Friday, 5 April 2019

Yokosuka D4Y1 "Suisei" (Judy) & Zero-sen in Yushukan

Every year around this day, the group members that restored the Yokosuka D4Y1 "Suisei" (Judy), gather in Yasukuni Shrine to commemorate the occasion. Joining them today gave me a good chance to visit Yushukan after a long time and share here some of the photos I took on this beautiful day with the cherry trees in full bloom.   














7 comments:

  1. D. Chouinard6 April 2019 at 14:29

    A beautiful day to be there, and some very interesting hardware to look at as well. I noticed all the supports under the D4Y, no doubt giving some extra stability (And like most static museum aircraft, supported slightly off the floor to keep the tires from flat spotting.) There is also a D4Y2 in Chino California (USA), so only two exist, making it a very rare aircraft indeed.

    I believe that I would have to visit the shrine if I ever found myself in the Tokyo area.

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  2. Harold K6 April 2019 at 22:54

    Are the wheel wells of the Suisei correct, painted in the same gray as the undersides?
    This rather than aotake or some other color?

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  3. Michael Thurow7 April 2019 at 18:37

    To Harold K
    When I built my D4Y3 I researched the colours as deeply as possible and concluded that the wheel wells are primed with Aotake. Most pictures show a much darker well interior that the colour of the underside, even if you take shadow into consideration.
    Here is the link to my build report:
    http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2017/10/148-d4y3-suisei-by-michael-thurow-part-1.html

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  4. Anonymous7 April 2019 at 19:38

    Nice pictures, thanks.
    Good to see that now is possiple to take pictures. Last time they stop me and said that only the Zero and the exhibit at the antrance could be photographed. I must take time next trip.

    Ciao

    Carlo

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  5. Arawasi7 April 2019 at 20:05

    Hi Harold,
    As usual, I will disagree at least 50% with Michael. Check new post.

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  6. Michael Thurow8 April 2019 at 01:42

    I must admit that I only researched the radial-engined variants and spuriously generalized my comment. After checking my references I see the brighter wheel well colour on D4Y1s, too. For the D4Y3, however, I tend to uphold my allegation. Aotake with no further overspray may have been a production facilitation - who knows for sure?
    Not all pictures that George posted are attributable but I think most show the earlier Suisei.
    Cheers

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  7. Arawasi8 April 2019 at 10:40

    I do not see any pattern regarding models in the coloring of the wheel wells and covers. I could find only one D4Y3 and a very small number of D4Y1 with darker covers. There are D4Y3 with brighter wheel doors & covers.

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