Monday, 2 July 2012

VIPs - Battleship "Nagato"

On April 17, 1936 the governor of Shandong Province in North China, Han Fuju (second from right, here for more) visited Battleship Nagato escorted by Commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Takahashi Sankichi (third from right, here).
Perhaps the Navy guys can spot lots of interesting small details but for this blog of interest is the two reconnaissance floatplanes most probably Nakajima E4N2 in the background.

4 comments:

  1. Harold K3 July 2012 at 08:16

    Do we know who the others are?
    Especially the civilian in the suit, who looks so out of place.

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  2. Arawasi3 July 2012 at 10:04

    Unfortunately no. The vintage magazine caption mentions only these two.

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  3. Iskender5 July 2012 at 03:03

    The fin and rudder shape plus the way the lower wing root is faired into the fuselage (trailing edge of the lower wing being below the fuselage line) make me think that the plane closest to the camera is E8N1. The farther plane is definitely E4N (again judging by the fin and rudder shape). This is very interesting as it seems that in April 1936 Nagato was equipped with two different seaplane types, the older E4N and the newer E8N.

    Best regards,

    Iskender

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  4. Arawasi5 July 2012 at 10:26

    Thanks Iskender.
    I thought I saw the round entrance of the observer so I wrote E8N1. I'll try to find what planes Nagato carried at that time to confirm their types.

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