Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate"

A photo from a vintage magazine taken in August 1941 at the airport of Saigon. The "Nate" fighters belong to the 84th Independent Chutai which kept the red cowling and the red "flame" reaching the tail from the 64th Sentai.

Nakajima Ki-44 "Shoki" (Tojo) by Alexandros Angelopoulos

A really beautiful model by ALEXANDROS ANGELOPOULOS.

It's a Hasegawa in 1/32 with markings for a Ki-44-II Hei belonging to the 29th Sentai.

Alex explains that the top green was worked in two different lighter tones; one with yellow and very little white and the other with a mixture of 30% yellow-70%green. There is a great variety of shades since the tones overlap at places and at others they don't.

The project took him seven months. The Type 100 gun sight was scratch built and he also used resin exhausts and machine guns by Quickboost. All the colors he used were by Gunze, with a hand of future and then polished with different micro-mesh. Then they were sprayed with Mr. Levelling Thinner which gave excellent results.

Mitsubishi G3M "Nell"

A set of "Nell" photos from a September 1941 "Asahi Graph" issue.

On the cover is the dorsal turret with the 20mm Type 99 Mk. 1 Oerlikon cannon. Note the big size of the turret offering an excellent all-round view to the gunner but little protection.

A forward-looking cockpit view. The guy on the left having a "bento" (lunch box) is the reconnaissance observer, on his right sits the commander of the plane. In front of him (the guy without a helmet) is the pilot who seems to have a badge on his sleeve indicating he's either an Itto Koku Heisho (Aviation Petty Officer, 1st Class) or Nitto (2nd Class). Finally the guy sitting next to the pilot is his co-pilot.

Another view looking forward, this one showing the position of the radio and telegraph operator.

And finally a photo showing the interior of the fuselage side blister. In this case the gunner has placed the machine gun in its resting position and is taking photos with his hand held 25cm FLK camera. This partular camera was based on the German Carl Zeiss but produced in Japan by KonishikiRoku (Konica).

Note that none of the crew members is wearing a life vest.

Typical lunch box contents for bombing missions included various "makizushi" (details here)

omelet, green peas and pickled Japanese horseradish. Occasionally it also included milk-coffee or pine apple juice.

244 Sentai - Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Tony) #4

Stills from the movie "Saigo no Kikyo" (Last Return Home) released in June 1945 by Daie.

The Kawasaki Ki-61 Model Hei seen in the stills was flown by Captain Shoko Fumisuke who was commander of the "Soyokaze-tai" (Breeze-squadron) of the 244 Sentai. The book "Hien Fighter Group" by Dai Nippon Kaiga includes two more photos of "88" without camouflage. According to that book the plane received the camouflage in March 1945.

Ground crew members maintain Hien "88" at Chofu airfield. The date is sometime between March, when the plane got camouflaged, and May when the unit relocated to Hamamatsu. The number "88" on the wheel covers was in red outlined in white.

The green blotches were painted above the white band of the fuselage hinomaru which seems to have an early narrow white ring. Note the open hatch of the cooler control.

Before the aircraft receive the camouflage it spotted a single thick red band between the fuselage hinomaru and the tail. After the camouflage was appled it seems that the red band was overpainted with one yellow stripe in the middle as can been seen above.

The Dragon kit Golden Wing Series 5028 in 1/72 (below), offers decals for the "88" without the camouflage.

Lifelike has released decals in 1/72 and 1/48.

244 Sentai - Kawasaki Ki-61 / Ki-100 #3

The April 1978 issue of Koku Fan magazine featured an interview with Suzuki Shigeru who served as a 1t Lt and was a member of the maintenance crew of the 244h Sentai. Below are some extracts of this interview.

