Date & Time:
Jul 8, 1943
Type of aircraft:
Tachikawa Ki-77
Operator:
Flight Phase:
Flight
Flight Type:
Military
Survivors:
No
Site:
Lake, Sea, Ocean, River
Schedule:
Singapore - Sarabus
Country:
World
Region:
World
Crew on board:
5
Crew fatalities:
5
Pax on board:
3
Pax fatalities:
3
Other fatalities:
0
Total fatalities:
8
Circumstances:
After leaving Japan, the airplane made a stop in Singapore, last stop of a mission to Europe called 'Seiko'. The airplane departed Singapore at 0710LT on a flight to Sarabus (Gvardeyskoye AFB in Simferopol), Crimea. While cruising over the Indian Ocean, it crashed in unknown circumstances and was not recovered. All eight occupants were killed, five crew members and three military attachés.
Crew:
Juukou Nagatomo, pilot,
Hajime Kawasaki, copilot,
Kenji Tsukagoshi, flight engineer,
Noriyoshi Nagata, flight engineer,
Motohiko Kawashima, radio operator.
Passengers:
Col Yoshiaki Nishi,
Lt Col Shozou Nakamura,
Lt Col Takasuke Katori.
Crew:
Juukou Nagatomo, pilot,
Hajime Kawasaki, copilot,
Kenji Tsukagoshi, flight engineer,
Noriyoshi Nagata, flight engineer,
Motohiko Kawashima, radio operator.
Passengers:
Col Yoshiaki Nishi,
Lt Col Shozou Nakamura,
Lt Col Takasuke Katori.
Probable cause:
The exact circumstances of the mishap remains unclear. It became known post-war that British intelligence was aware in advance of the mission and its route (via air grid squares 3420, 2560 and 2510), as a result of the ULTRA signals decryption project at Bletchley Park, which decoded German radio communications advising Sarabus of the projected arrival of the Ki-77. Thus, it is possible that the airplane was shot down by British fighter.
