was a fighter aircraft

Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

 unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 (IJN) during the Pacific campaign

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

 of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The unit's name is translated into English as the "252 Air Group" instead of "252nd Air Group" because each numeral in the unit's name was a discrete identifier of information pertaining to the unit. The unit was formed on 1 November 1942 by separating the fighter squadron from the Genzan Air Group

Genzan Air Group

was an aircraft and airbase garrison unit of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific campaign of World War II.-History:...

.

The unit, equipped with A6M Zero fighter aircraft, was involved in several major battles in the south and central Pacific from 1942 to 1943. After being annihilated in combat over the Marshall islands in 1943, in February 1944 the unit was reconstituted in Japan and helped defend the home islands against Allied

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

 offensives, including B-29 bomber attacks

Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands

During World War II, a series of Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands took place between November 1944 and January 1945. These raids targeted United States Army Air Forces bases and sought to disrupt the bombing of Japan by B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers operating from the islands...

from the Mariana Islands.