Recent content by mokyme

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    Surrender Betty Bombers at Ieshima a Picture Story from the Jeffrey Ethell Collection

    Thanks Shinpachi, Yes I understand the difference between Japanese term for "green" during WWII and what it refers to today and that it does indirectly describe the shade. In western world we add an adjective to describe the shade of green eg, forest green, grass green, cactus green because it...
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    Japanese Airfields

    Hi, In the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) Japanese airfields were mostly protected by medium calibre AAA (75mm guns) and light calibre rapid fire AAA (20mm, 25mm & 40mm cannon). Some airfields had light calibre (7.7mm MG) and heayv calibre (120mm naval guns) AAA. I have many low level strike...
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    B-29 with Eagle Shield which unit?

    Thanks for the replies which now makes me think it is not the 315th BW. I will wade through the Maurer Maurer (Ed) book "WWII Combat Squadrons of the USAF" and try to match that Unit motif with a squadron. So many B-29 squadrons though :P Mac, yes it could be just individual aircraft nose art...
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    B-29 with Eagle Shield which unit?

    Yes, but the conversion to TB-29 Trainer would have taken place post war. The photo was taken at the Davis-Monthan AZ strorage center in 1946 - 1947 period. Not enough resolution to see the serial number in the Data Stencil. Darryl
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    B-29 with Eagle Shield which unit?

    I suspect this B-29 unit motif might be the so called Eagle Wing which used APQ-7 Radar to bomb through clouds. Can anyone confirm and point me to a picture? Image credit the Jeffrey Ethell Collection F Schirmer Thanks Darryl
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    eBay: Japanese airplanes and other hardware.

    This aircraft is a Tachikawa Ki-55 trainer not a Mitsubishi Ki-51 as the eBay seller says.
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    Color picture of the B-17G of 2nd Bomb Group

    Yes, there is a photo in the Jeffrey Ethell Collection showing a couple of 2nd BG B-17s. However, resolution is too poor to reveal anything more than your photo. The enlargement appears to show your B-17 at upper right. I flipped through all the B-17 photos in the collection but couldn't...
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    USA/Japanese Pacific color pixs.

    Shinpachi, What is really interesting is that neither of the usual two colorrs, red and green, has been used for the crosses on these old First Aid boxes. Post war they were usually red but use of the red cross is banned worldwide by Red Cross society. Typically, closer to modern age, the color...
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    USA/Japanese Pacific color pixs.

    Special Ed, Thanks for your discussion about the Kodachrome process having the ability to render all hues across the color spectrum. That might be correct but the problem here is there is only one original Kodachrome slide of the Betty at ieshima in the Jeff Ethell Collection (the other 20 odd...
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    USA/Japanese Pacific color pixs.

    GreyGhost, So you are saying the thousands of GIs, and other service personnel on Ieshima are color blind? There are many published eye witness testimonies, many black & white photos sent home with handwritten notes on back describing "Betty bombers painted white with green crosses"...
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    USA/Japanese Pacific color pixs.

    Guys, Seriously, do you think that all the GI's who sent letters home, the Life magazine correspondents' description and 345th BG personnel who escorted the Bettys to Ieshima describing 'green crosses' were color blind? Or is it a fable like the "Emperor's New Clothes" where everyone was...
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    Newly discovered Me 262

    Certainly the fact that the grain of the paper is 'homologous' throughout the image is a factor that makes it genuine. However, it is still possible to obtain photo paper of the WWII period and print and develop it using chemicals of that period. Given the fact that the image is not very sharp...
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    Another P-38 Found!

    If they wait another 10 years Global warming will melt the ice. :dizzy: Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
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    Tachikawa Ki-74

    The Tachikawa Ki-74 was a failed attempt to design an ultra long range bomber capable of bombing the mainland USA. With a range of 8000 km it could have flown from the northern island of Hokkaido to targets like San Francisco which is 7700 km away. But how would it return home? Why would you...
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    Japanese landing gear

    Besides the Ki-84 low oil pressure in engine problem, which wasn't satisfactorily solved even by war's end, the issues with the landing gear are described by many authors in English language texts. Just Google: Ki-84 landing gear and select Books from menu and see about 8 hits which describe...
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