Japanese Warplanes: Mitsubishi 1
Japanese Warplanes of the Second World War, Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service,
Mitsubishi F1M to A6M8
Mitsubishi F1M1 floatplanes in IJNAF service, (IJNAF/USN Photos)
Mitsubishi B5M Navy Taype 97 No. 2 Carrier Attack Bomber, code named Mabel folding its wings, IJNAF. (IJNAF Photos)
Mitsubishi Ki-46-II Army Type 100 Air Defence Fighter (Serial No. 2846), codenamed "Dinah". (IJAAF Photos)
Mitsubishi Ki-46-II Army Type 100 Air Defence Fighter (Serial No. 2846), codenamed "Dinah", green cross surrender markings. (IJAAF Photos)
Mitsubishi Ki-46-III Army Type 100 Air Defence Fighter (Serial No. 2846), codenamed "Dinah". (IJAAF Photos)
Mitsubishi Ki-46-II Army Type 100 Air Defence Fighter (Serial No. 2846), codenamed "Dinah". This aircraft was captured at Hollandia in New Guinea is Sep 1944 and made airworthy by the 13th BS, 3rd BG whose "Grim Reaper" insignia was applied to the nose. It was assigned code TAIC 10 and is shown here in USAAF markings before being shipped to USA. It was test flown at Patuxtent, NAS Anacostia and Eglin AFB. Five Dinahs were brought to the USA, including Ki-46-III, USAAF FE-4801 and FE-4802 both scrapped at Park Ridge ca. 1950, FE-4806 scrapped at Newark, FE-4807 scrapped at Middletown and Ki-46-IV, FE-4812 scrapped at Middletown. (USAAF Photo)
Mitsubishi Ki-46-III Army Type 100 Air Defence Fighter, USAAF FE-4801, scrapped at Park Ridge ca. 1950. (USAAF Photo)
Mitsubishi Ki-46 Army Type 100, reconnaissance aircraft captured by the Soviet Union. (G.F.Petrova Archive)
Mitsubishi Ki-51-1 Type 99 Assault Plane, code named Sonia. On the day Hiroshima was destroyed by an atomic bomb, two Ki-51s scored the last Japanese victory against US submarines. Two depth charges hit USS Bullhead (SS-332), in which she later exploded and sank with all hands. This sinking was confirmed as the 52nd USN submarine lost during the war. (USN Photo)
(Davidelit Photo)
Mitsubishi Ki-51-1 Type 99 Assault Plane, code named Sonia, on display in the Indonesian Air Force Museum, Yoygyakarta.
Mitsubishi A5M Type 96 carrier-borne fighter, codednamed "Claude". (IJNAF Photos)
Pearl Harbor
On 07:48 on Sunday morning, 7 Dec 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a carrier borne air attack in two waves against the USN warships and USAAF aircraft and installations based on the island of Oahu including Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Japanese General Staff variously named the plans for the attack as the “Hawaii Operation”, “Operation AI” and “Operation Z” by the Japanese was a surprise military strike on the morning of December 7, 1941.
The object of the attack was to disable the American Pacific Battle Fleet and to prevent or delay American intervention against Imperial Japanese Navy operations planned for the territories of the British, Dutch and French colonial empires in Southeast Asia. There were simultaneous Japanese attacks on the US-held Philippines and on the British forces in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Aichi D3A Vals from the IJN Carrier Akagi. (IJN Photos)
Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero-Sen (Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter), codename “Zeke”, IJN carrier Akagi, 7 Dec 1941. (IJN Photo)
Nakajima B5N2 torpedo bomber, code-named Kate. (IJNAF Photo)
The US naval base at Pearl Harbor was attacked by 353 Japanese aircraft including Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeke fighters, Aichi D3A Val dive bombers and Nakajima B5N Kate torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six IJN aircraft carriers.
Four US Navy battleships were sunk and four others damaged. Three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship and one minelayer were also sunk or crippled. The Japanese air attack also concentrated on surrounding airfields, where 188 US aircraft and hangers were destroyed. Casualties on the ground were calculated at 2,402 men killed and a further 1,282 wounded. The Japanese lost 29 aircraft and five midget submarines, with 65 servicemen killed or wounded. One Japanese sailor was captured.
The attack on Pearl Harbor immediately propelled the United States into conflict with Japan and its Axis allies, both in the Pacific and in Europe.
Photograph from a Japanese plane of Battleship Row at the beginning of the attack. The explosion in the center is a torpedo strike on the USS Oklahoma. Two attacking Japanese planes can be seen: one over the USS Neosho and one over the Naval Yard. (IJNAF Photo)
Photograph taken from the air by another Japanese aircraft during the attack on Pearl Harbor. (IJNAF Photo)
(USN Photo)
Mitsubishi A6M Zeke wreckage being recovered from Pearl Harbor, one of the 29 IJNAF aircraft shot down during the 7 Dec 1941 attack.
Mitsubishi A6M Zeke wreckage found after the attack on Pearl Harbor, one of the 29 IJNAF aircraft shot down during the 7 Dec 1941 attack. (USN Photo)
Mitsubishi A6M Zeros are covered in detail on a separate page on this website.
Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Model 52 in IJNAF service. (IJNAF Photos)
Axis Warplane Survivors
A guidebook to the preserved Military Aircraft of the Second World War Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy, and Japan, joined by Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia; the co-belligerent states of Thailand, Finland, San Marino and Iraq; and the occupied states of Albania, Belarus, Croatia, Vichy France, Greece, Ljubljana, Macedonia, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Manchukuo, Mengjiang, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The book may be ordered online at:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/harold-a-skaarup/axis-warplane-survivors/paperback/product-20360959.html
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search/?keywords=axis%20warplane%20survivors&pageSize=12.
