Bicycles
The first Japanese company to locally build bicycles was "Miyata" around 1890. Several other manufacturers also built bicycles for the Japanese Army and Navy including "Yamaguchi", "Okamoto", "Hidori" and "Zebra". During the Pacific War, most of these manufacturers were taken over by the Army and "Miyata", for example, built landing gear and tires for the Zero.
Bicycles were a very efficient and cheap way to move around the airfield and they were used extensively.
The first Japanese company to locally build bicycles was "Miyata" around 1890. Several other manufacturers also built bicycles for the Japanese Army and Navy including "Yamaguchi", "Okamoto", "Hidori" and "Zebra". During the Pacific War, most of these manufacturers were taken over by the Army and "Miyata", for example, built landing gear and tires for the Zero.
Bicycles were a very efficient and cheap way to move around the airfield and they were used extensively.
Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate" in the background.
Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Tony) in the background.
Mitsubishi Ki-46 "Dinah" in the foreground.
A Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) is posing on his bicycle in front of a Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden" (Jack). The bag he's carrying says, top: 偵察 (teisatsu - reconnaissance), bottom: 要具嚢 (yoguno - tool bag).
Nakajima J1N "Gekko" (Irving).
Zero-sen, Rabaul.
I could find very very little documentation on the net about the various bicycle manufacturers and bicycle designs but in this link the guy has an original Yamaguchi IJA bicycle. Note the colour.
2 comments:
What a great find on this original bicycle. Thanks.
I'd love to more about the bicycle manufacturers too! Great lil article, thank you!
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