Type 99 Paratrooper

[stryker]

Three sucessful airborne operations were carried out by the Japanese at the beginning of the war, two by Japanese Navy Airborne units (Japanese "Marines"):
1.) Celebes Islands, IJN 1st Tokosuka SNLF (air) dropped 334 men on 11 Jan. '42 and 185 troops the next day to seize Langoan airfield. SNLF (air)= Japanese "Marine" paratroopers.
2.) Sumatra (target Palembang airfield) IJA 2nd Parachute Regiment of 1st Parachute brigade (army) 460 troops dropped in two days.
3.) Timor Island IJN 3 Yokosuka SNLF (air) dropped 308 troopers on 20 Feb. '42 and 323 more the next day. (interesting because this was the FIRST combined paratroop/amohibious operation in tyhe history of warfare.)
A fourth and final airborne operation was tried in the Phillipines on Leyte by the Japanese Army on 6 Dec. 1944. 409 army paratroopers dropped on a network of U.S. airfields. Operation was a disaster, with the japanese forces wioped out by defending U.S. troops. A suicide mission involving crashing a stripped down bomber onto Yontan airfield on Okinawa (12 surving japanese commandos) destroyed 7 aircraft and damaged 26 plus lots of fuel and ammo. (japanese force wiped out) But this was not an "airborne" operation. Technically speaking if the weapon in question came from the Phillipines (Leyte) it could have come from a Japanese "Marine" parachutist, but it would be a rare bird! (In thqt raid IIRC they used a number of those also rare submachine guns of theirs. Hope this helps.

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[A. F Medic]

A suicide mission involving crashing a stripped down bomber onto Yontan airfield on Okinawa (12 surving japanese commandos) destroyed 7 aircraft and damaged 26 plus lots of fuel and ammo. (japanese force wiped out) But this was not an "airborne" operation. Technically speaking if the weapon in question came from the Phillipines (Leyte) it could have come from a Japanese "Marine" parachutist, but it would be a rare bird! (In thqt raid IIRC they used a number of those also rare submachine guns of theirs. Hope this helps.

When I was there, I learned to fly for a private pilot's license. We called it Yomitan. Bullet marks are still there and all over one Japanese monument. Some of the Japanese hangars are there as they were made out of cement that was poured over large dirt pile and then dug out. Clever?

When the Americans attacked Okinawa, we moved so fast that Yontan Airfield was quickly taken over. So fast, that a Jap Zero landed with it's pilot not knowing we owned it now! He went down in a blaze of gun fire.

I verified that story since it seemed unusual.