruisers and battleships were converted into aircraft carriers as well. As the organization assigned to the IJN's aircraft carriers, the Navy Air Service was tasked with the missions of national air defence, deep strike, naval warfare, and so forth. It retained this mission until its dissolution at the end of the Second World War.

The Japanese pilot training program was extremely selective and rigorous, producing a high-quality and long-serving pilot corps, who were very successful aerial combat during the early part of World War II in the Pacific. However, as combat casualties mounted starting in 1942, the long duration of the pilot training program, combined with a shortage of gasoline for training, prevented the IJNAS from rapidly providing qualified replacement pilots in sufficient numbers. Moreover, Japan, unlike the U.S. or Britain, never altered its program to speed up the training process of its recruits. The resultant decrease in pilot quantity and quality, among other factors, contributed to increasing losses of aircraft and aircrew toward the end of the war.

Japanese naval aviators, like their army counterparts, preferred maneuverable aircraft, utilizing lightly built but extraordinarily agile planes, most famously the A6M Zero, which achieved its maneuverability by sacrificing armor and self-sealing fuel tanks. Aircraft with armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, such as the Kawanishi N1K-J, would not enter service until late 1944–1945, too late to have a meaningful impact on the outcome of the war.