Many years ago I bought a box of war photos at the estate sale of a Marine who was on Eniwetok and Okinawa. I recently was looking through them and found a number of really interesting aircraft photos. There were also some undeveloped negatives and I could see two of them were of some guys in front a single engine fighter. Couldn't really see what it was so I had them developed. Turns out it's an intact, apparently airworthy KI-61 Hein. One of the pics has a large hill in the background. Eniwetok is a low lying atoll so I assume the photo was taken on Okinawa. Does anyone know of an airworthy Hein being captured on Okinawa and what might have become of this airplane?
Captured KI-61 Hein
- Thread starter Bian
- Start date
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alejandro_
Airman 1st Class
- 281
- Jul 4, 2005
Great photos Bian. The aircraft was probably scrapped soon after the war. In the links below you can find a summary of surviving Ki-61s.
Japanese Aircraft Survivors
Harold A. Skaarup, author of Shelldrake
Do you have any more photos of other types?
Japanese Aircraft Survivors
Harold A. Skaarup, author of Shelldrake
Do you have any more photos of other types?
- Thread starter
- #3
There are two pictures of the B29 "Precious Cargo" that I posted on another thread a few days ago. I also have two pictures of the white Japanese Betty surrender plane, a P61 Black Widow, a shot up Zero, a shot up Sherman tank and some other interesting stuff. I'll scan and post some of it.
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Interesting paint job.
- Thread starter
- #6
Good shots!
alejandro_
Airman 1st Class
- 281
- Jul 4, 2005
I have had a look and the Ki-61 apparently belonged to the 19th Sentai of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF). It was fixed by the mechanics at the island and used for leisure flights.
PIXPAST.com • View topic - Japanese Ki-61 Hien Captured at Okinawa
PIXPAST.com • View topic - Japanese Ki-61 Hien Captured at Okinawa
Steven Tullius
Recruit
- 3
- May 8, 2019
I Know the complete story of this aircraft, my father was there the day of the capture. I HAVE the pilots Aviation watch and money from Korea. Spools of war
Hello Steven Tullius,
Please do tell. What particular model was this aeroplane and what eventually happened to it?
- Ivan.
Pictures?
Steven Tullius
Recruit
- 3
- May 8, 2019
Yontan airfield was taken so fast that there was not enough time removal of the Imperial flag and a Ki-61 Swallow flew in and landed. The pilot came out of the aircraft, the Marines held their fire,. The pilot was yelling (in Japanese) no knowing the field was taken. then at one point, a trigger happy Marine started shooting and the rest of the Marines followed his actions. The pilot fell to the ground, breaking the Aviation watch he had strapped to his leg breaking the crystal. (was repaired later) The aircraft was later painted the Marine colors (Marine Toy) and later flown to Kadena 3 miles away. The "Marine Toy" that someone has posted above (in color) was shot in the radiator when it was captured during the frenzy of cutting down the pilot. (this is my first time allowing family history online)
The cockpit was so small that a search of pilots small enough to sit in the cockpit and fly it to Kadena took a day or two. The Marine Toy was flown to Kadena and stayed there for sometime after the war. My cousin was stationed there in the '50s in which the aircraft was on display. that is where the information ends on the aircraft. Over the years I have been looking for more information but no first-hand accounts. Others suggested it was destroyed along with many other spoils that were considered junk at the time. I wanted to know the squadron that it was stationed to, the pilot had Koren money, I have the watch and the money the pilot was carrying. My father was there Mag 31 SIS 31 Advanced party to the Airfield on that day. I also have parts for the watch from Aircraft 546 it running order from Commando raid on Yontan on May 24, 1945. My father received 2 Marine/NavyPresidential citations and one from the Airforce for his actions on that Commando suicide raid. I am still looking for information on the aircraft/Squadron and pilot. The information that I have given above is a first-hand account and not from any book. My father Delbert V Tullius Sr. passed in 2006 He was a BAD-ASS Marine even fighting death going in and out of consciousness from prostate cancer his last words me and my siblings was " you're going to be burying me soon". He always told me when he talked about the war, that night he relived it in his dreams, but history must be told. that day in 2006 the war was over. 5 yrs later in my research, I came across a 1945 NYT article that a mechanic rallied the Corsair Mechanics and took on the Suicide Commandos, He always told us the story of that day too, but never took credit for his actions It was the way he told it just another day of the war.
