Comix #1

When I was a kid back in Greece some of the publications I used to enjoy were the war comics that were quite popular among boys. The fingers became black from the ink of the cheaply printed and priced magazines and each weekly issue lasted more than seven days, the stories being read over and over again. I remember spending hours carefully cutting the best figures making paper soldiers for fantastic battles and stories of my own. I also remember insisting to give my pocket money to the poor old guy running the kiosk near my place only for issues that had stories with Japanese involved and definitely Japanese airplanes. I guess that's how it all started for me.

It was only a few years ago and thanks to the net that I discovered that my childhood comic mags were actually the Greek versions of British publications often with different name like the examples below.

"WAR" became "2nd World WAR" in Greek and the original title "THE SHADOW OF DEATH" became "NO MERCY".

"FRONT LINE" became "BATTLE" and "BLUEPRINT FOR TREASON" became "Road to glory!"

A few weeks ago I discovered the website of the magazine "COMMANDO" where I was able to find covers of old issues. How different and sometimes funny they look now after so many years.

Take for example, the cover of issue No. 4383 by Ken Barr showing a Mitsubishi "Pete" under attack by a Hawker Hurricane.

Note the bright overall yellow (trainer yellow-orange perhaps?!?!) and the red cowling of the "Pete" as well as the tiny pilot and the gibberish "Japanese" on the fuselage side.

The story went like this:

"South Africans in Catalinas, French in Dewoitine fighters, British in Hurricanes... what a terrific bunch they were!

They fought among themselves, they scrapped with the Japanese - and to crown it all they had a German saboteur and spy in their midst creating more havoc!"

Now, that's a story I'd like to read!

Yokosuka K5Y1 "Akatonbo" (Willow)

A photo from an April 1944 magazine showing a Willow being pushed out of the hangar. 

The setting and the uniforms suggest Japan mainland, most probably Kasumigaura Kokutai. 

Note the dark brown boots introduced in 1940 and the blue winter caps (the summer caps were white). 

Overall color of the plane is trainer orange. 

Artwork - "Zero Attack"

Discovered on deviantART this really cool 3D by !pixelpriester (AKA Benjamin Lösche) from Germany entitled "Zero Attack". I hope you like it too.

244 Sentai - Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Tony) #5 - Model by Rodney Williams

An excellent "Hien" model expertly photographed and presented by Mr. Williams.

Thank you very much for your contribution to our blog.

Click HERE to download the article in PDF form.

IJNAF trainer color

The main article on issue #10 of our magazine was on the Yokosuka K5Y "Akatonbo" (Willow) and included the very precise painting instructions by Fuji Aircraft Co. Ltd., dated January 10, 1942. According to the document the color for the fabric surfaces of the fuselage, tail and wings of the Akatonbo was ORANGE (daidai-iro). Repeat, ORANGE. NOT yellow.

Also, according to the document, the paint to be used for these surfaces was to be 94kg of orange-yellow (to-oshoku). 

The document (the official painting instructions for the main trainer of the IJNAF) makes no distinction between the two colors.

Color researchers unfortunately seem to ignore the very precise painting process the aircraft underwent. For the Akatonbo the instructions for example call for: 

"The temperature inside the paint workshop needs to be within the 20-30 degrees C range, with 45% to 70% humidity. Be sure to allow the measurement and recording of paint workshop temperature and humidity three times a day."

Until now, personally, I have never seen any research examining the effects the paint application process had on how the original paint looked. In other words, what was the difference, if any, between how the paint looked in the can and how the paint looked when applied on the aircraft.

Numerous Navy veterans I've interviewed call the color either yellow (kiiro) OR orange (orenji-iro). NEVER orange-yellow (to-oshoku) which in the Japanese language is more of a technical term that nobody would immediately use, and stress the fact that the color depends on how freshly painted each aircraft was. A Navy veteran who was a training instructor and regularly flew Akatonbo, even described the color as pink!

In any case all veterans agree that the Navy Akatonbo were always a lot dirtier than modern scale models or modern artwork they have seen.

My personal conclusions are:

1. the color descriptions are attempts to describe what color the aircraft should be painted, not attempts to describe factory paints. In the Japanese language the perception of the colors "yellow" and "orange" are close and it's really subjective whether a color is simply yellow or dark-yellow, light-orange or yellow-orange. Another factor that should be kept in mind is the reluctance of the Japanese Army/Navy to use "western" terms, therefore instead of describing a color as "orenji" (orange) it is very possible they opted for the Japanese word "kiiro" (yellow).

2. The paint application process is an extremely important factor to consider when drawing conclusions and making suggestions about what color a particular aircraft type was. The Willow was mostly a fabric covered aircraft. The paint instructions mentioned above call for 3 hands clear primer, one hand red-brown intermediate coat and on top of them two hands of orange paint, plus a clear coat for waterproof parts. Even if the original paint, straight from the can, was orange-yellow, two coats over red-brown would certainly make the color look darker; more orange than yellow.

3. Yes. The Willow wasn't just orange. Light orange or orange-yellow are fairly close enough. But it was certainly not yellow as some recently have been suggesting.

