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Technical Air Intelligence Unit

A Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Oscar") (often confused with the Mitsubishi A6M "Zero") flying over Brisbane, Australia in 1943. The Ki-43 was reconstructed from several captured aircraft, by the Technical Air Intelligence Unit (TAIU), at Hangar 7 at Eagle Farm, Brisbane.

Technical Air Intelligence Units (TAIU) were joint Allied military intelligence units formed during World War II to recover Japanese aircraft to obtain data regarding their technical and tactical capabilities.

The first such unit, known later as Technical Air Intelligence Unit–South West Pacific (TAIU–SWPA), was formed in November 1942 by the United States Navy (USN), United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at Eagle Farm Airbase, Brisbane, Australia, in November 1942.[1]

During 1943–44, three other TAIUs were formed in the other Allied theatres of the Pacific War.[2][3]

A proposed joint U.S. Army-U.S. Navy research unit in the continental United States was never established, as neither service was prepared to work with the other.[1] Some Japanese aircraft were tested in the US, at various bases, by pilots from the Naval Air Test Center, the USAAF Test Training Unit (which was established with the assistance of RAF technical intelligence units in Europe) and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

Crashed and captured aircraft were located, identified, and evaluated (often in or near the front lines), before being recovered for further tests. Aircraft that were not too badly damaged were rebuilt for test flights that revealed vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Examination of the materials used in the construction of aircraft allowed the Allies to analyse Japanese war production. The unit also absorbed a small team who developed the code name system for Japanese aircraft, and produced aircraft recognition charts and photographs.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Trojan, David. "Technical Air Intelligence: Wreck Chasing in the Pacific during the War" (PDF). j-aircraft.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 December 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
  2. ^ Starkings, Peter (2011). "The End of the JAAF and JNAF". j-aircraft.com. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
  3. ^ Harold Skaarup, 2006, RCAF War Prize Flights, German and Japanese Warbird Survivors, Bloomington Indiana, iUniverse, pp33–4.

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