The cockpit was so small that a search of pilots small enough to sit in the cockpit and fly it to Kadena took a day or two. The Marine Toy was flown to Kadena and stayed there for sometime after the war. My cousin was stationed there in the '50s in which the aircraft was on display. that is where the information ends on the aircraft. Over the years I have been looking for more information but no first-hand accounts. Others suggested it was destroyed along with many other spoils that were considered junk at the time. I wanted to know the squadron that it was stationed to, the pilot had Koren money, I have the watch and the money the pilot was carrying. My father was there Mag 31 SIS 31 Advanced party to the Airfield on that day. I also have parts for the watch from Aircraft 546 it running order from Commando raid on Yontan on May 24, 1945. My father received 2 Marine/NavyPresidential citations and one from the Airforce for his actions on that Commando suicide raid. I am still looking for information on the aircraft/Squadron and pilot. The information that I have given above is a first-hand account and not from any book. My father Delbert V Tullius Sr. passed in 2006 He was a BAD-ASS Marine even fighting death going in and out of consciousness from prostate cancer his last words me and my siblings was " you're going to be burying me soon". He always told me when he talked about the war, that night he relived it in his dreams, but history must be told. that day in 2006 the war was over. 5 yrs later in my research, I came across a 1945 NYT article that a mechanic rallied the Corsair Mechanics and took on the Suicide Commandos, He always told us the story of that day too, but never took credit for his actions It was the way he told it just another day of the war.
Hello Steven Tullius,
This particular capture has actually been documented in a few places.
This is not the first time I have heard about this particular aircraft.
Perhaps if we do a little bit of digging, we can find a few more specifics.
Do note though that this was not the only Ki 61 that was at Yontan, so there might be a little bit of confusion between aircraft especially after they have been repainted after capture.
Your particular aircraft was obviously airworthy because it was flown in.
At least one of the other aircraft (I believe it started off missing its landing gear fairings) was repaired and then test flown about three times before its engine showed signs that it was self destructing.
I believe the second photograph in this link might be of the aircraft being described here.
Do note that the photograph has been reversed (Intake is on the wrong side as is the Pitot Tube).
Ki 61 Odd Paint
- Ivan.
This particular capture has actually been documented in a few places.
This is not the first time I have heard about this particular aircraft.
Perhaps if we do a little bit of digging, we can find a few more specifics.
Do note though that this was not the only Ki 61 that was at Yontan, so there might be a little bit of confusion between aircraft especially after they have been repainted after capture.
Your particular aircraft was obviously airworthy because it was flown in.
At least one of the other aircraft (I believe it started off missing its landing gear fairings) was repaired and then test flown about three times before its engine showed signs that it was self destructing.
I believe the second photograph in this link might be of the aircraft being described here.
Do note that the photograph has been reversed (Intake is on the wrong side as is the Pitot Tube).
Ki 61 Odd Paint
- Ivan.
Steven Tullius
Recruit
- 3
- May 8, 2019
There was only one captured aircraft and that was painted in Marine colors. I have interest in because my ownership of the Aviation watch, as for the other aircraft that was flown when the airfield was taken, (not captured) The self destructed was due to ball bearings, and the excessive heat that the engine because they ran too hot and the bearing was inferior material. If you have any details of the pilot of the captured KI-61 and the squadron I would be grateful. P.S you read brief information about this aircraft before, but not the detailed incident as you now know now.
SMIB
Last edited:
Hello Steven Tullius,
Thank you for the insight as to why the engines were so prone to failures. Was this a quality control problem as with many of the other Japanese engines at this stage of the war or was this something peculiar about the manufacturing of this particular engine?
I did a little bit of searching and here is what I have found thus far:
The particular aircraft was a Ki 61-Id (Tei) of the 19th Sentai.
It was reassigned from the 55th Sentai as could be seen by the markings that were visible under the current tail emblem.
In the link below, some of the detail matches what you have provided but of course, they probably did not get a first hand account of events.
At the same page there are photographs of the aircraft before it was repainted and of course after.
It apparently was never assigned a code that was typically given to "officially" captured aircraft used for evaluation (at least I have not found such a code yet).
Yontan Tony
My next step is to go through a few books on the Ki 61 and see if I can come up with a bit more information on this particular aircraft and whom it may have been assigned to.
I will also look for the other account of the demise of this Japanese pilot which was also quite detailed.
Do you happen to know what the nicknames of these Marine squadrons were? It might help if I come across a caption that gives a name rather than a squadron number.
Thanks.
- Ivan.
Thank you for the insight as to why the engines were so prone to failures. Was this a quality control problem as with many of the other Japanese engines at this stage of the war or was this something peculiar about the manufacturing of this particular engine?
