Another photo from the "Asahi Shimbun" collection, this time featuring a Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Tony) at the end of the war.
I believe it belonged to the 244 Sentai and therefore the place should be Chofu airfield, their base in Tokyo. Of particular interest is the color of the drop tank. We have discussed in the past and refuted (give or take) the suggestion that they were not yellow but were painted gray (hairyokushoku). This one, though, is definitely neither gray nor yellow, considering the unpainted undersides of the aircraft and the skin tone of the child. Definitely not red either since it's completely different from the hinomaru. Could it be orange?
Thank you guys for emailing it over.
"cheeshat" reminded us a past (2012!) posting of this blog with more on the 244 Sentai "88" "Hien", HERE.
8 comments:
A/C No.88 from 244th Sentai...at least one more pics with this child exists...
Okay....where?
Aircraft #88 is associated with Capt. Shono of the 244th, though decal illustrations (https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/decals/life/images/ll48005rp.jpg) show it without the green mottle. It does, however show the same broad stripe around the rear fuselage, evidence of a painted over home defense 'bandage', and what could be the rear portion of the aircraft's lightning bolt. Not unlikely that it's the same aircraft with later camouflage scheme applied.
Other pics of possibly the same bird here: http://pedroluzcunha.blogspot.com/2012/01/244-sentai-kawasaki-ki-61-hien-tony-4.html
I agree with George and think that the drop tank might be orange -there is actually a slight tone difference between the hinomaru and the drop tank -I have lightened the dark tones and this helps to better see the difference with the yellow ID band as well. It is interesting to note that in the first image (child "riding" the tank) a flash has been clearly used, the white surrounding of the fuselage hinomaru seems to have been deleted or overpainted while the dark band is crudely hand painted and is interrupted under the belly. Furthermore on both sides of the dark band we can glimpse a former white band under the camouflage mottling -again these seem hand painted and interrumpted.
cheeshat: instead of visiting your link, you can see all this information on a past posting on this blog here:
https://arawasi-wildeagles.blogspot.com/2012/01/244-sentai-kawasaki-ki-61-hien-tony-4.html
Thanks, 'Arawasi'! Aircraft #88 also appears on p.77 of Nicholas Millman's 'Ki-61 and Ki-100 Aces' volume in the Osprey 'Aircraft of the Aces' series, where he writes, "A fine shot of Capt. Shono's well-photographed '88'. Note the camouflaged ailerons and remnants of camouflage on the white Homeland Defense bandages' on the wings. 244th sentai aircraft went through stages of being camouflaged, stripped of paint and re-camouflaged."
Part of the problem with trying to interpret B&W photos is the number of variables involved, including the type of film used. Different emulsions result in a variety of tonal differences of the same color as if someone had put a filter on the lens, which is another variable. Without color photo corroboration, or a reliable eye-witness, the best we can do is work from standard procedures. Even then there is no way to be sure.
Is there any reason to believe the tanks were custom painted for that plane? Could the tonal variation come from the batch of paint used by the contractor? Would there be any advantage to painting the tanks anything other than standard colors, especially if it might have to be jettisoned on the next flight?
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