IJAAF "Te-4" machine gun - Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lily" - video

A very short clip featuring the "Te-4" flexible machine gun installed on the ventral position of a Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lily" light bomber.

NEW! by "NoviART 3D" & Arawasi - IJAAF "Te-1" flexible machine gun 「テ１」試製単銃身旋回機関銃一型

The third and final set includes, again, TWO 3D printed IJAAF "Te-1" flexible machine guns in 1/48.
最後のセットは、1/48スケールの日本陸軍　試製単銃身旋回機関銃一型「テ１」です。

The "NoviART 3D" & Arawasi - IJAAF "Te-1" flexible machine gun set.

試製単銃身旋回機関銃一型「テ１」

３Dプリンター作成

スケール：１/４８

個数：1袋に2個入りです。

作成： Novi Art 3D / ARAWASI

The trees of the set.

The 3D rendering.

The "Te-1" flexible machine gun was developed to be installed exclusively in IJAAF heavy bombers and only limited numbers were produced. Only the Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally" and the Nakajima Ki-49 "Donryu" (Helen) bombers had these machine guns. Occasionally a combination of "Te-1" and "Te-4" machine gun in various defensive positions of the bombers.

The photo features a field modification of a "Te-1" installed behind the co-pilot of a 60 Sentai "Sally" bomber.

対象飛行機：

三菱 キ21 97式重爆撃機

中島 キ49 一〇〇式重爆撃機　「呑龍」

Price is 8$US (postage not included).

Send over an email if interested with your name and delivery address (to calculate postage): arawasiorder@gmail.com

価格：￥1000（日本国内のみ　送料込み）

ご興味のある方は、フェイスブックのプライベートメッセージまたは、 arawasiorder@gmail.com　までメールでご連絡ください。

NEW! by "NoviART 3D" & Arawasi - IJAAF Type 89 twin flexible machine gun 八九式旋回機関銃

The second set, again, includes TWO 3D printed IJAAF Type 89 flexible machine guns in 1/48.

二番目のセットは、1/48スケールの日本陸軍「八九式旋回機関銃」です。

The "NoviART 3D" & Arawasi - IJAAF Type 89 twin flexible machine gun.

八九式旋回機関銃

３Dプリンター作成

スケール：１/４８

個数：1袋に2個入りです。

作成： Novi Art 3D / ARAWASI

The trees of the set.

The 3D rendering.

The Type 89 flexible twin machine gun was operated by a number of IJAAF aircraft of the 1930s and well into the Pacific war.

Some examples: Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally", Mitsubishi Ki-30 "Ann", Kawasaki Ki-31 "Mary", Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lily", Nakajima Ki-4 and more.

対象飛行機：

三菱 キ21 97式重爆撃機

三菱 キ30 97式軽爆撃機

川崎 キ32 98式軽爆撃機

川崎 キ48 99式双発軽爆撃機

中島 キ4 94式偵察機

Price is 8$US (postage not included).

Send over an email if interested with your name and delivery address (to calculate postage): arawasiorder@gmail.com

価格：￥1000（日本国内のみ　送料込み）

ご興味のある方は、フェイスブックのプライベートメッセージまたは、 arawasiorder@gmail.com　までメールでご連絡ください。

NEW! by "NoviART 3D" & Arawasi - IJAAF "Te-4" machine gun 「テ４」試製単銃身旋回機関銃二型

We are excited to showcase this week three new releases from NoviART 3D in partnership with Arawasi, which we believe modellers will find particularly interesting. 

First up is ONE set that includes TWO 3D printed IJAAF "Te-4" machine guns in 1/48.

このたび、NoviART 3DとArawasiのコラボレーションにより、モデラーの皆様に特に興味深い3つの新製品を今週ご紹介いたします。
まず最初に、1/48スケールの日本陸軍「テ-4」機関銃2丁のセットです。

The "NoviART 3D" & Arawasi - IJAAF "Te-4" machine gun package.

３Dプリンター作成

スケール：１/４８

個数：1袋に2個入りです。

作成： Novi Art 3D / ARAWASI

The trees of the set.

The 3D rendering.

Each machine gun is 2.2cm long.

