When the bombing of Tokyo by B-29s began,
There were people soaring into the sky high.
“The 244th Air Squadron” that took off from Chofu Airfield.
They flew the Army Type 3 Fighter “flying swallow” .
They were tasked with the extremely high-level mission of hurling themselves at the enemy in the sky
and then parachuting out and returning home.
Overshadowed by the Kamikaze Suicide Attack unit, they are rarely mentioned.
However, they were the last bastion of air defence in the Imperial Capital.
They were led by the youngest Air Corps leader, who was renowned as the ‘King of Shootdown’.
Major “Teruhiko Kobayashi”, aged just 24.
Every morning, from his home close to the airfield,
His wife saw him off, and he went out and returned home.
He survived the war,
After the war, having trained in the U.S. as a jet pilot,
Started serving as an Air Self-Defence Force officer.
One day during his days of training,
his aircraft broke down.
To avoid crashing into a peaceful city filled with people who had forgotten the existence of the 244th Air Squadron,
He scattered without ejection.
When we realize the weight of the sacrifices made for those of us living in the present,
we realise the preciousness of our existence, and we change our way of life.
The boys and girls in this film,
Through their respective battles, they “found” their own value again,
and are about to take off powerfully into the future.
One of them has been caught up in desperate incidents and plunged into darkness, but has risen again.
They were tossed about by the distortions of society, we met them as they struggled.
And knowing the hope that was entrusted to us, we looked up at the same sky to show the new path we were walking together.
The same sky in the past, the 244th Air Corps gazed up, who scattered for the sake of their loved ones.
This work is dedicated to
Major Teruhiko Kobayashi and his wife Chieko and to all who gave their precious lives in order to connect hope to the future,
And to all those who still challenge the contradictions of society.
