Nakajima B6N "Tenzan" (Jill)

A NARA photo featuring in the foreground a Nakajima B6N "Tenzan" (Jill) found in Atsugi base, Kanagawa Prefecure, at the end of the war. It is equipped with H-6 ASV Radar as can be testified by the "Yagi-type" antennae. The unit marking has been overpainted and therefore is unknown. Probably a visiting airplane. In the background there are Zero-sen, Raiden and other aircraft belonging to the 302 Kokutai.

During our 2008 holiday trip to the paradise called Ogasawara or Bonin islands (HERE) we discovered that right in front of the pension we were staying there was the wheel-cover of a "Tenzan". It turned out to belong to one of the two aircraft of its type that were operated by the 903rd Kokutai.

It was in the sea surrounding the islands that former US President George H. W. Bush crash-landed and was subsequently rescued by a US submarine.

Accidents - IJAAF 3rd Rentai

On March 25, 1936 around 14:00, a Kawasaki KDA-2 (Type 88 Reconnaissance) experienced engine trouble while flying over Osaka, Minami-Kawachi-gun (South Kawachi District), Furuichi-machi (Furuichi city). Unfortunately both pilots perished when the aircraft crashed.

Furuichi-machi no longer exists but was generally in the area of Osaka's Habikino (here).

According to the caption the aircraft belonged to the "Yokaichi Hiko Rentai". Yokaichi was an airfield in Shiga Prefecture that officially started its opperations on January 11, 1922 and was the home of IJAAF's 3rd Daitai. In 1925 the unit was renamed to 3rd Rentai and had two Fighter and one Reconnaissance Chutai with a total of about 50 aircraft in its strength. The aircraft in the photo belonged to the Reconnaissance Chutai. In 1938 the unit was renamed the 3rd Sentai and was reorganised as a bomber unit.

Note the three red bands on the vertical but also on the horizontal tail surfaces; a very early IJAAF unit marking. Photo from a vintage publication.

Mitsubishi F1M2 "Pete" by Panagiotis Koubetsos

After completing his breath-taking "Saiun" (HERE) Panagiotis Koubetsos already started doing his magic again working on a Hasegawa "Reikan". 

Visit and follow this Hyperscale link (HERE) for plenty of photos and an excellent presentation.

Artist - Kumagai Hidehiro (EI)

We are very proud to feature on our blog samples of the exquisite aviation CG artwork of artist and illustrator Kumagai "EI" Hidehiro. Born in 1950 and working freelance since 1985 his work can be found in dozens of Japanese publications including history, law, economics but also hobby.

Visit he site HERE for more.

Mitsubishi G3M "Nell"

A photo from a vintage publication taken somewhere in the South Pacific.

A Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" getting refuelled before a mission while another one in the background is just taking off.

Visitors - The "Czecho-Slovakian" connection

Two photos from a vintage publication; "AsahiGraph" September 14, 1927 . Original article captions.

"Czecho-Slovakian plane, piloted by Lieut. Colonel Skala arrived at Tokorozawa Army aerodrome on September 4. The picture shows the airman with mechanic Taufer being greeted at the aerodrome. Mr. Svagrovsky, Czecho-Slovakian Minister, is seen with the airman."

"The Czecho-Slovakian airman, Lieut.-Colonel Skala, is seen exchanging greeting with general Shirakawa, War Minister and Admiral Okada, Navy Minister when a welcome luncheon was given in his honour at the Imperial Hotel, September 5. M. Taufer, mechanic, is seen in the centre."

Miroslav Kárník of RISING DECALS sent us the following information:

The flight from Praha (Prague) to Tokyo (cicra 23,000km) was undertaken by pplk. Jaroslav Skála and mechanic Matej Taufer with Czech bomber/scout aircraft Letov Š-16 in 1927. In the attached links you can see some photos of the aircraft, a map of the flight and more.

Fragment (tail fin) of the aircraft is on display in the Museum of Flight in Praha (Prague) - Kbely - link for photos here. Link with details about the flight here. Link about the aircraft, here. Video from Czech TV about the flight, here.