Suzuki-san joined the 244th in August 1944 when the unit was solely equipped with the Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Tony). Although some units in cold climates like in Manchuria had difficulties, in the milder climate of Tokyo, where the unit was based, the Ha-40 engines started immediately without any difficulty. Maintenance became easier when the 244 changed some of its Hien to "5shikisen" (Kawasaki Ki-100). The Ha-40 liquid-cooled engine was very well-behaved but the maintenance of the liquid pipes was quite hard. In comparison, the maintenance crew didn’t have to constantly worry about the steady liquid flow or whether there was sufficient liquid quantity in the air cooled Ha-33 engine and as a result they were easier to maintain. Liquid cooled engines were very quite making a "suru-suru-suru" sound. On the other hand air-cooled engines made a "butsun-butsubutsun-ba-babaaaa" sound. In other words air-cooled were more "manly" while liquid-cooled were more "feminine". The change from Hien to 5shikishen brought a significant improvement in the performance. It took Hien about 30 minutes to reach 10,000m while it took for the 5shikisen half that time.
Furthermore, Hien had a serious flaw. Right after taking off there were many fatal accidents. Engineers from Kawasaki were brought to the base to investigate the reason for these accidents. There was a problem with the supercharger of the Ha-40 but Suzuki-san doesn’t recall what became with the investigation. In any case these incidents were over once the 5shikisen arrived. Therefore, it is fair to conclude that these problems were not due to pilot mistakes or bad maintenance but instead should be attributed to the engine. The pilots and the maintenance crew placed their full trust on the Ha-33 of the 5shikisen and as a result the engine received many good remarks.

The 244 Sentai moved from Chofu/Tokyo to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka prefecture, then to Chiran in Kagoshima prefecture in order to escort aircraft belonging to "toko" (special attack) units flying to Okinawa. But since the battle for the island was over by the time the 244 Sentai arrived to Chiran, there was actually no need for such escorting missions. Instead enemy airplanes started appearing over Kyushu. During an incident in Chiran, armament maintenance crew had placed an aircraft under a wooden hangar camouflaged with foliage. Since there was no electric light inside the hangar, it was necessary to remove some of the camouflage from the roof so that the daylight could enter the hangar and they could have sufficient light to work on the plane. Unfortunately three overflying P-38s were able to spot them and during the subsequent attack one crew member was killed and all the others were injured.

 

The fact that the 244 Sentai was not a combat fighter unit may come as a surprise to the reader. Actually the unit was a highly specialised intercepting unit protecting the skies over Tokyo. Therefore the pilots were unable to engage in aerial combat the enemy airplanes and so the unit relocated to Yokaichi (Shiga prefecture) in the Kansai/Osaka region.
One of the main differences between a combat unit and an interceptor unit was that in the first case the unit had a specific flight mission plan and therefore there was enough time for maintenance. For the interceptor unit the aircraft had to be 100% ready all the time although naturally that was not practical. As a result there was a number of spare aircraft in each chutai, which ofcourse they had to be ready at all times. Especially for the taicho (the unit commander) there had to be a spare aircraft always on stand-by since without him the unit would not have been able to take-off and fight. Although the taicho could organize and control the unit from the ground as a rule he was always flying with the rest. Kobayashi Teruhiko had a spare aircraft and flew a lot. All the information was related to his aircraft from the ground by radio and then he passed the various commands to the rest of the unit members in the air.
As an interceptor unit there was no time for rest for the aircraft and the maintenance crew. Immediately after returning to the base, the ground crew refuelled and re-armed the planes getting them ready to take off again.

 

244 Sentai - Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Tony) #2

Below are some stills from a wartime news reel taken at Chofu, Tokyo, the base of the 244th Sentai.

 

A 244 Sentai Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien taxing for take-off. Note the yellow (?) "89" on wheel covers painted directly over the NM surface.

In this view the difference in the camouflage pattern on the front and rear part of the fuselage is clearly visible. Of special interest is the fact that although the plane lacks a radio antenna mast it is still equipped with a radio but the line is somehow connected directly with the fuselage. Perhaps a way to avoid drag.

The camouflage of the front part of the fuselage seems to be airbrushed while on the rear it seems to have been applied by haphazard brush strokes. Of interest is the quite wide white band surrounding the fuselage hinomaru.

In this last still the tail is visible sporting a white katakana "I" (イ) and maybe the 244 Sentai unit marking although difficult to be sure. From other photos it seems that when the 244 marking was on the tail the aircraft didn't carry any other markings.