4. When talking about prototypes a very important factor is whether the overall color was properly applied with red-brown primer underneath or whether the overall color was applied directly on the metal. In the first case the result might be a darker orange-yellow, in the second a brighter color.

Mitsubishi F1M "Pete"

Another photo from a vintage December 1942 magazine this time showing a "Pete" on the beach of a Southern Pacific island with its crew walking away after coming back from a mission. Note that the floatplane is resting on its trestle in front of a scaffold usually used for propeller or engine changes.

Jean Barby from France added:

"This island is nothing but the shore opposite of Lakunai airfield in Rabaul. In the middle the "brothers" can be seen, they appeared during the volcano eruption in the early 30's. A long time ago I did a couple of dives there, and there are many wrecked barges at the bottom of the two rocks. There are about 40 ship wrecks in Simpson harbor, the bridge of the closest is 120 feet from the surface, the others are further down. Keep in mind that I was there in 1979, and that there were no decompression chamber in case of bends or decompression troubles. Only single tanks were available thus limiting the length and stay at such a depth. Nevertheless one Pete is accessible from the shore and is in fairly good condition (probably less now!) Some pretty good wrecks were still in the bush around Lakunai. A Ki-21, remnants of some Ki-43 and of a twin engine which could be anything from a Ki-46 or a J1N1, and even an in line engine from a Ki-61 or a D3Y2; all those treasures are now buried under heavy ashes as Rabaul was destroyed by the eruption of the volcano close to lakunai, the Mother, in 1994. The new capital is now Vopopo; I also went to Tobera and Vanukanau but had little time to investigate."

Merci beaucoup for the excellent first hand information. If there are underwater photos from dives, we would be most interested to see.

Vintage magazine cover

Hiko Shonen, June 1943 

Nakajima Ki-43 "Hayabusa" (Oscar) & drop tank

A vintage photo from the September 1944 issue of "Asahi Graph" magazine.

The 200l drop tank is prominent in the foreground but what could the other object under the starboard wing be? A 250kg bomb with the fins retouched by the war time sensor, a quite unusual for a "Hayabusa" "Ta-dan" air-to-air cluster bomb or a type 90 small-size flare?

Mitsubishi Ki-46-III "Dinah" - Photo mission over Okinawa

In this series of photos from a May 15, 1945 vintage magazine a Mitsubishi Ki-46 "Dinah" is on a photographic mission over the recently US occupied Okinawa.

The rear observer in a photo taking position. He's holding a Type 100 hand-held aerial camera, standard equipment for the "Dinah".

A rare view of the observer's position showing the Army type 99 Hi Mk 1 radio. The transmitter is on the top and the receiver on the bottom.

According to the caption, the photo above was taken after the crew had returned from their mission over Okinawa. Note that the observer is wearing a life-vest, only natural for missions over water.

 

The pilot is explaining the enemy positions to the unit commander. Note the Ki-46-III in the background.

The caption of the photo above mentions that the films are being developed...

...while in this one the crew are going through the details seen in the developed film.

Finally, a photo of Yontan or Yomitan or Kita airfield of Okinawa showing the various improvements the US forces have done on the original strip. 

VIPs - Lockheed Super Electra Type LO - China Aviation Company

The aircraft featured in this set of photos from vintage publications are Lockheed Super Electra Model 14-38, 14-passenger transports of which 30 were exported to Japan. A first batch of 20 started to be imported from March 1938 by the Army and another ten were imported by Nippon Koku starting from June of the same year. The type was also produced under license by Tachikawa but there were problems with unpaved airfields and complains about the limited cargo. Kawasaki undertook to fixing these problems with famous aircraft designer Doi Takeo as leader of the team. Design work started in September 1939 under the designation Army Type 1 Freight Transport Ki-56 and the first aircraft was completed in the middle of November 1940.

In the above photo featured in the September 1, 1940 issue of magazine "Kokusai Shashin Joho", Wang Yitang, Minister of the Examination Yuan for the Nanking (Nanjing) collaborationist government led by Wang Jingwei, is flying to various cities around China in a Super Electra since the establishment of the new government in March 1940. Note the guy behind him on the left something between a Japanese yakuza and a Chinese Triad member. The plane probably belongs to the China Aviation Company. The cropped guy on the far right of the photo is wearing a cup with what looks like the emblem of the airline.

Japanese flight attendants, called "Air Girls" back then, of the China Aviation Company are posing for this photo commemorating the first time they flew in the Dalian-Shanghai service of the airline on August 17, 1940. To me they look more like school-girls if it wasn't for the pin with the company emblem and I'm certain I would prefer to be serviced by them instead of the uptight flight attendants with the plastic smile I occasionally encounter.

In the photo above passengers and China Aviation Company personnel celebrate the inauguration of the new Peking-Shanghai route on March 14, 1939. A company pilot wearing a leather jacket with a fur collar and a pilot's cup can be seen in the foreground. Note the Douglas DC-2 in the background next to the Super Electra