A video I recently discovered on UTube about the Nakajima Ki-43 "Hayabusa" (Oscar). A collection of better quality NHK clips. Plenty of interesting material including Hayabusa attack training with a captured B-17, tokko, Thai Hayabusa we previously presented here, an Aikoku Malay aircraft and more.
From around 10:00 starts a tokko part in the Philippines with Nakajima Ki-27 'Nates' and most interestingly Manshu Ki-79.
Can you tell what units appear on the video?
(3 days left to Shizuoka. Expect extensive coverage on our blog as always)
Great video, note at the 7:00 mark when the Hayabusa taxies past the Tabby. Note the white combat stripe and diagonal unit marking on the fin/rudder. Could this be a Tabby operated by the IJA?
ReplyDeleteDan
Fascinating. The early shots of Ki-43-Is, with the vertical bar across the fin or the fin and rudder are most likely 25th or 33rd sentai aircraft, which fits with the China location, and the later shots of Ki-43II with large numbers on the fin and rudder look like early aircraft of the 48th sentai, also China.
ReplyDeleteInteresting also is the presentation Ki-43-II kai, with the early version exhaust augmentation ejecter stubs. It's done up in 59th sentai livery, but by the time the Ki-43-II kai appeared, the 59th had already been wiped out in New Guinea.
I wrote 59th sentai above, but of course it's the 77th sentai that wore that insignia and was disbanded in early 1944.
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