The 244 had a special ramming attack section called Shinten Seikutai. At least some of the aircraft of that unit were not camouflaged and didn't have the 244 marking on the tail but instead the tail was all red with the first "letter" of the pilot's last name painted in white katakana. A Shinten Seikutai Ki-61 numbered "73" with a white "I" on the tail, but without the 244 Sentai marking, belonged to gocho (corporal) Itagaki Masao. Although the pilot of this particular aircraft is unknown, it is possible that the "89" was a spare aircraft of gocho Itagaki. If that's the case then it is quite possible the tail to be red with just the white "I".

244 Sentai - Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Tony) #1

A beautiful Hasegawa "Hien" in 1/32 built by Ilias Galanikas. A 244 Sentai aircraft flown to Captain Kobayashi Teruhiko.

Nipponki '46: IJNAF Bachem Ba 349 Natter

In the 47th Shizuoka exhibition (2008), among models of tanks and jeeps was a lovely Natter in Japanese colours; Navy I guess. Unfortunately there was no tag with details about the modeler, scale or model company. 

Aichi D3A "Val"

A vintage photo featured in a February 1943 magazine. The lack of spinner indicates that this is an Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bomber. 

Note the ropes tying it firmly to the ground and the bearded ground crew guy on the right corner. 

There are two details that hint of the location and the unit. The first is that the wheel covers lack the decoration usually carried by planes belonging to aircraft carriers indicating that this particular plane belonged to a land based unit. This and the ground crew clothes and general setting make me believe that this plane belongs (or belonged) to the 33rd Kokutai. 

The unit was organized on February 1st, 1942 with the mission to train crew members of carrier attack and bomber planes and patrol the Java and Surabaya area. In the beginning, it carried eight D3A "Val" bombers and eight Mitsubishi B5M "Mabel". During an August 1st reorganization, the unit lost its "Vals" and on November 1st, 1942 changed its designation to 932 Kokutai. 

If the photo was taken around the time the magazine was released, then the "Val" in the photo could not have belonged to the 33rd ku but perhaps some other unit in the area. Or the magazine used a photo that was taken within the 2/1-8/1 1942 time frame and the plane actually belongs to the 33rd. 

This posting was originally put up on the 20th of October last year but since then Bob Alford made a very interesting comment which is the following:

I would say that the D3A1 "Val" depicted belonged to either 33 or 35 Ku, both of which served in the NEI from February 1942. 

It is similar to a number of images also seen in the FAOW book on the type - groundcrew in singlets, the flat terrain, etc. Not conclusive but circumstantial.

33 Ku became 932 Ku in the 1 November 1942 reorganisation while 35 Ku became 956 Ku. (See also Japanese Air Forces Over the NWA 1942-1945. Self-published. 2010. Pages 40-41)

I tried enhancing the image with what limited facilities I have here and it SEEMS that the tail code of one "Val" in the background is 35-xxx 

Hopefully this will exercise the minds of others and we can pin it down further.

Cheers, and congratulations on a superb site.

Bob Alford

Lampang Thailand 

Yes, FAOW#130, p. 46 has a similar photo which according to the caption was taken in Surabaya and the "Val" shown belonged to the 33rdKu. There is another one on p. 53 too.

Zooming in on the tail in the background didn't produce any clear results. The first two digits could be either a "33" or a "35". Would anybody like to help with the whereabouts of the 35Ku around that time period? 

More information from Luca Ruffato (grazie!):

Japanese Monograph#116 p. 128 reports that 35Ku was established on 1 February 1942 at Takao under 3rd Fleet. 

On 30 March it was assigned to 23rd Base Force but the group had already moved to Makassar-Celebes (Dutch east Indies) since 6 February. 

On 20 June the group was attached directly to 2nd Expeditionary Fleet. 

Detachment operated in forward bases as follows: Jogyakarta-Java (10 to 17 May); Balikpapan-Borneo (28 July to 6 August); Koepang-Timor (6 to 17 August); Kendari-Celebes (8 to 12 October); Waingapoe-Soemba (20 to 28 October). 

HTH, Luca Ruffato

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