機関銃は2.2ｃｍです。

The "Te-4" was the standard flexible machine gun operated on all the IJAAF aircraft in the 1930s and even until the end of the war by some types and models. Some examples: Mitsubishi Ki-15 "Babs", Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally", Mitsubishi Ki-30 "Ann", Mitsubishi Ki-46II "Dinah", Mitsubishi Ki-51 "Sonia", Kawasaki Ki-31 "Mary", Kawasaki Ki-48 "Lily" and more.

対象飛行機：

三菱 キ15 九七式司令部偵察機

三菱 キ21 97式重爆撃機

三菱 キ46 一〇〇式司令部偵察機

川崎 キ48 99式双発軽爆撃機

三菱 キ51 99式襲撃機 / 99式軍偵察機

Price is 8$US (postage not included).
Send over an email if interested with your name and delivery address (to calculate postage): arawasiorder@gmail.com

価格：￥1000（日本国内のみ　送料込み）
ご興味のある方は、フェイスブックのプライベートメッセージまたは、 arawasiorder@gmail.com　までメールでご連絡ください。

"Nihongun Rokakuki" #9 - Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

According to one Japanese source, the Republic P-47D -28RE S/N 44-229068 was shot down on the outskirts of Fengyuan, Taiwan on February 27, 1945. The aircraft belonged to the 40th Fighter Squadron, 35th Fighter Group, 5th Air Force, and the pilot was identified as Lieutenant Ralph R. Hartley, who went missing that day.

While taking part on an air raid on Taiwan, the Thunderbolt was shot down in an aerial battle with a Nakajima Ki-84 "Hayate" (Frank) belonging to the Army's Combined Air Squadron.

Check here for more about the pilot.

Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally" in 1/48 by Dan Salamone

This is my completed 1/48 ICM Ki-21I kit. Products used include: Gunze acrylic black surfacer, Tamiya acrylics, including custom mixes for IJA interior blue grey and exterior dark green (ao midori iro), AK paint marker for lighter green undercolor above Tamiya XF-14 base camouflage. Dead Design canopy masks, Kelik 3D decal interior details, oils for weathering and some light use of AK weathering pencils. Kit decals were used, I also added landing lights from MV lenses, and brake lines from fine wire.

This is my third “larger” kit from ICM, and so far the best as far as engineering, fit, and in the box detail. The clear parts are of a very high quality. Be sure to dry fit everything, there are a few steps where parts numbers are transposed on the instructions, dry fitting will reveal these errors. The main thing to be very careful of on this model is when the landing gear need to be attached, which is before the lower cowl parts are attached. This means the long gear legs are exposed to lots of handling, and also being masked during the painting process.

ICM would also have you build the model with the bomb aiming device protruding from the lower nose. The vast majority of Ki-21 images sitting on the ground show this instrument as not being visible, I closed the molded open hole and stowed the device inside the fuselage.

The bomb bay doors are also a bit fiddly, and ICM would have you glue the door halves together, with the front and back actuator arms in between, then attach the assembly for each side once dry. I attached the “outside” doors to the fuselage, then added the actuator arms, and the following day attached the “inner” doors. I'm not fully satisfied with the final look, if the attachment points on the door parts were more pronounced, it would have been a much easier process.

Overall, this model was very enjoyable, and is yet another type that I had though we would never see in 1/48. Kudos to ICM for daring to produce models like this, even more so during a time of war in the Ukraine.

It took me awhile to decide on what camouflage scheme to go with. I had assumed I'd go with one of the later Hamamatsu bomber school schemes, but ultimately decided on the 25th Independent Air Brigade HQ Flight option. 

The few images I was working from showed 2 colors painted on the overall grey green, to replicate the lighter color I went with the AK paint marker for ao midori iro, which is lighter than their color in the bottle. I mixed my own version of this same color to be close to the bottle color, using Tamiya acrylics. Thinning about 40% using Tamiya acrylic thinner and Tamiya acrylic retarder, and using less than 10 psi, I freehanded the dark green color in two separate sessions, totaling about 5 or 6 hours. I've been using an Iwata HP-C for almost 25 years, and as usual it performed very well.

The final clear coat is a new (to me) product, Gunze “Mr. Super Smooth Clear Matt”, in a spray can. This clear coat dries quickly, is matt, yet has a very fine eggshell finish that is very pleasing to the eye. 

