With the Director of the Misawa Aviation & Science Museum, Mr. Oyanagi Shigezo.
Bringing you the wealth of Japanese aviation history
Thursday, 20 June 2013
Misawa - The Plane
The Tachikawa Ki-54a c/n 5541 rests in a spacious hangar at the far corner of the museum next to an A6M2 replica. Lighting is discreet and good for photography and although the display is still a work in progress it offers all around access to the aircraft from up close.
The pilot seats, the instrument panel and other parts of the cockpit are placed separately in front of the a/c together with the port wheel and wing fuel tank.
Although when pulled out of the lake it looked in quite good condition, the cleaning up process unfortunately revealed excessive erosion at places from microorganisms.
Close ups of the canopy, the starboard wheel which was retracted at the moment of the crash landing and one of the two engines.
With the Director of the Misawa Aviation & Science Museum, Mr. Oyanagi Shigezo.
With the Director of the Misawa Aviation & Science Museum, Mr. Oyanagi Shigezo.
The elements do not look like they have been very kind to the airframe, however it is amazing how much of the paint survived. (The "color police" won't have anything to say about this one, right?)
ReplyDeleteDoes the museum plan on doing a full restoration, or leaving it in "as found" condition?
Of the whole what made me notice best is the happiness that shows in your face posing right in front of the Hickori!Great stuff overall thanks a lot for the pictures and the report from Misawa!
ReplyDeleteTrue what Panagiotis said, it does show. Many thanks for sharing that.
ReplyDelete