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[Mig Eater]

Following on from the last news post here are the Japanese Anti-Air defences, which range from one of the smallest to the biggest AA gun ever used.

To see more information and photos of these guns click on the images to go to their Wiki pages.

Type 96 25mm

In 1935 the Japanese were looking for a new light naval anti-aircraft weapon to replace their Vickers 40mm guns. A group of officers & engineers traveled to France to inspect the 25mm Hotchkiss design, several were bought back to Japan & tested at Yokosuka Navy Yard as the Type 94/95. Soon after a license was agreed & mass production started in Japan as the Type 96. It became the standard Japanese light anti-aircraft weapon with nearly 33,000 built by the end of the war.

Type 99 88mm

Following the battle of Nanking in December 1937 the Japanese captured several German 88mm SK c/30 anti-Air guns that had been bought by the Chinese Kuomintang army. After examining them they realized that they were superior to their own anti-Air guns so work stared on reverse engineering the design & in 1939 a copy of it was put into production as the Type 99. Because of their superiority most were kept on the Japanese home islands to defend vital areas against the Allied air raids.

Type 5 150mm

The Type 5 15cm is the largest anti-aircraft gun ever deployed in combat. Developed from the earlier Type 3 12cm which was designed specifically to counter the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, however it was soon found that the B-29 could fly even higher then the Type 3's effective range so an even bigger gun was needed. Development proceeded quickly & a prototype was soon ready but with Japan's infrastructure destroyed & limited resources only two were built before the end of the war. The two guns were deployed to Kugayama in the outskirts of Tokyo, in their first engagement on 1 August 1945 they successfully shot down two B-29s. Seeing the threat from these new weapons the USAF avoided flying near Kugayama for the rest of the war, so even though they were only used once they still defended Tokyo as an effective deterrence.