eqsmallcakes
Recruit
- 2
- Jul 5, 2012
Hello!
I am doing research on a peculiar piece of equipment, a Type 89 machine gun training camera. According to what I've been reading thus far, these cameras were commissioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy to train fighter pilots and waist gunners in a variety of naval aircraft.
My main point of confusion is this: As far as I know, the Type 89 machine gun (the actual gun, not the camera) is an Army Air Service weapon, not an IJN weapon. Was the Type 89 gun camera used to specifically imitate the Type 89 machine gun, or was it intended to cover any and all 7.7mm machine guns for aerial training purposes?
I've read that the cameras were famously used to train Zero pilots - and the Zero armed Type 97 guns (also 7.7mm like the Type 89 guns) - but have found no references to the camera being used in Army Air Service planes, even though many of those armed themselves specifically with Type 89 machine guns. It's too confusing.
At the end of the day, considering the laundry list of Imperial Japanese Army Air Service planes that were armed with the Type 89 machine gun, I am curious whether the IJAAS also utilized the Type 89 machine gun training camera, or if the use of that device was restricted to IJN pilots and crew only?
I am enclosing an image of the camera, below. This one has had its tubular acrylic hood removed from over the barrel. This tube would normally hold a prism and stopwatch that superimposed the stopwatch face onto the film as the shutter mechanism fired. This showed accurate measurements, on film, of how long the gunners fired their bursts, for review by evaluators post-training flights.
Any information or leads on where I could find out more about the history of this equipment and its use in the IJN/IJAAS, images of trainees in uniform utilizing the camera, or anything along those lines, would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
I am doing research on a peculiar piece of equipment, a Type 89 machine gun training camera. According to what I've been reading thus far, these cameras were commissioned by the Imperial Japanese Navy to train fighter pilots and waist gunners in a variety of naval aircraft.
My main point of confusion is this: As far as I know, the Type 89 machine gun (the actual gun, not the camera) is an Army Air Service weapon, not an IJN weapon. Was the Type 89 gun camera used to specifically imitate the Type 89 machine gun, or was it intended to cover any and all 7.7mm machine guns for aerial training purposes?
I've read that the cameras were famously used to train Zero pilots - and the Zero armed Type 97 guns (also 7.7mm like the Type 89 guns) - but have found no references to the camera being used in Army Air Service planes, even though many of those armed themselves specifically with Type 89 machine guns. It's too confusing.
At the end of the day, considering the laundry list of Imperial Japanese Army Air Service planes that were armed with the Type 89 machine gun, I am curious whether the IJAAS also utilized the Type 89 machine gun training camera, or if the use of that device was restricted to IJN pilots and crew only?
I am enclosing an image of the camera, below. This one has had its tubular acrylic hood removed from over the barrel. This tube would normally hold a prism and stopwatch that superimposed the stopwatch face onto the film as the shutter mechanism fired. This showed accurate measurements, on film, of how long the gunners fired their bursts, for review by evaluators post-training flights.
Any information or leads on where I could find out more about the history of this equipment and its use in the IJN/IJAAS, images of trainees in uniform utilizing the camera, or anything along those lines, would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
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