Starting in the 1930's, Japan began to rapidly militarize. One of the first things they did was improve their planes. Japan was still using outdated biplanes. Along with better planes came better pilots. The Japanese Pilots were now given training and were also equipped with useful survival tools such as pistols and parachutes. As Japan entered WW2 on the Axis side, their air-force battled in the skies with planes from Britain, the Commonwealth, and China. Japanese pilots would also bomb the US navel base at Pearl Harbor, resulting in America joining the war. The Japanese air-force lost its first major battle at Midway. It was not long before American and British forces had driven Japan off of the many Pacific islands. Allied bombers destroyed Japanese factories and runways, making the Japanese air-force unable to fly. This made Japan prone to bombing. After much bombing, Japan surrendered in 1945.