Tuesday 21 February 2012

Nakajima Ki-43 "Hayabusa" (Oscar) & drop tank

A vintage photo from the September 1944 issue of "Asahi Graph" magazine.
The 200l drop tank is prominent in the foreground but what could the other object under the starboard wing be? A 250kg bomb with the fins retouched by the war time sensor, a quite unusual for a "Hayabusa" "Ta-dan" air-to-air cluster bomb or a type 90 small-size flare?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

maybe a type 90 small-size flare as depicted in
E.E.S. #-1 page 19?

jacob

Arawasi said...

Good idea, thanks. As I see it, the flares in Eagle Eye#1 are much smaller than the object under the wing. And what an unusual thing for a Hayabusa to carry!