Talk:List of air groups of the Imperial Japanese Navy

Redundant title?
Does the title need to say "Imperial Japanese Navy naval air groups"? Seems redundant. Any reason why "Imperial Navy air groups", or "Imperial Naval air groups" wasn't chosen? I mean, are there any "naval air groups" in the army? Did the Japanese Navy have any air groups that were not "naval air groups"? Boneyard90 (talk) 09:42, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

Codes painted on tails (a column of the above table)
There is a dearth of photographic evidence of the tail markings of certain units of Japanese naval aircraft. This article lacks citation for many of the listed unit codes, except to steer the reader to various Japanese books such as Sekai no Kessaku Ki (AKA Famous Airplanes of the World), which in some cases have nothing more than drawings in support of certain unit codes, or vague references to the existence of shiryō ("materials") in support of those codes. Being almost exclusively in Japanese, such books are very difficult for people who cannot read much Japanese. Consequently, when a warning about the lack of photo evidence does appear (e.g., page 194 of Nihon Kaigun Zeroshiki Kanjōsentōki, Nohara Shigeru, Bunrindō, 2013 rev. edition (revising a 2008 supplement in the Sekai no Kessaku Ki series)), people who cannot read Japanese will not necessarily notice it.

The table above shows a swap of unit codes, ostensibly effective on 14 July 1942, from "EI" to "EII" and vice versa. This implies that the aircraft carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku (and their respective aircraft units) traded places within the kōkū sentai on that date, because the Roman numerals "I" and "II" indicate the relative positions of the two ships within the kōkū sentai. What is the evidence for that date, please? Another theory is that they did not trade places until shortly after Shōkaku was heavily damaged at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October 1942. The damage put the flagship of the kōkū sentai, Shōkaku, out of action until 1943. There is photographic evidence that the two ships traded places within the kōkū sentai. It shows the painting over of one of two fuselage stripes formerly displayed on aircraft of Zuikaku Aircraft Unit. Those photos appear in Sekai no Kessaku Ki, Vol. 5 (1987) at pages 52-53, along with explanation. However, they do not prove any swap of the "EI" and "EII" codes, which had become obsolete by the time of the photo, circa late-January 1943. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kabocha (talk • contribs) 18:42, 4 May 2018 (UTC)  Kabocha (talk) 18:45, 4 May 2018 (UTC)