Letov Š-16 is probably one of only two Czech pre-war aircraft that flew to Japan. The next aircraft was Zlin Z-XII (here). The other pre-war Czech aircraft with hinomaru was Avia Ba-33 (here) but it flew only in China, not in Japan.

Thank you very much Mirek and Peter for the additional interesting information.

Our friend Yokokawa Yuichi with the fantastic blog (HERE) sent us today one more photo (from here) of the arrival of Skála/Taufer in Tokorozawa.

We also discovered one more photo in our vintage publication archives.

Harold K：

George, from the photos of the rudder in the Praha-Kbely museum, can you translate for us the Japanese inscriptions on it?

Mukden is present day Shenyang in NE China. Pyongyang and Daegu are in North and South Korea respectively. Half of the last name is hidden. The visible part could be read as "Tokoro". HTH. 

Yokokawa-san sent us some more information regarding locations and dates (thank you very much).

27/8/1927 from Mukden to a location north of Sonchon

27/8/1927 → Pyongyang

01/9/1927 Pyongyang → Daegu 　

03/9/1927 Daegu → Osaka　

04/9/1927 Osaka → Tokorozawa

12/9/1927 Tokorozawa → Okayama

14/9/1927 Okayama → Daegu → Pyongyang

15/9/1927 Pyongyang → Mukden　

"Der Adler" Photos

A set of photos from a April 10, 1941 issue of the Luftwaffe-wartime magazine "Der Adler", courtesy of our friend Jacob Terlouw.

Kawasaki Ki-32 "Mary" belonging to the Mito Rikugun Hiko Gakko (Mito Army Aviation School). Katakana "RE" on the tail above the school marking.

Radio position of a Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally". The radio is a Type 94 Hi Mk.2.

IJAAF 7.7mm Te-4 flexible machine gun.

IJAAF maintenance students servicing an engine under the watchful eye of an instructor, third from the left.

Thank you very much Jacob for the interesting photos.

IJNAF equipment

A photo from a vintage magazine with the dorsal turret machine gunner of a G3M "Nell" scanning the horizon with a pair of binoculars. IJNAF binoculars were made by various companies like "Tokyo Shibaura Denki KK" (present day Toshiba), "Nippon Kogaku Kogyo KK" (present day Nikon), "Tomioka Kogaku Kikai Seizo-Sho" (present day Kyocera Optec) and others.

NEW FAOW RELEASE!

Bunrindo just released a new publication on their FAOW Special Edition Series; Number #6 on the Type Zero Carrier Fighter. 208pages, 300 photos of which 38 in colour. 15 colour illustrations. All in Japanese.

Overall: A rehash of previous material. After Maru and Model Art now it's Bunrindo's turn to reprint old stuff for new modelers (Gakken to follow?). Our Model Art review (here) is pretty much valid for this one too. VERY poor coverage of the A6M2-N and A6M2-K and no colour illustrations of either models. Only exception the half a dozen colour illustrations by Master Watanabe Rikyu thoughtlessly and disrespectfully placed between pages with the horrible "valley" destroying the beauty of the artwork.

Very disappointing publication...It seems that the Japanese publishers have totally lost touch with their audience who are thirsty for new books on previously untouched subjects. No books even on other Navy or Army fighters but instead they keep releasing books on the Zero again and again while at the same time complain there is no interest. Duh! No interesting books, no interest.

Get this one only if you have just discovered that the Japanese Navy had a fighter called "Zero".

"SuperCon 2012"

IPMS Fort Worth Scale Modelers

"SuperCon 2012"

September 8th, 2012

This year's "supercon" was a reasonably good show for the J-aircraft enthusiast, turnout was good, and the number of models sporting the hinomaru was larger than last year. Of special note was the large scale J2M Raiden and the J7W Shinden, but also a fine example of a Toryu in 1/48 scale. There was a very fine model of the IJN carrier Akagi on the tables as well. Good work by all!

Thanks to the Fort Worth IPMS for a good show.
Devlin Chouinard

Thank you D. for the excellent report and photos.