I did a little bit of searching and here is what I have found thus far:
The particular aircraft was a Ki 61-Id (Tei) of the 19th Sentai.
It was reassigned from the 55th Sentai as could be seen by the markings that were visible under the current tail emblem.
In the link below, some of the detail matches what you have provided but of course, they probably did not get a first hand account of events.
At the same page there are photographs of the aircraft before it was repainted and of course after.
It apparently was never assigned a code that was typically given to "officially" captured aircraft used for evaluation (at least I have not found such a code yet).
Yontan Tony
My next step is to go through a few books on the Ki 61 and see if I can come up with a bit more information on this particular aircraft and whom it may have been assigned to.
I will also look for the other account of the demise of this Japanese pilot which was also quite detailed.
Do you happen to know what the nicknames of these Marine squadrons were? It might help if I come across a caption that gives a name rather than a squadron number.
Thanks.
- Ivan.
A photograph for reference.
Note that the Ki 61-1d was the only version that had 20 mm cannon mounted on the cowl.
It had a slightly lengthened nose to allow room for the longer ammunition boxes.
I believe the vents on the cowl just in front of the cockpit are also slightly different in pattern.
Previous versions had either a fully retractable tail wheel with doors or a retractable tail wheel which was permanently fixed in the down position. The Ki 61-Id was the first version that came without any provision for a retractable tail wheel.
- Ivan.
Note that the Ki 61-1d was the only version that had 20 mm cannon mounted on the cowl.
It had a slightly lengthened nose to allow room for the longer ammunition boxes.
I believe the vents on the cowl just in front of the cockpit are also slightly different in pattern.
Previous versions had either a fully retractable tail wheel with doors or a retractable tail wheel which was permanently fixed in the down position. The Ki 61-Id was the first version that came without any provision for a retractable tail wheel.
- Ivan.
cherry blossom
Senior Airman
- 513
- Apr 23, 2007
Long ago I found a book mentioning the problems with the Ha-40 bearings and posted two comments in a very old thread Japanese Piston Engines and Japanese Piston Engines. Alas I long ago returned the book to a library but it might have some interesting information and is also mentioned in Inverted V engine vs. V engine. It does seem clear that the heat treatment of the crankshaft pin of the Ha-40 was inferior to that of the equivalent part in a German DB601.
Hello Cherry Blossom,
I wonder why these engines were not converted to use journal bearings instead. It does seem quite interesting how the Japanese managed to get supercharger performance very similar to the DB601A-1 from a license built DB 601Aa export version. In a war for survival, these two allies were not really doing their best to help each other.
How good is Mr Suzuki's book? I see that it starts with steam engines and goes no further than the DB 601. I don't believe it would be hard to get a copy but I am wondering if it is worth the effort.
- Ivan.
cherry blossom
Senior Airman
- 513
- Apr 23, 2007
If I remember correctly, Takashi Suzuki's book goes well into the Sixties as he discusses several post war car engines. He worked for Hino Motors Hino Motors - Wikipedia before they were bought by Toyota in 1967. They seem to have considered fuel injection and I suspect that this caused him to become interested in Japan's earlier fuel injected aero-engines, especially the DB 601 derivatives. He corresponded with Heinz Hoffmann, who was involved in the design of the DB601. I haven't found much about Heinz Hoffmann except for a Japanese text https://www.jsae.or.jp/engine_rev/docu/enginereview_06_04.pdf which also talks about the DB601 family but mentions him working post war on fuel injection.
Suzuki obviously became interested in the bearing problems and speculates on why Daimler-Benz used roller bearings, mentioning both the problem of oil foaming at altitude and DB's early history of motor racing where you may have to start at low oil pressure. He read a Kawasaki report which he received from Professor Norimune Soda (I tracked down an obituary of Soda at https://www.sciencedirect.com/scien...83dac33c&pid=1-s2.0-0301679X9590005D-main.pdf). The report supplied the "photographs" (electron micrographs?) which showed the defective heat treatment of the crankshaft pin of at least one Ha-40, compared to a good German DB601.
Suzuki obviously became interested in the bearing problems and speculates on why Daimler-Benz used roller bearings, mentioning both the problem of oil foaming at altitude and DB's early history of motor racing where you may have to start at low oil pressure. He read a Kawasaki report which he received from Professor Norimune Soda (I tracked down an obituary of Soda at https://www.sciencedirect.com/scien...83dac33c&pid=1-s2.0-0301679X9590005D-main.pdf). The report supplied the "photographs" (electron micrographs?) which showed the defective heat treatment of the crankshaft pin of at least one Ha-40, compared to a good German DB601.
