One more video from the NHK collection featuring Nakajima E8N "Dave" seaplanes in action. According to the commentator, seaplane units based on Yangtze river operate against targets in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. The ground crew members prepare and bomb-load the seaplanes for one more mission against junks sailing the river carrying provisions and enemy positions in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. The video was shot on August 26, 1941.
I hope David can identify the unit from the tail marking.
Wow again. What a great find. This kind of information really does help fill in the gaps in research. These Daves' are from the Seaplane Carrier Chitose, thus the White number 3. The aircraft number looks
ReplyDeletelike White 23. The time period and location fit. Although I am not 100% sure, I feel like 98% sure. Any feed back most welcome. Thanks.
I am now going to change some of the information in my pending book.
This would also be another decal option for the new Hasegawa kit.
ReplyDeleteHi all,
Very nice footage!
Played this video several times and eventually had some luck.
got "stills" of 3-31 and 3-24.
Jacob
After some closer looks, the first close up Dave appears to have
ReplyDeletethe White aircraft number 33 on the tail. So I say 3-33.
I am using Eduardo Cea's "Japanese Military Aircraft" Vol.3 and it lists Chitose's code as the following:
ReplyDelete"Chise" July 1938 - Nov 1940 (in white)
"HI" Nov 1940 - April 1941 (in yellow for camouflaged aircraft)
"YI" April 1941 - July 1942 (in white)
"YI" 14th July 1942 - Feb 1943 (in red)
I saw the thread on j-aircraft about "3" being used from 1937-1939 but I thought it was unconfirmed? /index.php?topic=15727.0
Oops one correction I meant H-1 and Y1 not HI and YI.
ReplyDeleteMr. Cea is not always correct. I have at least 3 other sources that say the 3 is correct. Including Koku-Fan. The single digit numbers were used in the late 1930's. Before the use of letters.
ReplyDeleteYes, I am starting to realize how poor it is. Which Koku Fan are you referring to? #42?
ReplyDeleteNot sure of the Koku-Fan number. They did a series, in English, on
ReplyDeleteIJN & IJA aviation. These were part of the regular monthly magazine and probably had 20 to 30 different short stories for each. I used some of my many books on the subject. Some have English captions, but most are all in Japanese. My son, who teaches English in Japan, has helped me translate much of them. Especially on IJN aviation. If you need any in depth research done just let me know. I will try to help.
Thank you David, I was wondering because I had Koku-Fan 42 but didn't see it in there. If I do need some help with research I will be sure to contact you!
ReplyDelete