References used were Famous Aircraft of the World #153, and Arawasi Eagle Eye #3. For a full build review with many in progress images, please look for my personal model bulding page on Facebook, “The 48th Dimension”. 

- Dan Salamone -

"Nihongun Rokakuki" #8 - Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger

These photographs of a Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger torpedo bomber appeared in the September 1944 issue of "Koku Asahi" magazine. Shot down during a raid on Surabaya in what was then the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), it has been placed on public display and, probably for the benefit of the camera, promptly surrounded by local residents.

Steve Alvin commented:

On May 17, 1944, aircraft from the Saratoga and Illustrious attacked the oil refineries at Surabaya as part of Operation Transom. During the attack, one TBM from Sara's VT-3 was lost. This is undoubtedly that plane.

Nippon Goh commented:

In Enemy Hands: a TBF Avenger captured by Japanese. I took this picture from a magazine in Indonesia.

Some said it was captured during Palembang Air raid however the markings might not seen like a British Avenger

(I think it's from a VT-12 Avenger Bomber that ditched near shore during the Surabaya raid, and the crew was seen jumping into a dinghy but was never seen again. I remember reading a book by a POW who said a group of "Palembang Raiders" aircrew was staying next to his cell in Changi Prison but was later executed. The marking is also similar to that of the VT-12 Avenger bombers.)

Najmi Faiz Rabbani sent over this scan, I suppose from a wartime Indonesian publication:

Scoobs added:

That's TBM-1C (BuNo 25429) of VT-12 was lost on 17 May 1944: crew was VT-12 CO LT William E. Rowbotham, AOC Duncan F. Hallock, and ARM1c James A. Holmes.

Also:

Of note, it is questionable if this crew were the "Palembang raiders" that met their fate at Changi - The Brewton Standard (AL) newspaper had an article in the 09 Jan 1947 edition entitled "Local Man Killed Trying to Seize Jap Aircraft: Navy Department Says Andrew Holmes Lost Life As Prisoner" that describes a remarkable incident in which Holmes and another flyer (presumably Hallock) attempted to hijack a transport flight from Java to Japan - the aircraft landed at Davao, Mindanao where the two wounded prisoners were taken to the hospital where they died several days later. The remains of both men were located by American forces after the war and both have known burial sites: Hallock at the ABMC Cemetery in Manila and Holmes in his hometown cemetery in Escambia County, Alabama. What happened to their pilot, LT William E. Rowbotham, is currently a mystery as he has no known resting place.

"Nihongun Rokakuki" #7 - North American P-51 Mustang

According to the clip naration:

"On the same day as the capture of Guilin, 10 November, the elite troops of the Imperial Japanese Army also captured Liuzhou, and on 24 November, they pursued the defeated enemy from Guilin and Liuzhou and successfully captured Nanning. 

In Liuzhou, the enemy had deployed a massive force of 16 divisions, but our troops charged forward with fierce close combat and routed the enemy within 10 days. 

At the southern end of Liuzhou, the Americans were rushing to establish a dedicated runway to turn the airfield into a B-29 base, but it was destroyed before completion. Pursuing the defeated enemy, our elite troops advanced rapidly toward Nanning. Nanning, the last stronghold in Guangxi Province, was the base of the hated American Air Force that had obstructed our maritime transport routes along the southern coast centred on French Indochina. On 24 November, our troops entered the city. Coincidentally, exactly five years later, Nanning returned to our hands. With the capture of Nanning, the enemy's crucial air bases in southwestern China are now completely under our control, and the situation on the mainland is now developing in our absolute favour."

Wartime Japanese propaganda aside, the facts are that "On 24 November, the Japanese captured Nanning, completing the Ichi-Go objective to establish a rail link from French Indo-China to Hankow, Shanghai and Peking." (from here)

I found the attached photo of the same Mustang featured in the clip here. The date of the caption is off but Gary Lai added: It is P-51C-11-NT 44-10789, 26th FS, 51st FG, 14th AF

(for those not familiar with US military abbreviations: 26 Fighter Squadron, 51 Fighter Group, 14 Air Force)

"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?

