B-17engineer
Colonel
Great and thanks a ton for sharing!
Dad's WWII Scrapbook sees the light of day
- Thread starter hawkeye2an
- Start date
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Yep. thanks for sharing.....some info on the Zero....
DI-108
A6M2, PO1c Tadayoshi Koga, Ryujo, 4th Fleet, 1st carrier, number eight aircraft. Koga's Zero received a single hit that severed a fuel line during the attack on Dutch Harbor on 4 June 1942. Knowing he could not return to the Ryujo, Koga and his two wing mates flew to the tiny island of Akutan, only a few miles west of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, which had been identified by Japanese intelligence as an emergency landing ground. He attempted to land wheels-down on what appeared to be a level field, but was in fact a waterlogged bog. The fighter flipped immediately after touchdown, breaking Koga's neck. His wing mates observed the crash landing but elected to not destroy the downed aircraft, and returned to the Ryujo when Koga failed to appear from under the upside down aircraft.
Koga was well known in his unit as a rabid America-hater, so it is ironic that his crash landing in Alaska delivered a flyable Zero to the Americans. In fact, Commander Masatake Okumiya, an air staff officer during the Aleutians campaign, later wrote in his book Zero! : "I did not realize at the time how far-reaching an effect this seemingly trivial incident of losing to the enemy a single intact Zero could have. The unnoticed capture of the airplane . . . did much to hasten our final defeat. Although it lacked the drama of open combat, it was no less serious than the debacle of Midway." You will recall that the battle of Midway, where four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent to the bottom, occurred later the very same week Koga was shot down.
Adding injury to insult, Koga's Zero was spotted several weeks later, on 9 July 1942, by a USN PBY flying home at the end of a 16-hour mission, blown severely off course, and finally able to see some of the Aleutian Islands to correct their position. As they flew over Akutan, the airsick copilot went to the waist to vomit out of one of the observation bubbles. As he leaned out, he noticed he was puking on top of Koga's overturned aircraft.
The American recovery party reached the nearly intact wreck a few days later. Koga's body was still inside, with his head and shoulders under water. The plane was recovered and repaired at NAS North Island, San Diego, California. There is considerable disagreement as to whether this ship had a horizontal yellow stripe on the fin and rudder. Some argue this is merely the "mud line" where the plane was upside down in the bog, but the dark line on the tail is not in line with the mud line on the front and center fuselage. On the other hand, the photos do not conclusively show a stripe in this location. It has also been argued that Koga was not an air commander and therefore would not have had tail stripes, but swapping flyable aircraft was common to ensure combat operations continued.
Reference :Yellowhammer decals
DI-108
A6M2, PO1c Tadayoshi Koga, Ryujo, 4th Fleet, 1st carrier, number eight aircraft. Koga's Zero received a single hit that severed a fuel line during the attack on Dutch Harbor on 4 June 1942. Knowing he could not return to the Ryujo, Koga and his two wing mates flew to the tiny island of Akutan, only a few miles west of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, which had been identified by Japanese intelligence as an emergency landing ground. He attempted to land wheels-down on what appeared to be a level field, but was in fact a waterlogged bog. The fighter flipped immediately after touchdown, breaking Koga's neck. His wing mates observed the crash landing but elected to not destroy the downed aircraft, and returned to the Ryujo when Koga failed to appear from under the upside down aircraft.
Koga was well known in his unit as a rabid America-hater, so it is ironic that his crash landing in Alaska delivered a flyable Zero to the Americans. In fact, Commander Masatake Okumiya, an air staff officer during the Aleutians campaign, later wrote in his book Zero! : "I did not realize at the time how far-reaching an effect this seemingly trivial incident of losing to the enemy a single intact Zero could have. The unnoticed capture of the airplane . . . did much to hasten our final defeat. Although it lacked the drama of open combat, it was no less serious than the debacle of Midway." You will recall that the battle of Midway, where four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent to the bottom, occurred later the very same week Koga was shot down.
Adding injury to insult, Koga's Zero was spotted several weeks later, on 9 July 1942, by a USN PBY flying home at the end of a 16-hour mission, blown severely off course, and finally able to see some of the Aleutian Islands to correct their position. As they flew over Akutan, the airsick copilot went to the waist to vomit out of one of the observation bubbles. As he leaned out, he noticed he was puking on top of Koga's overturned aircraft.
The American recovery party reached the nearly intact wreck a few days later. Koga's body was still inside, with his head and shoulders under water. The plane was recovered and repaired at NAS North Island, San Diego, California. There is considerable disagreement as to whether this ship had a horizontal yellow stripe on the fin and rudder. Some argue this is merely the "mud line" where the plane was upside down in the bog, but the dark line on the tail is not in line with the mud line on the front and center fuselage. On the other hand, the photos do not conclusively show a stripe in this location. It has also been argued that Koga was not an air commander and therefore would not have had tail stripes, but swapping flyable aircraft was common to ensure combat operations continued.
Reference :Yellowhammer decals
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Wildcat
Major
Yep, it's been an interesting thread. Thanks for making the effort!
- Thread starter
- #84
hawkeye2an
Staff Sergeant
You're welcome guys, thanks for the comments. It's fun to share this type of thing with knowledgable people. I can remember my brother and I looking at it when we were kids. The rest of the time it just sat in the bottom of a box. I had forgotten all about it until dad brought it to me on a resent visit.
BikerBabe
Senior Master Sergeant
Thank you very much for sharing, it has been a delight and a pleasure to view your scans. 
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
That was awesome man, and thanks Wayne for posting that info.
