Prince Kuni Asaakira became vice-commander of the Yokohama Kokutai on December 1st, 1938 and is seen here in this photo, from a vintage magazine, in front of a Kawanishi H6K "Mavis" and Hiro H4H2 flying boat. Note the ladder used by members of the "Mavis" crew to get into the flying boat.
Staying home and getting tortured by typhoon No. 17, "Jelawat" decided to upload a U-Tube video featuring a part of one of the most important manga, "The Cockpit".
I hope you'll excuse us for any mistakes in the translation.
0:12-August 6, 1945...0:38-Today's escort includes "Shiden", right?...0:41-There are 40 fighters, of them 16 are "Shiden"...0:44-"Shiden" has short range so it's actually an interceptor. Until we reach our target only 24 "Rei-sen" will be escorting us...0:54-So, are they going to protect until we launch the "Ohka"?..1:03-Again? Sometimes the engine is coughing...1:07-You can't help it. Parts of the latest planes are built by junior-high and girl students...1:12-(joke difficult to translate...)And they're using pots and pans...1:21-Compared to the tin Tanks, the planes are much better...1:27-They should apologise to the soldiers for building this kind of Tanks. I wonder what the designer of the "Ohka" had in mind...1:35-I studied rocket engineering so I understand. The engineer who made him design it must have been very sorrowful. So, if they were actually going to build it at the very least it should have very high performance. Sorrowful, sorrowful...anyhow somobody has to get in the cockpit and if you fly it, there is no return...2:07-Eh, the "Shiden" are dropping their extra fuel tanks...2:10-Are they going back?..2:12-If they don't get back they won't have enough fuel...2:21-No, they just threw them away because they're empty...2:27-Enemy unit, north direction, 30 degrees, altitude 4,000, spotted. Ship protecting fighter units take-off immediately...2:36-They came, crazy bastards. Shoot them all down...2:56-Are you getting in already?..3:00-It's my coffin, I want to get used to it...3:20-Poor Nogami inside such a tight place, can you hear me?..3:25-The difference with the "1shiki Rikko" (Betty) is that I'm alone so I'm comfortable...3:29-I see. Hang in there...3:31-Thank you, LTJG Yamaoka..3:52-The enemy!..3:54-Right upper side, 30 degrees, enemy planes. All planes get into battle formation...4:00-Enemy fighters on the left upper side. They are coming down from the sun...4:05-Go! Shoot down the crazies...4:10-Dive and loop!..4:17-They shot the commander's plane...4:52-Get away! Fly under the cloud shadow...4:55-We can't get rid off one of them...4:56-Shake it off no matter what...5:03-You can't get away from me...5:07-Our right wing is shot...5:08-Damn, we lose fuel...5:22-Lieutenant, release me. You'll become lighter...5:25-Stupid! Not yet. Only when we see the enemy ships...5:31-He's coming again!..5:32-Coming, coming, coming!..5:38-Enough. Release me quickly...5:42-We're still flying...5:44-RELEASE ME!..5:50-Cherry blossom, finished off...5:53-Albert, right side up enemy planes...6:06-I see the enemy...6:08-Thank you. That's enough. Thank you...6:13-Nogami, I'm leaving it to you...6:31-There he goes. He switched his rocket on...6:38-Sorry...6:41-One enemy rocket plane approaching...6:44-What? Cherry blossom, the human bomb...6:57-No good. It's too fast...7:38-Damn. Broke the sound barrier. What's that? From the Japanese plane? A photo with a woman with a koto* on her back? Crazy!..8:00-Captain sudden message. Right now the atomic bomb has been dropped on Hiroshima ...8:13-Everybody's crazy. The enemy. Us. Everybody's crazy. 8:38-The history of the human guided bomb was a short lived vain dream. In the Pacific the "Ohka" units spilled their blood. What is left now is big nuclear missiles. The nuclear bombs are waiting to ruin the world and...they don't have a heart (spirit). 9:12-April 1961, first flight to space...July 1969, man on the moon.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
