244 Sentai - Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Tony) #1

A beautiful Hasegawa "Hien" in 1/32 built by Ilias Galanikas. A 244 Sentai aircraft flown to Captain Kobayashi Teruhiko.

Nipponki '46: IJNAF Bachem Ba 349 Natter

In the 47th Shizuoka exhibition (2008), among models of tanks and jeeps was a lovely Natter in Japanese colours; Navy I guess. Unfortunately there was no tag with details about the modeler, scale or model company. 

Aichi D3A "Val"

A vintage photo featured in a February 1943 magazine. The lack of spinner indicates that this is an Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bomber. 

Note the ropes tying it firmly to the ground and the bearded ground crew guy on the right corner. 

There are two details that hint of the location and the unit. The first is that the wheel covers lack the decoration usually carried by planes belonging to aircraft carriers indicating that this particular plane belonged to a land based unit. This and the ground crew clothes and general setting make me believe that this plane belongs (or belonged) to the 33rd Kokutai. 

The unit was organized on February 1st, 1942 with the mission to train crew members of carrier attack and bomber planes and patrol the Java and Surabaya area. In the beginning, it carried eight D3A "Val" bombers and eight Mitsubishi B5M "Mabel". During an August 1st reorganization, the unit lost its "Vals" and on November 1st, 1942 changed its designation to 932 Kokutai. 

If the photo was taken around the time the magazine was released, then the "Val" in the photo could not have belonged to the 33rd ku but perhaps some other unit in the area. Or the magazine used a photo that was taken within the 2/1-8/1 1942 time frame and the plane actually belongs to the 33rd. 

This posting was originally put up on the 20th of October last year but since then Bob Alford made a very interesting comment which is the following:

I would say that the D3A1 "Val" depicted belonged to either 33 or 35 Ku, both of which served in the NEI from February 1942. 

It is similar to a number of images also seen in the FAOW book on the type - groundcrew in singlets, the flat terrain, etc. Not conclusive but circumstantial.

33 Ku became 932 Ku in the 1 November 1942 reorganisation while 35 Ku became 956 Ku. (See also Japanese Air Forces Over the NWA 1942-1945. Self-published. 2010. Pages 40-41)

I tried enhancing the image with what limited facilities I have here and it SEEMS that the tail code of one "Val" in the background is 35-xxx 

Hopefully this will exercise the minds of others and we can pin it down further.

Cheers, and congratulations on a superb site.

Bob Alford

Lampang Thailand 

Yes, FAOW#130, p. 46 has a similar photo which according to the caption was taken in Surabaya and the "Val" shown belonged to the 33rdKu. There is another one on p. 53 too.

Zooming in on the tail in the background didn't produce any clear results. The first two digits could be either a "33" or a "35". Would anybody like to help with the whereabouts of the 35Ku around that time period? 

More information from Luca Ruffato (grazie!):

Japanese Monograph#116 p. 128 reports that 35Ku was established on 1 February 1942 at Takao under 3rd Fleet. 

On 30 March it was assigned to 23rd Base Force but the group had already moved to Makassar-Celebes (Dutch east Indies) since 6 February. 

On 20 June the group was attached directly to 2nd Expeditionary Fleet. 

Detachment operated in forward bases as follows: Jogyakarta-Java (10 to 17 May); Balikpapan-Borneo (28 July to 6 August); Koepang-Timor (6 to 17 August); Kendari-Celebes (8 to 12 October); Waingapoe-Soemba (20 to 28 October). 

HTH, Luca Ruffato

NEW! Arawasi decals - P-51 Mustang "Evalina" captured by IJAAF

VERY limited numbers of this high quality decal set are now available. Specifically designed for the Tamiya 1/48 Aircraft series #42. Price is $US11.00 and includes postage. Click HERE if interested to order.
Don't miss this chance! 

2012

This year was especially hard for all of us living in Japan but also for Greece. We would like to express our gratitude to all those who stood beside us sending messages of friendship, care and support. We hope the new year of the dragon to be better in every way than the year before.

良いお年をお迎え下さい

BEST WISHES FOR THE 2012!

ΤΙΣ ΚΑΛΥΤΕΡΕΣ ΕΥΧΕΣ ΜΑΣ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ 2012!

Nipponki '46: Deep Blue Fleet #6 "HARU ARASHI"

Seaplane Fighter Bomber "Haru Arashi" (Spring Storm)

Span: 12.37m

Length: 10.598m

Weight: 2675kg

Max Speed: 590km/h @ 5600m

Range: 1200km

Armament: two 20mm cannons on the wings, two 20mm cannons in the cowling, one 250kg bomb

Crew: 1

Another seaplane with retractable floats that resembles a lot the "Kyofu" and the "Shiun".

Nipponki '46: Deep Blue Fleet #5 "RAIYO"

Seaplane Attack Fighter "Raiyo" (Thunder of the Pacific)

Span: 15.2m

Length: 11.00m

Weight: 4050kg

Max Speed: 610km/h @ 6000m

Range: 3000km

Armament: one 800kg torpedo or three 250kg bombs, two 20mm cannons under the belly, one 13mm machine gun in the rear gunner position

Crew: 3

Art: Imura Shinji

 

Cover art: Takani Yoshiyuki

An interesting retractable (!!!) flotplane version of the Toryu equipped with radar and able to act as torpedo bomber. Can't figure out where the third crew member would fit.

Nipponki '46: Twin-engine Zero

In a Manga series with the title "Gale over Rabaul - Air Battle History", released '99-'00 and written by Kawamata Chiaki, a Zero of quite interesting design is roaming the skies of South Pacific.

What if the all-well-known Zero design had a pair of engines on it's wings leaving the nose free to install different kinds of cannons and machine guns? It certainly looks cool to me and I wouldn't mind experimenting with a couple kits from the spare box.

Manga cover illustration by Takani Yoshiyuki (Born 1935)

Story illustration by Wada Satoru

Nipponki '46: IJNAF Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor by George G. Crozier

The rumored IJNAF Focke-Wulf Fw-200 Condor with four 2000hp Homare engines borrowed from the Nakajima G8N "Renzan" (Rita) project. The Fw-200 so modified was used as an engine test bed. This particular aircraft was found damaged at the end of the war.

Model by: George G. Crozier

Nipponki '46: Deep Blue Fleet #4 "SENKI"

Carrier Tank Buster "Senki" (?)

Span: 13.8m

Length: 10.88m

Weight: 4960kg

Max Speed: 6725km/h

Range: 1360km

Armament: 1X35mm cannon, 6 air-to-ground rockets

Crew: 1 

 

The wings resemble a lot the "Ryusei" but how about the fuselage and jet engine? Any ideas?