Kawanishi E7K1 "Alf"

A dramatic photo, from a vintage October 1939 magazine, of a Kawanishi E7K1 hoisted on the water. Note the 2-tone camouflage on the upper surfaces.

Any ideas about the ship?

gmmk11 suggested that the ship could be the Heavy Cruiser Chokai or Maya of the Takao Class and provided a link to an interesting message board. 

So here's a photo of Chokai from a vintage publication around 1934.

Mitsubishi Karigane / Asahi Shimbun / "Kamikaze-go" #6 Art

Brilliant CG artwork reproduced here with permission from nag's Gallery.

Breathtaking artwork by the legendary Koike Shigeo from this site.

Mitsubishi Karigane / Asahi Shimbun / "Kamikaze-go" #5 Models

Model by Vangelis Vasilopoulos from Athens, Greece. ARII, 1/72.

"The model was built in 2005 straight from the box with only modifications the pitot tube and the antenna. Building time was two months and 10 days. Painted with Alclad for the aluminium and various mixes of Gunze Sangyo for the blue. It won second K prize in the IPMS Hellas Model Show of 2005 and praise in the Scale Modelworld of the following year."

 

Mitsubishi Karigane / Asahi Shimbun / "Kamikaze-go" #4 Kits

1/72

 

MANIA

LS



ARII

HASEGAWA



1/50



MARUSAN

 

MARUSAN



UPC*

* "Rare 1/50 scale large Babs. From ex-Marusan molds. Very nicely detailed kit with full cockpit, pilot and navigator figures, complete clear side window set, operating elevator, rudder ailerons and wing flap, rotating wheels and prop and removable cowl to show well-molded engine. Has very colorful civil 'Kamikaze' decals. UPC stood for Universal Powermaster Corporation which was based out of New York City, NY. UPC did not cut their own molds, but bought kits already molded from other manufactures and re-boxed the kits in the USA. Scott Eidson, the famous artist best known for his artwork with Revell, also did UPC box art in the 1960s. All UPC production ended in the 1970s." (From here)

Mitsubishi Karigane / Asahi Shimbun / "Kamikaze-go" #3 Movie

Mitsubishi Karigane / Asahi Shimbun / "Kamikaze-go" #2 Photos

March 25, 1937. Prince Kuninomiya Asaakira visited Kagamigahara airfield to see Kamikaze-Go during training.

Kamikaze-Go getting fuelled up. Notice the beautiful and clean lines.

April 1, 1937. Ceremony before departure. A formation of Shonan HikoHei (Youth Aviators) is flying overhead to wish good luck to the the Kamikaze-Go pilots.

April 2. Took-off from Tachikawa airfield at 1:44:14am and flew until South Kyushu. Unfortunately encountered bad weather and returned to Tachikawa at 8:50.

April 7. Taking off from Culcutta.

April 8. Arrival at Baghdat airport. The pilots are getting off holding their flight diaries and passports.

April 8. Arrived in Tatoi airport of Athens at 18:20.

April 9. Paris Le Bourget airport. Tsukagoshi performs a final check before leaving for London.

April 16. Croydon airfield. Getting ready for take-off for the European tour after resting in the UK for a week.

June 5, 1937. An aviation pageant took place in Haneda airport from 10:00am sponsored by the Ministry of Communication, the Imperial Aviation Association and Asahi Shimbun. More than 100,000(!) visitors had the chance to see up close 160 IJAAF, IJNAF and civilian aircraft (wish I was there...). In the photo Prince Mikasanomiya (the oldest living member of the Imperial family) is shown the cockpit of Kamikaze-Go by pilot Iinuma. Other Imperial family members visiting the event were Princess Fusako and Princess Masako, daughters of Emperor Meiji.  

The aviators. Iinuma Masaaki (left) and Tsukagoshi Kenji.

Check HERE for more information about the flight.

Mitsubishi Karigane / Asahi Shimbun / "Kamikaze-go" #1 Bibliography

We start this series of postings with a selected bibliography of Japanese publications.

Ao Kiroku Dai Hiko - "Kamikaze" Gaho #1 (Asia-Europe Great Record Flight - "Kamikaze" Pictorial #1). Published by Asahi Shimbun, April 1937.

Ao Kiroku Dai Hiko - "Kamikaze" Gaho #2 (Asia-Europe Great Record Flight - "Kamikaze" Pictorial #2). Published by Asahi Shimbun, May 1937.

Osaka Asahi Shimbun - NiManGo Kinen (A photo album released on the anniversary of the 20,000 issue of the newspaper). Published by Asahi Shimbun, June 1937.

"Koku Zuisho" (Aviation Memoirs) by Iinuma Masaaki, first published by Hata Shoten September 1937 and republished in 1989.

"Iinuma Hikoshi Iko Narabini Shoden" (Pilot Iinuma's posthumous works and short biography) by Kawauchi Kazuhiko, published by Asahi Shumbun, 1942

"KAMIKAZE" by Yamazaki Akio, published by Miki Press, January 2005

BREAKING NEWS - "The D4Y "Judy" starts up!"

