The Japanese military became interested in the use of captive balloons in the mid 19th century, having noted their use by Western European armies.

[1][2][3] In 1907, Lieutenant Commander Eisuke Yamamoto approached the Ministers of the Army and Navy, General Masatake Terauchi and Admiral Minoru Saito.

The association was chaired by Major General Masahiko Obama and continued to drive Japanese aviation policy until 1920.

[1] During March of that year Army Lieutenant Hino and Navy Engineer Sanji Narahara each designed an aircraft.

[5] The Japanese Army purchased its first aircraft, a Farman biplane and a Grade monoplane, which had been brought back by the officers from Western Europe.

[5] On December 19, 1909, Captain Yoshitoshi Tokugawa in a Farman III conducted the first successful powered flight on Japanese soil at Yoyogi Parade Ground in Tokyo.

[1] The following year in 1911, several more aircraft were imported and an improved version of the Farman III biplane, the Kaishiki No.1, was built and flown in Japan by Captain Togugawa.

[4] In 1914, with the outbreak of war, the Japanese laid siege to the German colony of Qingdao, aircraft from the army together with navy's seaplane carrier Wakamiya conducted reconnaissance and bombing operations.

The Provisional Air Corps consisting of four Maurice Farman MF.7 biplanes and a single Nieuport VI-M monoplane flew 86 sorties between them.

Isobe Onokichi, Ishibashi Katsunami, Masaru Kaiya (IJN), Tadao Yamanaka, Masatoshi Takeishi, Isakitchy Nagao, and Moro Goroku, a Kawasaki aircraft engineer, also served in the French Flying corp.[9][10] However, serious interest in military aviation did not develop until after World War I. Japanese military observers in Western Europe were quick to spot the advantages of the new technology, and after the end of the war, Japan purchased large numbers of surplus military aircraft, including 20 Sopwith 1½ Strutters, 3 Nieuport 24s, and 6 Spads.

To cope with this increase in the number of available aircraft the first flying school was set up at Tozorozawa (Tokorozawa Rikugun Koku Seibi Gakkō) followed by Akeno and Shimoshizu.

[7] During this time Japanese aircraft were being used in combat roles during the 1920 Siberian Intervention against the Bolshevik Red Army near Vladivostok.

In May 1925, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Corps was established under the command of Lieutenant General Kinichi Yasumitsu, it was regarded as a branch equal to the artillery, cavalry or infantry,[7] and contained 3,700 personnel with about 500 aircraft.

By World War Two the command structure of the Imperial Japanese Air Service fell under three separate areas.

Each Air Combat Group was a single-purpose unit consisting typically of three squadrons, divided into three shōtai (小隊, flights) of three aircraft each.

Maintenance and ground service units, formerly a separate command, were merged into the Air Combat Group (Hiko Sentai).

The final reorganisation of the took place during preparation for Operation Ketsu-Go, the defence of the home islands in 1945 against expected invasion when all the Air Armies were combined under a centralised command of General Masakazu Kawabe.

Called a division, the unit was a brigade-sized force, and was part of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS).

The Arsenal included a testing section for captured Allied aircraft, the Air Technical Research Laboratory (Koku Gijutsu Kenkyujo).

These escort/transport carriers were converted from small passenger liners or merchant ships and possessed the capacity to operate from eight to 38 aircraft, depending on type and size, and were also used to transport personnel and tanks.