LS Nakajima Ki-43-I Hayabusa “Oscar” LCOL Takeo Kato, CO of the 64th Sentai in 1/72 Scale

Takeo Kato opened his account while flying Ki-10 “Perry” biplane fighters during the Sino-Japanese War in 1937-38, where he was credited with nine victories over Chinese aircraft.  After rotating out of China, he was part of a Japanese delegation which traveled to Europe to inspect Luftwaffe units.  At the beginning of the Pacific War he was the Commanding Officer of the 64^th Sentai, which frequently clashed with British units and the American Volunteer Group.  On 22MAY42 he and his group intercepted a Blenheim IV from 60 Squadron RAF.  Kato’s Oscar was hit by return fire and crashed into the sea.  He was credited with 18 aerial victories at the time.