page_title: Toshio Kuroiwa
hierarchical_section_title: Toshio Kuroiwa
caption_attribution_description: English: Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) fighter pilots who, on 22 February 1932, scored the first aerial victory in the IJN's history. The shoot-down occurred over Shanghai during the Shanghai incident and the pilots were flying the A1N2 Type 3 fighter aircraft. From left to right the pilots are: Nokiji Ikuta, Toshio Kuroiwa, and Kazuo Takeo. 日本語: 1932年2月22日、ロバート・ショートを撃墜し、上海公大基地に帰還直後の生田小隊。「加賀」飛行隊所属、左から生田乃木次大尉、黒岩利雄三空曹、武雄一夫一空兵。後は三式二号艦戦。
context_page_description: Toshio Kuroiwa was a warrant officer and ace fighter pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy during the January 28 Incident and the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the January 28 Incident on 22 February 1932, while assigned to the aircraft carrier Kaga's fighter group, Kuroiwa participated in the IJN's first official shootdown of an enemy aircraft in combat. In the shootdown, Kuroiwa and two other fighters from his unit destroyed a Chinese fighter aircraft piloted by American contract Pilot {Reserve} Lt Robert M. Short.
  During the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, assigned to the 12th Air Group, Kuroiwa saw considerable action against Chinese air opponents. During his combat career, Kuroiwa was officially credited with shooting down 13 enemy aircraft. In 1939 he was deemed too old to continue with combat duty so Kuroiwa left the IJN and became a civilian pilot for Imperial Japanese Airways. On 26 August 1944 the civilian transport aircraft he was flying disappeared off the Malay Peninsula and neither the aircraft nor Kuroiwa was ever found.
context_section_description: Toshio Kuroiwa (黒岩 利雄, Kuroiwa Toshio, born December 25, 1908 – disappeared August 26, 1944) was a warrant officer and ace fighter pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the January 28 Incident and the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the January 28 Incident on 22 February 1932, while assigned to the aircraft carrier Kaga's fighter group, Kuroiwa participated in the IJN's first official shootdown of an enemy aircraft in combat. In the shootdown, Kuroiwa and two other fighters from his unit destroyed a Chinese fighter aircraft piloted by American contract Pilot {Reserve} Lt Robert M. Short.
  During the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, assigned to the 12th Air Group, Kuroiwa saw considerable action against Chinese air opponents. During his combat career, Kuroiwa was officially credited with shooting down 13 enemy aircraft. In 1939 he was deemed too old to continue with combat duty so Kuroiwa left the IJN and became a civilian pilot for Imperial Japanese Airways. On 26 August 1944 the civilian transport aircraft he was flying disappeared off the Malay Peninsula and neither the aircraft nor Kuroiwa was ever found.
caption: Toshio Kuroiwa (center), poses in front of a Nakajima A1N Type 3 fighter aircraft with the other two Kaga fighter pilots with which he shot down Robert Short's aircraft on 22 February 1932.
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