Answer

Charles Gillman and others (thank you all for commenting on our FB page) correctly identified the aircraft type as Aichi Type 99 D3A1 "Kanbanku" (Val), 愛知 D3A 九九式艦上爆撃機.

Cockpit illustration from Czech company "Infinity Models" for their 1/32 "Val" kit.

He also added: 

"Serial Number 3170, from the carrier Kaga, AII-251 tail code, flown by PO3c Sakaguchi Noburo and PO3c Asahi Nagaaki, shot down in Middle Loch, Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Asahi survived the crash but was shot when apparently reaching for his own pistol. The aircraft was pulled out of the water and studied by the US Navy in Philadelphia. There are many photos of this wreck including another cockpit shot from the other side. The "bicycle handbrake" on the throttle is how the pilot fired the cowling mounted machine guns."

The same photo is included in Bob Mikesh's "Japanese Aircraft Interiors", p.216, but he mentions, apparently incorrectly, in the caption "This obsolete version survived the war and was photographed at the Kure Naval Base, in May 1946."

There are slightly different versions of the fate of the crew of "Val" "AII-251".
Osamu Tagaya in Osprey's "Aichi Kanbaku Units" mentions in the main text:
"Ogawa’s No 3, commanded by FPO 3/c Naga-aki Asahi (observer) and piloted by FPO 3/c Noboru Sakaguchi, crashed in Middle Loch off the port beam of destroyer-minelayer USS Montgomery (DM-17). The crew of two boats sent out to investigate became the first Americans to witness Japan’s harsh warrior code in action. For the men of the imperial armed forces, surrender was not an option. Asahi calmly removed his flight helmet, goggles and life jacket and drowned himself as a civilian boat approached, while Sakaguchi, thrashing in the water, was shot by one of the men in a boat sent out from the Montgomery."
The photo caption repeats basically the same information:
"The aeroplane’s commander, FPO 3/c Naga-aki Asahi, drowned himself in the observer’s rear cockpit when approached by civilian contractors in a boat, while the pilot, FPO 3/c Noboru Sakaguchi, was shot in the water by a sailor from a navy boat sent out by Montgomery."
No mention of Sakaguchi getting "shot when apparently reaching for his own pistol." I find quite interesting the description of Asahi "calmly removing his flight helmet, goggles and life jacket and drowning himself as a civilian boat approached". If the civilian boat was approaching, I wonder who witnessed him doing all these things and where he did them. And where did he "drown himself"? The photo caption says: "drowned himself in the observer’s rear cockpit" but I find it quite unlikely that he was able to remove his life jacket inside the tight cockpit. Did he, alternatively, climb out of the cockpit, stood on the wing, removed his gear and then jumped in the sea to "drown himself"? Also, I wonder why he removed his flight helmet.

Yet another "source" (here) mentions:
"Aircraft crashed near the Pan American Airways Landing at Pearl City.
DEATH BEFORE SURRENDER:
One of the crew committed suicide by drowning himself, the other rather than face capture went for his pistol and was shot by naval personnel."
but also:
"Both crewmen survived the crash, the pilot was in the water and could have been taken prisoner but was seen armed with a pistol before he could use it, he was shot by navy crewmen."

So, Sakaguchi was shot while "thrashing in the water" (which would mean he managed to climb out of the cockpit?) or he was shot while going for his gun or he was shot when the US sailor saw his gun. Or perhaps he was thrashing in the water, the US sailor saw his gun, thought he was going for it and shot him dead. Or...

 
The more I read the above and think about it, the more it seems to me that the more likely chain of events was that the "Val" was cut in half by anti-aircraft fire and was sinking rapidly in the sea. The two crew members were trying to escape from the wreck but were stuck or injured. Asahi in the rear cockpit was trying to remove excess gear to free himself but ultimately drowned, while Sakaguchi remained trapped, was drowning and was eventually shot by US personnel.  
Take your pick or make a guess as to what exactly happened to the crew members of the "Val". Please keep any comments regarding the matter civil. Inappropriate comments will be removed.

