"Nihongun Rokakuki" #6 - Quiz!

Can you identify the aircraft type but more importantly the unit etc? 

Original photo from the Arawasi collection.

Ed Bailey commented:

Under the wing is the VT prefix for a civilian Indian aircraft, and it looks to me like an Airspeed Envoy.

UPDATE by Ed Bailey:

I heard from the owner of indianairmails.com, Piyush Khaitan. He shared a link, here, to images of ephemera from the airmail demonstration flight of 1935. An ad tells that the flight is to be in and Airspeed Envoy, and encourages postal customers to support the flight so that regular service can be established.

He also shared links on his site to lists of Indian aircraft registries and crash reports (at the top of the page here ).

According to the registry list, only one Airspeed Envoy was ever registered in India, VT-AHR, to the maharaja of Jaipur in 1936 and thence to Indian National Airways in 1940, crashing in Jaipur in 1942 with no fatalities. (No mention in the crash report of prior ownership by Tata Air Service which used the Envoy for the 1935 airmail flight with Tata's business partner Nevill Vintcent at the controls.)

There can be little doubt that the Japanese had no involvement in the crash if it happened in Jaipur.

Thank you again, Ed for all the effort. The photo was in a Japanese set of small photographs with other destroyed/wrecked/damaged Allied aircraft but unfortunately there was no writting on the back revealing the location or other details. So, it is definitely taken by a Japanese somewhere in the Southeast Asia but the question remains as to where and under what circumstances. Let us know if you spot anything.

Further UPDATE by Ed Bailey:

I see three possibilities for the aircraft in the photo. The first two are compatible with the photo being taken in Japanese-held territory: that this is some other Airspeed Envoy missing from the list of Indian-registered aircraft, or that it is indeed VT-AHR and the location of "Jaipur" listed in the accident report is not the crash site (link). The third possibility is that the photo was taken in Jaipur and eventually a print of it ended up in the Japanese soldier's collection.

The Airspeed Envoy in the photo has clearly had camouflage paint applied, but still has the civilian registration under the wing. It could read VT-AHR and we know of no other aircraft it could be. It was not unusual for civilian aircraft to be pressed into military service in appropriate livery even if they remained under civilian ownership and operation. The accident report says the aircraft crashed on the night of 22 March 1942 without loss of life, but suggests it may have been shot down. The date is not long after the fall of Rangoon, while the British were in retreat.

Speculating, but here is the explanation I think best fits the facts. This aircraft is the same Envoy that was used by Tata Air Service for the 25 February airmail demonstration flight (though under what ownership/registration, I don't know), subsequently bought by the Maharaja of Jaipur in 1936 and, at least by this point, registered VT-AHR, then sold to Indian National Airways in 1940. In 1942 it was pressed into service performing light transport duties for the retreating British forces and, possibly having been shot at by the Japanese, made a hard landing (look at the undercarriage) in British-held territory in Burma that was about to change hands. The crew got off safely, and the wreck was abandoned, either before or after the engines were salvaged. Then a Japanese soldier took a snapshot of the wreck.

BTW, it occurred to me that the database of accident reports might exclude aircraft losses in Burma, so I checked and it does list some in Burma. I also checked here for an Airspeed Envoy lost on 22 March 1942, but found none. It does list a fatal crash of an RAF Airspeed Envoy in Burma on 24 February 1942 (link), clearly not the same aircraft but possibly giving the RAF impetus to requisition VT-AHR.

It would be nice to have more info and less speculation, but I'm pretty sure what we have here is the history of one aircraft (Airspeed AS.6 Envoy II, no. 57, VT-AHR) starting in Bombay on 25 February 1935 and ending in Burma on 22 March 1942.

Once again, thank you very much Ed for all the effort. It seems we have a mystery here. All your suggestions sound very reasonable. Any ideas about the significance of the small star on the nose?

Ed Bailey commented:

I'm glad you asked about the star, because when I took another look at it, I noticed the star in the circle has wings. Check out the Wikipedia article on Indian National Airways, and you will notice its logo was exactly what you see below the cockpit. I think this confirms the identity of this aircraft beyond doubt.

Thank you, Ed.

Here's the Indian National Airways logo from Wiki:

And here's the star with the wings on the Envoy nose:

So, thanks to Ed, we are confident to confirm beyond any doubt that the wrecked Envoy indeed belonged to the Indian National Airways fleet.

 

Here are more closeups

Are these hangars in the background and therefore a proper airfield?

I don't think I see the letters "AHR" under the port wing. What do you think?