EMBLEMS OF THE RISING SUN

Imperial Japanese Army Air Force unit markings. Some of the most colourful warplanes ever to see active service, the aircraft of the IJAAF carried the samurai regard for brightly coloured armour and equipment into the 20th Century. The heraldic traditions of ancient Japan found new expression as the emblems for all types of air units. All sprang from the Japanese love of symbolism and design. Some were hundreds of years old; others existed for only a few weeks. Every one which can be verified from photographs is illustrated in colour. 104 pages of full-colour drawings show the emblems both by unit and by aircraft type, allowing the reader to rapidly identify to which formation a specific aircraft may have belonged. Eighty black and white photographs illustrate the many variations of emblems and the aircraft types which carried them. Organisational charts give Orders of Battle in different theatres of war, from Manchuria, China and Burma to the Home Islands.