View of the starboard side of the cockpit of "Val" "AII-251".

Another view of the cockpit of "AII-251". Note the white lines indicating dive bombing angles.

View of the rear part of the cockpit of "Val" "AII-251".

The three photos above are from NARA, courtesy of P. Fresnel. 

Three photos below of "Val" "AII-251" being hoisted from the sea. 

Source: "Naval History and Heritage Command National Museum of the U.S. Navy"

Quiz

Can you identify the Japanese aircraft type this cockpit belongs to? (photo from NARA courtesy of P. Fresnel)
どんな日本機のコックピットかわかりますか？

Fujimi A5M2a "Kansen" by Fabio Balzano

Here are photos of my latest Japanese plane:
Mitsubishi A5M2a "Kansen"
IJNAF, 13th Kokutai
PO 1st Class Mori Mitsugo
China, Nanjing, February 1938

This is the old Fujimi kit # C-19/72040 first issued in 1996.
It's still useful for building a good A5M2a, but I found it necessary to make these improvements: pilot seat belts, drilling the exhaust pipes, reshaping the cockpit opening, and reducing the thickness of the wing trailing edges. Other small additions, the ignition cables on the engine cylinders and the pilot's climbing bracket.
Even the decal sheet, rich and well printed, still includes a hinomaru with a too light red and a slightly oversized "4-122" tail code. Two more sets of additional correctly sized numbers are provided, "0" and "1" through "9", but a pair of "2s" is still missing to reconstruct it.

- Fabio Balzano, Italy -

Kawanishi E7K2 "Alf", Nakajima E8N "Dave", Heavy Cruiser "Nachi" 九四式水上偵察機, 重巡洋艦 那智 - video

An amazing but undated video today, spotted in NARA by our friend Patrice Fresnel, featuring the seaplanes operated, under heavy seas, by the Heavy Cruiser "Nachi".

We were able to identify the ship by the tail marking of the "Alf"; "WI-1", visible in this still.

According to Akimoto, the seaplanes of the ship adopted the "WI-" tail marking in July 1942 when she was assigned to the 5th Fleet. 

Wiki mentions: "After a refit at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal from 14–30 July, Nachi was reassigned to the IJN 5th Fleet with Kiso and Tama."

Combinedfleet is more specific: 

"14 July 1942: Arrives at Yokosuka. Refit. That day, NACHI is reassigned to the Fifth Fleet's CruDiv 21 with KISO and TAMA.

24-30 July 1942: Drydocked at Yokosuka Navy Yard."

Akimoto mentions that "Nachi" changed her Nakajima E8N "Dave" and Kawanishi E7K2 "Alf" floatplanes to Mitsubishi F1M "Pete" and Aichi E13A "Jake" in 1943, no specific date given. 

Wiki says: "She continued patrols of the Kurile Islands though March 1943"

But combinedfleet is more detailed regarding the ship's movent during that period and mentions that "Nachi" was traveling between Ominato in Honshu, Paramushir and Otaru in Hokkaido, from August 2, 1942, until January 29, 1943. 

Between February 5 and 27, 1943, the ship is undergoing refit in Sasebo. I believe this is when she changed her seaplanes.

So, taking into concideration the above information, we can conclude that the video was shot some time between August 2, 1942, and January 29, 1943, while the ship was in the seas north of Japan, patroling the Chishima (Kurile) Islands.

Did you notice that the "Alf" has no yellow IFF stripes?

Merci beacoup Patrice for the fantastic video!

Kawanishi H6K "Mavis", "Bouquet of the South Seas" 川西 H6K 九七式飛行艇, 南海の花束 - video

A short clip from the movie "Nankai no Hanataba" (Bouquet of the South Seas), features a majestic Kawanishi H6K "Mavis" taking off and alighting.

The particular aircraft, c/n52, was nicknamed "Sazanami" (rippling waves) and had the civilian registration J-BFOY. 

