World War II
It is perhaps best known as a term used during World War II by the military of the Empire of Japan, for Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) military aviation units equivalent to a group or wing in other air forces. However, the term had slightly different meanings in the IJAAF and the IJNAS.
An IJAAF Sentai was made up of two to four squadrons (chūtai). In the IJAAF, two or more Sentai comprised a hikōdan (air brigade). In the later stages of World War II, the IJAAF abolished chūtai and divided its sentai into hikōtai (flying units) and seibitai (maintenance units). A sentai commander (sentaichō) was generally a Lieutenant Colonel.
In the IJNAS, a sentai was a larger unit: a kōkūtai was the equivalent of an IJAAF sentai. Several sentai made up a kantai (air fleet). In the IJNAS, a Sentaichō was usually a Naval Captain.
Read more about this topic: Sentai
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“There is one thing that the American people always rise to and extend their hand to and that is the truth of justice, and of liberty, and of peace. We have accepted that truth and we are going to led by it ... and through us the world, out into pastures of quietness and peace such as the world never dreamed of before.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“The war was a mirror; it reflected man’s every virtue and every vice, and if you looked closely, like an artist at his drawings, it showed up both with unusual clarity.”
—George Grosz (1893–1959)