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Garry –
Yes. The 246 Hikō Sentai (Flying Combat Regiment), 2nd Chutai (blue fuselage bands), bird was on homeland air defense duties June 1942-June 1943 at Kakogawa air field in southwestern Honshu on the coast of the Inland Sea. Below is an image of an almost-identical aircraft with red fuselage stripes that Richard Bueschel identifies as a 3rd Chutai aircraft flown by Corporal Koyama (given name unknown). Richard M. Bueschel, Nakajima Ki.27A-B, Manshu Ki.79A-B in Japanese Army Air Force-Manchuoukuo-IPSF-RACAF-PLAAF & CAF Service, New York: Arco 170, page 3.
I can’t identify the unit of the Manchukuoan bird, but the fuselage inscription reads Gokoku Antō Yo-gō, literally, Defense of the Fatherland Antō Number Four. It was the fourth Ki-27 presented to the Manchukuoan Air Force by the people of Antung.
Below is a photograph of it from page 155 of George Eleftherious and Kiri Domoto-Eleftherious, The Eagle of Manchukuo, 1932-1945: An Illustrated History of the Civilian and Military Aviation, Tokyō: Arawasi Press, 2011. I just happened to have this book on my shelf.
Cheers,
Don
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