The was an anti-aircraft gun used by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. The Type 88 number was designated for the year the gun was accepted, 2588 in the Japanese imperial year calendar, or 1928 in the Gregorian calendar. It replaced the earlier Type 11 75 mm AA gun in front line combat service, and at the time was equal in performances to any of its contemporaries in Western armies and was considered capable of handling any targets the Japanese army was likely to encounter on the Asian mainland. Although it was soon overtaken by improvements in aircraft technology and was largely obsolete by 1941, it continued to be used on many fronts until the end of the war.

History and development

thumb|left|A battery of Type 88s of the 2nd AA Regiment ([[1st Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|IJA 1st Division)]]

The Type 88 75 mm AA gun was based on an exhaustive evaluation by the Army Technical Bureau of several existing overseas designs, amalgamating some of the best features from each design (especially from the World War I-vintage British Vickers QF 3 inch 20 cwt AA gun) into a new, Japanese design. The Type 88's number was designated for the year the gun was accepted, 2588 in the Japanese imperial year calendar, or 1928 in the Gregorian calendar. The Type 88 was superior to the Type 11 in accuracy and range of fire.

The Type 88 75 mm AA gun entered service between 1927 and 1928, and was deployed to virtually every anti-aircraft field artillery unit as protection against medium level aircraft attacks. Although it was a difficult and expensive weapon for Japan to produce with its limited industrial infrastructure and production technology, it was produced in larger numbers than any other medium anti-aircraft weapon in the Japanese inventory. Over 2,000 units were completed by the time of the surrender of Japan.

In the early phases of World War II, Allied military intelligence initially assumed that the Japanese Type 88 was a copy of the formidable German Flak 36/37 88 mm gun due to its name. However, there is no connection between the two weapons. The confusion arose from the Japanese Army's nomenclature system. "Type 88" corresponds to the year 2588 in the Japanese imperial year, and not to the caliber of the weapon. It was assigned to civil defense units in major Japanese cities, but its maximum effective vertical range of meant it was ineffective against the USAAF B-29 Superfortress bombers, which could fly as high as . Some guns were also assigned to coastal defense batteries.

A variant was experimentally fitted to a Ki-109 bomber in an attempt to shoot down B-29 Superfortress bombers at high altitude.

North Vietnamese troops captured and used some Type 88s during the First Indochina War

Weapons o<nowiki/>f comparable role, performance and era

  • British QF 3 inch 20 cwt
  • United States 3-inch M1918 gun

Ammunition

  • Anti-aircraft
  • Type 90 HE AA pointed: complete round: 8.94&nbsp;kg, projectile: 6.52&nbsp;kg with Type 89 AA fuse
  • High explosive
  • Type 90 HE pointed: complete round: 8.55&nbsp;kg, projectile: 6.35 with Type 88 impact or Type 88 delay
  • Armor-piercing
  • Type 95 APHE: complete round: 6.2&nbsp;kg
  • Shrapnel
  • Smoke
  • Incendiary
  • Illumination

See also

  • Type 96 AA gun prime mover

Notes

References

  • Bishop, Chris (eds) The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Barnes & Nobel. 1998. .
  • Chant, Chris. Artillery of World War II, Zenith Press, 2001, .
  • McLean, Donald B. Japanese Artillery; Weapons and Tactics. Wickenburg, Ariz.: Normount Technical Publications 1973. .
  • Mayer, S.L. The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan. The Military Press, 1984.
  • War Department Special Series No 25 Japanese Field Artillery October 1944
  • U.S. Department of War, TM 30-480, Handbook on Japanese Military Forces, Louisiana State University Press, 1994. .
  • War Department TM-E-30-480 Handbook on Japanese Military Forces September 1944
  • Taki's Imperial Japanese Army Page - Akira Takizawa