British people think of Japanese fighter pilots, they probably think of the Second World War and the Zero long-range fighter aircraft, or even kamikaze. They certainly do not think of a young man in a Royal Air Force biplane. But Harry Fusao O’Hara was a Japanese fighter pilot, flying with the RAF in 1918.
Harry Fusao O’Hara was born in Tokyo in 1891. As a treaty partner of the UK, Japan joined the Allies early in the war; O’Hara, though, seems to have decided to fight for the British rather than his homeland. First, he served in the Indian Army in the 34th Sikh Pioneers, the pioneer unit of the 3rd (Lahore) Division, which served on the Western Front in 1914 and moved to Mesopotamia in August 1915. It is not clear whether O’Hara served at the front with the SIkhs. Instead of going to Mesopotamia, though, O’Hara joined the Middlesex Regiment in December 1915 and did then go out to France, arriving on Christmas Eve.
In August 1916, O’Hara was wounded in action. Although the records do not detail his actions, he was awarded the Military Medal in January 1917 and, when inspected by a Royal Flying Corps doctor, he was found to have shrapnel scars on his left arm, chest, left shoulder, right arm and right thigh. He had clearly – as the phrase goes – been through the wars.
Does anyone know of this remarkable man? Japanese, travelling as a f=ournalist to India, joining the Sikh, then the Gurkhas and the to Londomn where he joined the Middlesex regiment and where he became a friend of my grandfather. His daughter now lives in Holland and she told me that he died in 1951. He wo was awarded the Military medal in the Middlesex but after that joined the RFC where he crashed and was injured. After the war he made toys for children for charity, of which I inherited one
The London museim has his details here: https://greatwarlondon.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/harry-fusao-ohara-japanese-fighter-pilot-1918/:confused:
A remarkable man who should be well-known I would have thought?
By: Dave Homewood - 9th July 2016 at 21:29
From what the son said it was the first course to start after the formation of the RAF. All previous courses that were part way through were quite obviously RFC courses when they began. John Sinclair wrote the course name was Group 1 RAF. Not that it matters one bit, as the reason for posting was to demonstrate two more Japanese pilots trained by the RAF in WWI.
By: Sabrejet - 9th July 2016 at 16:13
Not misunderstood at all: it’s just missing a qualifying statement. On 1st April 1918, many hundreds of personnel were undergoing flight tuition already, with many hundreds more about to start. At this time it was mainly the Training Squadrons and/or TDS’s doing elementary right through to advanced flight training, but other schools were training instructors, scout and artillery gunnery and so on.
So I was just trying to point out that ‘first RAF course’ didn’t mean anything without applying some sort of criteria. Thus I’d suggest it was the first CFS course held after the RAF was formed?
By: Dave Homewood - 9th July 2016 at 11:37
You misunderstand. The first RAF flying course held, sometime just after 1st of April 1918 – as opposed to being an RFC course prior to 1st of April 1918.
By: Sabrejet - 9th July 2016 at 10:47
Two more Japanese citizens who learned to fly with the Royal Air Force in WWII were Takijiro Onishi and M. Sakamoto. They were on the first flying course held after the RAF formed in April 1918.
First CFS course I suspect: many (many!) other flying courses were available both pre-and post-April 1918 within the RFC/RAF.
By: Dave Homewood - 9th July 2016 at 10:43
Two more Japanese citizens who learned to fly with the Royal Air Force in WWII were Takijiro Onishi and M. Sakamoto. They were on the first flying course held after the RAF formed in April 1918.
Onishi was later to become an Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was the “father of the kamikaze” units!
Here is a photo take in 1918 showing both Onishi and Sakamoto in their course group at Netheravon Aerodrome. Also in the photo is Ron Sinclair from New Zealand, I believe he’s the kiwi on the left, in the lemon squeezer hate fifth from left in the front row, and I think Onishi is the Japanese officer next to him. This photo came to me years ago as a laser copy from Ron’s son John Sinclair.
By: Sabrejet - 9th July 2016 at 09:11
Although the records do not detail his actions…[/url]
A remarkable man who should be well-known I would have thought?
Plenty on record at TNA, as well as details of his actions in The Sky Their Battlefield, etc..
Good thread here:
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?/topic/204768-private-o-hara/#comment-2013572
By: VACB - 8th July 2016 at 23:45
Thanks for sharing that, I certainly wasn’t aware.
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July 8, 2016 at 9:20 pm