"Nihongun Rokakuki" #5 - Vought F4U Corsair - video

Another clip from the NHK collection featuring a downed Vought F4U Corsair is Saigon (present-day Ho Chi Minh City). The date mentioned is January 12, 1945.

From "Air War Pacific Chronology" by Eric Hammel.

January 12, 1945

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Night-flying scout bombers and fighters launched at 0330 hours from Task Group 38.5, fail to locate IJN battleship-carriers thought to be in Camranh Bay (they are not); 850 Task Force 38 aircraft mount a one-day total of 984 attack sorties against Japanese airfields and shipping along the west coast of French Indochina from Tourane to Saigon.

An afternoon strike against shipping around Saigon by more than 500 carrier bombers and fighters is instigated by a report in the morning from French Underground operatives in the city itself. In all during the day, claims are made for the destruction of 44 enemy vessels (including a French Navy cruiser) aggregating nearly 33,000 tons. It is also estimated that 20 Japanese seaplanes are destroyed on the water at Camranh Bay and 77 land-based aircraft are destroyed on the ground, including 50 that arrive from Singapore after dark.

Twenty-three USN and USMC carrier aircraft are lost, 16 to antiaircraft fire and seven in operational accidents. Also, a Fourteenth Air Force B-24 is shot down by USMC F4U pilots after its crew fails to respond to recognition calls and procedures and first opens fire on the unfamiliar F4Us. Most of the downed airmen are rescued.

VF-3 F6F pilots down a Ki-49, two D3As, an A6M, and three Ki-61s over Saigon between 0810 and 0840 hours; a VF-4 F6F pilot down an E13A over Quinon at 0855 hours; and a VF-3 F6F pilot downs a G3M near Padaran Bay at 1020 hours.

Lt(jg) Horace B. Moranville, a VF-11 F6F ace, is taken prisoner by Vichy French forces after his airplane is downed near Saigon by antiaircraft fire. He will escape captivity in early March, walk 300 miles to join friendly forces at Dienbienphu, and return to U.S. hands on March 28. Several other carrier pilots and crewmen experience similar escapes and rescues, but at least one USN pilot is later captured and executed.

Task Group 38.5 is formally dissolved. And at 1931 hours, Task Force 38 departs from the coastal area at high speed in the hope of avoiding an approaching typhoon.

Quite interesting to see the variety of Japanese aircraft types claimed by the US pilots: a Ki-49, two D3As, an A6M, three Ki-61s, an E13A, and a G3M. 

Mark Herber commented:

That's an Essex-based Marine Corsair flown by 2nd Lieutenant Joseph O. Lynch's VMF-213 F4U-1D BuNo 57381.

On 12 January 1945, he was on a special fighter sweep over then-French Indo-China. From the VMF-124/213 action report via fold3.com:

"Lynch was hit by small AA fire in the engine and made a forced landing in a rice paddy some 3 miles west of Tan Son Nhut, after being heard to say he was going in. Lynch was observed standing by his plane before our VF departed, and was reported 14 January to be safely in hands of French (friendly) and on his way to China."

To "finish" the story, the following is from Robert Sherrod's "History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II" p. 338:

"Lynch climbed out of his cockpit and the last his pals saw of him he waved his hand in salute, 'a lone, straight figure in an alien land.'

"But even in this alien land Lynch found friends. He was picked up by a native policeman who smuggled him to a French colonial outpost. At French Army headquarters in Saigon he me three Navy pilots from other carriers who also had been shot down during the day. All were fed and clothed, then stowed away in a women's prison, where they stayed six weeks, unbeknownst to the Japanese. On one occasion an SB2C pilot whose French was fluent saved the Americans by convincing the Japanese 'nobody here but us Frenchmen.'

"The pilots were transferred north to Hanoi for internment. Early in March the Japanese declared war on the French and twice the Foreign Legionnaires who were in charge of the Americans (by now a party of five Navy pilots, an Army B-24 pilot, and Lynch) engaged in sharp clashes, during which half the Legionnaires were killed. Through the efforts of an adjutant-chef named Gunther (a German) the Americans escaped from the fighting. At the village of Din Ben there was a U.S. Army Intelligence lieutenant named Carpenter waiting to meet them. On 31 March a C-47 from Kunming landed on the airstrip and took the grateful pilots to China."