It belonged to the fleet of the Dai Nippon Koku and had a rather short career operating from Palau Islands. On February 1, 1941, after taking off from Saipan had engine trouble and was forced to make an emergency alighting at Chichijima Island. 

On March 8, 1942, a repetition of the previous incident found the flying boat having to make an emergency alighting at Chichijima Island. After fixing the plane, the crew tried to take off but the waves were strong and the plane was seriously damaged.

"Nankai no Hanataba" (Bouquet of the South Seas) is a Japanese film produced by Toho Film in 1942. Based on Ryuichiro Yagi's play "The Equator," the film depicts the branch chief and pilots who develop a civil air route across the equator in the South Seas Islands, which were under Japanese mandate at the time. With the support of Dai Nippon Airways, the film features actual aircraft such as the Type 97 flying boat (Mavis) that was actually in service on the South Pacific route, and the film also uses footage of the actual aircraft in the maintenance scenes and takeoffs and landings.

According to assistant director Kon Ichikawa, filming took place in Palau, which was under Japanese mandate just before the Pacific War began. They left Yokohama in August 1941 on a large Kawanishi four-engine seaplane, but Abe did not like the script, and filming did not progress even in November. Ichikawa, fed up with the staff's anxiety over the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, urged Abe to quit, and filming finally began. Filming was completed on December 8, just one week before the war, on a cargo ship. Ichikawa later testified, "If filming had been delayed even a little longer, we might not have returned alive. We were lucky to escape with our lives."

Kawasaki Ki-102 "Randy", 3rd Sentai, Noshiro Airfield - video

The Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lily" equipped unit, was badly mauled during the battle for the Philippines in 1944, and the few survivors who managed to return to Japan reorganized the unit, this time equipped with Kawasaki Ki-102 "Randy" ground attackers.

Unfrotunately I can't seem to find an accurate illustration of the unit's tail marking.

Akimoto's illustration is not good.

Hashimoto's in "Japanese Military Aircraft Illustrated" is no good either.

Nohara gave it a try in Model Art#533 and KFI#42, but he seems to have been inspired by Hashimoto; so no good either.

Unfortunately, the worst is by Scott in "Emblems of the Rising Sun".

Consequently, Sword's "Randy" markings are also incorrect.

BUT, our good friend Devlin Chouinard didn't waste any time to create, what I believe, the most accurate depiction of the 3rd Sentai unit marking when it flew Ki-102s. THANK YOU D.!!! 

Kyushu Q1W "Tokai" (Lorna), 903 Kokutai, Noshiro 九州飛行機 陸上哨戒機「東海」, 第903海軍航空隊, 能代飛行場 - video

A very recently uploaded AMAZING clip, features a bunch of Kyushu Q1W "Tokai" (Lorna) land-based anti-submarine patrol bombers, found at Noshiro Airfield, Akita Prefecture, at the end of the war.

The tail marking "903-" indicates that they belong to the 903 Kokutai. The unit was organized on December, 15, 1944, as a maritime defense unit, with its headquarters at Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture, and its area of operations in the sea on the east side (Pacific) of Japan. It had dispatch units at several locations including Ominato (Aomori Prefecture), Hachijojima, Tsukuba, Chichijima, Hamajima, Kushimoto, Komachushima and more.

On May 15, 1945, the headquarters of the unit relocated to Ominato and dispatched more units to Wakkanai, Akkeshi, Mihoro (Hokkaido), Yamada Bay (Iwate Prefecture) and others.

Before the end of the war, its area of operations shifted to the sea in the northeast of Japan.

The unit was equipped with a variety of aircraft types including Zero-sen, Nakajima B5N "Kate", Nakajima B6N "Tenzan" (Jill), Mitsubishi G3M "Nell", Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" and Aichi E13A "Jake".

Originally, the unit's tail marking was "ヨG-" (YoG-) but from May 1945 it became "903-".

Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate" 中島 キ27 九七式戦闘機 - video

Ki-27s under production at a Nakajima factory.

Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate", unidentified unit marking 中島 キ27 九七式戦闘機, 分からない部隊マーク

九七戦の尾翼マークからどんな部隊か分かりますか？ノモンハン事件かもしれない.

Last year, these photos featuring a Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate" experiencing a landing mishap went under the hammer, making the seller particularly happy. No further information was provided, but most likely the photos were taken during the Nomonhan Incident (Battles of Khalkhin Gol). Can you identify the unit of this "Nate" with the undocumented (AFAIK) tail marking?

Aichi E13A "Jake", Saeki Kokutai 愛知 E13A 零式水上偵察機, 佐伯海軍航空隊 - video

Although the tail markings on most seaplanes are not visible, on the trailer of one of them the katakana "サヘ" can be seen confirming that the unit is the Saeki Kokutai.

The Saeki Kokutai, tail marking "サヘ" (SaHe), was established on December 1, 1934, under the Kure Naval District, dedicated to patrolling the Bungo Channel, where ships sail from Kure Naval Port to the Pacific Ocean.

Initially, it was equipped with various types of bombers. On June 5, 1943, a US submarine entered the Bungo Channel, and two planes from the unit bombed it. After that incident, there were frequent encounters with submarines in the area, and the unit engaged in anti-submarine sweeps, including preemptive bombing and guiding surface ships.

On January 1, 1944, the unit dispatched its bombers in preparation for the establishment of the 931st Kokutai, and was reorganized with 32 floatplanes in its strength.

Around September, Kyushu Q1W "Tokai" (Lorna) anti-submarine aircraft and flying boats were introduced to improve patrol capabilities.

On December 22, "Operation S1" (anti-submarine sweeps in the East China Sea area) was launched. Three floatplanes, four flying boats, and six "Tokais" participated under the command of the Sasebo Naval District Force.

From March 18, 1945, air raids against Saeki Airfield commenced.

On March 27, "Operation Ten-go" was launched. SaekiKu performed forward patrols and anti-submarine sweeps in preparation for battleship Yamato's departure. Similar missions were conducted when the operation was carried out on April 6.

On June 1, "Tokai" and flying boat squadrons were reorganized as independent floatplane squadrons.

The clip is dated June 25, 1945, so we're not sure if this is stock futage or what mission the unit is engaged in.

Illustration by Nohara Shigeru featured in FAOW#47.

Of special interest are markings featured on some (not all) "Jake" floatplanes, consisting of a thick white (I think) line starting from the cockpit side and extending on the wing, perhaps to help during formation flying.

Another interesting detail is the repetition of the individual seaplane's number on the cowling lip.

Note the Kato Tractor we discussed in previous posts.

In this still we can make out the tail marking of one more "Jake; "サヘ-38". All Japanese sources mention that only the floatplanes equipped with jikitanchiki (磁気探知機, "Magnetic Detector") had a yellow band on the tail; however, curiously, in this still, "SaHe-38" doesn't seem to be equipped with MAD.

The "Jakes" that were assigned to anti-submarine duties were split into two "groups": the "detectors" with MAD and the "killers" with bombs. When the "detectors" spotted a submarine the "killers" started attacking. Perhaps both groups in SaekiKu had yellow bands on their tail.

Nakajima Type 91 fighter, Aikoku #84 & #86 - 中島 九一式戦闘機, 愛国号 #84, #86 - video

On May 7, 1933, in the Parade Ground in Joto, Osaka, three Nakajima Type 1 Fighters were donated to the IJAAF; Aikokugo #84, #86 and #87. The donors were Tamura Komajiro, "Osaka Prefecture, City, and other industry-related parties" and the "Osaka Association of Honmon Butsuryū" respectively.

In the clip we can see the donation ceremony of #84 and #86 taking place with the Shinto Priest permorming a Harai Ceremony before the two pilots are taking the fighters for a spin.