Japanese Airfields, Equipment & more #19 - revised

Fuel/Oil pumps & tanks

IJNAF & IJAAF used hand-operated pumps to refuel their aircraft. In this photo, the pump is placed on wheels and the fuel is pumped directly from the drum can. The crew guy on the left is kicking the can to make the fuel flow better. Note the big and rather complicated funnel on the wing of this Mitsubishi B5M "Mabel", used to direct the fuel into the aircraft fuel tank.

In Oita base, Oita Kokutai used this big fuel tank to pump gasoline into its A6M2s. The writing on the side reads: "九一揮発油" (91kihatsuyu - 91 octane gasoline). The significance of the number 12 is not clear.

Another big fuel tank with a number "87" written on its side.

This is a well-known photo, possibly taken in Saipan. The ground crew is filling up the lubricant oil tank in front of the cockpit.

A closer inspection of the photo reveals that it's basically a drum can placed on a "riyaka" with a rotary hand pump.

And last but not least, a video showing how the hand-operated fuel pump worked. Quite exhausting I would say.

Our friend Voytek Kubacki noticed that: "in these clips from Atsugi, the octane is written out on the tanks, making it easier to identify."

He also mentions: "And here is one with 91, assuming 91 octane."

Thank you Voytek.