R. Lameck wrote in part:
It is unfortunate that this is a rather remote location. Otherwise, it may have already been done. Then, maybe we would be able to make a definitive statement.
Although you have stated your disinterest in the historical aspect of this subject, some additional information might be of interest to the others (except for Simon G., of course). Yes, at one level this was/is a remote location, except for one important fact: the excellence of U.S. intelligence in the Pacific during World War II. Then, as if that wasn't enough, the Imperial General Staff in Tokyo rendered outstanding cooperation after the surrender agreements were signed and this included the turning over of hundreds of thousands of documents and the setting up of Army and Navy demobilization bureaus that were jointly run. The documentation is voluminous. Below are some extracts from this material which have a bearing on this subject:
Kuriles
There were a total of 13 Japanese airfields in the Kuriles - 8 Navy and 5 Army.
Matsuwa: on Matsuwa Is. (a.k.a. Matsuwa-Jima, Matusuwa; today: Ostrov Matua) in the central part of the Kuriles - [NAS].
Airfield Description:
15 Aug 45: Matsuwa naval air station had 2 concrete runways, 80 x 1200 and 50 x 850 meters, 3 large and 4 small open aircraft shelters, fuel, bomb, torpedo storage, communications facilities, night landing capabilities, and a triangular reinforced air raid shelter for 250 persons.
Operational Units:
Part of 502 Kōkūtai with Aichi D3A Type 99 (VAL) carrier bombers stationed there Aug-Sep 44. This is the only JNAF unit to have been stationed there. Matsuwa was used mainly as a refueling transit field for aircraft en-route from Japan to Paramushiro and back.
18 Aug 45: the Japanese Army defense force on Matsuwa was the 41st Independent Mixed Infantry Regiment.
Remarks:
13 Apr 44: airfield bombed by 3 28th Composite Bomb Gp. B-24 Liberators.
14 Apr 44: airfield bombed by 3 28th Composite Bomb Gp. B-24 Liberators.
5 Nov 44: airfield bombed by 4 28th Composite Bomb Gp. B-24 Liberators.
20 Jul 45: airfield bombed by 8 28th Composite Bomb Gp. B-24 Liberators.
[
Source:
3d Section of the General Affairs Dept./Japanese Naval Air HQ, Sheet VJ-6, from: Japanese Surrender Documents Submitted to SCAP by the Japanese Negotiators, 19 August 1945; in: MacArthur Memorial, Norfolk, Virginia, Record Group 4, Box 24, Folder 6.]
Sakhalin (Karafuto)
There were a total of 10 Japanese airfields in Karafuto - 8 Army and 2 Navy.
None of these were at or near Usiro (sic). The town of Ushiro had no airfield near it whatsoever. The nearest airfield to Ushiro was at Tōro (today Shakhtyorsk) 21 miles N of Ushiro, with the airstrip right on the coast along the Tatar Strait (Tatarski Pro’liv).
Tōro: consisted of a grass strip measuring 60 x 1200 meters with no aircraft shelters and just a few huts or sheds for infrastructure. It was intended for small, single-engine tactical reconnaissance aircraft in the event the Russians attacked Karafuto from the northern part of Sakhalin. Since they never did, the airstrip rarely saw an aircraft during the war.
Operational Units:
None identified.
Remarks:
Never attacked by U.S. air forces.
[
Source:
United States Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas,
Digest of Japanese Air Bases, Special Translation Number 65, CINCPAC – CINCPOA Bulletin No. 112-45, page 18, 12 May 1945.]
None of the Japanese airfields in Karafuto had a runway longer that 1400 meters (Iketsuki). In the Kuriles, the longest runway was 1600 meters and made of wood planking (Miyoshino No. 1). There were no runways under construction in either Karafuto or in the Kuriles on 15 August 1945 or being lengthened and improved.
All of the above documentation is in my possession. For those who are still doubting Thomases, stop at the U.S. National Archives in College Park the next time you are in the Washington area. After you obtain your credentials and visitor pass, go up to the second floor where you will find the glass-enclosed reference room adjacent to the research hall. Ask for the finding aids for the Record Group 38 Orange Library. Identify and fill out a request for the Crain Collection intercepts. Here you will find hundreds of intercepted, decoded and translated Japanese messages sent to and received from the two airfields noted above. By the time you finish reading them, you will know more about the airfields in Karafuto and the Kuriles than any other living human being.
Lorenz