IJNAF training & Mitsubishi K3M

Last November we put up a series of posts on the Kyushu K11W "Shiragiku" (here 1, 2, 3 and 4) and revealed some of the training details of the IJNAF.

So today we post a series of photos to help you visualise IJNAF training.

 

First up are photos from a vintage publication. All were taken in March 1944 in Oi Kokutai.

Note the huge number of students running around the airfield before breakfast in front of a Type 90 Crew Trainer or Mitsubishi K3M "Pine".

Training at the shooting range. The targets were moving in front of the students who were trying to hit them from inside the positions that resembled gunner mounts.

 In-door bombing training. Note the practise bombs in the foreground

  

A closeup of the the bomber student using a Type 90 Model 1 bombsight under the watchful eye of an instructor officer.

 

Above and below a Nakajima B5N Model 1 "Kate" is loaded with training bombs. The nose of the bomb was red and the rest was probably white.

The two photos abone and below are from a different publication. For in-flight shooting training a Type 15 gun camera is used on this "Pine".

 And finally a "Pine" belonging to the Suzuka Ku is "chased" by a Nakajima A2N fighter.