Thursday 25 July 2024

Japanese Airfields, Equipment & more #29 - revised

Vehicles - Fuel trucks
Isuzu TX-40. Standard fuel truck of the IJAAF with Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate" fighters in the background.
Isuzu TX-40 and Toyota GB starter truck with Nakajima Ki-44 "Shoki" (Tojo) of the Akeno Fighter Training School.

A quite interesting photo from a vintage, February 7, 1945, publication of a Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" belonging to the 244th Sentai.
The ground crew is refuelling the Number 1 fuel tank (185l) on the starboard wing but also the Number 2 (165l) and probably 3 (200l) fuel tanks located under the cockpit and behind the cockpit respectively.
They are also maintaining the fuselage-mounted Ho-103, 12.7mm, machine guns but note the absence of the wing cannon. Perhaps a plane belonging to the "Shinten Seiku-tai" the air-to-air ramming squadron of the 244?
Note the larger six-wheel fuel truck.

Better views of the same model, bigger fuel truck seen in the previous photo. This time they are refuelling a Tachikawa Ki-77 or A-26 to take off on the endurance record flight on July 2, 1944.
If you have more information about this fuel truck model, leave a comment.

The video showcases the backbreaking process of filling up an IJAAF fuel truck in one of the major airfields of Southeast Asia.

IJNAF fuel truck refueling a Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bomber. It looks to be similar to the Isuzu TX-40 but with a hard top and platforms on the sides of the fuel tank. Perhaps a Nissan 80?

Another IJNAF fuel truck, of the same model as the one in the previous photo, this time refueling a Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden" (Jack).

Once back to the airfield in Rabaul Base, the Zero is immediately refuelled from a fuel truck, ready to take off again.

A very short one with a Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" taking off from an airfield in China, and as the camera moves to the left, we can briefly see an IJNAF fuel truck.

A video I stitched together featuring IJAAF fuel trucks at Atsugi Base at the end of the war. While the videos focus on the captured equipment, like gun and bomb sights, please note the fuel trucks in the background, especially their paintjobs.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I guess that the six-wheel fuel truck is an Isuzu Type 94.