"This is the first time since 1945 that the Judy has run. This aircraft was recovered in the South Pacific in 1994 and acquired by the POF Museum in 2000. To say we are happy to see it run is an understatement! It is because of the hard work, dedication and determination of the following: Ed Maloney, who personally saw to it that the plane would be completed. Duane Lurgen, who piece by piece put it together; cutting and shaping sheet metal and repairing the damage - working many 12 hour days. John Maloney who helped with the engine work and painted it. Steve Hinton, shown above, who finished the work needed to get it running for tomorrow's event, and Tom Freidkin who generously donated the engine. We would also like to mention the volunteers who donated their time to help out whenever possible."

Photo and text from Planes-of-Fame-Air-Museum facebook page, HERE. Check the page for more photos and news.

Also, Jim Stuhler mentioned in a Hyperscale posting:

"...the Judy will not be a flyer. There's just too much corrosion in the wing. 

The engine was run for the first time yesterday (29/11), and she will be featured at tomorrow's Monthly Event, along with our "Tora!Tora!Tora!" Val replica. The plan is to maintain her as a taxiable replica. 

My team and I are working energetically to finish the flaps and ailerons before next May's airshow. Might sound easy, but there are only 3 of us, and we all have real jobs, so we only get to work on her on Saturdays. This is the first WWII-vintage airplane that I've come across that has fabric-covered flaps."

Mitsubishi G4M1 (Betty) - 705Ku

In December 1943 a part of the 705 Kokutai advanced to Tongu* in Burma (Myanmar) and on the 5th, in cooperation with IJAAF units, bombed the Indian city of Calcutta (present-day Kolkata).

The captions below are from the attached news film of this raid offering excellent interior views of the Mitsubishi G4M1.

Originally called MisawaKu with the letter "H" as their tail marking, the unit became 705Ku on November 1st, 1942. Until about March 1943 it continued to use the "H" but at around that time and until September 1943 changed to "TI" (or T1). From September 1943 until March 1944, the time of the Calcutta raid, the unit used only numerals on the aircraft tails.

Rare view of the dorsal blister

A very young looking radio operator

And finally two captions of the tail gunner with the 20mm cannon. 

Searching the net I located this quite interesting site that offers some vivid descriptions of those in the receiving end. 

*I was not able to pinpoint "Tongu" (Japanese pronunciation) in Burma but did find Tongue Island. Any help?

It is Taungoo or Toungoo. In 1940 the Royal Air Force built an airfield north of the town, which from August 1941 through February 1942 served as a training and support base for the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers). Later it was also used by Japanese Air Forces.

Regards,

LAW

Thank you LAW

Visitors - The German Connection

Perhaps you noticed the phrase regarding a "Condor" visit to Japan in our previous post. Here's the story with some info from the net and extras from Japanese sources. All photos are from Japanese vintage publications.

Three months after the remarkable for the time non-stop flight from Berlin to New York, Fw200 registered D-ACON and carrying the name "Brandenburg" decided this time to to visit Japan.  On November 28, 1938 Flugkapitane Alfred Henke, Capt. Rudolf von Moreau (2nd pilot), Paul Dierberg (wireless operator-engineer) and Walter Kober (radio operator) together with crew chief Georg Kohne (Focke Wulf) and Consul Heinz Young (Director of Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH Berlin) took-off from Berlin's Tempellhof airport and after stops in Basra, Karachi and Hanoi finally landed in Tachikawa, Tokyo (Haneda was undergoing repairs). The time was 46 hours, 15 minutes and 52 seconds corresponding to an average speed of 192 km/h, including ground time at the stops. 

The Condor arriving at Tachikawa airport, November 30, at exactly 22:34:24.

Crew and passengers are getting off.

An enthusiastic crowd had gathered, eagerly waiting their arrival.

A welcome ceremony was held at a nearby hangar.

After that they were all driven to the Imperial Hotel

where they stayed for the rest of their visit.

A map showing the route and the distance covered.

The next day was really hectic. The schedule included visits to Meiji and Yasukuni shrines, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of the Navy, Army Aviation Headquarters, Army Ministry and Foreign Ministry followed by a tea party at the house of Transportation Minister at 16:00. The photo above was taken somewhere along this route. The "X" indicates the German Ambassador to Japan Eugen Ott.  

On December 2 (or 4) the schedule included a party at Kabuki-za (HERE) sponsored by Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shinbun. In the above photo Captain Henke is shaking hands with one of the most famous Kabuki actors of all time Onoe Kikugoro the 6th.

On November 5 at 6:00am Prince Chichibu-no-miya visited Tachikawa airfield and was given a tour by Capt. Henke. 

Unfortunately the return flight of the next day, Nov. 6 did not have a happy ending. The aircraft took-off at 5:37 from Tachikawa, flew over Okinawa without any problem at 11:00 but had to make an emergency landing at 16:40 (Japan time) in Rosario beach, Cavite, Manila Bay due to a malfuction of the fuel pomp that resulted in three engines shutting down.