Vintage Magazine Cover

Magazine "Hiko Shonen". 

Note that the cover features a Kawanishi H8K2-L, the little known transport version of the "Emily", that could carry a crew of nine and 29 passengers or 64 troops. Official designation was Type 2 Transport Flying-Boat "晴空Seiku" (Clear Sky).

Nakajima Ki-44 "Shoki"

A line-up of Nakajima Ki-44-I "Shoki" belonging to the Akeno School. The aircraft in the foreground is also featured on p. 27 of FAOW#16 and it had the number 59 painted on the wheel cover.

Mitsubishi Ki-15 / C5M "Babs"

A Mitsubishi Ki-15-I "Babs" belonging to the Rikugun Koku Seibi Gakko (Army Maintenance School) based at Tokorozawa is getting an engine inspection. According to the caption it's a new aircraft and the inscription on the cowling reads "132GO" (Number 132).

NEW Publication - "Kaigun Sento dai 812 Hikotai"

This is the second book I got last night and I'm particularly happy with it. 

Title: KAIGUN SENTO DAI 812 HIKOTAI - Nihon Kaigun Yakan Sentoki-tai "Fuyo Butai" Ibun (The Legend of I.J.N Night Fighter SQ "Sen-To812 with photo & illustrated [sic])

Author: Yoshino Yasutaka

Publisher: Dai Nippon Kaiga, November 2012

244 pages!!!, 118 b/w photos 20 colour, 22 colour profiles by Nishikawa Yoshinobu and four pages of splendid illustrations by Sato Shigeo & Kunihiko. 

PERFECT coverage of the unit mostly equipped with Yokosuka D4Y2-S "Suisei" Night Fighters but also Nakajima J1N "Gekko". Plenty of maps explaining the various combat missions of the unit and pilot biographies. In short everything you want to know about the unit. The colour detailed illustrations of the "Suisei" by Sato-sama are particularly interesting since they show the cockpit of the a/c but also the various bombs used. Although it's all in Japanese this publication, for which Yoshino-san and DNK should be complimented for all the effort they put, is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to all Japanese Aviation History fans. DO NOT MISS IT!

The book is available through our site. Price is $US33.00 (postage not included).

Send over an email if interested with your name and delivery address (to calculate postage): arawasiorder@gmail.com

NEW Publication - Model Art #857, Profile #13

Seven months later Model Art has just released the second part of their Zero special. Model Art #857, PROFILE #13 on the A6M3, A6M5, A6M7 & A6M8. The first was quite disappointing (review HERE) but this one is much better. 162pages, 140b/w photos and 200 in colour (80+ of models), 70 b/w illustrations and 41 in colour plus 18 pages full of colour illustrations by Sato Shigeo and Sato Kunihiko.

There is quite good coverage of the various details of the aircraft with colour photos, drawings from the a/c manual and but also with the excellent illustrations by Sato-sama. Unfortunately all the vintage photos have been published before therefore there are no real surprises. There are also two pages of photo captions translated into English of dubious quality. 

Tachikawa Ki-77 / A-26 #2

A photo of the second Ki-77 / A26 as she was found by US forces at the end of the war in Yamanashi airfield. Two Ki-74s are lined-up next to her with a Ki-54 in the back.

The only known publication dedicated to the aircraft is the Japanese book "Higeki No Tsubasa A26" (Tragic Wings A26), written by Fukumoto Kazuya and published by Kadokawa Shoten, July 31, 1984. All in Japanese.  

HERE is the Wikipedia entry with the history of the type.

Since we have a soft spot for Japanese X-planes stay tuned for updates and more information about each type we present.

Tachikawa Ki-77 / A-26 #1

Kalle Kindel from Tallinn, Estonia sent us photos of his lovely Ki-77. 

The kit is PLANET Models, resin, in 1/72nd. A rather basic and difficult kit but the only one in this scale for the aircraft I know of. 

Although in Estonian take a look HERE for in-progress photos.

A&W has released a small kit in 1/144.

Thank you very much Kalle for the contribution.

Visitors - The French Connection

On March 2, 1931 a single Farman 190, called "Alsa" took-off from Paris with a crew of two; (Ernest) Christian Moench and Johanny Burtin. Covering a distance of 2,800km on March 21 at 15:05 they arrived in Tokyo's Tachikawa airport where they were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd.

The stops were:

Athens/Greece (3/3, 18:45)

"Persia"

Karachi - British India (now Pakistan) (10/3 take-off )

Bangkok - Thailand (13/3 12:00 arrival)

Hong Kong - China (17/3 take-off) 

made emergency landing the same day in Shantou-China due to heavy fog

Shantou (18/3 take-off)

Shanghai (18/3 arrival)

Seoul - Korea (19/3 arrival)

Seoul (21/3 take-off)

The very French-looking Moench (right) and Burtin enjoy a Gauloises (maybe) upon arrival.

On March 24 the two pilots were decorated with the "Yukosho" (medal for brave deeds. Similar to the British "George Cross") at the "Hatonoma" (Pigeon Hall) of the "Hikokan" (Aviation Building) belonging to the "Teikoku Hiko Kyokai" (Imperial Aviation Association).

Two days later they took-off from Tachikawa, at 07:08, and arrived back to Le Bourget airport of Paris on April 19.

The Farman 190, No.52, serial number 7222, registration F-ALAP    

Hansa Brandenburg W29 by Thilo-Arndt Möller Pt. 2

Thilo has made some progress since last time (HERE) and sent us the following report accompanied by some very nice and detailed photos. Enjoy!

Mounted the floats, the rack and the fuselage to each other.

Some not-so-exciting photos of the float-rack and some hoots for the rack joining point. Until the rack is ready there is a lot of boring and unexciting work.

 

In the past few weeks I did the covering with tissue paper and chipping paint. The covering of the wing was not as easy as expected. The shape of the NACA M17 airfoil is not so easy to cover. I also did some detail work on the floats. Two days ago I started the installation of servos and RC equipment. Now I'm waiting for my ordered motor and propellers. The next few days I'm going to work on the strutting from float to wing. Before I start the painting part I will do a first test-flight to make sure that everything is working and in flying condition.

Looking really good Thilo! Keep up the good work!

Kawasaki Ki-45 "Toryu" (Nick)

A Kawasaki Ki-45 Kai-Hei brought to the US after the War for evaluation purposes. It retains the original paint, something quite unusual for captured and evaluated aircraft. The number "16" on the tail is from the serial number 3116 written on the plane in smaller digits signifying that it's the 16th Kai-Hei produced. (FAOW#21, p.43)

The Ki-45 Kai-Hei had a 37mm Ho-203 canon on the nose and one 20mm on the belly. The modifications and the testing was done in the First Arsenal of IJAAF. Design started in March 1943 and by May the first prototype was completed followed by 65 more by October of the same year. From that month onward the type was also produced by Kawasaki and was used for the defence of the mainland.