Sunday, 3 December 2023

IJNAF Aircraft - Oppama Base, Yokosuka pt.2

Part 2 features a huge wing tunnel and a Zero in front of it.

A still from the clip featuring the wing tunnel and the Zero. The tail marking is barely visible. I can see "234" or maybe "214", so the complete tail marking could be "ヨ-234".

Let's turn our attention to the airfield and its surroundings for a bit. Here's again our reference photo.
Two hangars can be seen with numbers in kanji written on them, with the corresponding Arabic numerals in red. It's hangar number #2 and number #3 and keep in mind the small building next to the latter.

Here's another photo from NARA taken at an earlier date. Note hangars #2 & #3 and the various Japanese aircraft in front of them; Bettys, "Suisei" etc. On the left corner notice the wing tunnel we saw in the clip and keep in mind the two towers in front of it.

In this photo, we can see the Japanese aircraft having been assembled in the position they were in when the first reference photo was taken. Note again hangars #2 & #3 and the two towers on the right top corner of the photo.

This NARA photo taken from a US pilot, featured in Gakken #66, clearly shows the various locations in the Oppama airfield we identified in the previous photos. We can see the two hangars and the wing tunnel. The "hill" prominent in the background of all previous photos, is indicated by the red letter A and was called Natsushima. The hill indicated by the letter B was called Nojima. Both were islands and the area around them was filled in. Check here for more.

So, when the video clip was taken, the aircraft were lined up further to the left of the two reference hangars and they have Nojima in the background.

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